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She looked around and the kids were all eying her expectantly. A distinct air of unease had begun to come over them.Uh oh.
Looking at their little faces, she was struck by a few things. She didn’t think she had ever met better behaved shifter kids. Maybe not even better behaved kids period. And, they were innocent. But they were catching on that something wasn’t right. The youngest, what was his name, Bucky? She saw the telltale signs of a potential incoming meltdown.
Last thing I need is to add screaming and crying kids to the mix. Well, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.
“Okay, Jaye. Just give me a minute and we’ll get to those pancakes!”
This seemed to work. Again all was well amongst the munchkins.
And there was something else, she thought distantly. Though he had locked her in his house, she hadn’t gotten psycho vibes from this Mr. Wright guy. He’d sounded desperate, but not crazy or violent. He had definitely had a totally different vibe than Blake. With him, she had always felt there was something just slightly off, but could never really get a finger on it until it was too late. He had been the first and most definitely the last shifter she would ever date. No, she did not want to think about Blake now. She had to focus on her situation and on Mr. Wright. And looking at these kids, which he was obviously raising alone if the state of the house was any indication, how bad could he be? Regardless, nothing excused the fact that he’d locked her up with no way to leave if something happened to anyone and no way to ask for help. But what else could she do now but wait and hope she was right and he wasn’t deranged or unhinged?
If she had to be stuck, might as well make the most of it, even if for these kids, who had been nothing but welcoming to her.
For the first time, she wondered what his emergency had been anyhow. He definitely had seemed sincerely upset.Jeezuz, what if he’s gone overnight?She didn’t even know what to think about it.He’d mentioned he was in security, right? What the hell did that even mean, anyhow? She sighed heavily and moved over to the sink. She needed something mindless for just a minute. She found the water was always a soothing way to get her brain and body settled down. If she couldn’t take a bath, somehow washing dishes usually did the trick.
She turned on the hot water and grabbed the dish soap to wet the sponge. Just the sound of running water began to work its magic on her upset.Just pretend you are home doing your own dishes.
“I’m just gonna clean up a little and then we’ll get started,” she called.
But no sooner had she finished and had registered that the kids had disappeared than she heard a yell and a crash from outside. And right on top of that came a wail. She dropped her sponge and ran to the back door. The crying had already tapered off as the oldest—Marcus? No, Jasper, she thought was his name—was apparently tending to the youngest, Bucky. The other two were already pushing past her back into the house. “Is everything ok? Jasper, right?”
Jasper nodded. “Yeah, no big deal. He’s tough. He just fell off the ladder going up the tree. Nothing broken, see?” he said as he gave Bucky a playful shake. Bucky was indeed already shaking it off.
Winona smiled in spite of herself.Tough is right, Jeez.But they are good kids. Good pups,she corrected herself.For a second, she had forgotten her situation.Don’t go getting all comfortable, honey.You’ve spent all of what, thirty minutes with them? And you are kidnapped, remember?
“Is that true, Bucky? You okay?” She couldn’t help herself. She went to them and shepherded the boys back inside.
“He’s okay,” chimed in the other youngling, Jaye, she remembered his name. She noticed that the two oldest and two youngest seemed to naturally gravitate to one another, which made sense enough, though they didn’t really seem that apart in age.
The two oldest—was it Jasper and Marcus?—did look uncommonly similar, she thought. But the older, Jasper, did look to have an inch on Marcus.
“So, you’re Jasper and you’re Marcus right?” she said pointing at them in turn. The two boys put their heads together, clearly deciding to make this process more difficult, and funny at the same time.Boys.
“Okay, forget it. I’ll get it straight later.” She turned her attention to the two youngest.
Jasper and Marcus sighed, deflated. She smiled to herself as she turned back to Bucky and Jaye, who had already engaged themselves in a game of tag.
“Okay, well, looks like he’s fine after all. I would prescribe rest and a little TV, but he seems fine.” These shifter kids were always built like little tanks. She had forgotten.
“He look okay to you?” she asked, turning to Jasper.
He nodded in approval. She seemed to have passed some kind of test. Again, she remembered, she was not a guest here. She pushed her circumstances down.Just focus on the kids for now. Nothing else you can do.
“Okay, let’s get this pancake show on the road, shall we?”
“Yes!” called the two youngest as they abruptly abandoned their game and headed back to resume what appeared to be their regular duties, helping each other climb up a stepstool to get dishes for the table.
“So, I assume we have pancake mix, right? Can you show me where, though? It’ll just go that much faster if I have a guide, okay?”
Marcus—or is it Jasper?—walked her into a gigantic walk-in pantry. “The pancake mix is near the top. All the really good stuff is up on the top shelf because Dad thinks we can’t reach it.” He looked at her conspiratorially, “But we totally can, though.” He smiled proudly. He was definitely showing off.
Winona laughed. “Sly, kid, very sly. I’ll have to see what’s up there. Might need a ladder myself. I’ll just make sure it’s not the same ladder Bucky climbed. Don’t want to test fate too much.”
Jasper/Marcus laughed. “You’re funny, Winona. I hope you stay longer than a couple of days. We are ‘too much’ for most nannies.”
“Well, you don’t seem to be too much, as far as I can tell,” was all she said. What else could she say? The whole situation felt surreal. How could these kids be so well behaved and cute, and their dad be such a psycho?
“Daddy must really like you. He never lets nannies stay with us right away like this,” he said as they entered the closet. Then after apparent consideration, he added, “I approve as well.”
