The Nanny's New Family (Caring Canines)

by Margaret Daley

  Ian checked his watch. “You’d better catch some sleep yourself.”

  “I’ll peek in on the girls and Joshua, then leave.”

  She started to turn when Ian clasped her upper arm and stopped her. “Thanks again. Just taking the girls to their room and putting them in bed was a huge help.”

  Ian’s touch on her skin riveted her attention to his hand for a few seconds before he released his hold. Her heartbeat kicked up a notch. In her previous nanny positions she usually dealt with the mothers, but since Ian was a single parent she would be working with just him. She’d never thought that would be a problem—until now.

  “It’s part of my job,” she murmured then continued toward Joshua’s room next to Jeremy’s.

  When Annie climbed the stairs to her apartment, she stopped on the landing and rotated toward the yard. She saw a few lights off in the distance. The cool spring air with a hint of honeysuckle from the bushes below caressed her skin. The sky twinkled with stars—thousands scattered everywhere.

  Her first unofficial evening had gone okay. It reinforced she’d made the right decision to work for Ian McGregor, instead of one of the other five offers she’d received. The family needed her, even more so because Ian was a single parent. Her only concern was the man she worked for: he was attractive, intelligent and caring, all traits she at one time had dreamed of in her future husband. Now, though, she thought of herself as a modern-day Mary Poppins, going where needed then moving on before her heart became too engaged. No sense getting attached.

  * * *

  Annie kept an eye on the kitchen clock while she scrambled the eggs, expecting the kids and Ian any second. When she glanced at the doorway, she spied Joshua dressed in the clothes they’d picked out together this morning. Other than his tennis shoes on the wrong feet, he appeared ready to go to school.

  “Good morning, Joshua. Are you hungry?”

  He nodded and plodded to the table, evidently not a morning person. He usually talked a lot, but earlier when she’d gotten him up, he’d said only a handful of words by the time she’d left him to dress.

  As she turned off the burner, Ian and Jeremy entered the room. Neither looked happy. “Good morning, Jeremy, Ian.” She set a platter of toast in the center of the table, then milk and orange juice. “Did you see Jade and Jasmine?”

  Ian poured some coffee and settled into the chair at one end. “They were both supposed to be coming right away.”

  “I’m here,” Jade announced from the entrance. She looked ready for school. “But Jasmine is still in the bathroom. She’s decided to put her hair in a ponytail.”

  “I’ll go help her.” Annie placed the eggs next to the toast then started for the hallway.

  “I tried. As usual, she didn’t want my help.” Jade plopped into the chair across from Jeremy.

  Annie hurried up the stairs and poked her head into the doorway of the girls’ bathroom.

  Jasmine yanked the rubber band from her hair. “Ouch!” She stomped her foot and glared at herself in the mirror. “I can’t do this.”

  “I can.” Annie moved toward the child.

  Jasmine whirled around, her lips pinched together. “No one can pull it as tight as I want.”

  “Okay. Breakfast is ready. We leave for school in half an hour.”

  “I can’t be ready by then.”

  “That’s your choice. You know what happens when you aren’t ready.” She’d informed Jasmine when the girls woke up. Annie left, preparing herself for the next hour and the battle to come.

  When she returned to the kitchen, everyone watched her as she made her way to the table.

  “Where’s Jasmine?” Ian asked, finishing up his last bite of eggs.

  “She doesn’t need my help, so I reminded her of the time we’re leaving for school.” Annie sat at the other end of the table. “Which, Joshua and Jade, is in thirty minutes. Seven forty-five.”

  “I can’t tell time,” Joshua said as he stuffed a fourth of his toast into his mouth.

  “I’ll tell you. And you’re ready except for brushing your teeth and changing your shoes.”

  “Why?”

  “Dork, your shoes are on the wrong feet.”

  “Jeremy, that word is unacceptable.” Ian carried his dishes to the sink.

  “Well, he is one.” Ian’s eldest took his nearly full plate over to the counter then stormed from the kitchen.

  “I’m not a dork. I like my shoes like this.”

