Nanny with Benefits

by Amy Brent

  “You’ve been awake for an hour?” I asked as my hand caressed the arm that rested on my chest.

  “And then some. The coffee’s ready, and all I need to do is cook the toast.”

  I lowered my hand to her belly. No bump yet. Nonetheless, there was a seed inside her, the beginning of something glorious between us from our lovemaking.

  “We need to tell Alexis.”

  “Not this morning. She’ll be too excited and won’t concentrate at school. When she gets home,” Karly said. “Have a word with the boss and see if you can do a half day.” Karly giggled.

  “Half a day? It’s hardly worth going to the office. The boss is awesome!”

  Karly agreed. However, the last thing she wanted was for me to fawn over her all day. The office would be a great distraction for a few hours. How I’d restrain myself from telling everyone, though, was going to be a challenge. It was early enough for Alexis to know, but the rest of the world could hold their horses for a while until it was set.

  Karly sat up. The bedsheet slid from her naked body. I clasped my fingers together behind my head and smiled, looking up at her. Karly turned her body and looked down at me with a serious expression.

  “What’s up?”

  She released the furrow in her brow. “Promise me,” she said. At my puzzled expression, she explained. “Promise me you won’t tell Eric.”

  I’d started to think she had something serious to tell me, but not mentioning it to Eric was serious enough. His escapade with the redheaded reporter had already landed us in a big pile of awkwardness. Any hint of a child on the way would have even the trashiest magazine on the planet come running for a scoop.

  “I promise and double promise. We’ve had too much excitement thanks to him and his big mouth,” I replied.

  I pulled my hands from behind my head and swung my legs off the bed. I looked up as the large brass door handle twisted. I jumped up quickly and pulled on a pair of shorts. Karly wrapped herself in a bathrobe as Alexis burst into the room. She clambered up onto the bed and started bouncing.

  Alexis yelled, “Dada! Time to wakey-wakey.”

  Alexis bounced higher and higher and then leaped in my direction. I caught her in my arms and swung her around, kissed her on the forehead, and lowered her to the floor. She grabbed my hand, and we moved out of the bedroom.

  “I’ll be home early today,” I said.

  Alexis stopped. “Why, Dada?”

  I looked down and smiled. “Can’t I spend some time with my girls?”

  Alexis stared at me and then turned her head to look at Karly. “It’s Sunday. You don’t work Sundays,” she replied. “I have Lisa’s birthday party to go to this morning.”

  “Of course you do, honey. We’re only playing games.” I turned to Karly, who shrugged her shoulders. Shit. I’d thought it was Monday already. “How could we forget it was Lisa’s birthday?” Alexis ran back to her room and shouted for Karly to help her choose her dress.

  “You forgot it was Sunday?” I whispered as Karly sauntered past me.

  “Look who’s talking. You were ready to go to the office,” she replied.

  It looked like I needed to find something else to do for a few hours.

  I smiled. “I’ll take Alexis and wash the car or something while I’m waiting. You can relax.”

  Karly glared at me. “There’s no need to treat me like I’m ready to break. All that will come later. I’m still me at the moment, you know.”

  I smiled, knowing I was being a bit too cautious. “Either way, we’ll tell her together when she’s finished at Lisa’s, once we get home and she’s had a nap.”

  Karly stood in the doorway of Alexis’s bedroom. Her hands clasped the doorframe. “You better have breakfast and get ready. I don’t think this little lady will take as long as usual.”

  The pot on the coffee machine was full. I poured my cup and dropped the lever on the toaster. I leaned my back against the kitchen counter and clamed my hands around my mug. I could hear laughter and water splashing from the bathroom. I took the toast and sat at the dining table. Karly was right. Alexis was ready in record time, and she wanted to skip breakfast. Lisa’s mom had planned a morning out, and there was going to be a gigantic tea party with real tea, Alexis said.

