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“Daddy is in Jeremy’s room. He made me go away.”
She escorted Joshua to his seat across from one of the twins. “Well, sometimes parents need private time with a child without any interruptions.”
“Jeremy was telling Daddy to leave. I saw his angry face.”
“Jeremy is in one of his moods,” one of the twins chimed in.
“Jade, I think—”
“I’m Jasmine.”
“Okay, Jasmine. I think we should go ahead and eat before the food gets cold.”
“But you said we should wait,” the real Jade said, her pout matching Joshua’s.
A sinus headache, common for her in the spring, hammered against Annie’s forehead behind her eyes. Remaining calm was the best way to deal with children. She took a moment to compose herself then bowed her head.
“What are ya doin’?” Joshua grabbed a roll from the basket near him.
Annie glanced at him. “Blessing the food.”
“What’s wrong with it?”
“Nothing, Joshua. I pray over my meal before I eat.”
All evidence of a pout vanished, and he grinned. “I pray at night before bed.”
“We used to with Aunt Louise, but those other nannies didn’t,” Jasmine said, grabbing the bowl of spaghetti and scooping pasta onto her plate.
“We do when Daddy eats with us.” Jade folded her arms over her chest. “I’m waiting.”
“I’m not. I’m staaarving,” Joshua said.
While Jasmine joined him and piled sauce all over her spaghetti, Jade glared at her sister, then her little brother. When her two siblings started eating, she slapped her hand down on the table. “We should wait.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Annie spied Ian entering the dining room with a scowling Jeremy trailing slowly behind him.
“Good. You have started. Spaghetti is best when it’s hot.” Ian winked at Annie then took his chair at the head of the table. “Jeremy, this is Annie.”
“Hi, Jeremy,” Annie said.
“I don’t need a nanny. I’m gonna be ten at the end of next month.” Jeremy’s mouth firmed in a hard, thin line.
“Neither do we.” Jade mimicked her older brother’s expression. “We’re eight. Nannies are for babies.” She sent Joshua a narrow-eyed look as if he were the only reason Annie was there.
“I’m not a baby.” Joshua thumped his chest. “I’m four. I’m gonna be five soon.”
“How soon?” Annie asked him, hoping to change the subject.
Joshua peered at his father.
“Two weeks. The twenty-seventh.”
“You act like a baby. Look at what you did today. You could have died today.” Jade shoved back her chair, whirled around and ran from the room.
Annie’s first impulse was to go after the girl, but she didn’t know her yet. Jade must have been the one who’d screamed at the bottom of the steps earlier when Joshua was on the railing.
Instead, Ian stood. “Keep eating.” Then he left the room.
Wide-eyed, Joshua looked at Jeremy, then Jasmine and finally Annie. “I won’t die.”
The pounding in her head increased. “Jade was just worried about what you did today. Standing on the railing is dangerous.”
“Yeah, dork. You have a death wish.” Jeremy snatched a roll and began tearing it apart.
“Death wish?” Confusion clouded Joshua’s eyes. Tears filled them. “I don’t wanna die.”
“Then, stop doing dumb things.” Jeremy tossed a piece of bread at his younger brother.
Joshua threw his half-eaten roll at Jeremy. It plunked into the milk glass, and the white liquid splashed everywhere.
Grabbing for a roll in the basket, Jeremy twisted toward Joshua.
“Stop it right now.” Annie shot to her feet. “The dinner table is no place for a food fight. If you don’t want to eat peacefully, then go to your rooms.”
Jeremy glared. “I don’t need a nanny telling me what to do.”
Annie counted to ten, breathed deeply and replied, “Apparently you do, because civilized people don’t act like this at the table. It’s your choice. Stay and eat politely or leave.” She returned his intense look with a serene one while inside she quaked. She might be fired after tonight.
Jeremy took the roll and stomped away from the dining room while Joshua hung his head and murmured, “Sorry.”
“Apology accepted.” Although her stomach was knotted, Annie picked up her fork and took a bite. “Delicious. Your dad is a good cook.” If only she hadn’t walked around the yard enjoying the beautiful flowers before coming inside, she wouldn’t be contending with a headache. In spring she limited her time outside because she had trouble with her allergies.
