The Nanny's New Family (Caring Canines) (4 page)

“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

A
nnie 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.”

Ian’s touch on her skin riveted her attention to his hand for a few seconds before he released his hold. Her heartbeat kicked up a notch. In her previous nanny positions she usually dealt with the mothers, but since Ian was a single parent she would be working with just him. She’d never thought that would be a problem—until now.

“It’s part of my job,” she murmured then continued toward Joshua’s room next to Jeremy’s.

When Annie climbed the stairs to her apartment, she stopped on the landing and rotated toward the yard. She saw a few lights off in the distance. The cool spring air with a hint of honeysuckle from the bushes below caressed her skin. The sky twinkled with stars—thousands scattered everywhere.

Her first unofficial evening had gone okay. It reinforced she’d made the right decision to work for Ian McGregor, instead of one of the other five offers she’d received. The family needed her, even more so because Ian was a single parent. Her only concern was the man she worked for: he was attractive, intelligent and caring, all traits she at one time had dreamed of in her future husband. Now, though, she thought of herself as a modern-day Mary Poppins, going where needed then moving on before her heart became too engaged. No sense getting attached.

* * *

Annie kept an eye on the kitchen clock while she scrambled the eggs, expecting the kids and Ian any second. When she glanced at the doorway, she spied Joshua dressed in the clothes they’d picked out together this morning. Other than his tennis shoes on the wrong feet, he appeared ready to go to school.

“Good morning, Joshua. Are you hungry?”

He nodded and plodded to the table, evidently not a morning person. He usually talked a lot, but earlier when she’d gotten him up, he’d said only a handful of words by the time she’d left him to dress.

As she turned off the burner, Ian and Jeremy entered the room. Neither looked happy. “Good morning, Jeremy, Ian.” She set a platter of toast in the center of the table, then milk and orange juice. “Did you see Jade and Jasmine?”

Ian poured some coffee and settled into the chair at one end. “They were both supposed to be coming right away.”

“I’m here,” Jade announced from the entrance. She looked ready for school. “But Jasmine is still in the bathroom. She’s decided to put her hair in a ponytail.”

“I’ll go help her.” Annie placed the eggs next to the toast then started for the hallway.

“I tried. As usual, she didn’t want my help.” Jade plopped into the chair across from Jeremy.

Annie hurried up the stairs and poked her head into the doorway of the girls’ bathroom.

Jasmine yanked the rubber band from her hair. “Ouch!” She stomped her foot and glared at herself in the mirror. “I can’t do this.”

“I can.” Annie moved toward the child.

Jasmine whirled around, her lips pinched together. “No one can pull it as tight as I want.”

“Okay. Breakfast is ready. We leave for school in half an hour.”

“I can’t be ready by then.”

“That’s your choice. You know what happens when you aren’t ready.” She’d informed Jasmine when the girls woke up. Annie left, preparing herself for the next hour and the battle to come.

When she returned to the kitchen, everyone watched her as she made her way to the table.

“Where’s Jasmine?” Ian asked, finishing up his last bite of eggs.

“She doesn’t need my help, so I reminded her of the time we’re leaving for school.” Annie sat at the other end of the table. “Which, Joshua and Jade, is in thirty minutes. Seven forty-five.”

“I can’t tell time,” Joshua said as he stuffed a fourth of his toast into his mouth.

“I’ll tell you. And you’re ready except for brushing your teeth and changing your shoes.”

“Why?”

“Dork, your shoes are on the wrong feet.”

“Jeremy, that word is unacceptable.” Ian carried his dishes to the sink.

“Well, he is one.” Ian’s eldest took his nearly full plate over to the counter then stormed from the kitchen.

“I’m not a dork. I like my shoes like this.”

“It’s not good for your feet. Here, I’ll help you.” Annie slid from her chair and knelt next to Joshua.

Once she fixed the problem, Joshua jumped up and raced toward the hallway. “I’m gonna be first ready.”