  “It’s not good for your feet. Here, I’ll help you.” Annie slid from her chair and knelt next to Joshua.

  Once she fixed the problem, Joshua jumped up and raced toward the hallway. “I’m gonna be first ready.”

  “No, you’re not.” Jade quickly followed.

  The sound of their pounding feet going up the stairs filled the house.

  Ian came up behind Annie to help clear the dishes. “Ah, quiet. I’ve learned to cherish these moments. Is Jasmine going to be ready?”

  “I don’t know. She had her dress on but no shoes, not to mention she hasn’t eaten breakfast.”

  “I’ll be leaving right after you. I don’t know how long we’ll be at the doctor. He’ll probably run some tests.”

  “How was Jeremy when he woke up this morning?” Annie hated seeing the concern and weariness on Ian’s face. She hated seeing what Jeremy was going through.

  “Grumpy, which isn’t unusual, but when we talked about the seizure, I saw fear in his eyes. He rarely shows that. I tried to explain about what a seizure was, and he wouldn’t listen.”

  “Denial. That’s understandable. When Becca, my friend at school, had seizures she fought it. Finally she learned to accept the situation. Being less stressed helped Becca lessen the symptoms.” Although she didn’t have epilepsy, Annie had been in her share of denial while recovering from her third-degree burns. And she’d been angry at the world, too.

  “Do you think Jeremy knew something was going on?” she asked. “My friend had petit mal seizures for a while before she had her first grand mal. I’d find her staring off into space, but she just said she was thinking.”

  Ian frowned. “It’s possible. He’s spent a lot of time in his room lately. I’d try talking with him, but he would just say his brother and sisters bothered him. I can remember going through a stage like that when I was a kid, so I thought it was that.”

  “It might be.”

  “It could explain some of what’s been going on.”

  Annie caught sight of the clock. It wouldn’t do for the nanny to be late with the kids the first day on her job. Jasmine would never let her forget it if she didn’t leave on time. “I’ve got to go. I might have to get up earlier tomorrow instead of Jasmine.”

  “I don’t know if I’ll be taking Jeremy to school today or not. It’ll depend on what happens at the doctor. I’ll keep you informed of what happens.”

  “Don’t worry about the others. I’ll take care of them.” Annie went to the intercom and announced, “Time to go to school, everyone.”

  She heard a shriek from upstairs, then a few seconds later, Joshua and Jade hurrying down the steps, each trying to be the first out the kitchen door to the garage. If only she could get Jasmine to buy in to racing her siblings to the car.

  With a deep sigh, Annie mounted the stairs. Jasmine came out into the hall carrying her shoes, her hair a wild mess as though she’d teased it. She’d changed her outfit.

  “I need more time. I can’t go to school wearing this. There’s a stain on the blouse. I just saw it.” The girl’s voice rose to a shrill level.

  “You have two minutes to make it down to the car in the garage.”

  Jasmine stomped her foot. “I have to look my best.”

  “Your choice. I can bring you back if you want to change, but I’m leaving in ninety seconds to take the other two. They have a right to be at school on time.”

  Jasmine charged into her room then returned with a blouse clutched in her other hand with her brush. “I hate
you. You just don’t understand.” Tears filled her eyes as she marched past Annie, grumbling the whole way down the stairs, through the kitchen door and to the navy blue Ford Explorer. After Jasmine flounced into the backseat, she glared at Jade sitting in front.

  Ian stood near the door from the breezeway, trying to suppress his grin. “I think I needed that. You know she won’t get out of the car.”

  “I figured. Even if she changes her blouse and puts her shoes on, she would never go inside the school with her hair like that. I’ll bring her home and let her get ready then take her back. She’ll have to explain to the office why she was late.”

  “We’ll need to compare our day this evening. I’m not sure whose day will be more challenging. Thank you again.”

  For a few seconds Annie felt as though they were in this together—but not just as employer and employee. With Ian’s casual manner, it was easy to forget their relationship was strictly professional. “Nothing I haven’t encountered before.” Annie walked toward the vehicle, feeling Ian’s gaze on her. It sent a shiver up her spine.

