Chapter 13
On her way home, Meredith remembered her intention to call Carrie before the workday ended at the consulate. Seeing a pretty countryside pullout, she stopped to test her new phone. Carrie’s consulate business card was in her purse, and after a bit, she got Carrie on the other end of the call.
“I’m so happy to hear from you,” Carrie gushed. “I was just thinking about you this morning. How are you?”
“I’m doing great.” She described her delightful day off.
“Wow, I’m jealous. And what about the kids? Are there a dozen of them? I forgot to ask Mrs. Warner when I called.”
Meredith laughed. “Only two. But they were a bit of a handful at first. They’ve settled down some.”
“Well, I’m so happy for you.”
Meredith explained she wanted to send the repayment for the loan. “I meant to get traveler’s checks or something in town but forgot.”
“There’s no hurry. Just do it when you can. And you can send anything here to my work. It’ll be fine.”
Meredith told her about the river cruise she wanted to take the kids on. “How about if I send it then?”
“Perfect.”
They chatted a bit longer and then Carrie had to return to work. Meredith thanked her for the umpteenth time, and as they hung up, realized once again what a blessing Carrie had been. Truly a guardian angel.
She looked longingly at her phone. If only she could call Dad.
Then she remembered the school where he taught.
The administration office would be open.
Vera, the secretary, would likely be there.
She could get Dad’s number from her. She did a quick mental calculation of the time difference and realized it might be too early for the office to be open.
But a quick online search unearthed the school’s number. She could probably leave a message.
Via voicemail, she explained her lost phone situation and about being a nanny in Austria.
Finally, she asked Vera to text her Dad’s cell phone number.
“I know he and Mike and Brad are on the PCT right now, but I had hoped to at least text him.” Realizing she was over-sharing, she thanked Vera and hung up.
By the time she returned to the villa, she was happily worn out but eager to see the children. They didn’t appear to be outside, so she went in through the kitchen. Mrs. Warner, who was preparing dinner, looked up with a slightly weary expression. “You’re back.”
“Yes. It was a wonderful day. How were the children? Were they good for you?”
Mrs. Warner wiped her forehead with the back of her hand and sighed. “I’m sorry to report they were their usual cantankerous selves.”
“Really?” Meredith was disappointed. “Where are they now?”
“I made them go to their rooms.”
“Well, that’s where they usually are this time of day for academia hour.”
“I sent them there several hours ago.”
“Oh?”
“They just bickered and fought. I couldn’t take it anymore.”
“I’m sorry.” Meredith felt guilty now. “I’ll talk to them.”
“Dinner will be in an hour.”
As she went upstairs, she wasn’t sure how she would talk to them.
Part of her wanted to scold them, but another part of her warned that she needed to hear their side of things first—probably more for Kat’s sake than Mishka’s.
If she wanted her befriending plan to work with Kat, she shouldn’t come down on her like a ton of bricks.
She was less concerned about Mishka since he seemed determined to please her.
And for that reason, she decided to visit his room first.
She put her bags in her room then tapped quietly on his door. When he didn’t answer, she opened it to find him lying on his bed with a lost expression and tear trails on his flushed cheeks. “Mishka?” She went over to check on him, worried he was hurt or ill.
“Miss Meri!” He leaped out of bed, wrapped both arms around her waist, and held her tightly. “I thought you left us.”
“Well, I did leave you. But just for the day.”
“But you never told me. And Mrs. Warner said you may never come back. That we were such bad children, you probably had gone home to America.” He started to cry again. “You wouldn’t do that, would you?”
Her heart twisted. “No, of course, not. I would never leave without talking to you first.”
“But you would leave us?” He stared up at her with fearful eyes. “For good? You’d just go away and be gone forever?”
“Oh, Mishka. Don’t worry. I have no plans to go anywhere. Goodness, I don’t even have a passport or plane ticket or anything. So as far as I can see, you’re stuck with me.”
“Truly?”
She nodded. What she’d said was true enough.
But underneath it was another bigger truth—this was a summer job.
Still, how could she break his heart? Not right now anyway.
Not after he’d already had so much trauma.
She had no idea her absence would have such an effect on him.
Or that Mrs. Warner would say something like that.
She’d probably been fed up with the children and not realized how it would affect poor Mishka.
Meredith glanced at the photo on his dresser. His mother had abruptly disappeared from his life. Even though he’d been young, he knew that she had gone. Never to return. Somehow she’d have to prepare him for the inevitable. Just not today.
She hugged him again, stroking his silky dark hair. “Oh, Mishka, I really missed you today. I got gelato and went to the toy shop, and I wished you were with me.”
“You did?” He blinked. “For real?”
“I did. And I got to thinking we should go on that Danube River cruise. This week in fact. Would you like that?”
He nodded.
“Then we will do it. I got a cell phone today, so I’ll make the arrangements later.” She tilted her head to one side. “But first I want to know why Mrs. Warner thinks you and Kat were naughty today. What happened?”
“Kat was being mean.” His lower lip protruded. “She kept calling me names. And she didn’t want to play tennis or football with me.”
“Oh?” Meredith wasn’t really surprised. “I see.”
“And she tried to make me go to the pool, but I didn’t want to.”
“Right.” He probably thought his sister would drown him. Perhaps she would’ve. “And that caused another fight.”
