by Kylie Parker
“I’ll get it done,” Gracie breathed.
Clara was sitting in a swing Madeline had purchased a few days ago, and when my eyes fluttered over to where she was swinging I felt a pang of hurt. Madeline had imprinted herself completely onto my daughter, and I worried about what ripping her away would do. It’s why I interjected that Madeline still come Tuesdays and Thursdays.
She’d already been abandoned by one woman, and I didn’t need her being abandoned by another.
“I need to call the nanny agency,” I murmured.
“I don’t know why you insisted on keeping her around,” Gracie said.
“Well, she’s good for Clara.”
“So is her mother,” Gracie bit.
“I figured having her here a couple of days a week would let us go have some time alone together, too.”
I watched Gracie’s reaction carefully to what I had said. She knew she was underneath my microscope and I could tell by the way her shoulders were pulled taut that there was something she was hiding. Her eyes twinkled and her lips smiled, but her body was nervous. Every once in a while her fingers would twitch, and she could blame it on the chemo all she wanted.
I knew her nervous ticks when I saw them.
“Why don’t you trust me?” Gracie asked.
“Because the last time I did, you took a daughter I didn’t know about and left.”
“I told you I was sorry,” she murmured.
“Sorry doesn’t get me three months back.”
“Look. What’s happening isn’t ideal; I get that. But, I want for us to be a family. I mean it when I say that.”
“But you didn’t want to be a family before?”
“Before what?” she asked.
“Before Clara?”
“What?” she breathed.
“Clara doesn’t make us a family. We had each other before all this started.”
It was true. A child doesn’t make a family. Love, respect, and trust is what bonded people together, and through that bond, a family is created. If anything, not having parents who gave a shit about anything other than education and money taught me that. It was hard for someone of my prominence and wealth to find people who I could truly consider family. Everyone always wanted something from me: a donation, a gift, a loan paid off or a new outfit. Hell, I showered random women with gifts just so they’d part their legs for me!
Men like me don’t find family easily.
“I don’t trust you because when things got tough or unpredictable, you walked away. You walked away without letting me know about one of the best things that have ever happened to me, and I’m not sure I forgive you for that yet. Hell, I’m not sure if I ever will!”
I knew I was raising my voice, but I couldn’t help it. I mean, who the hell did she think she was? Here she came, waltzing back in here, firing my nanny, and thinking everything was just going to be hunky dory?
Something wasn’t right, and I wasn’t getting rid of Madeline until I figured out what it was.
“I’m going and calling the nanny agency,” I spat.
“Derrie!” I heard her call after me. But I didn’t stop to turn around. I was required to inform the agency of any changes to the household dynamic that happened to occur, and I think Clara’s mother returning constituted as massive a shift in dynamic as could be. But I also wanted to let them know that there was no need to change her pay rate. I’d still be paying her through the Nanny Agency so they could take whatever fat rate they skimmed off the top, but I would tell them she was only needed on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
I went for my phone and picked it up, before I began searching online for the number. I found it, decided to make the call, and just as someone picked up the phone I turned around and saw Gracie standing there with Clara.
You would think seeing the mother of my child standing there with our offspring would raise something primal up from the depths of my stomach; but instead the only thing I could do was study her body.
That resulted in my gut continuing to hammer my head with anxious thoughts.
“Caretaker, Incorporated, this is Melody speaking, how may I help you?”
“Yes, my name is Mr. Blake and I believe a Miss Madeline Albright is under my employ via your company?”
“Yes, sir: it looks like she is employed as a live-in. Is everything alright?”
“Oh, everything’s just fine,” I smiled. “I just wanted to talk about re-negotiating her contract.”
“Of course! I will shoot you over to the billing department and they can take care of everything.”
“Thank you so much, Melody.”
I walked towards Gracie and nodded in her general direction before I slipped off to my room. That was one thing Gracie never did: she never felt the need to follow me around. In fact, when we were dating it almost drove me mad that she didn’t. She never caught onto my hints about her coming into the shower with me or following me to the car for a surprise. She was completely oblivious to those types of cues and always told me I should be more secure in who I was as a man rather than needing a “sad little puppy slut” to follow me around everywhere.
But when I went to close my bedroom door, I saw her slowly walk by.
“Mr. Blake!” the voice on the phone chimed, “This is the billing department; how can we help?”
I lowered my voice and told them what I wanted done as I clocked the shadow hovering outside my bedroom door. My eyes stayed glued to the unwavering dark shadow lurking underneath the gap between my door and my floor, and something in the back of my mind told me to call my lawyer. Sure, that meant a very long conversation, which meant I probably needed an excuse to get away, but something was wrong with Gracie, and she was holding the only thing in this world I held as dear to me as my company.
Actually, Clara was dearer to me, in fact.
“So, let me reiterate: you only want Miss Madeline Albright to be there Tuesdays and Thursdays, with the possibility of Sundays, but you don’t want to change her pay?”
“Correct,” I murmured.
“And you’re sure?”
“Yes.”
