Tender Love. Irene Brand

me?”

      “I’ll have a cup of coffee now, but I’ll wait to eat with the children. Do you mind if I set up a schedule for meals?”

      “Make any schedule you like. I’ve told both of them to do what you say.”

      “What time do you get home in the evening?”

      “Usually between five and six—but I sometimes have to stay late with a client.”

      “Shall we schedule dinner for six o’clock? If you’re not here by then, we’ll go ahead and eat.”

      “I’ll do my best to be here as much as possible. I need that time with my family. And I’ll take care of them at night, so you can have every evening free if you want to go out.”

      The rest of the week was an endurance test in patience for Alice. On Monday morning when she tried to get the children out of bed at half-past eight, Kristin came down reluctantly, but Eddie said he didn’t want any breakfast. About ten o’clock, she heard a bell ringing, and Kristin informed her that Eddie rang the bell when he wanted something. She climbed the stairs dutifully, and when she entered his room, he said, “I’m hungry, Alice.”

      She looked at her watch and said, “It’ll be two hours before lunch. I’ll call you when it’s ready. In the meantime, perhaps you should straighten up your bed and pick up some of these things on the floor. I’m going shopping this afternoon, and I want you and Kristin to go with me.”

      “I want something to eat now.”

      “Eddie, your daddy said it was all right to have our meals at a regular time. I’ll have lots to do to keep your home comfortable, and I can’t be serving food all day. You’ll soon get used to eating earlier in the morning.”

      Eddie closed his eyes, drooped forlornly, and he absolutely refused to get out of his chair and tidy the room, but Alice noticed that when noon came, he hungrily ate his grilled cheese sandwich and apple, and asked for a second glass of milk.

      At the end of the first few days, Alice’s patience was stretched to the breaking point—the children didn’t like the food she cooked, they wanted to watch television rather than play outdoors, and they hadn’t been taught to look after their own rooms. Alice hesitated to push Eddie too much, until she’d spoken with Eddie’s pediatrician. After she heard Dr. Zane’s blunt assessment, Alice knew for Eddie’s sake, she had to force him to change his life-style.

      “I’ve told Mark,” Dr. Zane said, “to quit mollycoddling that boy. In earlier years, he did have to take it easy, but the surgeries have corrected his heart problem, and he needs to be more active. To sit in his room and watch cartoons on TV is more detrimental to his health than if he starts playing Little League ball. Do what you can to snap him out of his lethargy, and I’ll support you.”

      At the end of the first week, Alice could note some progress. They ate meals on schedule, and while Alice did furnish some of their usual snacks, the children were also eating more vegetables and fruits. When she weeded the flower beds, she kept Kristin and Eddie beside her and was gratified when they pulled a few weeds and happily reported to their father what they’d done. Eddie still expected Kristin or Alice to come running when he rang his bell, and when he begged her piteously to do what he wanted, his blue eyes, so much like his father’s, beseeching and hurting, Alice found it hard to deny him anything. Although she wanted to bestow tender love on the boy, she knew she must occasionally practice tough love.

      Fortunately, Gran Watson supported Alice. “These children have needed a firm hand for a long time. After Clarice became ill, she couldn’t do anything, and Mark had too much on his mind to discipline his children. When they complain to me, I’ll turn a deaf ear,” and she added with a whimsical little laugh that Alice found endearing, “I can’t hear very well anyway, so it’s easy enough.” Gran was no trouble to Alice, for she cared for her own needs and kept her room in order, and she was overly complimentary of Alice’s cooking.

      “I used to be a good cook,” she said, “but I’d lived alone for fifteen years before I came here, so I was out of the habit of cooking, and with my handicap, I haven’t been up to preparing a good meal. Mark doesn’t have time to cook, even if he knew how, which he doesn’t. We’ve been existing, and very little more.”

      At night, Alice went to her room as soon as she straightened up the kitchen after dinner, closed the door, and left Mark alone with his family. When Saturday came, she was ready for a break, and after eating breakfast with Mark, she left for the day. By previous appointment, she went to Betty’s house.

      “You look a little harried,” was Betty’s first comment.

      “It’s been a hard week,” Alice said with a laugh, as she leaned back in a lounger and dropped her shoes to the floor. “But I’ve made a difference in their lives, and that was my goal in the first place. After a year of drifting, it’s challenging to be needed again.”

      When Betty heard all that she’d done during the week, she threw up her hands in dismay.

      “Alice! You’re supposed to be a nanny—not chief cook and bottle washer. You’ll kill yourself with such a schedule.”

      “If you were working there, you’d do the same things I’m doing. Everywhere I look, there’s something important to do. My main concern right now is how to spend the money to make their lives more comfortable without Mark learning about it. Although his back is against the wall financially, I don’t believe he’ll readily accept help from a stranger.”

      “What kind of financial help do you have in mind?”

      “Nothing major. On my first trip to the grocery store, I spent more than what he’d budgeted for the month. I can get by with that, and he’ll never know, but Kristin should have some new clothes before she goes to camp. She’s a thin girl, but she’s quite a bit taller than she was last summer, and her jeans are too short.”

      “Watch the paper for yard sales, and take her to one of those. You can add a few new outfits, and Mark won’t notice.”

      “I also want to have a professional cleaning service come in and clean the whole house. He does have a woman come in for a few hours on Thursday, but she can’t keep up with all the work.”

      “A group of our church women has taken house cleaning as a ministry. If the family is able to make a donation, fine. If not, they clean the house free of charge. Talk to Mark about it—he’ll never know how much money you give them.”

      “Thanks, Betty—you’ve solved my two biggest problems.”

      “Let me warn you, Alice, that Mark Tanner is an intelligent man, and he’s going to realize soon that you aren’t an ordinary nanny. You should tell him before he figures it out for himself.”

      “This is only for a month’s trial,” Alice reminded her. “After that, I may tell him.”

      “If you stay there three more weeks, Alice, you’ll be hooked, and you know it. I’m your friend, and I don’t want you to get hurt. I feel responsible for you since I’m the one who mentioned the Tanners to you.”

      Alice laughed at her. “Hey, I’m a big girl now— I can look after myself.”

      Betty’s eyes were skeptical. “I wonder.”

      “By the way, who is Ethel Pennington?”

      Betty grinned at her. “So you’ve seen her, have you?”

      “I can hardly help it. She’s been in and out of the house several days this week, and Wednesday, she brought hamburgers and French fries for Kristin and Eddie at two o’clock in the afternoon. I took charge of the food and told her that we’d have it for dinner—that I’d scheduled regular hours and I didn’t want the children nibbling between meals. She was obviously angry, and Kristin and Eddie weren’t happy about it either, but I won that battle, for so far, Mark is supporting me. Too much of that kind of food isn’t good for Eddie. Dr. Zane said he needs fruits and vegetables.”