Lost and Found (13 page)

"Yes ma'am." He looked at me and grinned and gave me a
thumbs up sign behind her back. I had to hide my smile, but
I now knew what he meant when he said she was mean to
the children.

Mrs. Williamson walked out of the room and went to get
her things. I looked around the room and Carmen had Eden
back in her lap and they were both looking at me, shocked
at what I had just done. I fell in love with Eden
immediately, just by looking into her deep soulful brown
eyes that looked like Jenna's and the prettiest brown hair that
was cascading down her back in ringlets.
I looked at Gideon, and he was staring at me with his mouth
wide open and then he grinned at me and his brilliant deep blue eyes, that he inherited from his father, started twinkling.

"So you're our new nanny?"

"Yes, Gideon. I'm your new nanny, it’s very nice to meet
you. Please don't call me Ms. Porter. You can call me
Olivia."
I don't want them to have to be too formal with me. I think
they've had enough of formalities to last a lifetime. Gideon does something that I wasn't suspecting and I had to ready myself, as he ran up to me and hugged me around my waist.

“This is so awesome!
I don't care what that old mean
woman said! I promise, I will be good from now on! No
one has ever taken up for me like you just did. However
you want to punish me for what I did, I'm cool with it."
I looked down at his cute little face and realized that he
looked just like his father, with the same jet black hair and deep blue eyes. How anyone could be mean to this child, I
will never know. I hugged him back and I could see little
tears that he was holding back fall down his cheeks and my
heart just melted. It was in that moment that I realized I
was doing the right thing. I look over towards Carmen and
Eden.

"Carmen, is it? Is there anywhere that we can go to get
away from here, so that Mrs. Williamson can leave
peacefully and we can get to know each other a bit?"
Eden beat her to it.

"Can we go outside, Owibia? We never get to go outside."
She's looking at me with pleading eyes. I just look at her
and grin.

"Then outside it is, Miss Eden. I'll even let you lead the
way." I winked at her and she smiled and grabbed my hand
as she led us all outside.

******************

The children led me outside to show me their huge fort. I
wouldn't necessarily call it a fort, because it was so big, it
looked like it belonged in the middle of a city park.
There were 5 swings in the middle and two slides at each end, one that was tall and very high and a shorter one that
had little curves in it. There were monkey bars and a rock
climbing wall beside each one of the slides.
The first thing I noticed when we had come out of the
house was a pool, and thank God it had a gate with a lock
around it, so that the children couldn't get in any time they
felt like it. In the middle of the pool were stairs that went
up to a slide that wrapped around into the pool. I can
imagine they have fun swimming in the pool. I know my
kids would have.
Eden jumps into one of the swings and Gideon climbs up the rock wall and sits on the walkway that goes across the top of the swings and sits down and looks at me.

"Will you push me, Owibia?" Eden bats her eyes at me and
just the way she says my name has me smiling. She's just
too cute and sweet for words.

"Of course I can, sweetheart. Gideon? Do you want me to push you too?" I start pushing Eden to get her swing going
and I look up at him.

"Nah. I'll just watch, if that's ok with you." He is definitely
watching me. He keeps staring at me and grinning.

"That's perfectly fine. So do you two really never get to
come outside and play?" I was asking him, while Eden beamed as I pushed her higher.

"Only when Mrs. Williamson felt like it, which was
NEVER! She would only let us play in our rooms, while
she stayed in her room watching us on her monitor. I was
always in trouble for something, so I was only allowed to lie
on my bed most of the time. She was always nicer to
Eden." Poor kid. Boys have to let off a lot of energy every
day and playing outside is a great outlet for that.

"So what happened at school today? Did you really do that to your teacher?"
He looked embarrassed and a little ashamed that I had
brought it up. His smile disappeared and he dropped his
head down to his chest and started talking to me so quietly I
could barely hear him, so I had to get closer.

"Yes, I did, but my teacher is mean like Mrs. Williamson.
She even told him what a bad kid I was and he could
paddle me any time he felt like it. So I
well, I wanted to pay him back.”
It sounds like I need to go talk to his teacher, or tell Cash he
needs to talk to him.

"Did you get punished at school for what you did today?"
This was going to determine how I was going to punish him, because I think I sent one of his biggest problems
packing.

"Yes. I got 5 licks at school by that teacher, in front of the
principal and after school detention for a week! You told
Mrs. Williamson that you were going to handle my
punishment instead of her." He looked up at me with a
nervous look on his face. "So, what is my punishment?"
He dropped his head down again and I could tell by the
look on his face that he knew that what he did was wrong,
but in a way I was really proud of him for taking up for
himself, when he had no one else to take up for him.

"It really depends on you, Gideon. Do you think you could
promise me that you will never do anything like that again?
And that if you have a problem at school, you won't try to take care of it yourself? And that you'll come tell me and let ME take care of anyone mistreating you?"
He looked at me in shock and bewilderment and then
mistrust.

