by Tia Siren
For the last few years, Ella felt secluded, isolated from the world. The worlds in her books gave her a clear idea of where she wanted to be. She’d read a lot about the growing towns and cities in the west. That was all the way across the country. It was far away from here.
It was far away from her brothers.
The thought made her a little sad. It was useless to even think about it anyway. She wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. You don’t go anywhere unless you have the money to do it. And she had no valuable property to her name.
She heard the sound of her brothers stumbling through the outside door and loudly taking their boots off in the mudroom. They were joking around about something and tumbled into the kitchen, wrestling with each other. She stood up and moved to the cabinet to get out a few glasses for water. They were sure to be thirsty after working hard all morning. They were certainly dusty enough for it.
“You’re such a bum!” Oscar and Dave appeared to be directing their teasing toward Alfred, the youngest. Oscar gave Alfred a shove and the three of them laughed, pulling their hats from their heads.
“Hello, sis!” Dave came over to where Ella was pouring water into the three cups from the cool pitcher. He took one of the cups from the counter and gave Ella a kiss on the cheek. “How’s your day been? Another long one of cooking and cleaning for ungrateful brats?”
Ella giggled, giving him a narrow look. Her green eyes were sparkling. “I certainly have. How did you know?’
He shrugged. “It’s what you usually do.”
He went back to the table and sat in one of the chairs. “That’s too true, my brother,” Oscar said.
“Don’t you think it’s about time you got yourself a life, sister?” Alfred said.
“What would you know about having a life, Al?” Dave said. “I’m older than you, and I know you don’t know anything about getting a life.”
“She needs a life outside this farm, outside this house.”
Dave nodded, moving his eyes back to his sister, who was setting the cups down in front of her other two brothers. She went back for her own drink. “I agree with you, Al. She is in need of controlling her own life.”
“You know Papa isn’t going to let me go anywhere. I’ll be taking care of him until long after you three are gone.”
“I’m planning on getting married next year,” Dave said. “You know that. It could be anytime that these guys leave this place. You can’t stay here. You can’t let Papa force you to stay here.”
“I am not sure I have much of a choice.”
The three boys didn’t look at her, and there was a quiet pause in the conversation. “Well, before we start feeling blue,” Dave said. “How are you doing with your new book, Alice’s Wonderland, is it?”
“Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” Ella corrected with a nod, sitting next to Oscar. “I’m about done with it.”
“Are you enjoying it?”
“Yes, very much.”
“What have you got for when you’re done?” Oscar asked, giving her a narrow look she didn’t understand.
“I…I don’t have another book to read right now. I reckon I will be reduced to reading the newspaper.”
Dave gave her a big smile. “I think we can remedy that situation for you, sis.” He nodded at Alfred, who jumped up with a delighted look on his face. “We’ve got something for you.”
Ella felt a bit of excitement. It was rare that she felt that way. She smiled wide and assumed she wouldn’t be reading the newspaper when she was done with Alice.
After a few moments, Alfred returned with a book wrapped in brown paper and a string. When he offered it to her, she took it and held it in front of her as if it were made of fragile crystal. “Oh, boys!” She said.
“Go ahead and unwrap it, sis!” Oscar said in such an excited voice; it was almost like it was his present she was receiving. She smiled at him.
“It’s not my birthday, boys, what is this for?”
“You are stuck in this house too much, Ella,” Oscar said. “You cook and clean up after us and do everything. We don’t want you to feel unappreciated.
“How could I possibly? It’s my job.”
“That’s just it, Ella,” Dave said, leaning forward. “It isn’t your job. It was mama’s job and papa’s job. Mama can’t do it, but papa shouldn’t have made you do it. He’s never going to get married again; that’s obvious. He will never get over mama. But he has made you into a housekeeper. You aren’t a housekeeper, and we want you to know we love you, and we’re grateful for you.”
Ella pulled in a deep breath of emotion. “Oh, thank you,” She whispered.
“Now will you please open that up so we can all see your face?”
She smiled so big; her cheeks were hurting from it. She felt tears come to her eyes but blinked them away so she could examine the book they had gotten her. She gently peeled back the paper, looking up every now and then at each of her brothers. They were watching her face.
When she had the paper off, she turned the book over to read the title. Her eyes widened, and she ran her fingers over the leather-bound cover. “Oh, boys! Oh, thank you!” It was a dark brown book, and the title was written in gold embossed letters. “A Study in Scarlet.” She read aloud. “By Arthur Conan Doyle. Oh, my. This is so beautiful!”
She got up and wrapped her arms around each of her brother’s shoulders. Each of them gave her a kiss on the cheek in return. “I can’t believe it. Such a nice looking book!” She sat back down in her chair and scanned the cover again, turning the book over one more time before opening it and flipping through the pages. She loved the scent of a newly printed book. She never cared if there was a tear or a mistake in the book. She was just glad to have it, as long as she could read it. “Thank you,” she said again.
