Chapter 26: New Year, New Nanny
On New Year's Day, rather than waking up on their own or having Sadie wake them up, it was Lucinda who woke Shelby and Sebastian up. Since they were tired from staying up late, it took Lucinda knocking a couple times for them to realize what was going on. "Are you awake?" Lucinda's voice asked.
"Yes. We are now," Sebastian's groggy voice answered as he sat up in bed.
"May I come in?" Lucinda asked.
"Yeah, that's fine," Shelby answered. "I didn't realize how tired I really was," she spoke as Lucinda entered the room.
"If you were so tired even with going to bed early, maybe I should come back later," Lucinda suggested even as she closed the door.
"No, it's fine," Shelby said as she got out of bed to join Lucinda on the other side of the room.
Lucinda nodded. "Now, we will dress you in your party gown later tonight, but for the day, you will wear a dress like your usual ones," she explained.
As Lucinda helped Shelby get changed and do her hair, Sebastian made his way to Sadie's bassinet to check on her. When he saw that she was awake, he picked her up and began to speak quietly to her.
After she finished getting dressed, Shelby took Sadie from Sebastian as Lucinda left the room so Sebastian could get dressed. When Sebastian finished getting dressed, he and Shelby spent the next approximately fifteen minutes playing with Sadie as they waited for breakfast to be ready. Soon, Lucinda came to let them know that Sebastian's family was almost ready to go to breakfast. Once the two thanked Lucinda, they made their way towards the dining hall.
Shelby, Sebastian, and Sadie only needed to wait a few minutes for Sebastian's family to arrive. They quickly exchanged greetings with one another before everyone took their seats.
"Are you ready for the ball this evening?" Elinor asked a few minutes into the meal.
"I believe everything that can be done now is taken care of," Sebastian answered. "Other than getting dressed of course," he finished with a light laugh.
Elinor nodded, happy with the answer she received.
"The party will be just as grand as the New Year's Ball has been in years past," Sebastian confirmed. "And after that, the next big event is Angus and Rosalinda's wedding."
"There is still so much planning to do," Edward spoke, knowing of the work his oldest daughter's wedding still needed despite not being involved in the planning of it.
"I think we may have to hire more help," Elinor voiced.
"Mother, I'm sure we can do it all without any extra help," Rosalinda spoke. "The last time I looked over all the plans, it seemed that everything was in order and there was actually very little that still needed to be done."
"I could help as well," Jane spoke up.
"I can't do as much, but I think I can help too," Corinna offered.
"Me too!" Addeline exclaimed. Though she was the youngest of the girls, she too seemed excited at the prospect of helping plan Rosalinda's wedding.
"All right," Elinor agreed. "We'll see if we can finish the final preparations ourselves if we have the three of you helping as well." Jane, Corinna, and Adeline smiled in response, happy and excited to be part of the planning.
The remainder of the morning and afternoon passed with the family celebrating the new year together. It was around the middle of the afternoon that they went to begin getting ready for the ball that evening.
During the ball, Lucinda would be taking care of Sadie. However, for the afternoon while Shelby and Sebastian bathed and got ready for the ball, Elinor and Rosalinda offered to look after her. They needed to do less to get ready and had the extra time to take care of her. Since it took Sebastian a shorter amount of time to get ready, he took Sadie off his mom and sister's hands so they could get ready.
Shelby was ready and dressed in a pale pink dress with a little time to spare before the ball. In that extra time, she and Sebastian had time to spend taking care of Sadie before they needed to leave.
Many of the guests had already arrived by the time Shelby and Sebastian made their grand entrance to the ballroom. The crowd erupted in applause as the two entered. Guests lined up to greet them as they made their way through the room.
One topic several guests asked about was whether or not any more children were on the way. Sebastian answered that there were not yet, but it was a possibility in the future. After answering the first person who asked, Sebastian turned to Shelby to suggest that was how they answer anyone else who questioned whether or not they were going to have any more children.
After eating, Shelby and Sebastian shared a few dances which were much better than the ones at the ball for their official coronation had been. Sebastian's touch was light and respectful towards Shelby––more like when she danced with William for the first time.
In the end, the night was enjoyable for all parties involved. When Shelby and Sebastian returned to their room, Lucinda was sitting up with Sadie who was fast asleep. Lucinda helped Shelby get changed, and left once the two excused her. After Lucinda was gone, Shelby and Sebastian quickly fell asleep.
XXX
For the next several days, things in the castle returned to normal they settled in to while Sebastian's family was with them. They spent their days together in the great room and taking walks on the castle grounds.