  * * *

  Later that night, after putting Joshua down, Annie went in search of Jasmine. Her door was closed while her twin’s was wide-open with Jade sitting on the bed, listening to music. Annie rapped on Jasmine’s door. Silence greeted her. She tried turning the knob, but it was locked.

  She went to the entrance of Jade’s bedroom. “Why is Jasmine’s door locked?”

  Jade waved toward her twin’s room. “She told me she would go to sleep when she wanted.”

  Annie felt an urge to march down to Ian’s home office and get a key from him to unlock the door right that minute. She curbed that reaction and instead said to Jade, “Thanks. She might go to bed when she wants, but she will be up earlier tomorrow.”

  “This is gonna be so much fun.” Jade giggled and returned to listening to her music.

  Annie neared Jasmine’s room and said, “If you want your beauty sleep, you should go to bed soon. Good night.”

  Annie made her way downstairs to retrieve a key from Ian to have tomorrow morning. She knocked on his office door and he immediately said, “Come in.”

  Annie stuck her head into the room, expecting Ian to be at his desk trying to catch up on his work. But the chair was empty. She stepped farther in and spied him at the French doors to the patio, staring out at the night.

  “I need a key to Jasmine’s room. She’s locked the door.”

  Ian turned, shaking his head. “How bad was it this morning?”

  “She was an hour late because for forty-five minutes she refused to let me help her get the tangles out. When I took her to school, she said nothing the whole way. Tomorrow morning I’ll wake her up early. If I have to, I have a bullhorn I can use.”

  Ian chuckled. “Thanks for the warning.” He went to his desk and opened the top drawer. “I have a key that opens all their doors.” When he pressed it into her palm, he added, “Keep it. It’s a copy. This isn’t the first time she’s locked her door. It also comes in handy with Jeremy.”

  “How did it go with the doctor? Jeremy wouldn’t talk about it. He just stalked off and slammed his bedroom door.”

  “He’s not happy with what the doctor told him.”

  “Epilepsy?”

  “There are a couple of more tests, but it looks like it, especially when Jeremy mentioned he’s blanked out for a few seconds several times.”

  “Like what you told me when he got so angry at you in his room?”

  Ian nodded, his forehead furrowing. “The doctor started him on antiseizure medicine today. I tried talking to him before bringing him home, but I got the silent treatment, too. I’m not sure what to do.” He leaned back against his desk, gripping its edge.

  “The only experience I have is with my friend, but there was a time Becca went through an angry stage. She was so scared she would have seizures at school. She didn’t sleep at night, which wasn’t good for a person with epilepsy.” When Annie was eleven and this had happened to Becca, she’d been scared, too. She hadn’t known what to do at Becca’s first seizure. She’d hated feeling helpless.

  “Yeah, I’ve been reading up on it. Stress and lack of sleep can lead to seizures. Did she get better?”

  “Yes. When she did have a seizure at school, our teacher was great. Because she handled it matter-of-factly, the rest of us didn’t flip out. She sent me to get the teacher next door and asked the class to step out in the hall. I got to stay because she knew we were friends.”

  Ian rubbed his chin. “I’m going to school tomorrow with you all, and I’ll suggest that to Jeremy’s teacher. If he knows there’s a plan in place, it might help him feel better. They need to know what is going on, what’s causing the seizures.”

  “My twin’s husband, Ben, has a service dog. Ben came back from the war with post-traumatic stress disorder, although now he’s doing much better. Ben’s sister, Emma, trains service dogs. Emma’s first husband had epilepsy, and she regretted that he didn’t have the use of one.”

  “A service dog for epilepsy?”

  “Yes, I wish my friend had had one in school. Emma is part owner of Caring Canines right outside Cimarron City. If you’re interested, I could set up a meeting with her. That might be something that’ll help Jeremy adjust better.”

  “We used to have a dog, but Aunt Louise was allergic to him so we had to give him away. A neighbor down the street took him. My children visit him from time to time and have asked me for another pet.”

  “A service dog is devoted to one person, although everyone will interact with him.”