“I’ve been thinking, Ella, about your situation here,” Dave spoke up. She looked at him. “You really want to leave, don’t you?”
She lowered her eyes. “It’s not that I don’t want to take care of you…”
“No more of that.” Dave lifted one hand and slapped it on the table, getting her attention. “We’ve already established that the three of us are no longer in need of your servantry.”
She pressed her lips together, trying not to tell him that servantry wasn’t a word. She understood his meaning.
“She’s not a servant!” Alfred said, resentfully, glaring at his brother.
Dave nodded. “Exactly my point, brother.” He looked back to Ella. “You aren’t a servant here. You need to go live in the West like you want to.”
“I just don’t see how that’s possible,” Ella replied.
“I think I know how you can do it.” Dave leaned further out over the table and pulled the folded up newspaper to himself. “I saw something in here that I want to point out to you.”
He snapped the paper open and folded it so that the small section of ads was displayed. He got up and strolled to Ella’s chair, leaning in between her and Oscar to lay the paper down on the table in front of her. She looked down at it and followed his finger when he pointed. She leaned forward to read it.
“A man in Nevada is looking for someone to come and help him raise his four sons,” she said, summarizing the ad. “You think I should…” She looked back up at him with wide eyes. “I…I don’t think I could do that! That’s so far away!”
“That’s what you want!” Dave said, encouragingly. “That’s your dream! Follow your dream!”
Ella looked back down and picked the paper up to look at the ad again as Dave went back to his seat.
“That’s an insane idea!” Oscar said, leaning over to read over Ella’s shoulder. “She can’t just up and leave like that. She doesn’t even know this guy. What if he’s some weird character or he’s violent or something?”
Dave nodded. “Those are all options, but if you want to get anywhere in this life, you have to take risks. If you want to live your dreams, you definitely have to take risks. Well, she wan
ts to be free of this house and Papa and live in the West. That advertisement is probably her only chance to make that happen.”
Oscar frowned, crossing his arms over his chest and sitting back in his chair. “I don’t like the idea. I don’t think she should be so far away with only a stranger for company. And she’ll be doing the same thing! Watching and raising more boys!”
“I…” Ella spoke up, interrupting Oscar. “I think I want to do this, Dave. I think I should answer this ad.” She could suddenly see a bright future stretching out in front of her. She hadn’t felt that excited in some time.
They heard the sound of their father coming in the front door. She was suddenly a bit fearful and went through her chores in her mind to make sure she had gotten to them all. She got up quickly to take the ham and cheese biscuits from the warming cabinet and pulled out a cup to give her father his noontime coffee.
“I’ll go see to him,” Dave said, scooting out the door quickly. They could hear him greet their father in the hallway. “Papa! How was your day?”
They couldn’t hear their father’s reply.
Oscar got up and moved to stand next to Ella. She looked up at him.
“I will be the one who is blue when you leave, sister.” Oscar leaned to give her a kiss on the cheek. She felt a warm wash of love for him and put her arms around him for a hug.
Chapter Two
The train rumbled along at a fearful speed. Ella had never been on a train or in anything that moved faster than the horses she rode. She watched the scenery moving past with amazement, unable to focus on anything for very long before it was gone. Except for the mountains in the distance. She tried counting them at first but because tired and anxious from that so she stopped.
She was not alone in the car. There was a family across from her, three children and their mother. The grandmother and grandfather were apparently the older couple that had chosen the seats next to her on the red velvet-cushioned bench. The children were rowdy and talkative. Ella had already found out that their father was in the military, and they were going to meet him where he was stationed in Arizona. They were anxious to be there and bothered their mother fairly consistently about how long it would be until they got there.
Their mother was beginning to look a little haggard, although Ella thought she was doing a wonderful job with so many children under the age of ten. When the train moved into a tunnel that would go through a very long mountain, the children became anxious.
“Mama, how long is it going to be dark out there?”
“Are we in a mountain, mama? Is the mountain going to come down and trap us in here?”
“The mountain is going to collapse! We’re going to be trapped!”
“Now see, Robert, you’ve gone and frightened your little sister. No, Penny, the mountain isn’t going to collapse. We’re going to be fine. Everything will be fine. This is a strong tunnel. Don’t you worry now.”
“Excuse me.” Ella sat forward and said quietly. “I see your children are anxious. I would love to read to them to calm them down if you don’t object.”
“If you would like to, I would be very appreciative.” Their mother sounded extremely relieved. “I’m Rachel. These are my children, Joseph, Robert, and Penelope. They are, as you can see, very tired at the moment. A good story would do them some good. What do you have to read to them?”
Ella reached into her sewing bag, where she had tucked both of her newer books. She decided that Alice’s Adventures would be more appropriate for the small children than the Sherlock Holmes story. It was full of imagination and colorful characters. She had enjoyed it so much, she wanted to share it with them.
“Have you seen this book before?” The children had settled down and were watching what she was doing, curiously. All three shook their heads.
“What’s it about?” Robert asked. She grinned at him.
