Chapter 4

Anna checked the time on her computer and sighed. She really needed to get into her office today, but she had given her nanny the day off. When she called her in desperation and with the promise of extra pay, the nanny said she would be there within the hour. It had only been twenty minutes since the phone call, but Anna was growing anxious about the disaster at the office.

Someone posted in the wrong social media account and shared some potentially private information about some of their top clients. She needed to speak to the head of her security team in private to see what could be done to fix this and scream at whoever had made the mistake.

"Mummy?" Gracie's little voice asked, walking over toward Anna and placing her hand on Anna's lower arm.

"Gracie, please go and watch Peppa Pig or play with your dolls in your room. Mummy has a lot of work she needs to do."

At her words, Gracie pouted her lower lip and shook her head.

"Want Mummy!" She exclaimed. Anna sighed. She quickly picked up her youngest daughter and tried to type on her computer at the same time. Glad she had been picked up, Gracie rested her head on Anna's shoulder and tried to help her type.

"Gracie, no," Anna warned. "If you want Mummy to hold you, then I need you to stop that."

Gracie made a face, but dropped her hands from the computer. Instead, she turned and started playing with Anna's hair, dragging it over her lips and twisting it harshly. Anna bit her lip and just prayed that Baxter would be there soon to watch her children.

Baxter had been watching her children for nearly two years now and the girls adored her. She was very kind and so patient with the children. She also did many activities and fun things with the girls, which made Anna feel grateful for her, but also guilty. She felt like she didn't do enough of those types of things with her children. She was always putting on the telly and handing them their tablets so she could get work done. Maybe one day she would have all of this managed so she could feel like a better mother to them.

"Knock, knock," Baxter said, coming inside. Gracie jumped off Anna's lap and rushed toward her nanny. Anna sighed in relief. She closed her laptop and placed it into her bags.

"Thank you," she sincerely told her. "I owe you, so much. Um…they've eaten lunch. Arya is reading in her room, I believe….or playing, I'm not sure. I don't know when I'll be home. I'll try not to be late."

"Not to worry," Baxter promised her. "We'll be alright."

"Thank you," Anna said again. She quickly kissed the top of Gracie's head and rushed out the door.

-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-

John was coming up the stairs after Martha went down for one of her naps, surprised to see the nanny looking distraught at the top of the staircase. He could hear the loud sound of Peppa Pig playing in the background and chatters from both of the girls.

"Ms. Baxter, is everything alright?"

"No," she breathed, a tear sliding down her cheek. "It's my dad. He's…they're rushing him to the hospital. I tried to call Ms. Smith, but she's not answering her phone. I can't leave the girls…."

"I can handle them," John assured her. "You go to your father."

"But her mum…."

"She'll be out for hours."

"Are you sure? Oh, Ms. Smith will be upset I've left them…." Baxter rung her hands in front of her, clearly distressed.

"She won't. She'll understand," John promised, though he couldn't know that for her. He surely hoped Anna wouldn't fire the woman for going to see her possibly dying father.

"Thank you. Um….Gracie will be happy with Peppa on, though I had promised them we would do some painting, but um….and well, Arya, she's pretty self-reliant…."

"Just go," John said again. "We'll be fine."

Ms. Baxter reluctantly left leaving John alone with the two girls.

When he walked into the living room, they both looked up at him with a strange expression. Gracie hugged more tightly to her Peppa in her hands and Arya just rolled her eyes and returned them to the book in her hands.

"Um, your nanny had to go…it was an emergency. But I'm here. Do you need anything?" John tried. He hadn't been around any children really before in his life, but he was sure he could keep them alive and out of harm's way for a couple of hours.

What happened next surprised him. Gracie walked up toward him and took his hand, tugging him into the living room. She forced him to sit down and then handed him a small baby doll.

"You be the daddy," she told him. "Peppa's the mummy and I'm the sister. Arya's big sister."

"I'm not playing," Arya stated, turning away.

John chuckled to himself and played along with what Gracie asked him to do. Basically, he just had to hold the baby doll whenever she handed the baby to him and then just sit there when she took it back way. Over time, Arya started paying attention and then started asking questions.

"Mr. Bates?"

"Yes, Arya."

"Do you have kids?"

