CHAPTER FOUR #3
“No? Then you’re my new maid Simmons.” She gave an exaggerated clucking of her tongue as she cast a glance over the girl from head to toe. “I must admit I expected you to be taller. I’m not certain how you’ll be able to reach to fix my hair.”
A smile tugged at her lips as she realized Helena was bamming her.
“Not Simmons either, hmm?” Helena snapped her fingers as if the answer were obvious. “You’re Mr. Larkin, the butler!”
“No!” The little girl burst into a fit of giggles at that teasing bit of nonsense, and all her remaining nervousness evaporated. “I’m Alice!”
“Impossible.” Helena let a smile tug at her lips even as she shook her head. “I’ve heard that Lady Alice doesn’t go anywhere without her companion, and I don’t see—wait! What’s that I hear?” She cupped her hand to her ear. “Is that her calling for you now?”
Ignoring Alice’s puzzled frown, Helena pretended to follow the nonexistent voice to her satchel on the bed and reached inside.
“Oh, here she is!” She pulled out the china doll she’d brought with her from London as a gift for Gabe’s daughter…or as bribery to win the girl over, if necessary. “So nice to meet you, miss.” Helena held the doll out to Alice. “Would you like to make introductions?”
The girl nodded with a beaming smile and skipped forward. Her dark chestnut curls had escaped from their pink ribbons and now bounced freely around her shoulders, and her big brown eyes gleamed with childhood joy.
But once Alice was near, she shyly eyed the doll and didn’t reach for it. “For me?”
“Of course. Every proper young lady needs a companion.” Helena knelt down to bring her eyes level with Alice’s and presented the doll with its blonde hair and maroon velvet dress. “She’s yours to love and care for. What should we call her?”
Her brow wrinkled in concentration for only a moment before she exclaimed, “Beatrice!” She pulled the doll from Helena’s hand and squeezed it to her chest. “Her name is Beatrice.”
“That’s a fine name.”
Then Alice surprised the daylights out of Helena by flinging herself into her arms and hugging her.
Helena hesitated only a moment before lifting her arms to return the embrace.
Alice buried her mouth in Helena’s hair and whispered, as if sharing a secret, “You’re going to be a good mama.”
Emotion tightened Helena’s throat.
Then, just as quickly as she’d approached, Alice slipped away. She skipped around the room, dancing the doll in the air in front of her by its arms and singing to it softly.
“Lady Alice!” A harried-looking woman in a tan wool dress charged into the room. Immediately, the joy that had been on Alice’s face turned to guilt, and she halted in mid-skip, hiding the doll behind her back. “You are not to bother Miss Sinfell.”
Helena eased back onto the floor on her hip and waved a dismissing hand with a bright smile. “She’s not bothering me at all.”
The woman pulled up sharply and swung her gaze to Helena. In that narrowed look, Helena immediately felt judged. And found lacking.
“Miss Sinfell,” Verity called out as she stepped forward. “This is Nanny Potts. She cares for Alice and oversees the nursery.”
Of course. That cold, disapproving look could only have come from a governess. Or a nun.
Helena quickly rose to her feet and nodded. “How do you do?”
“My apologies, Miss Sinfell.” Nanny Potts nodded in turn at Verity. “Lady Verity.” Then she hurried over to Alice and took her by the arm. “Lady Alice sneaked out of the nursery before I could stop her.”
“She was no trouble.” Helena smiled reassuringly at the girl. “I enjoyed meeting her. And perhaps we can spend even more time together tomorrow?”
That invitation was aimed at Alice, although Nanny Potts answered for her.
“I’m afraid we have a full day scheduled, miss.
” She took Alice by her shoulders and steered her toward the door.
The girl went willingly, but her attention was firmly on the doll in her arms. “Perhaps another day, if His Grace sees fit.”
Helena’s smile strained. “Of course.”
“Don’t mind Nanny Potts,” Verity told her once the woman and Alice had left, ostensibly to return to the nursery from which Alice was an experienced escape artist. Something told Helena that the little girl wouldn’t be there for long.
“Most likely, she’s simply feeling a bit uneasy at the prospect of Grangely Park having a new mistress.
But she’s very protective of Alice and cares for her as if she were her own. ”
“Then she must be a fine nanny with nothing to worry about from me.” Yet Helena continued to stare into the hall after the little girl and frowned. “I am surprised, though…”
“By what?” Verity mumbled, distracting herself by returning to the vanity set.
“Alice doesn’t look anything like Gabriel.”
“Well, no. Of course, she wouldn’t look—” Verity cut herself off, then froze, her face reddening as she realized what she was about to say.
“And why not?”
Verity shook her head. “You know how children are.”
That was a dodge if ever she’d heard one. “Yes, and they resemble their parents. Both of them.”
“It isn’t my place to—”
“Verity, why not?” Helena pressed.
Gabe appeared in the doorway, his face stony hard as he answered coldly, “Because she’s not mine.”