“It’s about a little girl who follows a white rabbit into the woods and then falls down a hole, and when she wakes up, she’s in a brand new place with talking animals and everything!”
“I want to hear it!” The little boy demanded.
She nodded. “And so you shall.”
She opened the book and read to them until they had to get off at their stop in Arizona. They stayed still and quiet the whole time, intrigued by the story. Their mother was even able to shut her eyes for a few minutes. Ella marveled at the way she seemed to sleep sitting up without her children even noticing.
She received three small hugs before the family departed and the mother and grandparents looked at her with grateful eyes, thanking her for keeping them entertained almost the entire way to their new home. She was left with a satisfying feeling of accomplishment.
She continued reading once she had the car to herself. It didn’t matter if she’d only finished the book a few weeks ago. She still enjoyed it.
Ella was distracted from the book with wandering thoughts of what this man and his four small sons would be like. According to the one and only letter she had received in response to her own initial correspondence answering the ad, his name was Andrew Robinson. He worked in a carpentry shop in town. She couldn’t tell whether he owned the business or was an employee there. He said that his ranch was big enough for all of them to live in comfortably and that he’d been having some trouble finding someone who was willing to take care of so many small boys. His request was for her to be kind to them, understanding and compassionate to their troubles.
He sounded nice and reasonably intelligent. She only noticed a few errors in his grammar and spelling. She hoped that the boys she would be raising were well-educated or on their way to being so. If they weren’t, she would be glad to help out. A good education, as far as she was concerned, was one of the cornerstones to growing up to be a successful adult. It was what she had taught her younger brothers, and they seemed to be much the better for it.
She caught herself staring at the pages on her book instead of actually reading the words. She smiled. It was going to be a brand new life for her. A brand new life.
When the train pulled into the station, Ella was ready to get off. She had been sitting there for hours, only getting up once to go to the dining car and get a few pieces of fruit. She was craving an orange, but they didn’t have one.
She picked up her sewing bag once the train was at a complete stop and the attendant opened the door.
“This is Elko?” she confirmed with the attendant, who just nodded and smiled at her. She could see the appreciative look on his face and felt a bit flattered. She didn’t feel young and pretty. She felt like an old mother.
She stepped down onto the wooden platform and looked both ways. There were quite a few people around her, more than she expected. Families were seeing other family members off on whatever trip they were making to their wherever destinations. She felt like her bag was heavy all of a sudden and felt a little overheated.
She took out her hand fan and flipped it open, fanning herself with hot air. She laughed a little and continued to fan even though the breeze it created was not very cool. When she didn’t see a man with four boys around him coming her way, she strolled over to a white painted wooden bench and sat down to wait. She was sure she wouldn’t miss him when he finally arrived. She had no idea what time it was, and there were no clocks anywhere around. A train station attendant approached her after a moment and inquired as to whether or not she was okay.
“You look a bit flushed, Miss. Are you all right?” he asked. He was an older gentleman with a thin face and a ready smile.
“I am.” She looked up at him. “I am just waiting for the man I came here to be with to come and fetch me. I’m sure he’ll be along any time now.”
“Yes, Miss.” The attendant nodded. Ella caught a glimpse of his shiny nametag, which said “Alfred.”
“Alfred is my younger brother’s name,” She said in surprise. He grinned.
“Well, he must be wonderful then!”
They both laughed, and the
old man wandered off.
She looked back down the platform when she heard the sound of little running feet. It was a familiar sound, and she knew what it was immediately. She stood up when she saw the family approaching. She greeted them with a smile, looking up at her soon-to-be husband, admiringly. He was a handsome man with dark hair cut short, a trim beard and mustache and a big, broad chest. He smiled at her, and she was happy to see a row of healthy looking teeth. They were so healthy; she wondered how he did it.
He held out his hand, which she took. “You are Ella Barrett from Virginia?”
“I am. You are Andrew Robinson?”
“I am. We’re glad to have you here. Boys, say ‘hi’ to Miss Ella. She will be taking care of you from now on. Papa’s going to marry her and make her his wife. Do you understand?”
The older boys nodded, but Ella could tell that Carl, the youngest, had no clue what his father was saying and only nodded after he saw his brother’s doing so.
What an agreeable, adorable little boy! She thought.
Andrew pushed each of his sons out in front of him as he introduced them. He caught Carl first and held him so that he would be still in front of Ella.
“Say Hello to Miss Ella, Carl. Carl is six.” Andrew said gently.
Carl dropped his eyes to the ground and barely whispered out, “Hello.”
“Well, hello Carl!” Ella said in an excited voice. “How are you today?”
“Tell her you’re doing fine, Carl.” Andrew prompted him. He gave Ella a glance. “He’s a little touchy with strangers right now.”
Ella nodded. “I can understand that. Well, I’m going to help Papa take good care of you, dear. I promise.”
Carl chuckled and began to circle his father and brothers in an all-out running face against himself around and around his father and brothers.
“This is Peter. He’s seven.”
“Hello, Peter.”