She smiled and said, "Hello, Joe." Her hand reached out and touched his arm as it was wont to do. Her hand was pulled back after a moment and she looked down at her plate. "I hope you like supper... I just learned to cook not so long ago. I asked one of the cooks at the manse to teach me against my mother's wishes." She chuckled.

She hated being idle, and that is what her family didn't understand. Pearl enjoyed toiling away, doing something besides stupid things like embroidery. Heaven forbid something happened to the family fortune at the rate her spoiled siblings were going, squandering away the empire that her father had built. He'd approved of her going and learning how to fend for herself, unlike most of her brothers.