The Dark Side - Danielle Steel Page 0,26
the letter.
Chapter 5
Fiona worked out well for them as a nanny. She wasn’t an exciting person, didn’t have interesting ideas, and wasn’t creative with Jaime. She was used to being a hospital nurse, not entertaining a baby or toddler. The baby was always clean and well cared for, combed and brushed in clean pajamas when they got home. She took her out for walks in the fresh air, and followed Zoe’s orders to a T. She never asked questions unless she had to, and wasn’t chatty. When Jaime was eleven months old, Fiona asked Zoe how long she was planning to nurse her or if they were going to start to wean her.
“It’s working well,” Zoe answered her. “I originally planned to nurse her for a year, but I think it might go longer. She’s happy with it, and so am I. Maybe a few more months.” Fiona nodded. She didn’t care one way or another. She had no opinions about babies. She’d been a post-surgical recovery nurse for adults in Ireland, so she wasn’t invested in any theories, unlike Zoe, who had many. And at this point, the nursing was a comfort for Jaime, but no longer a necessity. And they were still following the precautions for apnea, although it had never happened again, and Zoe had her still wearing the annoying monitor. They had told her she could give it up at a year, and she planned to.
When Jaime took her first steps, Fiona sent a cellphone video to both parents at work, and Zoe cried when she saw it, and was crushed she hadn’t been there to witness the moment herself. But she was loving her job, the complex meetings she attended daily, both internally and with foundations for grants, the judicial system, and city government for funds. And she loved going home to Jaime at night. Her life felt complete with a baby and husband she loved, and work she knew was meaningful. And her contact with the children at the shelter was a bonus. The long-term ones were dear to her heart.
Austin’s reaction to Jaime walking was different, although he was sorry he had missed the first steps too. He knew it was time to think of safety, which was usually Zoe’s province, but he got involved this time.
“I want to get gates this weekend,” he said that night over dinner, after Jaime had gone to sleep. She had drunkenly demonstrated her new skill to her parents, and they applauded when she walked across the room to them at Fiona’s urging. But when Austin saw Jaime staggering toward them on unsteady legs it reminded him that the short staircase to their bedroom would be dangerous for her now, and they needed to close it off with a gate at the bottom of the stairs, so she wouldn’t climb them, fall, and get hurt. Gates were easy to get in any hardware store, or store with furnishings for children. Most people used them to confine their toddlers in a safe space.
“She’ll crawl up the steps for a while, she won’t try to walk them,” Zoe said confidently. While she’d only been crawling, she’d been easier to distract from the stairs, but Austin could see an accident waiting to happen. “I think we can wait awhile, and I don’t like them anyway. Gates are for dogs, not children, like leashes. I hate them, when you see a kid on a leash at an airport or the zoo. Besides, if they’re the stretchy accordion kind, she’ll pinch her fingers in a gate.”
“Better that than landing on her head. Let’s not do that again.” He was referring to her fall off the changing table, eight months before.
“She’s not going to fall down the stairs, she’ll stay away from them, she won’t know how to negotiate them. Toddlers are smarter than that,” Zoe said confidently. Austin looked annoyed but didn’t comment. They still had a solid marriage, but their sometimes different opinions about Jaime gave them things to argue about, which they’d never done before. Now there were little squabbles and differences of opinion about their child, which weren’t serious, but annoying and frequent.
As promised, he came home with three gates, of the scissor-accordion kind, which stretched out to fit the doorway. There was one for the flight of stairs to their bedroom, and two extras in case they needed them, now that Jaime was walking.
“Those are exactly the ones I told you I didn’t want. She’s a