Until You

Chapter One

Angry cries of an unsatisfied child echoed throughout the building, evoking frustrated murmurs from the lips of the household staff, and tears from the eyes of the poor maid who was saddled with the responsibility of caring for a baby who proved more difficult to please with every second that ticked by.

Releasing a frustrated groan, Adeline dumped the child on her belly in the crib. It appeared to Adeline that sooner or later, the child would be the death of her, for she was simply the devil's spawn! She already succeeded in driving two wet nurses and three maids out the front door in less than two weeks! It was no wonder that her own mother could barely stand to care for her, choosing instead to abandon her on the front porch in the middle of the evening. What was even worse was Ethan's decision to avoid her, leaving Adeline with the Herculean task of caring for a child who refused to be pacified. It didn't matter that Adeline had fed her, changed her, rocked her and even pleaded with her! The baby appeared to be on a mission to drive Adeline crazy, and unfortunately, Adeline had had enough!

Wiping her damp forehead with her sleeves, she turned from the wailing child and began marching to the door. She maneuvered through the hallway, making her way down the stairs and to Ethan's study.

Throwing caution to the wind, she shoved the door wide open and stepped in, immediately earning herself Lord Williams' attention. He sat behind his desk, a disapproving frown creasing his face as he stared back at her.

"Adeline?"

"Yes, Lord Williams?" she said, barely able to keep her frustration hidden.

"Is something wrong with Elizabeth?" he asked, referring to the baby. Seeing as her mother hadn't bothered naming her – or perhaps Juliet had simply neglected to include a name in the note she had bothered with after abandoning her child – Ethan had settled on Elizabeth, a name Adeline secretly didn't even like. Or was it the baby? Perhaps it was both.

Suppressing the urge to yell in frustration, she shook her head. "She is being Elizabeth, the insatiable child, and I simply cannot continue with it, my lord! I'm going raving mad with a child who refuses to be pacified. She fusses too much, she cries all the time, eats too little, and she never sleeps!" she half screeched, pressing her thumb to her temple in a useless attempt at easing her mounting headache. When was the last time she had a peaceful night's rest?! Tears clouded her vision at the thought. Shaking them away, she continued, "Who would have thought that such a small creature was capable of producing so much noise?! She's driving me insane, my lord, and I am afraid I'm left with no other choice—"

"No..." Ethan whispered, rising to his feet slowly. He shook his head, fear clouding his eyes until he almost appeared to be on the verge of falling to his knees and begging her to remain. But Adeline knew she was finished with caring for Elizabeth, and that no amount of groveling on his part was going to change her mind.

Shaking her head in response to his silent plea, she said, "I have had enough of your daughter, my lord. I'm sorry, but I quit." She finished, bowing quickly as he stepped forward in a useless attempt to stop her.

Turning around sharply, she hurried out of the room and slammed the door shut behind her.

~*~

Leaning forward slightly, Ethan stared into the silver-gray eyes of the wailing child who lay helplessly in her crib, and he couldn't help but feel the weight of the world settle upon his shoulder. He didn't know how much of the horrid situation he could take, neither did he know for how much longer he was capable of bearing it. Severally, through the weeks of caring for Elizabeth, he had found himself wondering about dropping her off in an orphanage. As a matter of fact, the thought had begun to slowly occupy a large part of his heart, making it easy for him to fully empathise with Juliet's decision to dump her on his front stairs – he didn't like the decision, but he understood it and he hated to admit it, but he wasn't certain he could blame her for it.

Knowing he needed to think of a better plan that didn't involve dumping a helpless child on the stairs of an orphanage, Ethan rubbed his temple in frustration. It almost seemed impossible to come up with a solution to Elizabeth's constant foul mood.

Reaching down, he took her in his arms and rocked her against his chest. Still, her cries were unrelenting as she struggled against his hold on her. He fought to maintain his grip, patting her back lightly in a failed attempt at easing her cries.

Frustrated, he replaced her in the crib, a frown pulling at the edges of his brows as his head began to pound with a headache. He was desperate! He was desperate enough to throw propriety to the wind and indeed ship Elizabeth off to an orphanage!

He turned from the crib and left the nursery, the wooden door proving incapable of keeping her loud cries locked in. Stalking down the stairs to his study, he poured himself a glass of scotch and downed it in a useless attempt at calming his raw nerves.

How was it that in all of England, he was the one that had to be unlucky enough to end up with a backstabbing wife and an insatiable baby?! How was any of this even happening to him?!

Shoving the glass on the mantle, he picked up the decanter and drank from it. He made his way to his desk where he emptied the bottle and fell asleep for a while, until Elizabeth's cries proved capable of not only waking him up in the middle of the evening, but keeping him awake until the sun was peeking through the gray clouds.

Settling into the carriage that morning, Ethan rode into town, determined not to return to his estate without a solution to the problem that was Elizabeth.