I heard some typing in the background before I heard my phone ding, and the man informed me he had sent a copy of the new agreement to my phone to sign before they called Madeline to inform her of the change in details.
“Thank you so much for your time,” I said before I hung up. I didn’t even give the man a chance to respond. I opened my phone and shot Madeline a text message, hoping to God she wouldn’t delete it out of anger, and I took a deep breath before I ripped my bedroom door open.
And there Gracie stood, leaning with her back against the wall beside Clara’s room.
“Did she take it alright?” she asked.
“Eh, the girl’s strong. She’ll be good. Listen, I’ve still got a shit ton to do at work–”
“Language, Derrie,” Gracie whispered.
“Sorry… I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me today still, and this fun little… break… hampered my ability to get it done. I have to get back to the office, but I’ll come back with dinner. How’s that sound?”
“Sounds fantastic,” Gracie smiled.
“Good.”
I headed for the front door and shoved my phone in my pocket. I grabbed my wallet and my keys before slinging my coat around my shoulders, and just before my hand went to grab the doorknob I felt a pressure on my forearm.
And before I could register what was going on, Gracie whipped me around and planted a sloppy kiss onto my lips.
“We’ll see you when you get home,” Gracie said lowly. I recognized the look in her eye. It was a look that used to bring me to my knees: dark and seductive, with just a hint of wild. Except now, her eyes looked two ticks away from possessed and I was even more nervous about leaving Clara with her.
What if I came back and they were both gone?
I needed to get to my lawyer, talk, and figure out what my options were.
But, until then; I needed to play al
ong to get her to stay.
“I look forward to it,” I grinned.
20
I sat on Franz’s twin bed across the hall from him while I heard his shower running. He lived in a rundown apartment on the other side of town, and every once in a while there was a mother screaming at her children while they pummeled the ceiling of my room. I felt listless again, like life had decided to kick me off its train while everyone else got a free ride into the next town. I was tired of backpacking on the side of the railway at night just to find my way into a town that didn’t want me, and I was tired of life making me slog through mud and kicking me back into a big pile of … well you know.
My heart felt empty, and there was nothing I could do about it.
I felt anger bubble into my throat. I wished to God I’d never gotten that damn phone call that morning. I wished to God I’d never been a nanny for that family; and I wished to every single God available that my family wasn’t just … so …
I let out a shrieking scream before I buried my tear-stained face in my hands.
I curled up onto the musty, dust-ridden bed and sobbed. I sobbed for a family that didn’t give a shit, and I sobbed for that beautiful child whose funeral I wasn’t allowed to attend. I sobbed for the graveside I'd never been able to set flowers on, and I sobbed for a future that could have been, if I would’ve just stuck with my studies instead of dropping out on an emotional whim.
I sobbed for the idiocy I allowed when I let my guard down with a man like Derek;
Like Mr. Blake;
Like whatever the fuck I was supposed to call him now.
“Gracie’s bitch is more like it,” I huffed.
A low chuckle rumbled from the doorway and I sniffled before turning around. Franz was there, his bald head glistening with water from his shower while his robe stuck to his skin.
“Go on. Get it outta your system,” he urged.
“I thought I found where I belonged,” I whispered.
“Oh, girl,” he sighed.
Franz came in and sat down on the edge of my bed. It creaked with the weight and dipped heavy into the floor, and soon I felt the cool wrinkles of Franz’s skin on my bare calf as he slowly patted my leg in sympathy.
“If there’s one thing life’s taught me, it’s that we belong nowhere,” Franz croaked.
I could see the mist brewing behind his eyes and it caused me to reach down and take his hand. I wrapped my fingers around his before I slowly sat up on the bed, and like a dry spout that had been begging for water, the story of his daughter poured forth from his trembling lips.
“My daughter didn’t belong with no man twice her age. Sure, she told me she was in love with’im, but that man was easily twice her senior. An’ I ain’t one to judge appearances, but he wasn’t one of them fellas who took care of his self.”
And as the tears poured down his time-stained cheeks, all I did was grasp his hand firmly and listen.
“She was livin’ in that same complex, ya know, with that old man of hers. He got her whatever he wanted in exchange for jus’ havin’ her around, I guess. An’ she was jus’ content bein’ on his arm. I mean, we struggled for money when she was younger, but somethin’ happened when her mama died…”
I scooted closer to him and leaned my head onto his shoulder before he pressed his cheek into my head.
“She was jus’... in her home; waitin’ for him to come home from some meetin’ overseas or somethin’, an’... someone just walked right in an’ picked a place to rob, I guess. She—”
He squeezed my hand tightly and all I found myself choking back my own tears.
“Anyway, she would ’a wanted to be buried by her mama, so tha’s where I put her. An’ every Sunday, I take flowers to the two most important women in my life. It’s all I can give ’em now.”
My heart ached for him. No wonder he took the night shift job as the doorman and plugged holes in the schedule when he could. Some negligent doorman didn’t do his job, and his daughter was killed because of it.
“I… am so sorry, Franz,” I breathed.