  It was a short drive to Lisa’s house, and all the while, Alexis had her hands on the sides of her safety chair. She raised her body and looked out the window. I stopped the car and managed to find the safety seat buckle in among her pink ballerina dress. Lisa stood in the doorway with her mom as Alexis walked up the path clutching her gift under her arm.

  “Happy birthday!” Alexis yelled as I leaned my arms on the roof of the car.

  The kids vanished into the house, and Lisa’s mom signaled one o’clock to me. I nodded and climbed back into the car and headed to the slowest carwash and polish place I could find. Karly had decided to stay home after all.

  The car smelled of polish, so I opened the window and rested my head back. I dozed until a tap at the window woke me. “Damon, Alexis is ready,” Lisa’s mom said through the two-inch gap at the top of the door.

  I took Alexis and fastened her into her baby seat. “Were you dreaming?” Alexis asked. I said I wasn’t. I did dream, though, about how lucky it was that I’d ended up with the best two girls in the world and another baby on the way.

  We arrived home, and Karly stood to wait in the doorway. “I’m pooped,” Alexis said as Karly helped her out of her jacket.

  “Do you want to know a secret?” Karly asked.

  Alexis widened her eyes and whispered. “A real secret?”

  Karly nodded yes.

  “What about my nap?” she asked.

  “You might not want a nap once you hear this.”

  Alexis sat in the center of the couch. I stood next to Karly and crouched to be at eye level with Alexis. Karly gripped my shoulder and squeezed.

  “Karly is going to have a baby,” I said.

  Alexis looked at me and then lifted her head to look at Karly. “Does this mean you’ll be my new mommy?” she asked. Alexis scratched the side of her head. “I have to stop calling you Karly?”

  I gave her a smile. “Not right at the moment. That isn’t to say it will never happen. For now, she’s still Karly.” Alexis sat silently for a moment. Her legs were crossed at her ankles, and she fumbled with her fingers and thumbs. Her mouth twitched as she decided what to say next. “So, what do you think?”

  Alexis tilted her head and screwed up her nose in a cute way. “I’ll be a big sister?” Her eyes lit up.

  “You’ll be the best big sister in the whole world,” Karly said, crouching next to me. “So are you happy?”

  Alexis slipped from the couch and threw her arms around Karly and me. She kissed us both on the cheek. “You betcha I’m happy. I’m going to tell Clara.”

  I stood. I was overjoyed that Alexis accepted the news so well. She was still young, but she sort of knew what made the world go around.

  “Don’t be too long. How about we go and celebrate?” I asked.

  “Whoa! Two parties in one day? I’ll be totally exaspered,” Alexis remarked as she headed to the staircase.

  I let her pronunciation slip in my excitement. After all, a new word that meant exhausted might have been fun for us all. It was too cute. I took hold of Karly’s hand. “I know it’s super early, but do you want to buy a few things for the little one?”

  Karly nodded, and then she smiled and squeezed my fingers. “I’d love to.”

  We hit the mall, and it all started to go horribly wrong. I had never been the best of shoppers, and now there were two women to contend with. Alexis ran back and forth with clothes she liked—ones that were far too inappropriate for a toddler—and Karly held up the cutest outfits.

  Like most men, I hit the shopping wall. My feet hurt, and I needed to sit for a while.

  “What’s wrong?” Karly asked.

  “Shopping. I’m not built for it,” I replied. “Who wants
ice cream?”

  Alexis jumped up and down shouting that she did. Lisa’s mom had never gotten her ice cream at the party, she said. She made it known in quick words, and that meant she was getting tired. Apparently, the freezer had “died” and it had all melted.

  “Well, seeing as it’s a super special day, you can both have whatever you want.”

  Alexis slid onto the bench seat next to the window, and Karly slipped in next to her. It was delightful, and we ordered the biggest chocolate ice cream for three, which was covered in plenty of whipped cream.

  Alexis stood on the seat and threw her arms around Karly’s neck. “I can’t wait to have a sister,” she said. I looked at Karly. We never considered the sex of the baby. “What do you want, Dada?”

