She got up and wrapped her arms around each of her brother’s shoulders. Each of them gave her a kiss on the cheek in return. “I can’t believe it. Such a nice looking book!” She sat back down in her chair and scanned the cover again, turning the book over one more time before opening it and flipping through the pages. She loved the scent of a newly printed book. She never cared if there was a tear or a mistake in the book. She was just glad to have it, as long as she could read it. “Thank you,” she said again.
“I’ve been thinking, Ella, about your situation here,” Dave spoke up. She looked at him. “You really want to leave, don’t you?”
She lowered her eyes. “It’s not that I don’t want to take care of you…”
“No more of that.” Dave lifted one hand and slapped it on the table, getting her attention. “We’ve already established that the three of us are no longer in need of your servantry.”
She pressed her lips together, trying not to tell him that servantry wasn’t a word. She understood his meaning.
“She’s not a servant!” Alfred said, resentfully, glaring at his brother.
Dave nodded. “Exactly my point, brother.” He looked back to Ella. “You aren’t a servant here. You need to go live in the West like you want to.”
“I just don’t see how that’s possible,” Ella replied.
“I think I know how you can do it.” Dave leaned further out over the table and pulled the folded up newspaper to himself. “I saw something in here that I want to point out to you.”
He snapped the paper open and folded it so that the small section of ads was displayed. He got up and strolled to Ella’s chair, leaning in between her and Oscar to lay the paper down on the table in front of her. She looked down at it and followed his finger when he pointed. She leaned forward to read it.
“A man in Nevada is looking for someone to come and help him raise his four sons,” she said, summarizing the ad. “You think I should…” She looked back up at him with wide eyes. “I…I don’t think I could do that! That’s so far away!”
“That’s what you want!” Dave said, encouragingly. “That’s your dream! Follow your dream!”
Ella looked back down and picked the paper up to look at the ad again as Dave went back to his seat.
“That’s an insane idea!” Oscar said, leaning over to read over Ella’s shoulder. “She can’t just up and leave like that. She doesn’t even know this guy. What if he’s some weird character or he’s violent or something?”
Dave nodded. “Those are all options, but if you want to get anywhere in this life, you have to take risks. If you want to live your dreams, you definitely have to take risks. Well, she wants to be free of this house and Papa and live in the West. That advertisement is probably her only chance to make that happen.”
Oscar frowned, crossing his arms over his chest and sitting back in his chair. “I don’t like the idea. I don’t think she should be so far away with only a stranger for company. And she’ll be doing the same thing! Watching and raising more boys!”
“I…” Ella spoke up, interrupting Oscar. “I think I want to do this, Dave. I think I should answer this ad.” She could suddenly see a bright future stretching out in front of her. She hadn’t felt that excited in some time.
They heard the sound of their father coming in the front door. She was suddenly a bit fearful and went through her chores in her mind to make sure she had gotten to them all. She got up quickly to take the ham and cheese biscuits from the warming cabinet and pulled out a cup to give her father his noontime coffee.
“I’ll go see to him,” Dave said, scooting out the door quickly. They could hear him greet their father in the hallway. “Papa! How was your day?”
They couldn’t hear their father’s reply.
Oscar got up and moved to stand next to Ella. She looked up at him.
“I will be the one who is blue when you leave, sister.” Oscar leaned to give her a kiss on the cheek. She felt a warm wash of love for him and put her arms around him for a hug.
Chapter Two
The train rumbled along at a fearful speed. Ella had never been on a train or in anything that moved faster than the horses she rode. She watched the scenery moving past with amazement, unable to focus on anything for very long before it was gone. Except for the mountains in the distance. She tried counting them at first but because tired and anxious from that so she stopped.
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.