“One day I’m gonna be a good cook, too.” Jasmine continued eating.
“Jasmine, I can teach you a few things. I especially enjoy baking.”
“I’m Jade.” The girl lowered her gaze. “Sorry about that. We were just playing with you.”
“I understand. I have a twin sister.”
“You do? I have a girlfriend who has a twin brother. They don’t look alike, though.”
“They’re fraternal twins. You and Jasmine are identical, like I am with my sister, Amanda.”
“I’d like to meet your twin.” Jade—at least Annie hoped that was who she was—took a gulp of her milk.
Ian reentered the dining room with Jasmine. “I’d like to meet your twin, too.” He scanned the table. “Where’s Jeremy?”
“He chose not to eat.” Annie took another bite of her spaghetti as the knots in her stomach began to unravel.
Joshua huffed. “He threw food at me.”
Ian’s eyebrows rose. “Why?”
“He’s mean.”
Ian swung his attention to Annie, a question in his eyes.
“Jeremy chose to leave rather than calmly eat his dinner,” she answered while her head throbbed.
Ian nodded then said to the children, “Tell Annie about what you’re doing this week in school.”
* * *
Later, contrary to what Ian had asked, Annie finished putting the dishes into the dishwasher. She had to do something while she waited for Ian to return from upstairs.
He came into the kitchen after putting Joshua to bed. “He fell right to sleep. Thankfully he usually does, while Jade and Jasmine rarely do. Often I’ll find one of them in the other’s bed in the morning. They shared a room until a year ago when they decided they should have their own rooms like their brothers.”
“I shared one with Amanda until I went to college.” Annie hung up the washrag and faced him.
His gaze skimmed over the clean counters and stove. “I should have known you would do the dishes.”
“I figured it was part of my job.”
“Let’s go into the den and talk where it’s more comfortable. I’m sure after the evening we had, you have a ton of questions.”
Annie went ahead of him from the kitchen. “A few.”
In the den she sat at one end of the tan couch while Ian took the other. A fine-honed tension electrified the air. As she turned to face him, he did the same. Exhaustion blanketed his features, his green eyes dull. The urge to comfort him swamped Annie, but she balled her hands and waited for him to speak first.
He cleared his throat. “What happened tonight has been the norm ever since Aunt Louise died. Life wasn’t perfect before, but she established a routine and gave my children boundaries.” He combed his fingers through his brown hair then rubbed his palm across his nape. “I’m finding it hard to make a living and be here for my children. I’ve tried to do what Aunt Louise did, but my efforts seem to fall flat.”
A dilemma a lot of parents had. “We live in a society that seems to be constantly on the go. If we’re not busy, we’re bored,” Annie said. “A lot has happened to your children in the past two years. This especially affects Jeremy because he’s the eldest and knows what’s going on. Even to a certain extent your girls do, especially about your aunt’s death.”
“I’ve talked to each of my kids about Aunt Louise unexpectedly dying.”
“Have you ever sat down and talked with them all together? I think the best thing my parents did was have a family meeting once a week, or more if needed.”
“Sometimes because of our busy schedules it’s hard to do that. Tonight was the first time in a while we’ve even eaten together.”
“Decide on what you feel has to be done, what you can do away with and what would be nice if there’s enough time.”
“I love my children and have rules that they need to follow, but I can’t seem to get a handle on it. Maybe when you’ve been with the kids awhile, we can talk again.”
Annie thought of the day planner she’d used to track the children’s activities and school functions at her other employers’. She wished her mother was still alive to talk to, but she could go see her eldest sister, Rachel, who’d taken over and helped raise them when their mother died. “I’d like to get a weekly calendar and put it up in the kitchen to help us and the kids keep up with everything. That’s where family time can be scheduled.”
“I’m interested in hearing more about your family meetings. What did you talk about?”
Thinking back to a few she’d had with her siblings, Annie chuckled. “Some could get quite heated, but a rule my parents had was that no one left the room until a solution to a conflict was reached. Once we were two hours late going to bed.”
“So there are rules?”
“Yes, a few my parents insisted on and some we got to add. It’s a time for everyone in the family to have a voice.”
