Dear, Hamilton

Bad News

"Eliza, maybe you shouldn't be doing this," Angelica tells me, her worry clear in her strained voice, as she watches me drag a chair under the chandelier that hangs in the front entryway of the house.

Hamilton stands beside Angelica at the edge of the room with his arms crossed as he watches me with amusement. "Eliza feels the need to make herself feel useful since everyone's been taking care of her," he explains, and Angelica huffs in exasperation.

"With reason!" she retorts. "Eliza's four months along now!"

I ignore them as I clutch the candlestick in my hand and step up onto the chair. I notice Hamilton instinctively take a step forward as if he wants to stand closer to me so he can catch me if I fall. I shoot him a look, and he winces.

"Oh, come on, Eliza," Angelica complains, placing her hands on her hips. "At least let Hamilton stand beside the chair."

I roll my eyes before relenting, "Fine. Come on, Alexander. Stand over here if it'll make you two feel better."

"Oh, it will," Hamilton remarks assuredly as he comes to stand beside me. 

I feel his hands come to rest on my calves as if to help keep me steady and to easily catch me if I manage to fall from the chair. I ease up on my tiptoes and carefully take out the worn-down candlestick before replacing it with the fresh candle in my hand. My hand hovers near the new one in case it decides to fall from its placeholder, but it remains steady in its place.

I smile a little to myself in satisfaction, and Hamilton asks from below where he's peering up at me, "Did you do it? Are you done?"

"Yep," I chirp before bending down and getting down from the chair.

Once I'm on solid ground, Hamilton eases away from me. I begin to drag the chair back from where I had retrieved it from the dining room, but Hamilton simply swoops it from my hands. He starts walking faster ahead of me before I can object.

"Seriously?" I ask in exasperation as I watch him leave with the chair, and he laughs.

"I'm sorry, Eliza," he calls over his shoulder, not sounding sorry at all. "But I just can't sit back any longer and let you do all the work." 

And the he disappears around the wooden corner to put the chair back in the dining room. I put my hands on my hips and scan the room for any more work that needs to be done. 

Angelica sees the determined look on my face and she quickly objects, "No, no, no, Eliza. You don't get to do any more work today."

"Please," I retort with a wave of my hand. "I'm not disabled. And even if I was, I'm still capable of doing stuff."

Angelica eyes me disapprovingly, but then Hamilton is walking into the room, and he's obviously overheard what I had said because he says, "Fine, if you are set on doing work, then I have to be with you at all times."

"Hey!" Angelica objects. "If you're going to do it that way, then include me in there, too! If anything, I'm more qualified to be with her than you!"

They have a silent stare down before Hamilton compromises, "Fine, if Eliza is doing work, then either you or I have to be there at all times." Angelica stares at him for a moment before nodding once.

"Good enough," she concedes.

"Great!" I exclaim with overly cheer. "Now that you two have decided how to best handle me, I'm going to go." 

I start walking into the hallway, moving further into the house, and I hear Angelica say from behind me to Hamilton, "I get to go with her."

"No, I get to go with her," Hamilton argues.