Ella
To have someone do something as simple as braid her hair…it was something she hadn’t experienced in a very long time.
It felt wonderful.
But all too soon, everyone had finished eating, the girls had begun to shiver despite the blankets, and it was time to go home.
The grooms came forward and helped bundle everything back up into baskets and returned to the carriage,
Ella didn’t want to leave. But then Beatrice turned to them with a mischievous glint in her eyes, and Ella dared to hope that Beatrice had something up her sleeve.
“Oh, Dietrich,” Beatrice asked sweetly. “I would love to go home with Celeste as she’s invited me to meet her father. Would you mind taking Ella and our horses home?”
Dietrich looked between Beatrice and Ella, as if waiting for Ella to tell him no, before he nodded. Bowing slightly to Ella, he said, “It would be an honor.”
Celeste and Colette hurried to the carriage, where John helped them in, and the duchess turned to Ella with a sweet smile.
“It was a pleasure to meet you, Ella,” she said. “I look forward to spending more time together.”
“Thank you, Your Grace,” Ella said, dropping into a curtsy. “I look forward to that as well.”
For the first time since she’d found out about her parentage, she truly did look forward to it. She just had to tell her father who she was and hope that he believed her—hope that it was real.