Ian smiled, and for a moment the tired lines vanished from his face. “I like the concept. After you’ve been working for a week or so, I’d like to see if we could try that.”
“Have your children talked with a grief counselor?” Have you? Have you let life get in the way of grieving?
“As I told you, I had Jeremy go to a counselor, but he refused to cooperate. Our pastor came over after Aunt Louise’s funeral and talked with the whole family. The same when my wife died.”
“How long has Jeremy been so angry?”
“He was some before Aunt Louise died, but mostly since then. It’s getting worse. There are times he almost seems frightened. Before all this began, he was the sweetest child, but in the past nine months... I don’t know what’s going on.”
“Is he being bullied at school?”
“I’ve talked with the teacher. She’s noticed he keeps to himself more. In fact, a few months ago he bullied another classmate. That’s when he started counseling. So far there hasn’t been another incident. I won’t tolerate bullying, and he knows it.”
The feeling that the child was screaming for help kept nagging her. Was it grief? Something else? A stage he was going through? “What does he say?”
“Nothing. He used to tell me everything. Now I can’t get anything out of him. I feel like I’m losing my son.”
Not if she could do anything about it. This was why Annie had chosen to be a nanny and why she had been led to this family. “No, you aren’t losing your son. If it’s a phase he’s going through, he’ll grow out of it. If it’s something else, we’ll find out what it is and deal...” Her words faded into silence.
Surprise flashed across Ian’s face.
Did the word we’ll sound presumptuous? Ian was her employer. Yes, she would help with Jeremy, but he was the parent. Not her. “What I mean is as his nanny I’ll try to help you and him as much as possible. But you’re his father, and whatever you say is what I’ll do.”
A gleam sparkled in Ian’s eyes. “I want your input. I need it. So I think you’re right—we’re a team. I’m determined, at the very least, to get my family back to the way it was when Aunt Louise was here.”
Annie heard the sincerity in his voice. A team. It might be the closest she’d come to raising children as if she were their mother. The Hansens had been great to work for and had valued her input, but she’d always felt like an employee. As of late, she realized she wanted more, and yet she hadn’t dated much. She was always so busy with her own family or the children she was taking care of.
“I won’t be going into work tomorrow until after we take the kids to school,” Ian said.
“I thought that was something you wanted me to do.”
“You’re right, but I want to go with you so I can introduce you to the teachers. If there’s a problem with one of them at school, sometimes I can go take care of it. But if I’m in surgery, that will be hard. I don’t anticipate trouble with the girls, but there might be with Joshua or Jeremy. I’ve already had to go to school for Jeremy four times this year and once for Joshua when he fell on the playground and hit his head.” He shook his head. “Probably one of many times he’ll have to have stitches.”
“I like the idea of meeting their teachers. I want to find out what kind of homework to expect from them. That way we can get it done before you come home on the days I’m not taking them to lessons. I find if they tackle it after getting a snack when they come home from school they’ll finish quickly so they can play. It cuts down on whining later when they’re more tired.”
“The other nannies didn’t want to help with their homework, which left me doing it late and yes, they usually complained and made the process longer.”
Annie tried to stifle a yawn, but she couldn’t. “I think it’s time I go to bed. Six will be here in—” she glanced at her watch “—nine hours, and I still need to find some of the items I’ll need tomorrow.” She stood and stretched out her hand toward him.
Ian rose, clasping hers and shaking it. “Thank you, Annie.”
“For what?” She slipped her hand from his warm grasp.
“Taking this job. I’m not sure what I would have done. I know you had several offers. What made you accept mine?”
“I prayed about it, and like I said, I love a good challenge.”
“You may regret those words.”
Would she? If she became too invested in the family and Ian remarried, no longer needing her services, she might. She wanted to care but not so much she would get hurt.
“Dad! Dad!” one of the girls shouted.
He hurried into the foyer with Annie right behind him. “Why aren’t you in bed?”
“Something is wrong with Jeremy. Come quick.”
Chapter Four
Annie followed right behind Ian as he took the stairs two at a time and rushed down the hallway. He pushed his way between his twin daughters into Jeremy’s bedroom. With a glimpse at the bed, Annie knew what was happening. His head was thrown back, his stiff body shaking: Jeremy was having a seizure.
