The Boarding House (9 page)

Ellie stood with her ear against the door until she heard him walking away, then exhaled slowly. Every time she challenged him, she feared it would be her last.

Then Wyatt came up behind her. “I heard you,” he said. “Way to go.”

Ellie shrugged, then went back to her nail polish and finished the job.

Wyatt, always curious about the
whats
and
whys
of how girls operated, said, “Are you going to do your fingernails, too?”

Ellie eyed the nails on her fingers then shook her head.

“Why not?”

“It would look weird. They’re all uneven.”

“Oh.”

Finally Ellie screwed the cap back onto the bottle, then stretched her legs out in front of her and leaned back, bracing her arms behind her back as she waited for them to dry.

“I’ve been checking out nannies,” Ellie announced.

Wyatt frowned. “Does Daddy know?”

“No. Why should he? He’s not the one who’s going to be spending time with her. That will be me.”

“But, Ellie, you can’t just hire someone like that. You’re just a kid. How will you pay her?”

Ellie’s eyes narrowed as she lowered her voice. “Last week I heard Daddy talking to the lawyer on the phone.”

“So?”

Ellie’s mouth curled up into a small, tight smile. “So he was mad.”

“About what?”

“Momma changed her will before she suicided herself. She left it all to us and nothing to Daddy.”

“Holy cow,” Wyatt said. “So what does that mean exactly?”

“I’m not sure. I could only hear Daddy’s side of the conversation, but I think Momma appointed someone besides Daddy to be the checker of her estate.” Ellie frowned. “I don’t think that’s the right word, but I can’t remember for sure. Anyway, the checker is the one who will control the money until we’re twenty-one. So it seems to me I have plenty of money now to hire a nanny if I want one, and I’m going to tell the checker to pay her.”

Wyatt grinned. “You’re smarter than you look.”

Ellie threw a pillow, but she was laughing.

“So what’s this nanny’s name that you like?” Wyatt asked.

“Sophie Crawford.”

“Is she nice?”

Ellie shrugged. “She makes me feel safe.”

“What’s she like?” Wyatt asked.

“She’s fifty-one. Older than Daddy. She’s not very tall and her hair is gray and curly. Do you remember that Christmas cartoon movie about Santa and Mrs. Claus at the North Pole that we always liked?”

“Yeah.”

“So her face looks sort of like Mrs. Claus. All round and happy.”

“Where’s she gonna sleep?” Wyatt asked.

“Doris will have to fix up Momma’s room. I’ll tell her today.”

Wyatt gasped. “Momma’s room? Really?”

Ellie shrugged. “Why not? Momma’s through with it.”

“You’re not sad about Momma anymore, are you, Ellie?”

Ellie lightly touched the edges of her toenails, testing to see if they were dry, but they weren’t. “I’ve cried all I care to about Momma. She wasn’t crying about leaving us. I don’t see a reason to cry because she’s gone. I’m saving my tears for something that really matters.”

“Like what?”

“That’s a dumb question, Wyatt. How am I supposed to know what’s gonna make me sad?”

Wyatt laughed, then threw the pillow back.

“Watch out for my toes,” Ellie squealed as she rolled out of range.

“Hey, where are you going?”

“To find Doris. Sophie’s coming tomorrow. We don’t have much time.”

Doris was still muttering
to herself as she turned the mattress in Fern’s bedroom, then put on a new pad. She felt sorry as all get-out for Ellie, but if anyone cared to ask her, she thought this was taking things a little too far. Doris knew the child had nearly died when she was first born. She’d heard the story more than once from Ellie. She also knew that for the first six or eight years of Ellie’s life she’d been sickly. But that seemed to have passed. Doris guessed that the spoiling they’d done to her during her ailing times was pretty much set in stone, and there was little to be done about it now but go along.

Still, Ellie saying she needed a nanny at the age of twelve and then demanding this bedroom be turned out without much warning was aggravating. However, Doris knew she got paid the same amount of money no matter what she did, so it was no skin off her nose.

As soon as Doris finished making the bed, she went into the bathroom to give it a good scrub. Hadn’t much been done to the room at all since the funeral. She supposed it was about time, no matter who was coming to stay. But it occurred to her as she kicked off her shoes and got into the tub to scrub down the walls that if Ellie was going to start inviting people to come live in this house, Doris was going to ask for a raise. She hadn’t signed up to work for no boarding house.

Garrett came home from work
to find Doris setting the dining table with Fern’s good china and silver instead of their everyday dishes at the table in the kitchen.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

“Ask your daughter,” Doris said and slapped another linen napkin into place.

