by Sky Sommers
‘What? Take away food and lodging?’
‘I mean the lovely things Mellie gets her, takes credit for that we pay for.’
‘I know you agreed to be the necessary evil, but have you considered easing up a little bit?’ The pixie asked.
‘But she’s draining me dry without any gratitude! Without any positive emotions coming my way. And do you know what it feels like to be drained dry on a couple of hours of sleep that I get every single night?’ I sighed. ‘I feels like it’s someone else doing the yelling and I want to slap the silly girl sometimes, that’s how!’
‘You made a choice, sweetie. You agreed to the terms. It’s not like you didn’t benefit,’ Loretta says.
‘A choice? Terms? Benefits? I got more mouths to feed, more fights to fight, more work that keeps me last to bed and first one up…’
‘That is not the choice or terms or benefits I’m talking about,’ Loretta says, narrowing her eyes as the landau comes to a stop.
‘I know. I wanted Henry. I got him. Just like I got the rest of them kids as a throw-in bargain and now am dealing with that too.’
‘Henry?’ The pixie looked puzzled. ‘Hon, how much do you actually remember about the deal you made…?’
I cut her off with a wave of my hand. ‘Plenty. That is beside the point. Did anybody ask me if I KNEW how to deal with teenagers? Did anybody bother to check if I was ever going to be a good stepmother or just live up to the horrible reputation us stepmothers have? No. I just had to sink or swim.’ I slide down, tenderly lifting sleeping Henry onto my hip. ‘Well, this is me. Swimming. If being a good parent hasn’t worked. I’ll be a horrible one. No more missus nice guy. Tough love it is. See you, Loretta!’ I say, throw the reins around a tree branch and walk off, leaving the pixie dumbstruck.
‘Your experiences as an Ella make you a perfect godmother,’ Loretta beams at me, mischief in her purple eye.
Ella
Still Friday, May 3rd
OMG. OMG. OMG.
It’s almost midnight and someone is at the door, rattling the handle.
I insisted on getting a separate room at the hotel, although nobody thought to offer it to me. Turns out John’s family doesn’t have a house in Ailmsworth. Well, they do, but it’s being remodelled or something. Why invite guests to stay in such a case, is beyond me.
I thought Mellie would show up for dinner. She never did. She left me in the lurch! If I didn’t know she wants the best for me - and has a very strange way of showing it - I would start suspecting Mellie doesn’t care what happens to me. At all.
John’s father kept topping my goblet up, but I used the trick Grace taught us. One goblet of water for every glass of wine. Pretty soon I was near bursting, excused myself and went to bed.
The door handle rattles again.
‘John, is that you?’ I call out.
The rattling stops.
I don’t think it was John. In the morning, I’ll have to tell John and his father to find us a more reputable hotel. If some stranger just tried to force their way into my room while I was sleeping, then I can’t stay here! That’s why a girl should have a chaperone staying in the same room! Thanks, Mellie!
Chapter 15. The Stand-off
Grace
In the town square, I scan the open shops, trying to gauge what would take our Ella’s fancy. I notice a familiar youth skulking off from a lingerie shop.
Oh, lordy.
Is this a before or after perk?
My blood boils and I hop Henry on my hip, trying to steady myself.
I head over and as I enter, I hear the end of the lecture given by a man towering and all but salivating over Ella.
‘Come on, young lady, you are here as our guest and I have seen you wear skimpier things at the restaurant,’ the old lech is telling Ella, while the wench of this rather dubious-looking clothing boutique is dangling a lacy see-through nightie in front of both of them. ‘Go put it on, be a sport!’
‘She will do no such thing,’ I say and grab hold of Ella’s arm, seeing relief pour almost physically out of her along with the breath she was holding.
‘Mi-mistress Goodall…’ the aristo stammers and blanches as the wench disappears into the back room.
‘Duchess Goodall to you, Baron,’ I tell him and whisper to Henry, ‘Close your ears, darling.’
When he does, I zero in on the lech, ‘You,’ I nod at the gauze camisole, ‘Whoever the hell you are. Have the nerve to offer my stepdaughter something only your whore would wear…’
‘Now hang on, lady…’ he starts when I put up my hand to silence him.
‘Duchess, actually, but I’m willing to forget that for a moment because I’m in the mood to kick your teeth in.’
The aristo pales and sucks in his breath.
‘But I would have to put the baby down to throw a good punch and you, the coward that you are, might be long gone by then.’
The aristo’s face goes patchy as he clenches his jaw. ‘I don’t have to listen…’
‘NO! You WILL listen to what I have to say whether you want it or not after what you just pulled. It’s either that or the teeth-kicking. You pick.’
He halts mid-step.
‘Thank you for teaching Ella a very valuable lesson of whom to trust and who, despite knowing better, would jump at the chance to take advantage of an innocent young girl. Lesson learnt.’ I look at Ella and she nods, eyes downcast.