“Point is,” he croaked, “she had no business bein’ with that man in that city. Ya can’t take the country lovin’ out’o a country girl, if ya ask me. An’ bein’ where she wasn’t supposed to be chewed her up and spit her out. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my life, child, it’s that we don’t belong nowhere except where we supposed to be.”
“And how does someone know where she’s supposed to be?” I whispered.
“You know ‘cause when you leave it,” he murmured, “it makes ya feel empty. Like your soul is singing’ a certain song, hopin’ to lure ya back to it. It’s kinda like how you feelin’ right now.”
“I don’t belong with Derek,” I breathed before I sat up. “He’s got his family now.”
“Family ain’t always about blood, girl,” Franz said lowly. “You remember that.”
“I’m worried about Clara,” I whispered.
“I know. An’ outta all of ‘em in this, she’ll be the one to pay,” Franz murmured.
“What do I do?” I asked. I turned my gaze towards the old man, and somehow he seemed… older. Like ten years’ time had made a home on his face while he sat and stared at the wall in front of him.
“Mr. Blake’s a good man. Cold in his business, toxic in his love life, but dedicated to his core. He’ll stay by that woman’s side on account o’ she’s the mother of his kid, but that don’t mean he trusts her.”
“So… you think he sees what I see?” I asked. I didn’t know how that could possibly give me hope, but it did.
“I think you underestimate how he can read people,” Franz nodded.
“I want him to be alright…” I said lowly.
“I know, girl.”
“I want him to be happy.”
“I know that, too.”
“I wanted him to be happy with me,” I said, barely above a whisper.
It was then that Franz turned his body to me while I dropped my gaze into my lap. I couldn’t help it. Derek had repulsed me with his cocky, nonchalant attitude before showing me how wonderfully he could love a child. Then, he showed me his sensual side; one that lusted after everything I was before turning around and accepting me into the rhythm of his life. He drew me in with those ice cold eyes and kept me around with the tease of his touch; then he chained me forever to the floor with the way he loved every part of his daughter.
And yet, Gracie was the one with him, and I was here with Franz.
“I know,” Franz whispered before he covered my hands in his. “I know.”
I heard a faint buzzing sound coming from my purse and I grabbed it before pulling it onto the bed. I spilled most of the contents out before I realized my entire body was shaking, and all the while Franz just sat there and watched while I moved the contents of my purse around on the bed to find my phone.
But when I found it, and I saw Derek’s name pop up on my screen, the blood drained from my face.
“He sent me a message,” I whispered to no one in particular.
“What does it say?” Franz asked.
I opened the message and snickered before I shook my head. I darted my eyes over to Franz who was eyeing me with an insatiable curiosity, and all I did was hold the phone up to him before that same sparkle in my eye popped up behind his.
“Just hang tight. I know something’s not right,” Franz read aloud.
“You can say it now,” I smirked.
“Say what?”
“‘I told ya so’.”
“Girl, if there’s anythin’ ya learn about me, it’s this: I don’t never rub my intelligence in other people’s faces.”
I threw my head back and laughed for the first time since this entire whirlwind of a journey started almost a month ago, and after I was done laughing I let out a massive sigh.
“So, I’m just supposed to hang out?” I asked.
“While ya strike me as the kinda girl that don’t take orders from anyone,
I’d say just this once… listen to what the man’s sayin’.”
And then, just before I went to rebut with a few suggestions, the number for the Nanny Agency popped up onto my phone.
“Hello?” I answered as Franz looked at me curiously.
“Hey Madeline,” Eleanor said.
“Hey there,” I breathed.
“I hear a change in dynamic happened with Mr. Blake.”
“Yeah, it’s been an interesting couple of hours,” I said.
“Well, there’s been a change in the contract…” she trailed off.
“Let me guess, don’t come back in until next week and, even then, it’s only Tuesdays and Thursdays.”
“Well, sort of. Yes for what you said, but he’s requested to have you on-call for Sundays, and he also said he’s not changing your pay.”
The phone slipped from my hand and into my lap as I stared at the wall in shock. Derek was still gonna pay me six figures just for working for him three days a week!?
Something was definitely not right.
As my mind suddenly kicked into overdrive and began to whirl, Franz had picked up my phone and put it on speaker.
“Madeline? Are you still there?” Eleanor asked.
“Yeah,” I breathed. “Just… are you sure?”
“Don’t worry, the billing department double-checked with him before we emailed him the final agreement. He signed, which gave us permission to officially notify you.”
I was stunned. On the one hand, I did have the power to rebut with a different agreement. Just because Derek signed it on his end didn’t mean I couldn’t negotiate; but once I agreed to the terms, Eleanor would sign the document as the third-party provider and it would be etched in stone. Was this a test? Was this to see if I would be honest about how to pay me? Maybe Gracie had done something to prove a point?
“Madeline, are you alright with those terms? And if you say no, I’ll probably order a doctor to come see you wherever you are right now. Which reminds me: since you aren’t a live-in any longer, I’ll need an updated address for where you are staying.”
But all I could do was sit and stare at the wall in silence.
“You… do have a place you’re staying, right?” she asked.