Garrett’s stomach did a flip-flop. These days, it was hard to tell what was going to happen next. He was halfway down the hall and heading toward Ellie’s room when he heard laughter and talking coming from Fern’s room. He hadn’t been in there since they’d carried her out on a stretcher, covered from head to toe with a sheet. The door was already ajar. He pushed it open and walked in.

“What the hell’s going on in here?”

Ellie looked up and frowned.

“You cursed. That is not a good example to set before your child, but I’m sure you won’t do it again. Daddy, this is Sophie Crawford, my new nanny. She’ll be staying in this room and she already said she doesn’t mind all the angels and crosses, so you don’t have to take them down. Sophie
 . . .
this is my Daddy, Garrett Wayne. Daddy, meet Mrs. Crawford.”

Then she beamed, obviously proud of herself for remembering the proper way to introduce.

Garrett took a deep breath as the aforementioned Sophie Crawford unfolded herself from Fern’s rocking chair and came forward to shake his hand.

“Mr. Wayne, it’s a pleasure I’m sure, and please call me Sophie as I’ve instructed Ellie to do. I find it makes it easier for children to confide in me, that way.”

It was reflex that made Garrett clasp the hand in front of him, but he was still staring. The high-pitched voice and the slight stoop to her shoulders were going to take some getting used to.

“Uh
 . . .
” He flinched as their palms touched. “I need to speak with Ellie, please. Ellie. Out in the hall. Now.”

“I’ll come get you when dinner is ready,” Ellie said and waved good-bye before following Garrett out.

Garrett shut the door behind them, then grabbed Ellie by the shoulders and gave her a shake. “What the hell’s going on?”

She pulled out of his grasp. “I hired a nanny, that’s what.”

Garrett rolled his eyes and stared up at the ceiling as he shoved a hand through his hair. “Why do you persist in this?” he muttered.

“I hired a nanny because I’ve reached the age where female companionship is important. According to my health teacher, girls learn how to be women by watching the women in their family, but I don’t have any now, do I?”

“No, but—”

“I like Doris and all, but she’s already griping about being overworked. I don’t think she’d take to having to teach me how to be a woman, too. So I hired myself a nanny. She’s cheaper than you’d expect because Wyatt says he doesn’t need her and doesn’t want her here.”

“First time I’ve ever agreed with Wyatt about anything,” Garrett muttered, then did a double take as the other part of her statement soaked in. “And what do you mean she’s cheaper? You actually think I’m going to pay her?”

Ellie’s eyes narrowed and she took a step back. “No, I’m going to pay her.”

“I am losing my fucking mind,” he muttered, then turned in a circle with his hands over his face. He was hearing her words, but she wasn’t making a bit of sense.

Daddy didn’t often curse, so Ellie took a second step back, moving herself closer to her bedroom door just in case he planned to blow his top.

But he didn’t. To her surprise, he was almost grinning.

“So you’re going to pay her, are you? What with? Pink fingernail polish and those candy bars you hide that you think I don’t know about?”

Ellie gasped. If he knew about the candy, that meant he’d been snooping in her room when she wasn’t here. She shivered, but stood her ground. “I’ll pay her with money from Momma’s state.”

Garrett’s eyes widened. He must know she meant estate, but what he couldn’t know was why she thought she could even do that. “What do you mean?”

“I know Momma left all her money to me and Wyatt and told someone called a checker to take care of it for us until we’re older. He’s paying Sophie.”

“Executor,” Garrett mumbled.

“What?”

“The word is executor, not checker, and how the fuck did you find this out?”

Ellie frowned. “You’re still cursing. What happened? Did you have a bad day at work?”

Before Garrett could answer, Doris appeared at the far end of the hallway. “Supper is ready,” she said and stomped back to the kitchen.

“Doris is upset because I asked her to lay the plates in the dining room tonight,” Ellie said.

“I saw. Why did you do that?”

“It’s Sophie’s first night here. I thought it would be nice if we started her job off in a kind of celebration.”

Garrett felt like his brain was on fire. “Celebration? This is a celebration?”

“It is for me, Daddy,” Ellie said. “You go wash up. I’ll get Sophie and Wyatt.”

She darted back into Fern’s bedroom, then came out talking with Sophie on their way down the hall, pausing only long enough to open the door to her room.

“Wyatt. Supper’s ready.”

Garrett felt like he’d been punched in the gut. How the hell had he let Ellie spin this far out of control? He’d been shocked by her betrayal to Fern, then afraid she’d spill the beans to the cops, and now this. Was there any way of reeling her back?