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Seventeen
DELILAH
“Courtney? Jace?” I smiled excitedly. “Meet Rory and Luke!”
I pointed into the tablet’s screen, where my niece and nephew were waving happily back at us. Only they were five and six, and the twins were just over a year old. The difference in age translated to a huge difference in attention span.
“Can they talk, Aunt Delilah?” asked Rory.
“Sure,” I smiled. “But they don’t always. And they don’t know nearly as many words as you two do.”
I couldn’t believe the children were in kindergarten now! Or at least, Rory was. Luke was still in his last year of preschool, although he appeared just as tall and mature as his big sister.
“I miss you guys!” I cried again, wiping a tear from one corner of my eye. “I can’t believe howbigyou’ve gotten, and—”
“We miss you too Aunt Delilah!” said Luke, only it came out ‘Duh-lay-lah’, as always. I’d never once bothered to correct him. As far as I was concerned, he could call me that for the rest of our lives.
“What do you feed them? Rory was asking, as she pointed into the screen.
“The twins?” I smiled. “Same thing we used to feed you when you were little. Little jars of pureed baby food, cheerios, strawberry rice puffs…”
“Ilovethose puffs!” Rory declared. Her curls bounced as she crossed her arms and made her most pouty face. “How come we don’t have those anymore?”
“Because you’re older now,” I said gently, “and you eat big girl stuff.”
It definitely wasn’t what she wanted to hear. Her frown deepened.
“Put your mother on,” I smiled gently, “and let me see what I can do.”
I talked to my sister at least once a week since she left, and the children even more. But over the past two weeks, I’d been busy getting settled. Aside from a few text-messages back and forth telling her about my new job, new place, and new everything, I hadn’t spoken to her at all.
Patrice eventually stepped into the tablet’s screen, looking tired but happy. I introduced her to the twins, and after gushing about how cute they were — and reminiscing about Rory and Luke when they were that age — she finally got down to business.
“So how’d you get this nanny job?” she asked, wholly interested.
“Well… I kinda fell into it,” I said, laughing hilariously inside my own head.
“And they just hired you?” she pressed. “You’re not technically a nanny.”
“A mother isn’t technically a mother until she has a child,” I countered. “But you learn as you go, right?”
“I guess so,” my sister chuckled.
“Besides, Rory and Luke have given me more than enough experience,” I smiled. “You know that.”
“Can’t argue there,” Patrice agreed.
We talked some more about John, their new life in Maryland, their careers, and how great things were going. She also took me on another video tour of the house, showing me all the new decorating she’d done since the last time we spoke.
In the meantime, I’d gated off a section of the living room floor up to and including the couch. The twins were crawling and running around the perimeter, playing with a dozen colorful toys. It was hard to compete with all the noises and flashing lights, but my sister and I were experienced.
“So… any chance ofyouhaving any little ones in the near future?” she asked surreptitiously.
“Well my goal is to score a man first,” I replied. “A good one. Like John.”
“Bingo,” my sister grinned. “And how’s that going?”
I shrugged. “Semi-okay.”
