Page 31 of The Duke's Wicked Widow
And of course Ellie worried for her sister,of course. But this new development was the news she hadn’t known she’d been dreading; if Demon wouldn’t countenance Ellie worrying her sister via a letter, hecertainlywouldn’t invite her and Merida to stay with them in Scotland.
She really had no place to go.
Elliehadto convince Fawkes to make her pregnant. If she couldn’t succeed at something so simple, she and Merida would be doomed.
“Wanna hear a joke?”
Ellie started, realizing her moping had meant she’d missed the arrival of her stepdaughter. “Merida! Good morning!”
She pulled herself upright, doing her best to look as if the weight of the worldwasn’ton her shoulders.
The little girl nodded distractedly and climbed up into the chair opposite Ellie’s desk. She shifted her knees under her, planted her hands on the desk, and leaned over the spread of papers.
“Wanna hear a joke?” she repeated. “It’s a new one!”
Merida was, possibly, the worst joke-teller in the history of bad joke tellers. But she always made herself laugh, and Ellie often found herself laughing at her stepdaughter’s sheer joy.
So she pushed aside the papers, sat back in her chair, steepled her hands in front of her as if this was a serious business meeting, and nodded. “I am prepared.”
“What do you call a fly without wings?”
Ellie squinted, pretending to try to reason her way through the riddle, then heaved a defeated sigh. “I do not know. Whatdoyou call a fly without wings?”
“A walk!”
Merida exploded into laughter, falling over sideways on the desk and holding her stomach, and Ellie had to chuckle as well.
“Where did you learn that one?” As if she had to ask.
“Matthews!” The old man had a soft spot for Merida. “Wanna hear another one?”
“Of course.” Ellie smiled at her stepdaughter’s enthusiasm.
“Knock-knock.”
“…Come in?”
Merida righted herself with a roll of her eyes. “No,Ellie, you gotta saywho’s there.Knock-knock.”
Teasing the little girl, Ellie called, “The door is open, come in!”
“Ellie!” Merida slid to the ground and planted her hands on her hips with a fierce frown. “Saywho’s there! You gotta say it.”
“Fine.” Smiling, Ellie offered, “Who is there?”
“Notyet.You gotta wait ‘til I sayknock-knock!Then I say who it is, and you repeat it, withwho?after it, because you don’t know my last name. Ready?” The little girl didn’t wait. “Knock-knock!”
Dutifully, Ellie intoned, “Who is there?”
“Interrupting cow.”
What was it she was supposed to say? Oh yes. “Interrupting cow wh—”
“Mooooo!”Merida shrieked happily, bouncing up and down in joy at having caught Ellie in her clever trick.
Chuckling, Ellie opened her arms to her stepdaughter, and when Merida flew into them, gave her a cuddle. “Matthews is teaching you quite a lot of things.”
“Yep. Did you know he can take off his whole hand and fingers? He lost it in the wars!”
