Where the Streets Have No Name
Chapter 59
When Nina turned in her resignation, she was in tears. She tried to explain to Edward that she was happy enough to look after Ella, but in spite of the warning she had received from Edward about Carmen's less than stable mental state, it turned out she was ill-equipped to deal with an employer who felt constantly threatened by Nina's skills at handling a baby and feared she was being replaced as Ella's mother.
The overt resentment and open hostility was too much for her to take eight to twelve hours a day, four to five days a week. She hoped the young Cullens the best and even offered to help them find her replacement.
Edward thanked Nina for her time and effort, accepted her offer of help in finding another nanny for Ella, and wrote her the final check for services rendered. Then he slumped on the floor as he tried to rip his hair out with both hands.
The past three months hadn't been a walk in the park for him. While Nina's presence allowed him the much needed peace of mind while he was at work, it was temporary and shattered as soon as he returned home.
Carmen was not responding to treatment. The magic cocktail of Paxil and Depatoke that had once worked so well to help Carmen reach a balanced mental state was failing to repeat its success. She didn't like the group sessions, nor did she want to continue trying further drug regimens.
She couldn't begin to form a bond with Ella yet she felt terribly threatened that someone else might, and thus render her useless to both her husband and daughter.
Ella, in all her innocence, didn't help to endear herself to her mother. While she was the picture of serene perfection in her early days, she turned into a colicky nightmare from her second month on. Carmen simply couldn't stand the sound of Ella's endless wailing, opting to let Nina or Edward take turns to lull her.
Yet, she felt slighted and rejected if Ella showed any kind of preference for the company of her father or nanny over her mother.
While at home, Edward had to be the sole source of care and nurturing for both Carmen and Ella. His gruelling hours at the hospital zapped him of nearly all his energy, yet he had to find a way to wring out more to assuage Carmen's fears, make sure she ate, bathed, and had taken her meds, as well as change, feed, and rock Ella to sleep, not to mention get up at least twice during the night when Ella's cry came through the baby monitor. He felt tired and drained.
His patience with Carmen was wearing thin, and on days he had to bite his tongue to keep from retorting back a snide remark or lash out with the equal force Carmen was attacking him with.
It's not her fault. She can't help it.He kept repeating that to himself.
None of that made any difference. The truth remained that he had to find a replacement for Nina before the month was out. He might need his mother's help again. With a resigned sigh, he picked up the phone to place a call to his Residency Director to request yet another family leave.
Thank you Lulabelle98, HeidiJoVT, and Dinx.