She sighed. “Do you mind if I call you Ellie?” It wouldn’t hurt to call the child Ellie until she thought it would be less awkward to ask what her name was. Perhaps she could simply pay attention to when he repeated the name without having to ask?

Besides —she thought, holding the child close— she liked the name Ellie.

“Ellie,” she whispered. “Would you like for me to sing to you a lullaby, hm?” she smiled, “lullabies always helped me fall asleep when I was little. As a matter of fact, I never went to sleep until my mother sang me a lullaby. When mother was out of town or incapable of singing to me, I'd throw a tantrum.” She giggled to herself, smiling at the memory. “I know I'm not your mother, Ellie but perhaps I could be of help?”

Holding Elizabeth close to her chest, she smoothed her hair and kissed her sweaty head just as her cries began to subside once more.

“Do you like stories?” She asked, “My nanny used to tell me stories as a little girl. I had many nannies but this one, Nanny Ruby, was the best story teller you'll ever meet.” She ran her palm up and down Elizabeth's back as her cries were reduced to silent sobs.

Noticing that her words were somehow bringing comfort to the child, she continued to have a one-sided conversation with her.

“I'm nothing like Nanny Ruby but there are a few stories she told that I can still remember. Would you like to hear them?” She asked, staring into the dark clouds outside as the memories of those stories began to filter back to her. They were told at a time in her life when things were normal; a time when she was a little girl with a heart unbroken by the reality of a love lost. She didn't have the burden of a financially broke family to carry, or the disappointment of losing a job to weigh her down.

“I think I would much rather sing to you.”

Releasing a soft sigh, she pulled her eyelids shut and began to sing a lullaby from her childhood. She kept her voice leveled, her emotions causing her voice to tremble once in a while. But she didn't give in to her tears neither did she stop singing until the soft snores of the baby in her arms began to drift to her.

Turning around to place Elizabeth in her crib, her gaze came to settle on an empty room; the handsome stranger was gone.

Chapter Four

Ethan made a fist and pounded lightly on the door that stood locked before him, guilt from the evening before plaguing him. He knew he should not have left the strange woman alone with Elizabeth, not only because he worried for Elizabeth's safety with a stranger, but especially because it was cruel of him to have dumped a child on her like that without stopping to consider her health at the time. She had endured a tough day and a robbery, and he had gone and worsened the situation by forcing her to endure a tough night with a rather... difficult child.