Rose couldn’t believe this was happening. That morning she had been sitting on her Papa’s lap, feeling his seed fill her core. It seemed like a lifetime ago for so much had happened since then.

She had been locked in her room whilst her parents threw Papa out of the house. They only told her why she had been locked in once it was all over, once he was gone.

“There’s no use screaming,” her mother said as she stormed out onto the landing. “He’s not coming back.”

“You sent him away! How could you send him away? I love him.”

“You don’t love him, you just have a crush on him, that’s all.”

“I hate you.”

“Well, you will hate me more soon, won’t you?”

“Why?”

Before she could react, her mother had shoved her back into her room and was locking the door, leaving her hammering at the keyhole to be let out. “You would imprison me like a slave?” Rose shouted.

“Stop being so melodramatic,” Mrs. Winter called back to her from the landing. “I will let you out once you’ve calmed down. Perhaps use this time to think about growing up and acting like an adult. You are not a little girl anymore, Rose, no matter how much he wanted to make you into one.”

Rose paced up and down, occasionally crying out to be released. No one came and her voice was hoarse by the time she gave up shouting. By nightfall, she thought she was going mad. She was sure she heard a rattling at her window. There it was again. Turning to look, she realised someone was throwing stones up at the glass.

She ran to the window, pushing it open to find her Papa waving up at her. “I must speak to you,” he called out. “They would not let me even say goodbye.”

“It is not goodbye,” Rose replied, swinging her leg out over the sill. “It is farewell to them.” She quickly climbed down the drainpipe, landing next to Papa who threw his arms around her.

“What are we to do?” he asked.

“I do not know. I only know I cannot live without you.”

“Then let’s leave, together.”

“Where will we go?”

“I do not care as long as it is far enough away for them not to find us.”

Rose slipped her hand into his as they began to walk down the street. She looked back only once, bidding a silent goodbye to her childhood home.

Papa hailed the first hansom cab he saw. They climbed in, Rose cuddling up to Papa for warmth as the wheels began to turn and the horse trotted gently out of town. “Where to?” the cabbie called down to them.

“Leeds,” Papa replied, turning to look at Rose. “It is big enough there for anyone to get lost. They will never find us.”

Rose tucked herself in under Papa’s coat, her arms wrapped around him as she sighed happily. “I thought I had lost you forever.”

“You will never lose me, little Rose,” he replied, kissing her forehead softly.

The journey took most of the night, the sun rising by the time they arrived in the outskirts of Leeds. The cabbie dropped them near an enormous mill, the workers already heading inside, their shoulders bowed, their clothes in rags. “Will we end up working in such a place?” Rose asked.

“Never.”

“But what shall we do for money?”

“I have some put by. Enough to rent somewhere for now.”

“But what if it runs out?”

“Then I shall find a job. I am sure someone in the city will need a tutor and I have the most excellent references.”

“Won’t my parents warn people not to hire you?”

“I doubt it. To do so, they would have to admit what a nightmare you were, what a brat you were.”

“Do you think I’m a brat?”

“I think you’re adorable.”

“That’s not answering the question.”

“Come on, let’s go get some breakfast and then we shall find the perfect house, I am sure of it.”

They did not find the perfect house but they did at least find a house. It was a terraced property, the wallpaper in decent enough shape and no smell of mould or damp anywhere on either floor. “It will do,” Papa said, handing over a week’s rent to the landlord. “We are not to be disturbed, is that clear?”

“You pay on time and I leave you alone,” the landlord replied, nodding to Rose. “You and your daughter.”

“I’m not his daughter,” Rose snapped.

“Begging your pardon, miss. Only in that dress, you look far too young for…”

“For what?”

“Nothing. I’ll be on my way.”

Papa chuckled as he closed the door, turning to face Rose in the hallway. “Welcome home, my little Rose.”

The next few days passed in a blur. Papa seemed to be out most of the daylight hours, purchasing the items they needed to turn a house into a home. Rose was confused by the cupboards filling up with pans and utensils, some of which were a complete mystery to her. She attempted to cook, almost burning the house down in the process. “I will provide the meals,” Papa said after a second day of charred porridge. “You should not have to cook; you should be playing.”

But he didn’t cook. He was out more and more, seeking work. There seemed to be none to be found. On the evening of their fourth day in the new house, Rose found him hunched over a newspaper, scanning the classified advertisements. “You’d think someone would take me on,” he said, rubbing his eyes and arching his back.

“How much money do we have left?”

“Not enough.”

“Don’t look so glum, Papa. Come and play with me.”

“I haven’t time to play, little Rose. If I don’t find work, we might end up in the dosshouse, or worse, the workhouse.”

“But I’m lonely when you’re not here. There is nothing to do.”

“I bought you dolls, didn’t I? And books too, or do you mean to tell me you have read them all?”

“I haven’t read any of them. Come on, Papa, come and play with me.”

He lifted the newspaper, holding it up so he could not see her anymore. “I must find a job before we can play. You will have to occupy yourself for now.”

Rose stuck her tongue out, not that he could see it. Scowling and muttering, she left the dining room, making her way into the kitchen. Fine, she thought. If he won’t give me his attention willingly, I shall find another way to drag him away from that newspaper.

She picked up one of their four dinner plates, holding it high above the tiled kitchen floor. Loosening her grip, she let it fall through her fingers, watching as it dropped in seconds to the floor, shattering fragments across her feet and over towards the door, the noise of it breaking echoing around her.