  “So I should look into one for Jeremy and another dog for the rest of us?” Ian pushed himself away from the desk.

  “It’s a thought. But first you need to convince Jeremy this will help him. We’ll meet with Emma Tanner, the trainer, and she’ll explain what the dog can do for him. Otherwise it won’t work well if he doesn’t agree to the dog.”

  “There’s a lot to consider. There may be certain things my son will have to know and take into consideration, depending on how severe his epilepsy is, but I also want him to live as normal a life as possible. Jeremy was the most upset when we gave the dog away. In fact, for a long time he was angry at Aunt Louise, but she won him over.”

  “Then she died. That’s a lot of loss to deal with, even for an adult.”

  A flash of pain darkened Ian’s eyes. He frowned, plowing his hand through his hair. “I know. I think the only one not affected much was Joshua.”

  As Annie suspected, it was evident that Ian had his own battles with grief to fight. “Speaking of Joshua, has he always been adventurous?”

  “From the second he could move around.”

  “On the way home from school today, he told me all about his day. I also got a little out of Jade but nothing from Jasmine. I know they can be difficult, but you have precious children.”

  Ian’s eyes widened. “Where have you been all my life? I needed you six months ago. Of course, Tom would never have let me persuade you to come work for me instead.”

  The heat of a blush singed her cheeks. “There are other good nannies.”

  “Not from my perspective. So if you’re planning to leave, please let me know. I’ll offer you a deal you can’t refuse. I never had this kind of conversation with the other nannies. Yes, with Aunt Louise, but not them.”

  Annie turned away, uncomfortable with compliments. The Hansens certainly had told her how important she was to the family, but for some reason it was different when Ian said it. She felt special and appreciated. “I’m going to check on the kids, then I need to get my own sleep. I’m getting up extra early so I can get Jasmine moving.” Annie started for the hallway.

  “Tomorrow, if Jasmine isn’t ready, I could always carry her to the car then into the building.”

  At the entrance Annie turned around, not realizing Ian was only a few feet behind her. His nearness sent her heart beating faster. He was so close she caught a whiff of lime,
most likely from his aftershave lotion.

  Ian smiled, his eyes gleaming. “I’ll check on Jeremy. I don’t want him to run you off with the mood he’s been in.”

  Out of all the children, Annie most identified with Jeremy because after the fire she’d felt what Ian’s son was experiencing: angry at the world. “He won’t run me off. It takes more than an angry kid to do that.”

  “Like what?”

  Not feeling needed. But Annie wasn’t going to tell Ian that. She shrugged. “Back to what you said about Jasmine—I considered that myself, but I’d rather the children decide to get in and out of the car. Taking a child kicking and screaming into a place will do more harm in the long run. At an earlier age, it might be the answer, but Jasmine is eight. Not only would it set her up for her classmates to make fun of her, it doesn’t get to the root of the problem.”

  “That makes sense. Jasmine has always taken longer to get dressed than the others, but lately it has been worse. She won’t even accept help. I remember she used to let Aunt Louise brush her hair. Now no one can touch it.”

  “Interesting. I wonder what made her change her mind.”

  “I’m not sure. Nothing she’ll tell us.”

  “Maybe Jade knows. They may be very different in personality, but they’re close.”

  “Yeah, they’ve always had a special bond. I should have thought about that.” On the top step Ian angled toward her. “Why didn’t I?”

  “It’s tough being a single parent with one or two, let alone four kids. Don’t beat yourself up. Good night, Ian.” Annie parted from Ian and made her way toward Jasmine’s room.

  Using the key, she unlocked the door and peeked in to see if she was in bed. She was, and Annie backed out. After checking on Jade, who was asleep, too, she walked to Joshua’s room and slipped inside. She found him lying on the floor. Gently she scooped him up in her arms and placed him on his bed. When she began to straighten away from him, his eyes slid open halfway.

  She brushed his hair away from his face and smiled at him. “You were on the floor with no covers.” Then she kissed him on his forehead. “Good night.”

  “Annie, are you gonna leave us?”