XXX
Before Sebastian's family left, Shelby also offered to help with planning the wedding if there was anything she could do to help. Although she still wished there was a way to be with her own family, if Shelby was going to be a part of Sebastian's family while she was in the 1520s, she decided she may as well act like she was part of the family.
"Thank you for the offer," Elinor spoke.
"But won't you have other things to do?" Rosalinda asked. "I thought you needed to find someone else to help take care of Sadie. Won't that take up your time?"
"I guess it will take up some of my time," Shelby answered. "But not all of it."
"All right, well if you could help, that would be fantastic," Rosalinda spoke. "Especially because Angus will still be here at the castle."
"I'll do whatever I can to help," Shelby replied as the family finished saying their goodbyes.
Soon, everyone was loaded into the carriages and out of the castle grounds on their way back home.
XXX
For approximately a week following the departure of Sebastian's family from the castle, things fell back to normal. With the holidays over, it was time to return to the normal business and things that needed to be done when taking care of the castle.
While there had been plans for Shelby and Sebastian to go to the market, with the cold weather, they decided to hold off on going to the market until it was warmer. The main attention was instead turned to finding a nanny to train and learn under Lucinda while helping her with her duties. There were several women whom Shelby and Lucinda would talk to and work together to pick the best person for the job.
Through some preliminary interviews done by Shelby and Sebastian's advisors, they had narrowed it down to five young women. However, if Shelby and Lucinda thought none of them were fit for the role, the others who the advisors had previously rejected would be contacted.
The interviews would take place on a Friday. The day before, Shelby and Sebastian went out horseback riding and had taken baths upon their return to the castle. They also went to bed earlier that night. Friday morning, they were woken up by Lucinda as they often would be when Sadie didn't wake them up.
"We're up and will be ready for you to come in in a minute," Sebastian spoke groggily as he got up and out of bed. Shelby turned her attention to Sadie.
While Shelby checked on Sadie, Sebastian went to get dressed. When Sebastian finished getting dressed, he got the door for Lucinda and took Sadie while the older woman helped Shelby get dressed. Though it was just the three of them at breakfast now that Sadie could begin to eat solid food, Shelby and Sebastian ate in the dinning hall and shared the duty of helping Sadie eat.
After finishing breakfast, Sebastian took Sadie and would be taking care of her during the day while Shelby and Lucinda interviewed the potential new nannies. He often had other duties to do and with his schedule cleared, he figured it would be a good day to bond with Sadie.
XXX
For the interviews, Lucinda and Shelby were led into a lounge room. Each woman up for the position would enter and tell Lucinda and Shelby a little about herself and her experience. At the end, she'd answer any other questions Lucinda and Shelby had for her. Once the five women were interviewed, Lucinda and Shelby would have time to talk over who they thought was the best fit and make the final decision.
From the second the first woman, Ellen, entered the room and began talking, Shelby knew she was not the woman for the job. Her attitude could have fit almost perfectly with fake people in the 21st century. Although Shelby did not want the woman working in the castle and she read Lucinda's expression to know her opinion was similar to her own, Shelby listened as Ellen spoke.
"Thank you for your time, Miss Ellen," Lucinda spoke when she and Shelby finished asking Ellen their questions.
Ellen nodded briefly before leaving the room.
"She's a definite no, right?" Shelby asked, looking over to Lucinda a few seconds after the door closed after Ellen left.
"I was wondering if you felt the same way about her as I did," Lucinda spoke with a laugh as she looked over to Shelby.
Shelby nodded. "She didn't seem very sincere to me and I don't want someone I already feel that I won't be able to trust helping me and taking care of Sadie. I know I can trust you and maybe I could learn to trust Ellen, but I really don't know that I could."
"I am glad you feel you can trust me," Lucinda spoke as there were a couple knocks on the door.
"Yes?" Shelby asked.
The door opened and a servant poked her head into the room. "Queen Shelby, Lucinda," she began. "Are you ready to see the next woman?"
"Yes we are," Shelby answered. "Thank you."
The next woman, Joan, entered the room. Shelby immediately felt better about her than she did about Ellen. Joan seemed more down to earth as she talked and explained how she was the oldest in her family and had grown up taking care of her younger siblings. Joan continued by explaining the additional reasons she felt she could help take care of Sadie and any younger siblings the princess might eventually have. "Do you have any other questions for me?" Joan asked politely as she finished.
"How old did you say you are again?" Shelby asked because she had forgotten and was curious.
"Twenty-five," Joan answered.