‘And as a courtesy and in gratitude for this lesson, I will NOT tell the king of your shenanigans,’ I say, noticing with satisfaction the last of the blood draining from the man’s face at the mention of our beloved monarch. ‘And as a courtesy and in gratitude for this lesson I will also tell you right now that should you have the understandable inclination to come and enjoy our most delicious fine dining, then please bear in mind that I am able to spike only selected meals of selected customers with arsenic in a way that will not detract from their taste in any way.’ I smile.
He blinks, looking puzzled.
‘Dumbing it down: you come to my restaurant again and it will be the last meal you will ever eat. Utterly delicious, but the VERY last meal, do you understand me?’ I say and he nods.
With my mouth, I nudge Henry’s hands from his ears and smile at him. ‘Mama is done yelling at the bad man.’
When I turn to exit, with Henry still perched on my hip and holding Ella by the arm, I see John, standing in the doorway, holding three melting ice-creams. ‘John,’ I look him in the eye, ‘you are no longer welcome at our house. Ever. Dismissed.’
For a while, Ella and I walk the street in silence, with me shifting Henry upwards on my hip every once in a while.
He’s getting heavy.
I glance at her.
Biting her lips, eyes red, looking stubborn as a mule.
This one will not be fainting any time soon.
I release her arm. There’s no point in dragging her, she can walk herself.
‘Explain yourself,’ I demand.
‘Godmother thought this would be a good idea to…to…’
‘To have his father accept you and get John to propose,’ I finish for her, grimacing.
‘Yes!’ she says, biting her lips. ‘How he got the wrong idea, is beyond me…’
I stop. ‘You are not serious. It is beyond you how a grown man would try to seduce a girl his son is not really interested in?’
Ella glares at me. ‘John said he wanted to marry me!’
I roll my eyes. ‘He has known you for how long?’
‘Ever since we started school.’
‘And he has show romantic interest in you for how long?’
‘One month.’
‘Any chance he broke up with his steady girlfriend just before?’
Ella huffs.
‘He told you he loves
you and dragged you to the seaside without a chaperone?’
‘Not in so many words… but he did say he was going to introduce me to his father so he could ask permission to marry me.’
I bet he did.
‘And Mellie was supposed to come along! She was invited!’
‘But Mellie didn’t go and you still went without a guardian present! Tell me one thing, stupid girl - did you or did you not sleep with either one of them?’ I ask sternly.
Sorry, chica, time for tough love.
‘What? No! I mean on Friday, when we arrived, we had a festive dinner and the baron was topping up my wine goblet rather enthusiastically… All this time I thought he was being hospitable… Well, I was drinking a few sips of wine and then a glass of water and then another few sips and another glass of water, like you’ve taught us when the clients start insisting we have a drink with them, and pretty soon I was full on food and water and went back to my room. Someone came knocking, but I didn’t open the door! On Saturday, we were just walking near the sea-side, enjoying ourselves and had dinner again in the evening… Until today, I never imagined John’s father was interested in me THAT way,’ Ella pulls a face, ‘He sent John to get us all ice cream…’ Ella jabbers.
‘To get you alone,’ I interject.
‘And then he just dragged me in there and…’
I look at her and see the waterworks, runny mascara and all.
‘I see,’ I say. ‘So, nothing happened?’
‘Nothing, I swear!’ Ella professes.
‘So, neither of them got any on Friday, the son didn’t get any yesterday and the father decided to try again today,’ I summarised.
‘Grace!’ Ella sounds shocked.
‘Don’t you ‘Grace’ me.’
I let her walk off her anger.
‘Whose idea was it to start…’ dating ‘the courtship?’
‘John’s.’
‘But you were interested in Simon for a while.’
‘He was interested in me.’
‘And then John showed up again?’
Ella is biting her lips. ‘He told me his father invited us to their house at the seaside. Except when we got there, they took rooms at the hotel.’
‘And that didn’t tip you off that the old lech was maybe going to try something while he had you away from your home and parents?’ I ask, rolling my eyes again.
‘I thought this was pre-approval. That John wanted his father to get to know me better. That his father’s approval would be good, if John would be allowed to pop the question.’
‘Darling, John is very very VERY far from popping any questions besides the improper ones. He hasn’t done any wooing. No wooing, no ‘popping the question’. How your Godmother thought this was a good idea…’
Ella sniffs, ‘She suggested I lead John on, spike his drink, make sure he wakes up next to me and she assured me that then he would have to pop the question. She even gave me the sleeping potion. I just…I changed my mind…’
Oh, for the love of everything that is magic!
‘Aren’t you tired of Godmother calling the shots and implementing her decisions instead of thinking through what would be right for you?’
She huffs. ‘I thought marrying me off to an aristo would be good for me, for my Godmother and even you!’
‘Not with trickery. Imagine what your life will be when your husband always remembers HOW you got him? I doubt it would be pleasant and I doubt you would want to be a lady at the cost of being miserable your whole life.’
‘You mean more miserable than I am now? At least I’d have money. I’d have respect.’