“Yeah. She started to drag me down there, and I was kicking and screaming. Mrs. Warner got real mad.”
“I imagine she did.”
“So she sent us to our rooms. And she said she didn’t blame you for leaving…and that you may never come back.”
“I’m sorry she said that, Mishka. But I’m sure she was upset because you and Kat were fighting so much. If you two acted like that for me, I probably would want to leave.”
“But you won’t?” His chin quivered. “Will you?”
“Not like that. Don’t worry.” She patted his head. “Like I said, you’re stuck with me.”
“Good.”
“Dinner is in an hour, so get yourself cleaned up.” She smiled. “I bought a game I want to teach you and Kat. If you promise not to fight.”
“I won’t fight with her if you’re here. But she was awful mean when you were gone, Miss Meri. Just awful.”
“I’m going to talk to her now.”
As she left Mishka’s room, she had no desire to confront Kat.
Sure, the girl had been out of line, but there was a bigger picture here.
Mishka had desperately missed her. Was it possible that Kat, in her own way, missed Meredith too?
If that were the case, she wanted to tread carefully.
Standing in the quiet hallway, she silently asked God to help her.
On one hand, she didn’t want Kat to think she could get away with murder just because the nanny was gone.
But at the same time, she wanted Kat to trust her and believe that she did want to be her friend. She needed God’s help.
As she reached for the doorknob, she remembered something Dad used to say when dealing with a sticky situation with one of his students.
“I’d rather err toward mercy than judgment.
We can always use an extra dose of grace, whether or not we deserve it.
” As she knocked on Kat’s door, she knew that was the answer. Show grace, not judgment.
“Who is it?” Kat grunted.
“Meri,” she said quietly as she opened the door. “Can we talk?”
“I want to be alone.”
“I’m sure you do.” Meredith sat on the chair by the window. “Sounds like you guys had a rough day. I’m sorry.”
Kat’s brow creased. “Why are you sorry?”
“I think it’s partly my fault.”
“How’s that?” Kat sat up, peering curiously at her.
“Well, this morning, Mrs. Warner unexpectedly encouraged me to take the day off. It seemed a good idea since I had errands to do in town. I needed to go to the bank and get a cell phone. Do you realize I’ve been without my phone for more than two weeks?”
Kat seemed to consider this.
“You kids were still sleeping, and I took off without even telling you I was going. While I realize you probably didn’t care since you’re older, I can see now that it was upsetting to Mishka. And, consequently, I’m afraid it became upsetting to you.”
“Yeah…sort of.”
“And Mrs. Warner was a little impatient about it.”
“That’s for sure.”
“So if I’d planned it better, and told you and Mishka, maybe things would’ve gone a bit more smoothly.”
Kat nodded.
“I’m sorry, Kat. I didn’t want to wake you, but I wish I’d slipped a note under your door.”
She made a tiny shrug.
“I wasn’t being a very good friend.” She waited. “But, honestly, I had no idea Mishka would be so upset. I sort of forgot how your mother went away too. Maybe, in a way, it felt like that to him. I am really sorry about that.”
“He was pretty upset…all day. And I suppose I didn’t make it any better.”
Meredith was tempted to prod a bit here but controlled herself.
“I was mean to him about going down to the pool.”
“He told me about that. And how Mrs. Warner got fed up and said I may not come back.”
“Would you ever really do that?” Kat’s pale gray eyes were fixed on Meredith.
“I would never leave without explaining myself,” she assured her. “And if I have to be away, even for a few hours, I’ll do better with communicating.”
“But what about your home in the States? Will you just leave to go back there, like Mrs. Warner said?”
“Like I just told Mishka, I don’t even have a passport.
Or a plane ticket. I couldn’t go if I wanted to.
You guys are stuck with me. But honestly, I don’t even want to go.
I’ve gotten pretty comfortable here. And there’s a lot of summer holiday left.
Not only that, I actually like you and Mishka.
” She smiled. “In fact, I missed you both today when I was getting gelato.” She told her about the cards she’d gotten and how she used to play Uno with her friends.
“I hoped we three could play it. And I got you your own game to take back to school and teach to your new friends.”
Kat looked doubtful, but at least she didn’t roll her eyes.
Meredith looked at the wall clock. “You’ve got just enough time to get ready for dinner. I’m hoping we can all square things away with Mrs. Warner. I have a feeling she’s not too pleased with how she handled things, but she was probably just frustrated.”
“It was a hot mess around here.”
Meredith laughed. “You sound like an American.”
Kat’s lips curved up slightly as she got off her bed to stretch and remove the scrunchy that had been holding back her tangled red curls.
“You’re so pretty when you smile,” Meredith said as she went to the door. “Maybe you should practice smiling more this summer. Get really good at it before school starts.”
Of course, this was answered with the classic eye roll, but as Meredith let herself out, she noticed Kat staring curiously at her bureau mirror. Maybe she was considering the value of a cheerful smile after all.
As Meredith got ready for dinner, she decided that even if the kids had been a hot mess in her absence, good seemed to be emerging from it.
But, unfortunately, it did raise a difficult question for her.
Mishka was right. Someday in the near future she’d have to go home.
How would she prepare him for the inevitable?
It was hard to admit, but after only two weeks she’d grown quite attached.
She suspected she’d be almost as sad as the tenderhearted boy when the time came for her to say goodbye.