  “Now that’s a hard question. I’ve already got the bestest daughter in the whole wide world, so I should really have the bestest son in the world.”

  Alexis frowned and glared at me. “You said I was going to be a big sister. It’s my choice,” she said. “Sister!”

  “Brother.”

  “Dada! Sister!”

  I grinned. “Brother!”

  The waitress came back with a fruit-bowl-sized mountain of whipped cream. Alexis dipped her finger in and licked it. I peered over the top.

  “Brother!”

  Alexis looked at me. “Dada, I want to whisper.”

  I leaned across the table. Alexis slapped a handful of whipped cream across my face. “Sister. I want a sister.”

  I took a napkin and wiped the side of my face. “There’s one way to decide,” I told to Alexis, who busied herself with licking her fingers, happy that she’d tricked me. “Karly can make the decision.”

  Alexis turned to Karly and dipped her fingers back into the whipped cream. She giggled as her hand was ready.

  Karly smiled and answered. “I’m happy to have either. For me, the important thing is a happy family.”

  Karly had saved herself from Alexis and her attack of whipped cream. I sat back and watched as they toyed with each other and their newfound spoons, which the waitress had brought over. To anyone watching from afar, they already looked and acted like a mother and daughter would. I was relieved beyond belief.

  It was strange that Alexis had taken to Karly from the first moment she met her.

  I laughed to myself. Like father, like daughter. So had I. We’d both been struck by her.

  Epilogue

  Karly

  11 Months Later

  Who else could jump so far from being so naive and inexperienced? It was great luck on my part. I had never thought I could find love with him, my dream man.

  As a newbie to the whole giving birth scene, I had found I was ecstatic. It really went without a hitch, and the doctors and nurses were awesome. I presumed much of that was down to the best-that-money-could-buy mentality Damon used when it was almost my time.

  I had expected time to slow down once I gave birth, but with sleepless nights, time rushed by. Time definitely flew when you were having fun. Personally, it seemed to have passed by in the blink of an eye. Devin, a beautiful boy with wide brown eyes, was already two months old.

  What surprised Damon and me the most was how the press painted a different picture of the entire thing they’d begun with. It wasn’t Techie Beds His Nanny or anything halfway as harsh. They had nothing but praise for our addition to the family. Damon’s shares rose in value. That was one thing that had wound the media up too. Apparently, happy families were great for client confidence, or so we found out.

  We never knew we were going to have this beautiful boy. It was a complete surprise to us in the beginning, and I never really trusted the pill after that revelation. Devin, all seven pounds and three ounces of him, had snuck into the world in the middle of the night. He was as much a surprise to the media as I’d been. For most of my pregnancy, we hid it well that I was pregnant, and it was only one eagle-eyed photographer on a windy morning in the park who had spotted my bump.

  From then on, it was hot news, and the media only had a month and a half to clamber over each other to get the best story. They came out with all the regular questions. Where was the child conceived? What are you hoping for? Have you chosen a name?

  We had simple answers to all those questions, and when the media discovered we were telling the truth, they gave us a wide berth. We had no idea where the baby was conceived, we didn’t mind the gender—even though Damon wanted a boy—and no name was chosen. Those were our answers.

  I wasn’t sure what genes he got from me. As soon as I went to slip Devin’s picture into the family album, I noticed the resemblance to Damon. Actually, they looked identical when I compared their baby pictures. Fingers crossed he possessed my brains, even though Damon was the genius techie kid.

  “Karly,” Alexis yelled from the nursery. “Devin smells again.”

  I stood up from the bed and made my way to the nursery. It was a quaint room, and not knowing the sex, we had decorated in blue and pink. We’d covered both options, and it made choosing colors a hell of a lot easier than trying to match weird yellows or greens.

  Alexis would grow up to be “the bestest big sister in the whole world.” She adored Devin and always made sure to alert me if he wanted anything. What a difference almost a year and a change in schools had made in her. Now a first grader, she was so mature. Clara had been on the shelf without an opinion for about three months, but when I cleaned Alexis’s room, she still gave me that same stitchy smile we’d all grown so fond of.