"Thank you," Shelby replied, knowing that Joan's younger age would mean she could be around the castle to take care of Sadie for a long time. She and Lucinda had a few more questions to ask Joan, but Shelby was already fairly certain she wanted Joan to have the job. "Thank you for your time," Shelby spoke when she and Lucinda finished asking their questions.
"Thank you," Joan replied before she left the room.
"I like her," Shelby spoke once the door closed. "Much more than Ellen," she added.
"Agreed."
"But we should still see the others before we make our final decision," Shelby spoke. "Otherwise we might make the wrong choice.
Lucinda nodded her agreement as the servant came to check if she could send the next woman in. The next woman's name was Susan. Although both Shelby and Lucinda liked her more than Ellen, she didn't seem like the right fit. The same pattern continued with the final two women, Grace and Elizabeth. Both were fantastic candidates, but didn't seem to fit as well as Joan did. With only a couple minutes of discussion after speaking with Elizabeth, Shelby and Lucinda made their final decision.
Before they would go to have their lunches, Lucinda and Shelby called each woman back into the room individually. When each woman entered, they told her whether or not she had been accepted for the position. As Joan was told she got the job, Shelby could tell she was over the moon excited, but she worked hard to maintain a professional attitude.
"Your training will commence tomorrow morning at dawn. Will you be prepared?" Lucinda asked.
"Yes, of course," Joan replied as she was given the specifics of where to meet Lucinda the following morning.
"Thank you," Joan spoke once more before heading out of the room and being led out of the castle by the servant who was waiting for her outside the door.
"Shall I escort you to lunch?" Lucinda asked.
"Is that the time already?" Shelby asked, receiving a nod in reply from Lucinda. "No, I'll be fine. Thank you."
"All right," Lucinda agreed. Both women rose and headed towards the door. Lucinda headed in one direction while Shelby headed in the opposite direction where she would meet Sebastian and Sadie for lunch. When Shelby arrived, Sebastian and Sadie were waiting for her as she expected. She took the seat on Sadie's other side and soon their food was brought to them.
"How did it go?" Sebastian asked a couple minutes into the meal. "Were you able to find someone?"
"We did find someone, so I'd say it went well," Shelby replied. While they ate, Sebastian continued to ask questions about how the morning had gone. Shelby told Sebastian about each of the women and what she liked or disliked about each of them. Sebastian also wanted to know more about the woman Shelby and Lucinda had chosen since he would interact with her as well.
"She was someone I thought I could be friends with if we met in a different life or something, so I think that's part of what made me think she would be a good fit. Lucinda's going to start training Joan in the morning," Shelby finished.
"Well, that is something I am glad to hear," Sebastian spoke. "Though I think Lucinda will still do a lot in helping you were you need help."
"Yeah, I'm glad she'll still be around. I like that she's in on––" Shelby glanced around. "––the fact that I'm not Daisy," she finished after making sure no one was around.
"Understandable," Sebastian agreed.
When they finished lunch, Lucinda took Sadie as there were a few other things Shelby and Sebastian needed to attend to that afternoon.
XXX
For the next several weeks and months as winter began to fade, Joan began her training. While Lucinda was still helping take care of both Sadie and Shelby, much of the additional help she offered in taking care of Saide was passed on to Joan.
In those months, Shelby got used to Joan and how she was an additional person whose focus would be on taking care of Sadie while occasionally helping Shelby as well.
As spring approached, plans were made for Shelby and Sebastian to again visit the market. The date was set for Saturday April 19, which they hoped would be a nice and sunny spring day.
A/N: Hi everyone.
After publishing 10 chapters in the span of approximately 2 months, I needed a little bit of a break from publishing. As I wrote this story by hand originally, I needed to type each chapter up and edit it to be able to publish it and it was a lot to do for that many weeks in a row. I don't anticipate updating that often again, but who knows. I will be trying to update at least once a month or so in the future. I also have about 10 chapters of the sequal written already. :)
Anyway, thanks to those of you who are still reading. I appreciate reviews to know what you thought or think could be improved in the story. Thanks for reading.
Reviews:
Ansy: No worries about taking a little longer to review. Totally understandable during the holiday season. I hope you had a good Christmas as well. I love writing Shelby realizing that she's falling for Sebastian and the man he's become. I hope you enjoyed the moments between them in this chapter even though they were brief. A couple of my favorite chapters are coming up with some Shelbastian moments.
sweetsimplegirl: I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter and the moments between Shelby and Sebastian. Since I love this couple so much, it's great to write those moments between the two realizing they're falling for each other. Sebastian's continued interest in the 21st century is also meant to show that he's beginning to care for Shelby.