One of the twins grabbed the other’s hand, tears running down both girls’ faces. “What’s wrong with Jeremy?”
Annie herded them away from the door and closed it behind her. Jeremy was in good hands with his father being a doctor, but right now the twins were scared and upset. Trying to decide what to tell them, Annie drew them away from the room a few yards before the one dressed in a nightgown jerked away.
“What’s wrong?” the child shouted at Annie.
The other girl threw herself at Annie, wrapping her arms around her and clinging to her. “Is he going to die?”
“No, Jeremy will be fine. Your dad is helping him.” Annie forced calmness into her voice to counter the twins’ raising panic. Since Ian had never told her about the seizures, this must be the first one. She’d gone to school with a friend who’d had epilepsy, and Annie had learned to deal with the episodes when they happened. Some of her classmates had steered clear of Becca because of that, but she hadn’t. Becca had needed friends more than ever.
The twin who wore the nightgown pointed toward her brother’s bedroom, her arm quavering as much as Jeremy had been. “No, he’s not. His eyes rolled back.”
The door opened and Ian stood in the entrance, his attention switching back and forth between the girls and Annie. “Your brother will be all right. He had a seizure, which makes him act differently for a short time, but he’s falling asleep now, and you all need to go to bed, too. You have school tomorrow.”
“But, Dad—” the twin wearing the nightgown said.
“Jasmine, this is not the time to argue.”
Annie clasped both girls’ shoulders. “Would it be okay if they peek in and see for themselves that Jeremy is fine now?”
Ian glanced at her, and he nodded. “Quietly. Then to bed.”
Annie walked with them and peered into the bedroom. Jeremy’s eyes were closed and his body was still, relaxed. “See? After a seizure a lot of people are really tired and will sleep.”
Jade slanted a look at Annie. “Will he have another one?”
“I’ll be here if he does,” Ian answered then leaned over and kissed the tops of his daughters’ heads. “Good night. Love you two.”
After the twins hugged their dad, Annie gently guided them toward their end of the hall. When both entered Jade’s room, Annie didn’t say anything to them. Given what they witnessed, they’d probably start the night together.
“Have you two brushed your teeth?”
“Yes,” they said together.
“Do you have your clothes laid out for school tomorrow?”
They looked at each other then at Annie as if she’d grown another head. Jasmine said, “No, why would we do that? I never know what I feel like wearing until I get up.”
Jade glanced at her closet. “Well, actually I do know. The same thing I always do, jeans and a shirt. So I guess I could.”
Jasmine jerked her thumb toward her sister. “She wears boring clothes. I don’t, and my mood makes a difference.”
Jade charged to her closet and yanked down a shirt and tossed it on a chair where a pair of jeans lay. “And that’s why we’re always late.”
Before war was declared, Annie stepped between the twins. “We won’t be late tomorrow. Jasmine, do I need to wake you up fifteen minutes early so you can pick out your clothes?”
“No! I need my beauty sleep.” A serious look descended on Jasmine’s face.
Annie nearly laughed but bit the inside of her mouth to keep from doing it. These twins were polar opposites. Even if they dressed alike, their behavior would give them away eventually. At least Amanda and she were similar in personalities, especially when they were young, which made it easier to change identities.
“Fine. We’ll be leaving on time so you’ll need to be ready. I won’t make the others late because you are.”
Jasmine’s eyes grew round. “Dad won’t like that.”
Annie smiled. “Be on time and there won’t be a problem.”
“What about Jeremy? What if that happens on the way to school?” Jade asked, drawing Annie’s attention away from her sister.
“Again, don’t worry. We’ll deal with what happens at the time. My mom used to say we shouldn’t borrow stress by worrying. What we fear might never happen.” Annie paused a few seconds to let that bit of wisdom sink in then added, “Time for bed. Have you said your prayers?”
Jade shook her head. “But we will. Jeremy needs our help.”
“Yes, he can always use your prayers.” Annie stood back while the twins walked to the double bed.
The two girls knelt and went through a list of people to bless. At the end Jasmine said, “God, please fix my brother. Amen.”
