Free Her Wyoming Man by Cheryl St.john Page B

difficult to wake.”
    “Yes,” she answered immediately, but the thought terrified her. “I’ll go check on her.”
    Nathan thanked her and headed down the stairs.
    Ella approached the nursery, where she tapped on the partially open door. “Grace, are you awake?”
    Hesitantly, she entered. All three beds were empty and unmade. Puzzled, she saw no one, but then heard a sound that came from behind a privacy screen. Moving toward it, she walked around the side and stopped short.
    Grace, hair mussed, nightdress hiked, sat on a miniature wooden chair that housed a chamber pot. She gazed up at Ella with wide sleepy blue eyes.
    “Oh.” Ella took a step back. “I didn’t know where you were, but I see you’re awake.”
    Grace unconcernedly scratched her head and finished her business, then stood and padded back into the room, where she pointed to an armoire constructed of golden oak.
    Ella opened it to discover an array of dresses. “Do you want to select your dress for today?”
    Grace touched the hem of a blue garment, and Ella took it from its wooden hanger. “It’s lovely.” She opened narrow drawers on the side of the piece of furniture and located underclothing. “Let’s see if you have warm water.”
    Grace stood beside the low washstand as though waiting.
    Ella tested the water in the pitcher, finding it warm, then poured some into the bowl and handed Grace the dry washrag.
    Grace looked at it and handed it back.
    Ella soaked and wrung it and extended it again.
    Grace just looked at her.
    Finally comprehending that she was supposed to wash the little girl, she did so. Grace blinked as the cloth touched her face, but she studied Ella solemnly.
    “There.” Ella hung the cloth to dry and helped her change into her clothing, kneeling to work on her stockings and help her with her shoes. At last, she looked at Grace’s tangled hair and sighed. “Where’s your hairbrush?”
    Grace pointed to a bureau drawer.
    “All right then.” Ella located the items she needed and set about gently working knots from her hair and dressing it in two neat braids. She kept up a steady stream of one-sided dialogue as she worked, finally standing back to look at her handiwork.
    Grace was a lovely child, ivory-skinned and rosy-cheeked. She gave Ella a bashful smile that created dimples just like Christopher’s. “All finished. You did well at selecting your own clothing,”
    They descended the stairs together and Grace led the way to the dining room. “There’s my pretty girl,” Nathan said to his daughter.
    Ella cringed at the comment. He meant well, and it was true, Grace was a fair child, but emphasis on appearance made Ella uncomfortable. In Ella’s experience, praise for beauty only reduced a person to an object for another’s pleasure.
    Once they’d eaten breakfast, Nathan wished Ella a good day, kissed Grace and Robby and left to take Christopher to school and go to his office. Ella helped Charlotte with the dishes.
    “What is the normal routine for the remainder of the day?” she asked when Mrs. Shippen arrived.
    “The children occupy themselves with their toys while I make beds and gather the laundry,” she answered. “At noon I prepare them lunch, and then they nap in the afternoon.”
    “I’m not sure what’s expected of me,” Ella said with discomfort.
    “I was here when the first Mrs. Lantry was alive,” Mrs. Shippen said. “She occupied herself with the children most of the time. Otherwise she read and sewed. On rare occasions she joined the other wives for luncheons or tea.”
    Grace and Robby seemed surprised to see Ella enter the nursery. Robby set down his wooden block and ran over to her. “Read to Robby?”
    “I’d love to read to you. But let’s make your beds first.”
    He did his best to help her pull up and straighten sheets and blankets. He turned and grabbed a rag doll and struggled to climb on Grace’s bed, mussing it again, but proudly placed the doll on her pillow and climbed