Until You

Chapter Eleven

Ethan waited until Gretchen was seated comfortably with Elizabeth in her lap, before resuming his position in his chair.

"I assume you had a good night?" he began, observing her as she focused her attention on trying to keep Elizabeth from grabbing a fork.

"I did, Lord Williams, thank you." She turned briefly to him, holding the fork in her hand. "But we all know Ellie is an early riser." She sighed.

He smiled. "You seem tired, Miss Riverside."

"Ellie is a dear and while I would like to sound like the perfect nanny..." Gretchen frowned as Elizabeth struggled to retrieve the fork from her. Turning to him, she held the fork out to him and he took it. "Lord Williams, would you fire me if I admit to being worn out?" Her eyes pleaded.

He chuckled. "You are an excellent nanny, Miss Riverside, and better than that, you're the only nanny who's willing to stay." He watched her. "I shall be going into town for supplies, would you like to come along?" The words made their way out of his mouth before he could even stop them.

It had been many months since he went for supplies himself – the last time being when Juliet was around. He always managed to find something she liked in the stores, and had chosen to stop going because the very task reminded him of her. Yet, here he sat, not only volunteering to go himself, but asking Gretchen to go along with him.

Gretchen glanced up at him, surprise filling her brown eyes, and in that second, he regretted his silly invitation.

"I would love to, Lord Williams," she said, surprising him. "I just cannot leave Ellie all by herself." Her eyes reflected sincere regret.

He nodded, trying not to look as disappointed as he actually felt. The truth was, there was a part of him that wanted to be alone with Gretchen. "Is there anything you might need?"

"Why, yes." She smiled then. "Ellie needs some more diapers," she said, and he raised a brow, confused. She sighed. "Nappies."

He opened his mouth to speak when their breakfast was brought in.

Noticing that Gretchen had her hands full with trying to feed Elizabeth as well as keep Elizabeth from making a mess, he focused his attention on the meal before him.

After breakfast, he reluctantly climbed into a carriage heading for town. The carriage came to a halt before a supply shop after several minutes and he climbed down. He pushed the door open and the small bell that hung above the door rang to announce his presence.

"Lord Williams?"

He turned toward the direction of the voice to find Mrs. Grayson, the shop's owner, making her way toward him with a frown on her face.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, brown eyes filled with surprise. "When was the last time I laid my eyes on you?"

He shrugged. "I need supplies."

"You always send someone else to do that. I can't help but be surprised by your presence." She watched him.

He didn't exactly like being the center of Mrs. Grayson's attention or the fact that he was quickly becoming the center of the entire shop's attention.

"It's nice to see you anyway, Lord Williams." She smiled. "If you will come with me, I shall help you with whatever you need," she offered politely, before turning around. He followed silently behind.

Once he was done with his shopping, he paid for the goods and thanked Mrs. Grayson.

"Of course," she smiled and bobbed her head, strands of her brown locks bouncing in sync with the movement of her head, "I have missed you around here and I would love to see you again." She reached into her apron. "There's going to be a play tonight at the theater, you should attend." She pulled out a ticket and shoved it in his hands before he got the chance to protest. "My daughter will be in attendance as well and it will be great if you could make it, for I would love for you to meet her. You know, Lucy is all grown up now and it'll be nice if she has someone like you in her life." She offered him a knowing smile, one he found quite irritating. He immediately regretted his decision to get the supplies himself.