“Why did you apply for this position?” I asked again. “The real reason. Don’t lie to me, because I can find out the truth.”
“I was supposed to get married to a man I didn’t love and who didn’t love me.”
“Then why marry?”
“It was a business arrangement between my father and his parents. I couldn’t do it. He was double my age, and…” shesighed. “I couldn’t spend the rest of my life in a cage, even if it was a gilded one.”
I understood that more than she knew. “So you fled.”
She nodded. “So I fled with no plan and no backup plan. I was desperate to be anywhere else.” She looked at me. “I’m sorry I lied on my application. But I’m not sorry I came.”
“Neither am I. Yet.” I adjusted Pip as she finished the bottle. “But you need to understand, if you stay, this is not a temporary arrangement. Pip needs stability. She has been abandoned too many times already in her short life. If you commit to this, I need you to mean it.”
“For how long?”
“Until she is old enough to not need constant care. At least two years, maybe three.” I met her eyes. “That is a long time to be isolated. To be far from human civilization. To live in proximity to someone who frightens you.”
“You don’t frighten me as much as you did an hour ago,” Danielle said. “And honestly? Two years of isolation sounds better than one year married to Anthony Louis Fitzsimmons.”
“Is Anthony the male’s name?”
“Anthony Louis. He enjoyed being called by his full name. He’s cold. To him, I was an acquisition, not a person.”
I had known males like that. Species didn’t matter - entitlement was universal. “He will look for you.”
She shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not. He wasn’t thrilled with the prospect of marrying me. But Colony 8-Beta isn’t easy to track someone to, right? And I used false credentials for the transport.”
Smart. Desperate and frightened, but smart. “If he finds you, if there is any threat to your safety or Pip’s, you tell me immediately. Understood?”
She nodded. “Understood.”
Pip burped, a small, delicate sound, and then began fussing. “Come with me. She needs a change. This is not optional knowledge.”
I watched Danielle’s face turn green as I demonstrated the diaper-changing procedure, complicated by Yxian anatomy. To her credit, she didn’t flee.
“Your turn,” I said once Pip was clean and redressed.
“Already?”
“Repetition is how you learn. I will guide you.”
Danielle approached the changing station as if it might explode. But she followed my instructions to the letter. Pip tolerated it, though she watched Danielle with clear suspicion.
“Good,” I said when it was done. “You are competent.”
“That was terrifying.”
“Yes. But you did it anyway.” I picked up Pip, who relaxed against me. “This will be the pattern for the next several days. I do something, then you practice it. Before you know it, you will be confident enough to handle her on your own.”
“And if I never get confident?”
“Then you will care for her while frightened. Many things in life are accomplished while frightened, but I suspect you already know that.”
She met my eyes and nodded. “Yeah. I do.”
“Good.” I handed her the data pad with Pip’s full schedule. “Study this tonight. Tomorrow, we begin. I will teach you everything I know. What you do with that knowledge will determine whether you stay or become the fourth nanny to abandon us.”
I meant it as a statement of fact, not a guilt trip, but I saw Danielle flinch.
