The days passed, and six months later…
Ella was up late that night. James hadn't come home at his usual time, and she was worried. But she was glad she had an excuse to stay up. For the past two and a half months, she had been working on something.
Six months ago, when they had first come to live here, Jack had said not to open a chest. But Ella was a curious person, so after a few months of waiting, she had opened it when she couldn't sleep one night. It had a beautiful wedding dress inside, a dark velvet suit, and a few heirlooms- a family bible, christening gown, silver candlesticks and a bridal veil.
So for the past few months, she had worked on altering the dress. She told herself she was making it for Holly one day, but in fact, she wanted to wear a wedding dress again one day. So, while she told herself a lie, she altered it to her size, repairing any damage.
That night, it was finally done, and before she could stop herself, she had put it on, making sure the corset was lose enough to fit over her head. Once it was on, she tightened it by pulling it tighter at the bottom, so it fitted her perfectly.
The dim candlelight made it even more beautiful, and when she twirled in front of the looking glass, it was as if she was in a very real fairytale. When the door closed, she whirled around in surprise,
"James! Oh, I must look foolish." Immediately, she began trying to pull it over head, forgetting that she had tightened it. Her cheeks were flushed red with embarrassment.
He came over and began pulling the laces lose. She knew she would have been able to do it herself, but her fingers had fumbled, and he was only trying to be kind.
The dress got loser, and when he undid the last stay, instead of leaving her to get proper, he wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close to him. His lips moved to her neck placing hot, wet kisses on the side of her throat. She arched the muscle there, knowing it was wrong, but wanting it too much to think otherwise.
He pulled her into the bedroom, closing the door and pulling her dress off. He pushed her down onto the bed, him in only pants, her in a chemise and drawers. They kissed with so much passion; you'd think it was their first time doing this. But when he pulled her chemise over her head, she flipped around to hide herself.
"Don't hide yourself Ella; I'm sure you're beautiful." He kissed her flawless back, making her shiver. Oh my, was he so… sexy. This other, more dominating side of him she had never seen before, and she liked it. His hands flipped her back over without a protest, and he kissed her neck, her collarbone. His hands went to her drawers, and that was when she finally said something.
"We can't James, stop."
He didn't stop though, and they spent the night together in a way they hadn't before.
"I hope I didn't hurt you." She shook her head, sighing with contentment. "Why did you fix up the wedding dress, sweet?" Ella frowned at this.
"I've been telling myself it will be for Holly one day, but, I was hoping to marry again, someday, to someone." It was implied that she wanted to marry him someday, and after this, neither of them could think of anything better. But they both remained quiet, him rubbing her arm, and they were both quickly asleep.
A gentle shaking motion woke her up, and she turned over with a groan in protest. She felt a kiss on the back of the neck with gentle words whispered in her ear.
"I know you don't want to, Ella dearest, but you must wake up. We can't leave the children without breakfast, and Matthew will be crying soon, and seeming as I cannot suckle him…"
She laughed at his prank, before stopping suddenly. "James, I can't suckle a child, you know that. I've never been pregnant, I don't have any milk. Please don't talk like that." The thought of bearing a child was horribly frightening. She had heard her stepmother tell her father about the two births she had gone through, and the details were terribly scary. And although she wanted to be a mother, she was one to Jack, Holly, and Matthew, though no one dared call her that by name.
"I'm sorry honey. But please wake up. Or are you not feeling well?" His concern for her was so sweet, so caring, so loving. After her wedding night with Aden, he had woken her up with a kiss saying he was going hunting, and she was to stay home. At the time she thought he knew she was sore, and didn't want her making herself more so. But soon she learned it was because he wanted a pretty thing to love and hold at night, not a strong woman to accompany him during the day.
"I'm feeling fine, just tired. And if you so desire, I shall get up." With exaggerated effort, she got up from the bed. It was when she realized she still had no clothing on her that she jumped back under the coverlet with a bright red blush. The baker laughed.
"You don't need to be embarrassed, sweet. I saw the plenty of you last night." He tried to coax her back from under the covers. Why had she changed? Was she lying, had he hurt her, maybe not physically, but emotionally, psychologically? His dark eyes searched her light ones, trying to understand what had happened.
"I'm fine James, just… shy. Last night, I don't know, you weren't paying that much attention to my body. I don't like putting it on display." She still hid herself under the coverlet. The sky was too bright; they both should have been awake and working hours ago. But last night had been special, and a little sleeping in was in order.
"Ella, you have no reason to be shy. And I very much paid attention to your gorgeous body, and like it very much. Now, if you want me to leave, I can. But call me back in if you need any help dressing." He left promptly.
She pulled herself from the bed once more, getting clothes off the floor that had been thrown their carelessly the night before. When she needed help with corset, she simply went out into the main room. The children were never up at this hour, and if she needed help, he was always there.
He was pulling her stays together, almost at the top of her corset, when Holly came down, rubbing her eyes from the loft.
"Mother, Father, I had a nightmare…" She trailed off when she saw them in the kitchen, her only half dressed in a skirt, chemise and corset, he helping with the latter. But what she really was worried about was how they would react to 'Mother' and 'Father'. Ella blushed, but spoke first.
"Your Father was just helping me get dressed. All's well, breakfast will be ready soon. Now, you say you had a nightmare?"
She nodded, and Ella took her in her arms. "It was so frightening. Instead of the Giantress stepping on everything, the wolf was eating everyone, and when I tried to slit him open with my knife, I couldn't! So he ate me, but there was no one waiting at the bottom of that terrible slide."
Ella stroked the girl's hair. "Everything's alright sweetheart, it was only a dream. Are you still having nightmares about it? That happened months ago." Holly nodded, resting her head on Ella's shoulder. In a few weeks, she would be four-and ten, almost as old as Jack.
The girl was quickly comforted and sent back up to the loft. The baker turned on her then.
"You called me 'Father'." He didn't know what to think of it. Though he was certainly a father-like figure, he was 'Father' only to Matthew, who would soon learn to say "Mama" and "Papa". He would be Papa, though who would be Mama, he didn't know, even after last night. He wanted to propose to Ella, he just didn't know when and how, and how the children would take it.
"I'm sorry James, I just…I don't know what else they should call you. Should they call you James, or Baker or Sir? You are the only Father either of them will remember when they are our age, why can't they call you that?"
He didn't look up from his tray. "You should go get decent, who knows when the children will get up again."
She sighed, knowing by now not to touch the subject until he brought it up.