"Why would you do that for me? Didn't you hear Mrs.
Williamson? I'm a bad kid." This little boy is tough. He
just met me and by the way he's been treated, I can
understand why he doesn't trust me.

"Because that's my job for one, and I don't believe anyone
should be mean to little children, or anyone that can't defend
themselves. And I DON'T believe that you are a bad kid at
all. From what I can tell so far, you seem to be a very smart
kid that has been making some bad choices. So, can you promise me what I asked?"
He started to answer, but then he hesitated, like he was
thinking about what he was going to say and then he smiled
that gorgeous smile of his.

"Yes ma'am." Oh. He is smooth. He does have
manners. "But will you do something for me?" And here
we go haha, the beginning of our newfound friendship.

"And what would that be?" He had me chuckling, because I
have no idea what is going to come out of his mouth.

"Will you go to my school tomorrow and talk to my teacher
for me? Tell him I'm going to be better from now on?
Because if I tell him, he won't believe me." He looked at me
with pleading eyes. Honestly, his father should be the one to
go defend him, but I had already told myself I would.

"Believe it or not, I was planning on doing that anyway. So do we have a deal? Do you want to shake on it?"
He jumped down off of the walkway, which at first had me
scared, because it seemed too far from the ground, but he
just looked at me and giggled, when he saw the scared look
on my face. Then he put his little hand out to me and I
leaned down to shake it.

"Ah, don't worry; I can jump even further than that! And
yes ma'am, we have a deal." He looked up towards the door
of the house and I turned around, and saw Carmen coming
outside with a tray of snacks and I looked at him and he
was grinning from ear to ear.

"Snacks! Yeehaw!" And he was gone. Just like that,
running towards Carmen as fast as his little legs would
carry him.
I looked down at Eden and she looked so content in her
swing. I slowed it down, so she could get out.

"Are you ready for snack time, Eden?"
She nodded her head and grinned at me and then grabbed
my hand, as we started walking towards the house. I looked
down at her cute little self and looked up to see that Gideon
was already chowing down on his snacks and all that I
could think of was how I could get used to this. They really
are such sweet beautiful children and just needed the right
kind of attention, and I knew in that moment that I had
made the right decision.

********************

Carmen and I are sitting at the table on the back porch,
watching the kids play on their swing set and enjoying the
view. She had brought out sandwiches and oranges and
apples, along with lemonade. Carmen is the cook and maid of the house and Lucas
happens to be her husband. She also informed me that they
had worked for Cash and Vanessa since before Gideon
came along.

"I just have to tell you Olivia, if Mrs. Kingston were here to
tell you herself, she would be so proud of you for standing
up for the kids the way that you did. I know that I am and I
want to thank you. We have tried telling Mr. Kingston that she was being mean to the children, but she always lied her
way out of it and he knew we didn't like her from the
beginning, so he thought we were trying to get her fired."
She reached over and patted my hand.
I could feel an instant friendship forming with Carmen, and
with Lucas as well. When he got back from taking that evil
woman to the airport, he said that he had never been so excited to see anyone leave in all his life.
He even said that even though I didn't want to, he was
driving us in the limo to school the next morning,
especially when he found out I was going to go speak to
Gideon's teacher and the principal of the school. He
advised me to wear something expensive looking and to
talk to them the way I had Mrs. Williamson, so that I would
have them shaking in their boots. I just laughed at him and told him they would listen to me regardless of what I was
wearing.

"Thank you for that, but I really don't know what came over
me when I walked in. All I saw was a little boy getting
brow beat by an evil woman and I just lost it. I normally don't act like that."
I've always had a much laid back personality and avoid
confrontation at all costs, but I was so enraged by what I
saw.

"Oh, I've had a confrontation with her now and then and she
would always tell me that she would lie and tell Mr.
Kingston that she caught me stealing some of the grocery
money and honestly, as long as I've worked for him, I
don't think it would worry him so much about looking for
another cook, like it would to find another nanny. She was their nanny for over two years and stayed longer than
anybody. No one else lasted a month, because Gideon would try them and act like your typical boy, but all he wants is to be shown some
love." She looked out at the children and smiled. "And I
think you're just the right person for that." She was
grinning at me.

"I suspected that when Cash, I mean Mr. Kingston, offered
me the job the other night. Can I ask you something?" She
nodded at me to ask. "Does he spend any time with them?"
I immediately knew the answer, by the tears forming in her
eyes.

"No, he doesn't. Lucas and I try to show that we love and care about them whenever we could when SHE wasn't
around. Little hugs and kisses here and there and Lucas
would love going to pick up Gideon by himself, because he
would always take him to get ice cream or a burger after
school when he got into trouble, because he knew that she
would send him to bed without supper and it would be
morning before he got to eat again."
This makes me sad and angry at the same time. It's time
that Mr. Cash Kingston woke up and realized what was
going on under his roof.