Page 33 of The Duke's Wicked Widow
“You know what would be easier?” Merida asked eagerly. “If we couldtalkto the person. Justtellthem thanks very much.”
“Oh, and how would we dothat, young lady?”
The little girl shrugged. “Maybe we could hook up tubes between the houses, and yell really loud into one end and listen on the other end, like in fancy hotels.”
She really did pay attention to the world, didn’t she? She was one to watch. “That seems impractical.”
“But easier,” Merida pointed out sagely. “But, but you know what would beeasiest? If we could write something short and sweet—like,reallyshort, maybe only using our thumbs—and press a button and the message wouldwhooshthrough the air—or maybe through those tubes—and the person could read it in their own house, or wherever they were. That way we wouldn’t even have totalkto them!”
Chuckling, Ellie stood to nudge the six-year-old off her last notebook. “Using only our thumbs?” She tweaked Merida’s nose. “Iliketalking to people, you know.”
“You said you don’tknowthe people you write to.”
“I said I do not knowthosepeople. They were your Papa’s friends, not mine.”
“Do you have friends?”
The unexpected question made Ellie pause. “I…do. I love my sister very much, and I miss her since we both married. And I have new friends, ones she has introduced me to.” She glanced at the pile of notebooks, remembering how Thorne and Olivia had braved Society’s censure to bring her new puzzles. “They care about me and want me to be happy again.”
“Is that why you’re doing puzzles?”
Ellie glanced up sharply. “What?”
“Before Papa got sick, you told me you liked to do puzzles, remember? We did a wooden puzzle together, a million years ago when I wasfive.” She said it like the number was dirty, as if she was so much more mature now. “And once this summer I snuck in and watched you mutter to yourself. Did you know you chew on your lip when you are thinking?”
A smile spread across Ellie’s lips. “I didnotknow that. And yes, I do love puzzles. My…my friends brought me this one to keep my mind busy when your Papa was sick.”
“But these aren’t puzzles, not really.” Still lying across the desk, Merida grabbed one of the pieces of scrap paper Ellie had been working on. “These are just words.” She screwed up her eyes in thought. “Nogmix rister. See? I can read. Although whoever wrote this must not know about vowels. Are they Welsh? Nurse says the Welsh don’t use vowels. Or only vowels, I can’t remember.”
Chuckling, Ellie tipped the paper so she could see it. “Those are not words, honeybear. “NOJMX RSTR” is a coded message, and I am trying to decipher it.”
“A code!” The girl gasped, pushing herself upright, green eyes bright. “Like from aspy?”
“Well…”Ah.Flushing, Ellie busied herself tidying the desk. “I suppose so.”
“You’re aspy, Ellie?”
“Me? Oh no.” She waggled the pencil at the girl. “I am just helping some friends to decode these messages. This puzzle. Which may or may not be from spies.”
Merida’s expression turned very serious as she swung her legs around the desk and scooted her bottom across it until she was sitting on the edge in front of Ellie. She reached up and laid her palms on either side of Ellie’s cheeks, squishing them as she pulled the woman closer.
“Ellie. Listen to me very clearly.” Merida’s brows were drawn down as she frowned in concentration. “I require your full attention. Do I have it?”
Since Ellie’s cheeks were squashed, her lips pursing out, she could only nod and mutter a, “Uh-huh.”
Merida shook her slightly, then took a deep breath and spit out all at once: “Tell me about the spy codes and what they mean and how you’re doing it and if you don’t tell me everything right now I will positively explode I swear it.”
It took a moment to decipher all that, since the words had been strung together in a rush. Ellie couldn’t smile, but she wanted to.
“Do you understand, Ellie?” The six-year-old sounded so serious. Oh, if only she could stay like this forever. “One blink for yes, two blinks for no.”
Between her squashed cheeks, Ellie burst into laughter. Merida glared until she stopped.
“One blink for yes,” the girl repeated.
The situation was ludicrous, but Merida seemed so intent, and the little girl’s world had been so dark lately, Ellie wanted to bring some cheer into it. She very deliberately blinked.
Once.
