Page 18 of The Forgotten Life of Ella Moon
“I wasn’t eavesdropping, but you know you can’t marryAlbert, right?He’snot meant for you.”
Ella smiled atSissy.Thefluff inSissy’shead was what madeSissywho she was.Anda husband should love that about her.Notwant to break her of it. “Don’tletMrs.Ahear you.”
Sissy scrunched up her nose. “ShethinksIhave a head full of dandelion fluff.Idon’t.”
“Yes,Sis,Iknow.ButIfear she is right about us.Aboutme.Marriageseems to be my only out.”
Sissy sat down next toElla. “WhatifMr.Tenebrisasked you to marry him.Wouldyou?”
Ella thought for a moment. “Hewouldn’t?—”
“Pretend he did,”Sissycut in. “Wouldyou not marry the very handsomeThaneTenebris?Ithink you two would make a stunning couple.Ican almost picture your wedding.”Sissystood and walked over to the flowers. “You’dbe dressed in a gown made of the finest silk.Itwould be the color of the dawn.Ablush of pink.AndMr.Tenebris, tall, dark, and broody in a suit so black the night sky would be envious.Andthere would be so many flowers.Anda field of lavender.Itwould be in your hair and your bouquet.Ican almost smell it.Andyou’d love him.Andhe you.”
Ella closed her eyes, lettingSissy’swords paint the scene.Thesky bruised with night.Thestars watching them. “You’dbe there.Dressedin a gossamer gown so thin it looks like smoke.”Shesmiled at the thought ofThane, his hair still a tangled mess, and he’d kiss her with that perfect mouth of his.Theywould live out their days somewhere warm and filled with all the things she desired.
“Of courseI’dbe there.”Sissysat back down next toElla. “Tellme that doesn’t sound perfect.”
Ella looked down at her hand, the bracelet still missing. “Alldreams are perfect,Sissy.That’swhy they are dreams.”Asmuch as she wantedSissy’sstory to be real, the truth wasThanewould be leaving soon.He’dmove to the next small village or city, searching the faces for his lost love.
Sissy rested her head onElla’sshoulder. “Itwill happen,Ella.Ifeel it in my bones.Youwill marry for the greatest love known to man.Ipromise.Butfirst we may have to work on your cleaning skills.Whyis your room such a mess?”Sissylifted her head.
Ella laughed. “Ilost a bracelet.”
“Really?”SissytookElla’sarm, looking at it. “That’sodd.”
“Is it?”Asmuch asEllawished that somewhere there was a man waiting for her, the truth was it had been a year.AndasThanesaid, too much time had passed.Whoeverloved her would have moved on.Founda new love.AndsoEllamust do the same.
“Yes.”Sissystood, surveying the room. “Theymean something.Nowlet’s get this cleaned up.IfMr.Tenebrissees this, he might think twice about a wedding in a field.”
Ella stood and huggedSissy. “Whateverhappens, promise you’ll always be my friend.”
“I’m not going anywhere.Iwant to watch you get that happy ending.”
As much asEllawanted there to be more between her andThaneor her losing her bracelet to have some deeper meaning, there wasn’t.
She was just a girl like any other.
CHAPTER9
ELLA
Ella wiped down the last table before collecting the dirty linens.Herwrist felt lighter without the bracelet.Shehad torn her room apart.Searchedthe garden and the storeroom.Andnothing.Sissyhad helped her look in the kitchen and dining area.Itwas gone.Thelast ties to her old life were unraveling quicker than she liked.Lastnight she dreamt of a large pile of laundry that needed washing.Thesadness she felt over this loss had turned to loneliness.Noone understood what it was like to lose pieces of who she thought she was to who they wanted her to be.
The only person that might have understood, she had seen very little of since the incident atMr.McCoy’s.Thanenormally left before the evening meal and did not come back until the dawn’s pink light was in the sky.Herarely ate and slept all day.Thefew interactions she had with him were brief, and he always looked exhausted.Hisgray eyes appeared dull in the low evening light.Rivertonwas beating him down.Itwas time for him to leave.Whichwas probably for the best.Hisodd hours attracted more than just her attention.
Since it had been raining for two days, the local men ofRivertonhad nothing better to do but gossip.Theysat around the table, sipping tea and brandy.Theytook bets on how high the river would rise and gave their theories on whoThanewas.Noone had heard of his father’s business.Theywondered if the marshal had been by to question him about thestrangedeaths.Theirtheories made it sound as if no one had ever died inRivertonprior toThaneshowing up.
Ella gathered the last linens and placed another teapot on the table between the men.Theirconversation stopped until she was out of earshot.Shecared little what these small-minded men had to say.Mostof them would die in the house they were born in, and theirfriendswould sit at this table and gossip about them before their body had cooled.
Ella stopped next toSissy, who, along withClara, had been wiping the same table down for the past half hour. “Ihear your nose will grow with every piece of gossip you believe.”
“Hush,”Clarahissed, moving closer to the table of men.
Ella rolled her eyes, taking the tub of dishes to the kitchen.Lillianwas finishing the rolls for the morning. “Thetables are clear.ClaraandSissyshould have most of the wood grain wiped off of them by morning.”
Lillian shook her head, brushing the flour from her hands. “HasMr.Tenebriswoken?Hedidn’t say if he wanted an evening meal.”
“I don’t know.”Eversince her little late-night excursion withThane, everyone assumed he cleared his schedule with her.Clarahated that.
