The Nanny's New Family. Margaret Daley

paused at the doorway, started to tell her she didn’t have to and then decided instead that he’d give her an extra day of pay. He was afraid she would earn every bit of the money and more by the end of the evening. For starters, his daughters dressing alike didn’t bode well.

      Ian went to the downstairs bathroom and checked for Joshua. It was too clean and neat for Joshua to have been there. He mounted the stairs two at a time. He knew Joshua was still in the house because he’d set the alarm to beep twice when someone opened an outside door. The last time it had gone off was when Annie had come in.

      The children’s bathroom on the second floor was empty, so Ian made his way to the one connected to his bedroom. No Joshua. He returned to the hall and looked into his youngest son’s room. Empty.

      Maybe he got outside somehow. Giggles wafted to him. He marched down the hallway to where Aunt Louise used to stay and turned the knob. More laughter pealed. Quickly Ian crossed to the bathroom and found Joshua in the big tub, washing himself.

      Sitting in a foot of water, Joshua beamed up at him. “I’m washing my hands.”

      “I see. Why did you come in here?”

      “I miss Aunt Louise. Jeremy was asleep, so I came in here. Is Annie here?”

      Joshua’s sometimes-disconnected thoughts could be hard to follow. “Yes, she is and hungry.” Ian held a towel open for his son. “Time to get out, get dressed and come downstairs.” At least this time Joshua had taken off his clothes before getting into the bath.

      Joshua jumped up, splashing the water, and stepped out onto the tile floor. “Okie dokie.”

      Ian waited at the doorway for his youngest to dress himself. When Joshua ran past him and toward the stairs, Ian made a detour to Jeremy’s room and knocked on the door. No answer. He decided to make sure Jeremy was there, so he pushed the door open and found his eldest curled on the bed, his eyes closed.

      Ian sat next to Jeremy and shook his shoulder to wake him up.

      His son’s arms lashed out at Ian. “Get away.” Blinking rapidly, Jeremy pushed away as if he was coming out of a nightmare and didn’t know where he was.

      “What’s wrong? A bad dream?”

      Jeremy looked around him, then lowered his head.

      “Dinner is ready.” Ian spied Joshua in the doorway and waved him away.

      His eldest son clenched the bedcovers. When he didn’t say anything, Ian rose, not sure what was going on. “I expect you downstairs to meet the...Annie.”

      Jeremy flung himself across the bed and hurried out of the room—leaving Ian even more perplexed by his behavior. Not sure his son would even go to the dining room, Ian hastened after him.

       Chapter Three

      Annie took the seat at the end where the twins indicated she should sit. All the food was on the formal dining room table, and Jade and Jasmine sat on one side, constantly looking over their shoulders toward the foyer or staring at Annie.

      She checked her watch. “Maybe I should go see if your dad needs help.”

      “Knowing Joshua, he’s probably hiding. He does that sometimes,” the girl closest to Annie said.

      Jasmine? They were both wearing jeans and matching shirts and ponytails. According to Ian, they didn’t dress alike anymore. Obviously, tonight they had other plans.

      The other sister grinned. “We should go ahead and eat.”

      Annie shoved her chair back. “Wait until the others come. I think I’ll go see what’s keeping them.” Something didn’t feel right. She started for the hallway and found Joshua coming down the staircase, his lower lip sticking out. She hurried to him. “Is something wrong, Joshua?”

      “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.”