Page 4 of Once Upon a Midnight Clear

“Ella!Where is my breakfast?”

Ella hurried back up the stairs to her stepmother’s room, her chest heaving a bit and her legs burning from her brief sprint. Jet had curled up next to her in the bed, eyeing the breakfast tray.

“Your newspaper, stepmother.”

She scowled as she snatched it from Ella’s hands, then opened it with a snap. She glowered at her over the edge of the paper.

“What are you gawking at, girl? Don’t you have chores?”

Another quick curtsy. “Yes, Stepmother.”

“ELLA!”Lucinda shouted again.

Ella hurried back down the stairs to the kitchen. As she arrived, the other two bells were ringing. One for Lucinda and one for Daniella. She quickly made their breakfast trays. It was a balancing act, but she managed to carry both at the same time back up the stairs. By the time she arrived at the landing, her legs were burning and her arms ached. She used her elbow to push open the door to Lucinda’s room.

“There you are! You lazy thing.”

Lucinda might have been pretty if not for her ugly personality. She had unruly red hair, bright blue eyes, a bulbous nose, which Ella assumed she got from her father, a square chin, and a face rather like a horse. She was tall and lanky and flat chested. Her taste in gowns was ostentatious in bright, horrid colors. And while her stepmother gave her singing lessons, the girl couldn’t carry a tune for anything.

“Good morning, Lucinda.”

“About time you came. I was about to waste away to nothing!”

Ella resisted the urge to roll her eyes as she placed the serving tray on Lucinda’s lap. She hurried out of the room to avoid any more chastising. At Daniella’s room, she knocked once and then pushed open the door. Daniella was unlike her sister. Her black hair was long, her eyes the color of coal. She had a long, thin nose much like her mother’s that gave her a pinched expression and a nasal sound to her voice. She was plump around the middle and short. Her taste in clothes was somewhat subdued compared to her sister, but she still favored bright colors in loud patterns.

“Good morning, Daniella.”

“You’re late,” the girl snapped. “And why does Lucinda always get her breakfast first? It’s not fair.”

As the youngest, Daniella often felt as though she was slighted. Ella said nothing as she placed the tray on the girl’s lap and then scurried out of the room.

“You didn’t open my drapes!” Daniella shouted.

Ella halted and immediately returned to the room. She pushed aside the heavy velvet draperies on the one window, letting the morning sun into the shadowy confines of the room. When she shoved open the drapes, dust motes danced in the slashes of sunlight.

“When are you going to clean my drapes?” the girl complained and then sneezed. “See what it does to me?”

“Tomorrow, Daniella.”

“I think you should do ittoday.”

But today was market day. “I will try.”

“If you don’t do it, I’ll tell my mother!” It was always her go-to threat.

“Yes, Daniella.”

Ella understood that was the only correct response when it came to those threats. She nodded and hurried out of the room before she was assigned more chores that weren’t on her list today.

She scurried back down to the kitchen. Once there, she put on her walking shoes, threw her threadbare shawl around her shoulders and tied a kerchief over her hair. She snatched up the small basket she used for vegetables and fruit, but when she headed for the backdoor, her stepmother rang the servant’s bell again. It was a never-ending cycle with them.

Ella removed the shawl and the kerchief and placed the basket on the counter. She returned to her stepmother’s room to collect her empty breakfast dishes.

“Ella, the paper says there’s a royal decree.”

She tapped the news print with her index finger, the blue jeweled ring glittering in the early morning light. Mischievous excitement crossed her stepmother’s features.

“There’s to be a royal Christmas ball in one week’s time in which the prince will select his bride from all the eligible maidens of the kingdom. All are invited!”

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