When they hopped up, Jade crawled across the bed to the other side while Jasmine settled on the right. Annie moved to the doorway and switched off the overhead light.
“Good night, girls.”
Jasmine turned on the bedside lamp then pulled the covers up over her shoulders, saying, “I need a light on to go to sleep,” while Jade murmured, “Good night.”
“Door open or closed?” Annie clutched the knob.
“Open,” Jade replied while Jasmine said, “Closed.”
“I’ll leave it partially open.”
Surprisingly, the two girls remained quiet, and Annie hurried toward Jeremy’s room to see how the boy was doing. She rapped lightly on the door and waited for Ian to answer. A few seconds later, he appeared with a weary expression on his face.
He stepped into the hallway but glanced at Jeremy asleep on the bed. “I need to call a doctor I know who deals with seizures in children. I hope to get Jeremy in to see him tomorrow before his office opens. He’ll need to run some tests and possibly prescribe medication for Jeremy. Will you watch him while I make that call?”
“Of course. I’ll stay as long as you need me.”
“Thanks. How are the girls?”
“They are in bed in Jade’s room. They prayed and asked God to help Jeremy.”
“Then, He’s been bombarded with prayers this evening. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” Ian gave her a tired smile and headed for the staircase.
Annie checked to make sure Jeremy was still sleeping then took the chair Ian had been sitting in. She needed to come up with what she’d do when Jasmine was late to go to school. If not tomorrow, she would be probably soon, and the child needed to know the consequences. Annie could remember some of her own battles with her mother over boundaries and how neither parent ever backed down. No meant no. She realized she needed to talk with Ian to see how he’d want her to handle it.
Ian returned ten minutes later and motioned for her to join him in the hallway. Some of the tension in his expression relaxed as she came toward him.
“You couldn’t have come at a better time. I don’t know what I would have done if you weren’t here. More and more I realize a person can’t be in two places at once.” One corner of his mouth hitched up. “Although I’ve been trying to these past months.”
“Take it from me, it’s scientifically impossible. I’ve tried myself, though. Did everything work out with the doctor?”
“Yes, Brandon will see him first thing tomorrow morning, but I’ll need to postpone introducing you to the teachers until Tuesday. I’ve let the school know that you’ll be bringing them and picking them up, so it’ll be okay. The one thing that’s working for us is they all go to the same school.”
“So you want me to take Joshua, Jade and Jasmine in the morning?”
Ian nodded. “And be prepared for a hundred questions from Joshua the whole way. He’ll want to know exactly what happened to Jeremy and what the doctor will say even before we know it.”
“What do you think is happening?”
Sighing, Ian glanced toward his son in his room. “It could be epilepsy, but it takes more than one seizure to determine that.” He rubbed his chin. “Now I’m wondering if some of Jeremy’s behavior these past months might have indicated petit mal seizures. I haven’t had a lot of experience with epilepsy, so I might be wrong.”
“I’m glad I’m here for you and your family.”
Ian grinned. “Just in the nick of time. Do you have any questions about tomorrow?”
“I may be wrong, but I have a feeling Jasmine will test me about getting ready for school on time.”
“No, you aren’t wrong. She even did with Aunt Louise. She has always been my prima donna, even as young as two. I think she was trying to be as different from Jade as she could.”
“I’ve told her I won’t allow her to make her siblings late for school, so I have a plan to stress my point.” Annie looked into Ian’s green eyes and for a second lost her train of thought.
“What?”
Okay, he had great eyes. She had to ignore them. Annie peered down the hall toward the girls’ bedrooms. “She will ride with me to school dressed or not. I’ll drop the others off, come home and let her finish getting ready, then take her back to school.”
“But that’s—”
“The consequence of having me drive twice to the school is that the next morning I will be waking her up thirty minutes earlier. That means she’ll go to bed thirty minutes earlier, so she’ll get the required amount of beauty rest she insists she needs.”
Ian chuckled. “My daughter is an eight-year-old going on eighteen. I wish I had thought of that diabolical plan.”
“So you’re okay with it?”
“Yes. I like your creative way of dealing with it.”
“I try to look for ways to have natural consequences for a child’s actions. It tends to work better.”
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.”