Rose wished that she could tell Pearl about Simon. No one ever spoke about Simon, and often that was preferable. Sometimes Rose felt that she was still processing all that had happened, and once old emotions were stirred, they could weigh her down for days. And yet sometimes she wished she could speak about him. But not to Pearl. Simon had done such a terrible thing, and to one of her people. What if Pearl didn't want to associate with her anymore? She shook her head. "Just... a brother of mine, who did something stupid, and he died..." she said vaguely, as if it had been some kind of accident that had killed her brother. Just to prevent questions, she quickly continued: "And me sister has to pay for her mistake by marryin' a guy she barely knew. I mean, he's got money and a farm and all, so its not so bad, but she seemed pretty miserable about it, and she'll not be able to marry someone if she really loves them now."

Her mouth formed an "O" at Rose's vague confession about her brother being killed. She reached over and patted the girl's arm in sympathy. "I understand that it is hard to talk about. I won't push you any further if you aren't ready to speak of him." And then Rose spoke of her sister again and she nodded softly. "I am sorry for her that she is so unhappy..." I would not call it a blessing, she thought to herself. Indeed, love was a hard thing to set aside for a man or woman you did not.

Rose felt more guilty about withholding the truth about Simon when her friend showed compassion. But when she thought about telling it, she imagined Pearl's face becoming hard and the girl telling her to leave the house and never come back. She couldn't do it. She nodded absently when Pearl said she was sorry for Alice. "I suppose in the long run it will be good. She has someone to claim the child, and she may yet come to love him, and she'll never have to worry about food or money again. He's very rich." That was relative. But in Rose's eyes he was very rich. He owned a farm, and apparently he had a maid, and he was dressed well. "Oh," she suddenly grasped. "I've put the mood down talking about 'em. I'm so sorry!"

"No, no, you are perfectly fine. I am your friend and I am here for you." She probably would not have told her friend to leave the house if she knew about Simon, but for the moment was unaware and therefor was thinking of other stuff. Pearl reached out and touched Rose's hand and said, "I am sure your sister will be fine. I don't think being rich in money will make her happy, but being rich with memories and good things, now I am sure she will be able to find some happiness. Especially when she first gets to see her baby."

Rose gave her friend a grateful smile. "Thanks, I hope that will help." She did think Pearl was rather naive. Surely she understood little about how money could make someone happy, never having worried about money in her life. Rose would certainly toss herself at someone wealthy without a second thought if they proposed to marry her. Love could die. A husband could die. But if there was money, a whole lot of other terrible things would not happen. But she didn't say anything, not wishing her friend to feel mocked. Pearl was humble enough to stoop down to her lot. Rose had no right to correct her. And so she just sipped her tea. "Do you like babies?" she asked, to steer the conversation in a different direction.

Pearl gave a smile of encouragement for Rose. Hopefully, things would settle down. But the question about babies took her aback. "I don't know... I have yet to hold a baby or know one aside from my siblings at one point." She frowned and thought about it. "I suppose I would like them... after all, they are born to this world innocent and pure." In fact, it did give her somewhat of a pang.

Rose looked absolutely baffled. "Ye never held a baby before? Never?!" Rose had a lot of siblings, and she used to help her mother with the younger ones. And there were always new babies born in her yard. "They're probably innocent and all, but they're rather dirty, actually," she commented dryly, just to make sure Pearl didn't imagine anything before she started having her own.

"No, and I don't know if I ever will... being that I have no plans to marry." Not after the fiasco that was the kidnapping and especially not after the papers had the story laid out for the whole world to see. It had been an embarassing ordeal for sure. Pearl tilted her head when Rose spoke of how dirty they were, "Are they?"

Rose still didn't fully understand why her friend was so opposed to the idea of marrying. It wasn't like Rose ever intended to love again, but the idea of spending all her life alone and having everyone refer to her as a spinster was appalling enough to make her desire marriage more. "Oh they are!" she said, when Pearl asked about babies. "Bram once peed over me just while I was cleanin' him!"

"Ew!" she said with a wrinkled nose. "But babies can't help it, can they?" she laughed a little. "I probably wouldn't mind holding a baby though. I hear they are sweet and innocent." There was a longing in her voice that hadn't been there before. Could it be that she actually wanted a bundle of joy of her own?