"No," John answered. Arya sat up slightly and let out a loud sigh.

"Why not?"

"I just don't."

"Are you married?"

"No."

"Have you been married?"

At this question, John paused. Did he want to get into the complicated truth of that matter?

"I was," John finally decided to answer.

"Mummy was too, but now she's not," Arya stated, her face growing solemn. "Now Daddy is gone."

John frowned. He didn't know how to respond to that.

Thankfully, before he could say anything, there came a knock at the door. John stood up and placed the baby doll down on the couch.

"You both stay in here and watch the telly," he told them. He glanced at the watch on his hand. It had only been thirty minutes, so Martha would still be asleep for a while now.

Walking over toward the door, he was surprised to see a man standing on the other side of it. Opening it, he blocked the door and eyed the man up and down.

"Who are you?" The man rudely said. "Where's Anna?"

"I…I'm her mother's nurse. Ms. Smith isn't here," he answered. It was now the man's turn to eye him.

"Oh," he quipped. "Well, I'm here to see my girls: Arya and Gracie. Anna's said I can come by anytime to see them."

John's eyes narrowed.

"I'm not sure I can let you in," John said to him. "I haven't been given any instruction by Ms. Smith about you showing up at the house."

"Typical," the man growled. "I'm Jake, by the way. Anna always does this. She pretends like she wants to let me see my girls, but she keeps them away from me. You know, she just left me a year ago, she up and left me and took my girls. They're my children too! I have rights. She thinks because she has more money that she gets to make all the calls."

"Jake," John carefully started. "Perhaps you could try calling Anna and telling her you want to see them and then have her call me? I don't feel comfortable allowing you into her home."

Jake made a low sound, but nodded. "Sure, I'll do just that. Thanks." Then he started walking down the stairs while pulling his phone out of his pocket. John shook his head and shut the door.

Walking back into the living room, he saw that Gracie had curled herself up on the couch with her thumb in her mouth watching that god-awful show again. Arya, however, looked disappointed. John wondered if she knew that it had been her father outside. He gave her a small smile and then walked over to sit in a chair to wait and see if Anna would call him to give him permission to let Jake inside.

However, he heard the sound of a car pulling up. He stood again and walked toward the door. Glancing out the window, he saw Anna stepping out of her car and then approaching Jake. She did not look pleased.

-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-

"What the hell are you doing here, Jake!?" Anna nearly screamed, stepping out of her car and seeing her ex-husband standing against his car with his phone in his hand. He quickly ended his conversation with whoever was on the other end and stood up straight.

"I've come to see my girls."

"You are not allowed at my home and you know that," Anna reminded him. Her home was supposed to be her safe space, but it seemed between her mother and Jake that it would never be.

"You said I could see the girls whenever I wanted," Jake argued. Anna inhaled sharply.

"Yes, as long as you ask me in advance. You didn't call me or ask me. So what, exactly, was your plan here? Were you hoping I wouldn't be home and you could swoop in and play the perfect dad for a few hours until you got tired of them?" Anna's brows rose. Her day had been stressful enough as it was, this was just the icing on the cake.

"No, never. I just missed them. Wanted to see them for a bit, but I have to go now."

"Of course you do," Anna breathed. "Then go. And next time, call me. You know when your time is with the girls. Maybe show up to that before claiming you need more time."

Jake had already gotten in his car and driven off. Anna shook her head and tried to steady her heavily beating heart. She couldn't go inside with a bad attitude.

Taking a deep breath, she walked up the stairs and into her home. The girls were in the living room and Mr. Bates was sitting over by the window. He quickly stood to explain.

"Ms. Baxter…."

"Yes, I know. I spoke with her. Thank you for covering for her," Anna sincerely told him. Mr. Bates looked surprised, as though he hadn't been expecting that. "She'll be gone for a while. Her father is very ill. But I'll handle it, like I always do," she added. "You can go back to whatever needs to be done with my mother. I'll pay you extra for this help. Thanks again."

She could tell that Mr. Bates wanted to say something else, but he didn't. Instead, he gave her a small nod and went back downstairs. Once the door closed, Anna's eyes filled with tears. She was so incredibly overwhelmed. And while she knew Baxter needed to be with her family right now, this happened at the absolute worst possible time. Now Anna would need to figure out some temporary care for her girls. School was out for the summer. Perhaps a summer camp for Arya? She didn't know. Her hands flew up over her face and she reminded herself that she had done all of this on her own before.

