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She blushes and sets down her knife, swiping a stray strand of hair back with a smile. “As you wish. The young ladies are already up and fed. They’re out back, in case you were looking for them.”
My brows go up dramatically. “They are?”
She nods. “Indeed they are. For what it’s worth, not that anyone asked, but I find that young Ella very charming. She always asks me how things are going every time she sees me and remembers little details from our previous conversations. If I have any say in the matter, I hope you keep her around. For Isla, if nothing else.”
The back of my neck heats. I can’t very well lie to Mrs. Wolf’s face and say that Ella is just here to watch after Isla. So I gave her a little bow and say, “Nice to see you this morning. I’m going to go check on Ella and Isla to make sure that Isla hasn’t driven poor Ella crazy just yet.”
Mrs. Wolf chuckles. “I, I think that is a winning strategy.”
Giving her an uncharacteristic wink, I head out the back door of the castle. Mrs. Wolf stares at me, again startled by my words, and I feel her eyes on my back all the way out the door. I realize that if my long time chef is so surprised by my words, then maybe I am in an unusual mood. I feel a little better, especially when I step outside and find Isla and Ella.
They are drawing on the ancient stone terrace with a big bucket of sidewalk chalk. Nonsensical doodles and rainbows mostly, but they are in the same little space, Isla not minding Ella’s closeness. I hate to even interrupt them and briefly consider backing away and returning to the castle.
Ella stands up, admiring her own work, and out of the corner of her eye she sees me. She straightens herself, brushing off her silky black dress and puts her hands behind her back, as if I require formality.
“Oh Keir,” she says. She looks a little breathless. “We were just working on a mural. I didn’t expect you to even make an appearance today.”
Isla drops her fat piece of pink chalk and stands up, turning to me with a grin. “Daddy! Look what I made!”
She steps back and I move closer, arching my eyebrow at Ella. Ella doesn’t say anything but she does nod to the drawings, which I now see are planets and stars and even an asteroid shooting across the horizontal space.
“This is the night sky that we should be able to see tonight!” Isla declares. She leans over, pointing out several stars. “See? Sagittarius is right here. And over here…” She moves to the other side of the mural. “Here we have the big dipper. You probably know what that is, don’t you?” She looks at Ella, her face serious. “My dad knows everything in the whole world.”
Ella covers the bottom of her face with her hand and nods, but I can tell by her laugh lines around her eyes that she is trying very hard not to laugh out loud.
I shoot a tiny glare her way and turn to Isla. “You made all of this today?”
Isla looks exceedingly pleased. “Yep!” she crows. “I got up extra early and everything.”
Ella cuts me a glance but she’s still smiling. “She woke me up at 4 AM. It’s not as cute as it sounds.”
Smirking at Ella, I take a careful step over to Isla, avoiding the chalk outlines. Extending a hand toward her, I gesture to her, beckoning. She comes into my embrace a little awkwardly, but once she is there, I give her a hard hug. She looks up at me, tossing her fiery red mop back. For a moment, I can see her pride in her work and her excitement to show it to me present in her eyes.
“It’s a really nice mural. It’s well executed, you can see all the stars and planets. Very educational. You must’ve worked hard on it.”
Isla gives me a toothy grin. “Thanks, Dad. Ella helped a little…” She rolls her eyes over to Bella and scrunches up her face. “But it was my idea!”
“I am sure it was. It seems like just the sort of thing that you would do. I’ll tell you what, why don’t you go inside and clean up for breakfast? Ella and I will meet you inside and then we will all eat together. Doesn’t that sound good?”
Isla gives me an uncertain look. She shifts her gaze to Ella and scrunches her brow.
“I guess…” Isla mutters. She dusts off her hands and gives me a final little hug. And then she races inside, leaving all the sidewalk chalk lying on the ground.
When I glance back at Ella, she puts her hands on her hips and frowns at me. “Are you not going to make her clean up her own mess?”
I cast my gaze around the ground. And then I shrug.
“She was excited. I try to encourage that as much as possible. A year ago, this?” I point at the mural. “Would not have happened. So what if I let her get away with a little messiness here and there?”
Ella makes a face and bends down to pick up a piece of chalk. When she straightens her body to throw it in the chalk bucket, she winces and grabs at her knee. I cock my head and watch as she repeats the same thing, bending down, straightening, and wincing a little.
It just so happens that she has a scar running down the middle of her knee, looking as if the wound is a little over a year old maybe.
“Are you okay?” I ask.
Ella puts her hand on her head again and gives me a dead eyed stare. “What makes you think I’m not okay?"
Jerking my head toward her knee, I ask her about it. “I assume that was your career ending injury.”
