Romance: Detective Romance: A Vicious Affair (Victorian Regency Intrigue 19th England Romance) (Historical Mystery Detective Romance) (121 page)

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 isa 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.”

Peter didn’t respond even with a “hello” until his father pressed down firmly on his shoulders. Then he whined out a hello and moved to the side as if he was done speaking for the day, thank you.

“This is Freddie. He’s 9.”

Freddie held out his hand to Ella, which she half-expected from the look
on
his bright little face. He was an outgoing child, probably always getting into mischief. His smile was wide for her and very genuine. “I’ve been telling papa for ages that I’m not Freddie
anymore,
” he said. “My name is Fred. That’s what I want to
be called
.”

She took his hand and shook it, giving him a sober look. “Yes, sir. I can do that.”

He grinned wide. “Thank you, Miss Ella!”

“You are welcome.”

“This is Raymond. He’s twelve.” Andrew put a hand on Raymond’s shoulder and barely pushed him forward. He was a larger boy, looked to
be built
like his father.
He
was going to be a big, strong man in his adulthood. He stood
rigid
and his smile was almost nonexistent.

“Hello, Miss Ella.” He did as he
was told
.

“Hello, Raymond.”

“Okay, the wagon is back this way.” Andrew turned
around,
and they began to walk down the platform in the direction of the steps that led down to the dirt lot surrounding the building.

“I am glad you don’t have an objection to helping me raise my
sons,
” Andrew said, looking down at her. She shook her head and pushed a strand of blond hair back up into her bonnet. “I want you to know that you don’t have to keep those layers on here. Our climate won’t do you well with all those clothes.”

She nodded up at him. “I am happy to hear that.”

“Your bonnet isn’t
necessary,
and you probably won’t need those gloves.”

She grinned and stripped them off her hands, proceeding to her bonnet, which she happily took off and sighed.

Andrew laughed. As they walked, the boys had begun an action-packed game of tag where they ran around and around their father and Ella. She was delighted to see them having fun together. Like her brothers, they seemed to get along very well. That was an indication to her that their father had treated them well. She didn’t ask what happened to their mother. She assumed that would come out in due time.

Carl was running in the smallest circles, narrowly darting around his brothers when they came to “tag” him. As he ran around Ella, he reached out and brushed his hands on her skirts lightly. She noticed and smiled wide. The third time he came around that way, she hung her hand down so that would brush it when he went past. He did so and spun around to stare at her.

When she laughed, he laughed
too
and continued running.

Adorable! She thought.

*****

The house was large and roomy. There were only a few pieces of furniture in each room and several colorful rugs on the
floor,
but it did seem there hadn’t been a woman living there for some time. She wondered how long it had been when she went in
through
the front door and saw the layers of dust on the furniture and window sills. It wasn’t untidy. In fact, everything was in its place. But it was dusty and looked depressing. She wanted
to immediately throw
open the curtains and let in the light but feared it would only show the dust in the air.

It was
fairly late,
but Andrew had kept a pot of beef stew on the fire, waiting for her to get there to feed them all.