Windows, and Dusting and Stairs Oh My!

"Elise," Adaline muttered pulling Emmaline's hair tight against her head making her squeel in protest. "Grab more pins from Katherine's box. We need these girls to look their best and a smooth coiffe is just the start. It's a long process but we start early in the morning. We will be ready tonight."

"Mother," Kiana whined beside her. "I need perfect hair as well. When will it be my turn?"

"Kiana," Emmaline announced smugly pursing her lips as she turned to look at her. "I am the eldest I need to look better in turn."

A sharp tug of her hair turned her head around with a shriek of pain. Kiana rolled her eyes sitting back down with a pout. 

"Elise, pins now!" Adaline yelled motioning with her head down the hall. 

Nodding her head she turned quickly moving out of the room in search of the servants quarters. 

"Elise," a soft friendly voice called out and she turned to see Katherine standing closely to her left. "No need to cover your face you are with friends."

Elise smiled lowering her hand from where she had raised it to cover her face. 

"I need more hair pins," Elise smiled at her. "The girls are running low."

"Ah yes the girls," Katherine laughed bitterly. "Those girls would need much more than pins to make them beautiful enough for the prince like their mother wants. I hope for our sake they get some nice Duke or Earl's look of affection. Adaline will not be sated for weeks if they do not."

"Yes," Elise whispered looking down. 

"What has gotten your mind unconnected from your tongue this morning," Katherine nudged her shoulder making her unbalanced for a moment. 

"I have been invited to the ball this evening," Elise whispered a hint of a smile creeping up on her lips at the thought.

"So has everyone but we cannot accept. Can you imagine us at the ball?" Katherine laughed, shaking her head at the thought. "I am glad to see you are in good humor with everything so hectic going on. 

"Yes," Elise laughed turning to follow Katherine as she crossed a room grabbing the box of hair pins from her. "If we cannot laugh we cannot live."

"Your father was always saying that," Katherine smiled at her sadly. "I am glad you have memories before he left. You were so young my mother still talks of him fondly. He loved you so much you know."

"I know," Elise answered turning her eyes to the ground and holding back tears threatening to come to the surface.

"It is not the same I know but you will always be the lady of the house to all of us," Katherine promised. 

"It means the world truly it does," Elise assured her nodding her head before leaving the room and returning to the chaos of the master bedroom where the girls were still being pulled and tweaked to Adeline's perception of perfection. 

"The pins!" Kiana cried running and snatching them out of Elises grip and running back to her mother. "I found the pins. Please hurry I need my hair to be perfect. I want curls framing my face and a tight crown round my head."

Elise left the room before she could hear Kiana finish her demands for her mother to follow when it came to how she did her face. Climbing the stairs down to the kitchens she gathered her cleaning rags and got started on her chores that were waiting for her. 

Scrubbing the floors leading up to her father's late study she couldn't help but remember her few memories she still had of her late father. 

"Your mother used to sit on these branches way up there," Her father would say pointing to a nearby oak tree. "And think of the hundreds of years it took to stand so tall and firm in the fierce wind. Nothing but the highest force of wind could make the branches shake and even then the trunk would remain solid."

"Mmm" Elise would murmur in agreement leaning her head against her father's arm and looking up at the large tree. 

"We need to stand firm at our base solid in our core. Though it may look like we shake at our center we need to remain ever steady." 

"Just like mama." 

"Exactly like mama."

Wiping the tears from her eyes Elise let out a slow shaky breath. She had to focus on these chores if she even wanted the option of deciding whether to really go tonight. She would need to do her own hair but that wasn't a big concern. She had done her stepsisters hair multiple times before. 

It wasn't long before the stairs were clean enough she didn't want to look at them for fear of seeing her own reflection staring back at her. Scooping up her cleaning towels and bucket of soapy suds she strode to the window. Throwing the dirtied water out the window she walked to the small closet in the study gathering a feather duster and her hand. 

Careful of the old books and small objects she dusted the rarely used study and left to quickly finish the rest of the house. 

It took the rest of the day to clean the entire house. Filled with stairs, walls full of windows, endless walls and so much more. Daily dusting, weekly scrubbing, and monthly polishing. It was all done today of all days to keep her out of the way of the girls getting ready for the ball. Adaline had planned this day from beginning to end to be filled with more cleaning than Elise had ever done before. 

While there was no way that Adaline knew she was planning on attending tonight's ball it was as if she did. It was almost as though Adaline had given her double the duties in order to take away her own time of getting herself ready for tonight. 

"Elise!" Adeline's voice cut through her thoughts as she finished polishing the last piece of silver. "Elise come here now!"

Running down the hall Elise worried at what she could find for her to do now just hours before the start of the ball what more could she need? Finding Adaline at the entry way with her stepsisters beside her made her pause. They looked ready to leave. What could they want from her?

"We are leaving," Adlaline announced. Elise tried to hold back a smile of surprise keeping her eyes and head down to the ground. "We are meeting with the esteemed Yetter family. They have offered to sponsor the girls upcoming seasons if they do not find matches tonight and we must pay our respects before the ball. Assure them that it will not be necessary. Look at my girls. They will not need another season."

"Yes Ma'am," Elise curtsied low to the ground.

"Have you completed all on your list?" Adaline asked holding her head high a smirk on her lips. 

"Not yet Ma'am," Elise lied lifting her hand half way to her face before forcing it back down. 

"Good I like to think that you will be too busy to miss us or think to much on what you are missing out on tonight," Adaline laughed as she hurried her girls out the door and to the awaiting carriage. 

Elise smiled now as they left she had a little under two hours now to get ready and have plenty of time to get her own carriage from the barn hitched up to Reginald and one other horse of her choosing. It was almost too perfect as she now had the house to herself. Everything was falling into place it would seem.

Running up to her room she grabbed her dress throwing it over her naked shoulders it fell down easily sliding over her curves and hugging her gently. Twirling slowly the dress kissed at her ankles. It was almost too perfect. She slipped the mask over her face and looked into the mirror standing in the far corner. 

Through the cracks in the mirror her reflection made her burst into tears. She was beautiful. For the first time in her life. She felt physically beautiful.