  “How come you never shout out for Dada to do this?” Alexis asked curiously.

  “He gets so busy!” I said.

  “I’m grown up and in first grade. I’m not a kid anymore,” she replied, holding her nose. “I reckon Dada should do poo too!”

  I removed Devin’s diaper. Alexis pushed her hand harder against her nose and mouth. She handed me a plastic bag and a packet of baby wipes. Then she stepped back out of harm's way. Eventually, she pulled her hand away from her face.

  “Just wait until you do this,” I commented.

  “No way! He smells bad.”

  “You were the same when you were Devin’s age,” I said. “We all go through the same thing. We all stink.”

  “Karly, I’m never having children when I grow up.” Her insistence was too funny. I giggled at her cuteness. “It’s just awful.”

  “I need a clean diaper now.”

  Alexis opened the backpack and pulled out a clean diaper and handed it to me. She looked at Devin’s face. He waved his arms and legs when he saw her.

  “Devin, stop smelling.” After a few goos and gaas, Alexis was satisfied he understood what she meant.

  After being called by Alexis, I noticed Damon wasn’t upstairs, and it seemed quiet downstairs. I buttoned Devin’s romper suit and picked him up. I put him over my shoulder and rocked him a few times before he started to nap again.

  “Where’s your daddy?” I asked Alexis.

  “He went out.”

  “Out where?”

  “He said not to say anything apart from that he’s gone out.” Alexis picked up the baby mat and folded it. She placed the baby wipes and cream back into the bag. She pointed to the plastic carry bag on the floor, the one containing the soiled diaper. “That’s your job.”

  I chuckled. Alexis was so determined at such a young age. God help us when she was the back end of being a teenager. Devin slumped on my shoulder. I laid him in his cot and started his musical mobile. Alexis stood gripping the bars like a small prisoner in jail. She peered through and gazed at her little brother. We washed up and grabbed the baby monitor. We left the door to the nursery slightly ajar as we walked along the upstairs hallway.

  “We better find out where your dad is, don’t you think?” I asked.

  Alexis agreed. I heard the door close downstairs and the patter of Damon’s shoes on the tiled floor. With two thuds, his shoes hit the floor, and he called up to us from the living room.

  “We found h
im, and we never looked,” Alexis said. She pulled on my fingers and dragged me into her bedroom. “Look, I’ve made Devin a book.”

  Alexis sat me on the large play mat by her window. I crossed my legs, and she started to open the book she’d made for her little brother. “What does Clara think of Devin?” I asked.

  “Do you want to know a secret?” Alexis asked.

  “I do. Tell me,” I replied.

  “Clara’s only a doll. She isn’t real, you know.” She gave a big smile. “Devin won’t play with dolls, will he?” she asked.

  I shook my head. “Probably not. He’ll be into soldiers and aliens, things like that.”

  After we looked through her special Devin book, Alexis said she had nothing he might want to play with. They would have to buy some new toys for him.

  “Shall we go and see your dad and ask him?”

  “Yeah!” Alexis stood and offered me her hand.

  She groaned as she pulled on me as hard as she could. We held hands and exited her bedroom. The baby monitor now emitted little gurgles and strange noises. Devin was pleasantly amusing himself or sleeping and dreaming of something wonderful.

  We reached the foot of the stairs, and I heard a noise in the living room. I rounded the corner and saw Damon kneeling on the floor. I rushed over and asked him if he was okay. He nodded and said he was fine.

  “I’m just doing something,” he said.

  “Damon, you look like you’ve fallen. Get up.”

  Alexis walked in behind us. “Dada, what’s wrong?” she asked, walking over and hugging him.

  Damon was silent. He said nothing.

  “Answer her,” I said in a flat tone. He was acting so strangely.

  Damon shook his head and looked into my eyes. He had a wide and cheeky grin on his face. “You answer me instead,” he said, not making any sense at all.

  “I think you’ve banged your head.”