"Mum?" Arya's voice questioned. "Are you alright?"

Anna dropped her hands from her face and gave her a tight smile.

"Yes, sweetie, I'm fine. Just tired. Ms. Baxter's father is very sick. Why don't we draw them a picture and maybe write them a letter? Then we can pick out some flowers to send to the hospital."

"Okay!"

-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-

"John?" Martha asked, making her way into the room.

"Yes? Can I get you something?"

"I want to watch my show," she told him, as she lifted up the remote and tried to put it on the game show that she watched most of the time she was awake. John went over to help her into her chair and gently took the remote from her hand. It didn't work.

"I think the batteries have died. I'll run upstairs and grab some more."

One thing that John had learned over the past several weeks was that Ms. Smith was very organized. There was cabinet with batteries organized by type upstairs. She was prepared for almost any small emergency and likely big ones as well. It was unlikely they would ever go without anything.

It was late at night, so John tried to be quiet. However, as he made his way up the stairs, he could hear that dreaded Peppa Pig song playing. How? He wondered. Weren't the girls in bed at this hour?

Stepping toward the cabinet where the batteries were, he saw that Gracie was asleep on the couch with her blanket falling off of her. He scanned his eyes around and saw that Ms. Smith was typing on her laptop.

Since Gracie was asleep, he stepped forward and turned down the television. He could use a little less of that sound.

"Excuse me, Mr. Bates, what gives you the right to turn down my television?" Ms. Smith questioned, stepping out of her office.

"Gracie is asleep," John replied.

"And I just got her back to sleep."

"And I'm tired of hearing that pig's voice every day," John bit back. He didn't know where his anger was coming from, but he was so tired of that show and his boss's attitude toward everyone.

"It's not that bad and it makes my daughter happy!"

"Yeah, well shouldn't she be in bed at this hour?"

Ms. Smith scoffed.

"Oh, giving parenting advice are we? You've got your own? They're perfectly well behaved and slept all night since the day they were born?" Ms. Smith quipped.

"No, I don't have children. I was only…."

"Exactly, you don't have children. Stick with what you know and take care of my mother."

"Right, when people no longer are worth anything to you, you just throw them away," John stated, heating up more. "Your mother and your ex-husband."

"Don't," Ms. Smith warned. "Don't you even pretend to act like you know anything about me and my relationship with either of them. Let me guess, Jake told you this poor me story about how I left him?"

"Yes, he did," John defensively replied.

"Bet he didn't add it was because I found out he had been cheating on me for years and basically had another family. He has a son that's six months older than Gracie. Know when I found out? When he accidently posted the birthday pictures of his son turning three on the wrong Facebook. He had two Facebooks for his two different families. So yes, I left him. But I never took the girls from him. I gave him the time he asked for and he rarely ever shows up. Tell me again how I ruined that relationship."

John swallowed hard.

"I….Ms. Smith, I didn't…."

"Of course you didn't know. Just…go downstairs. Take care of my mother and leave me and my girls alone. I have enough on my plate."

"Right," John said, now feeling horrible for bringing it up. He quickly grabbed the batteries he needed and went back toward the stairs. Before heading downstairs, he saw that Gracie had woken back up and he felt guilty that he was likely the cause. He watched as Ms. Smith went back over to her and pulled her into her lap to watch more Peppa Pig.

Reaching the downstairs, he saw that Martha was standing at the television trying to figure out how to put it on. He gently grabbed her shoulders and led her back to her chair.

"Here," he said. "I have the batteries."

"What was with the yelling? Has Anna run off again?" John's brows rose.

"No," he just said. "Your daughter is putting your granddaughter to sleep."

"Granddaughter? Anna's had a baby? When?" John sighed.

"Why don't we just watch your show, Martha? We'll discuss more of this later."

He got her settled with her show and went to make himself a cup of tea. He felt like a jerk. He had unfairly judged the situation, taking the ex's words at face value. Maybe his mother had been right, maybe he did need to learn more about his employer.

To be continued...

Well, John has learned a little about Anna's past now. Will the two start growing close soon? More soon!