In His Eyes(62)

Sibby mumbled something and swung off the bed to place her feet on the floor.

“What are you doing?”

Sibby looked at her like she were a dullard. “I needs to get up.”

Ella shook her head. “You need to wait until I get the major before you get up. You know that.”

“Can’t.”

Ella pursed her lips. “And why not?”

“Cause he ain’t here.”

She hadn’t heard him leave. “Oh? Where has he gone?”

Sibby rose and balanced on one foot, holding on to the bed for support. “He said he was agoin’ to the army post.”

The declaration took Ella by surprise, and she looked down at Lee to hide the disappointment that might betray her by appearing on her face. Her wee one had drifted off to sleep.

He looked peaceful as Ella laid him in the crib and draped a crocheted blanket over top of him before turning back to Sibby. “Has the major already returned to duty?” Without the courtesy of a goodbye?

Ella chided herself. The man did not owe her that. Or anything else, for that matter. He had been more than generous by even allowing her to remain in his home, seeing as she had both insulted him and lied to him.

Besides, wouldn’t his absence be a good thing? It certainly would be easier without him here. The way that man unsettled her…well, she couldn’t deal with that on a daily basis, now could she? And they still hadn’t discussed the things shared across her quilt….

“No,” Sibby said, pulling her from her muddled thoughts.

“I’m sorry,” Ella replied, embarrassed that she’d been caught contemplating Major Remington. “What did you say?”

“I said no, Major Westley didn’t go back to workin’ in the army.” She shrugged. “Least, not yet. He done said he was goin’ after a doctor.”

Of course. How ridiculously foolish of her. He’d said he hoped to find one at an army post yesterday after she’d lost her senses in the parlor. How could she have so soon forgotten something so incredibly important? Ella swept a loose lock back into her chignon and pinned it, feeling a wave of relief. “I do hope he finds one.”

She told herself the only reason she was comforted by the news was because the wee one still needed to see a doctor. And not at all because it meant Westley hadn’t left for good.

Drat. She’d thought of him with the intimacy of his first name again. She really must cease doing that.

Sibby tried for a step on her injured ankle and swayed.

“Sibby!” Ella leapt forward and slipped under Sibby’s arm. “What’s gotten into you? You can’t just walk off on your own.”

Sibby groaned. “I was feelin’ better and the swellin’ done gone down some.”

“You still can’t walk.”

Sibby took a moment to answer, as though there were anything she could come up with that would change Ella’s mind.

“You reckon Major Westley be mindin’ if I use one of his canes?”

Ella almost chuckled, but then realized Sibby was serious. She wagged her head. “I don’t think he would like you up and about, risking making that ankle worse and making you stay in bed all the longer.”

Sibby considered her a moment. “You’s probably right.”

Ella started to turn her back to the bed.

“But I still gots somethin’ I need to do.”

Ella lifted her eyes to the ceiling. “All right. What is it you need to do?”

Sibby’s gaze probed at Ella from the corner of one slanted eye and then she straightened her already stiff spine. “I needs to go to the kitchen.”

Ella balked. “That’s all the way down the stairs! You can’t do that.”

Sibby hesitated, and then to Ella’s surprise, consented. “I reckon you’s right.”

Finally, some sense. Ella steered Sibby back to the bed. “Good, then. The major wouldn’t be happy with me if I let you fall into trouble.”

Sibby gave her a funny look as she settled on top of the quilt. “I needs you to send Basil up here.”

“Why? If you need something from the kitchen, I can fetch it for you.”

Sibby shook her head adamantly. “Ain’t nothin’ like that. I need to talk her ’bout sumthin’. She should be in the kitchen.”

Pushing aside annoyance she knew she shouldn’t feel, Ella tried to remain pleasant. “Fine.” She paused in the doorway. “Would you like another drought of the laudanum? You’re looking a mite peaked.”

Sibby pursed her lips, then let out a huff. “No, I don’t need none. It don’t hurt near as bad as it did before.”

Unconvinced, Ella crossed back over to the bed and peered closer at the swelling still making Sibby’s ankle a little puffy. But it did look better than it had when she’d first injured it. Perhaps it was not as bad as they feared. Besides, Sibby would know her own pain level. Ella brushed her hands down her skirt. “Well, if you change your mind, let me know.”

“Thank you, Miss Ella.” A strange look came into her eyes. “You is right kind.”

Ella smiled, peeked into the crib to be certain Lee slept peacefully, and then slipped down the stairs to find Basil. The girl had been scarce these last couple of days, hardly showing up in the kitchen and never underfoot as she had been when Ella had first arrived.