Over the next couple of days, Della always had company.
The time moved along at a steady pace where there was always something to do. Her stay there was different than that of the maids who were paid to be around the house and to help her. Instead, she found herself helping the children. She was glad that they accepted her and her looks, and she was glad to be kept busy with filling Christmas stockings with gingerbread and nuts.
But every day, she turned to the window and looked for Zack.
Three days passed without him coming by, and she wondered what had happened to him. Every night, she questioned if her birthmark was truly the worst thing he had ever seen. She wondered if she would ever see him again, or if he would try to send her back to New York.
The very thought of returning made her shudder. But Della wondered how much better this life was when she still felt alone.
Chapter 6
Zack dropped Henry off outside the house and made his way back to his house with his son.
He had brought Della Prescott out there in Montana to them, but he hadn’t told Ross about the young woman. He didn’t know how to explain it. Part of him wondered if it would bother Ross thinking that his mother was about to be replaced. But then he had to remember how it was for Ross that he had ever put an ad out in the first place.
The unease didn’t drop from his stomach.
He wondered if Della liked him. He wondered if he liked Della. He wondered what Ross would think of Della. He wondered what Della thought of Ross. Though he’d sent her that last note explaining he had a son and that it was only a marriage of convenience, he hadn’t received a reply, nor had she asked about Ross earlier.
There was a world of questions in his mind as he pondered how their meeting had gone. He was still struggling to grasp the fact that she was there. Della Prescott was at his sister’s house.
“How was school?” He cleared his throat and glanced over at his son.
Ross was playing with a loose thread on his mittens as he shrugged. “I don’t like it. Numbers are hard, Papa. Why can’t I just stay here on the ranch with you?”
That was an idea.
It was something he had considered before that point as well. Especially after Ella’s passing, neither of them wanted to be far from one another. They’d spent months living alongside each other as they learned how to process their grief. Ross had become a good helping hand as a very young child. Enough so that Zack still found himself looking around for the boy while he worked most days, even after sending him to school in the mornings.
“We’ll see,” Zack said finally. “We’ll see.”
He wasn’t ready to see Della Prescott anymore that night. Just meeting her had overwhelmed him. Zack took care of the horses and slumped in the kitchen as he processed his thoughts. The young woman had acted polite enough, though she was rather quiet. And young, almost ten years his junior. She looked a little frailer than he had expected, however, and the birthmark had caught him off guard.
There was nothing else that it could be. Though he hadn’t seen many birthmarks, he knew they were permanent and painless and not a problem. But it could bother people. Zack wondered if it bothered Della. Burying his face in his arms at the table, he asked himself if she was the type of person that he could bring into his house forever.
The house. It needed attention. He should clean and take care of the house. While Zack understood this fact, he couldn’t seem to embrace it. His thoughts were a mess, and he could hardly think about the messy state that his house was also in. He spent the evening thinking about Della Prescott.
It was too early to see if he had made the right choice.
Zack let three days pass everyone by as he mustered up the courage and willpower to return to his sister’s house. Or rather, it was Henry stopping by to let them know they were being specifically invited to supper that drove him forward. After they bundled up and headed down the lane, he glanced over at Ross and managed to finally tell him what was going on.
He didn’t want to. But he had to grow up sometime and play the adult.
“Your Aunt Leah,” he cleared his throat, “has a guest over right now. Her name is Miss Della Prescott.”
Ross glanced up from the bundle of bread they had made that day. “Miss Della? Where did she come from?”
“New York City. It’s on the east coast. A - a big, popular city.”
The boy nodded. “Why is she here and not in the city?”
Though he didn’t want to lie, Zack wasn’t certain he was ready to give his son the complete answer. They had written letters to each other about making a life together. But now that she was here, everything felt different. His stomach was constantly in knots, and he grew anxious. Zack wondered what Ella would have thought and wondered what Della was thinking. He was asking himself so many questions that he no longer knew exactly what he thought himself.
“She’s just here.” Zack’s mouth turned dry as he tried to smile.
Ross accepted that answer. He didn’t really have any other questions. And as they quickly arrived at his brother-in-law’s farm, Zack brought the wagon around. “All right, let’s get inside. It’s going to be a cold evening.”
The two of them hurried up
