Rose was on an errand, but she had some time before she would be required at the house again. She had been dying to go see Pearl and tell her the happy news. She had considered writing, but she wanted to see Pearl's face when she told her and so she had decided to wait. Now she rushed to the cottage, looked around anxiously, remembered that she could not really get in trouble for slacking anymore anyway, and knocked.

It was Pearl who opened the door since she was closer to it than Tilly was. Tilly was currently making tea, and the house smelled of fresh-baked pastry. "Rose! Hello!" she said and let her friend in.

Rose beamed when she saw her friend, entered the house and took the girl's hand. She almost dragged her along to the sitting area. "I have such... wonderful... news... to tell ye!" she announced dramatically.

"What is it?" she asked with curiosity in her eyes. Her friend seemed so happy, "Did you put castor oil in Mister Meijer's tea when he wasn't looking and it worked?" She grinned at the joke, but knew it wasn't so. Or was it?

Rose laughed heartily at that. "No, but that sounds like an excellent idea!" she joked. Half-joked. But she quickly shook off the thought, for she had much more important thoughts to attend to. She took both Pearl's hands in hers and squeezed lightly. "I... am...." she slowed herself even more to build up the suspense, a wide grin on her face as she relished in withholding the crucial word. "engaged!" She would not yet say it was the handsome baker, but have Pearl beg to tell her. Rose had delighted herself in thinking about what her friend would say.

When Rose said she was engaged, there was a look of surprise on Pearl's face. She had not known that Rose was even being courted, let alone with a man long enough to be engaged. "You're engaged?" she repeated, wanting to be excited for her friend but also not sure how to feel considering what she didn't know. "Congratulations!" she did say and gave the girl a quick hug. "Is there a ring?"

Rose's smile faltered shortly and she felt a little hurt when her friend did not seem as excited as she had hoped. She was still recovering when Pearl hugged her. Rose shook the thought off. "No, there will be at the wedding, but there's no point in engagement rings. We're getting married in three weeks!"

"Three weeks!" she repeated, stunned. She smiled at her friend, though the green eyed monster was starting to rear it's ugly head. "Who are you marrying?" she asked then.

Rose's grin widened again. "Do you remember we were talking about the handsome new baker the other day?" She said, gauging her friend's reaction.

This time the jealousy went away. Andrew Willaby? Why yes, yes he was handsome, but she had utterly no physical attraction to the man and was genuinely stoked for her friend. "No, really? Congratulations, Rose." She smiled a wide smile.