‘Maybe on the outside. On the inside you would have no respect even for yourself, much less for your husband, They would be complete fools to let you have full access to the money after such stunts. I mean, would you trust someone who tricked you?’ I ask.
‘Oh,’ is all she says.
Now you’re seeing the light, chica.
I decide to drive in the last nail. ‘Would you want to have a loving, loyal husband or a sleaze who in fifteen year’s time will end up seducing your son’s girlfriends?’
Ella glares at me, ‘I haven’t met a single aristo boy who has these high qualities that you deem right for me. They are all…’
‘And knowing that you still maintain that you didn’t see this coming?’ I shake my head. ‘You do realise that it’s your own behaviour that has gotten you into this predicament, don’t you?’
Ella nods, her limp hair sticking to her tear-stained face. ‘But nobody knows, right?’ she asks, looking like a hopeful child.
‘How do you think I knew to come looking for you? Someone saw you leaving with them without a chaperone on Friday and told me. Plenty of people have seen you out and about Ailmsworth with the DeVille men this weekend. Do you think nobody from our neck of the woods vacations or has relatives here and do you believe people don’t talk? How naive are you? We’ll be lucky if after the stunt you’ve just pulled we’ll be able to marry you off at all, girl. Well, maybe to someone whose reputation is already tarnished who wants a pretty wife who will just be grateful he saved her from ill repute…’
‘If all men are disgusting like that, I don’t want to get married at all!’ Ella says.
‘Oh, really?’ I stop and look around. Finding the right street, I drag her there. ‘Henry, close your eyes, let’s play hide and seek with mama. ‘Permit me to show you a possible future, if you carry on as you do and marriage is not on the cards.’
Ladies of the night were walking around half-naked, yawning, scratching themselves in all the right places and doing a roster call of who is still alive.
‘Look around! This is what awaits you if you don’t marry and don’t want to remain a servant girl at the restaurant, living to be an old maid in your father’s household.’
Ella makes herself small and tries to hide behind me.
Henry tries to peek, but I tell him, ‘Not yet, baby, keep hiding from mama. Mama is still looking for you.’
I know I am being cruel and crude, but the girl is so pigheaded she has to see for herself what could be in store.
We’d never turn her out, of course.
Marriage is not her only option.
‘Are you done scaring me? Can we please go back before Father returns?’ Ella pleads into my back. ‘He’s due back any day now, isn’t he?’
‘Now you’re worried that your father might find out,’ I shake my head, exiting the street and dragging her along.
‘Peeka-boo, baby! Mama found you!!!’ I say and my little ray of sunshine laughs, throwing his arms around my neck.
I tell Ella, ‘Our landau is next to the market. We will walk through it and you will be nice to all the stall owners and servers and you will compliment each and every one of them on their produce. If you want this to end well at all.’
Ella mumbles, ‘How is me being nice to them going to help me? Do you mean that if I’m not nice to your business contacts you will tell on me?’ she asks.
Oh for the love of all that is…
‘No. After I arrived, while heading to that damned store, I walked through the market and commented to all stall owners and their servers that I sent you ahead to Ailmsworth to act like a ghost-buyer, so I could assess for a very wealthy client whether the merchants here offer the same kind of good quality and service to everybody or do they treat their customers according to the size of their purse.’
‘How does that help us?’ Ella looks confused.
‘Because if they believe you were here on a buying trip of goods and services and believe that the baron was acting like your chaperone, then unusual as a male chaperone may seem, they will correct anyone who tries to say John and his father brought you here to seduce you. The market folk talk amongst themselves and to the serving folk of the aristos. And aristos do
talk to their serving folk. So, while they all may think I was out of line not going with you on such a test-shopping trip, they will all believe this was a clever plan. You are still purer than snow and nobody but that lech and his son are the wiser. And they won’t say anything, because that lech knows I have the king’s ear.’
‘You do?’ Ella asks. ‘Then maybe you can get me introduced at court?’
‘No,’ I cut her off. ‘You are not getting a treat after I’ve just saved you from the stupidest thing you’ve ever done.’
She glares at me.
Yes, there go your dreams of being closer to that prince you used to draw.
Before we exit the red light district, I halt, straighten Ella’s dress, sash and all, wipe her tears with a handkerchief and tell her to pinch her cheeks. ‘Now hold your head high and be pleasant. We’re almost at the market.’
Two hours later, the sun is high and Henry is asleep on my hip again. I send Ella off to our landau with all the goods we had to buy, asking if one of the stall owners could spare one or two of their sons to help Ella.
Three boys are lined up to help.
Aged twelve.
Another hour later, when Ella has nodded off at the back of the landau amidst the purchases with Henry nestled in the crook of her arm, I hear a ‘Pssst!’
‘Adrenalin abated? How’s the anger?’ The pixie whispers.
‘Hello, Loretta and thank you! I wouldn’t have found her without you,’ I say, steering the horse around a stone in the road.
‘Are you still angry?’ Loretta asks and I shake my head. ‘Who knew anger could be useful, though? Thanks for letting me vent before!’