“I can agree to that,” Phoebe said, rising heavily to her feet and shaking Ms. Henderson’s hand. “It’s not like I can be too picky right now.”
“You won’t regret your decision, ma’am. Now, would you kindly show me around the house? I’d like to familiarize myself with it before your daughters return.”
*
For the next hour Phoebe showed Ms. Henderson the kitchen, bathrooms, the girls’ bedrooms and the backyard. The nanny quickly learned where everything was for cooking or cleaning, down to the spare linen and how the girls organized their toys.
But she spent most of the time in the kitchen, going through the fridge and pantry and every drawer and cupboard with a scrutinizing eye. As Phoebe dreaded, the slightly older woman shook her head and clucked her tongue repeatedly. The food offerings did not paint a pretty picture, the mother knew.
“I’m going to make up a shopping list,” she finally said, “For the time being there is enough for me to work with. And we can slowly work our way through the junk food you already have.”
“Yeah, sure,” Phoebe nodded vigorously, her chins wobbling. “You make the list, I’ll buy whatever’s on it. Money’s not an issue.”
Shortly after that the school bus stopped outside the house and Phoebe heard her daughters running and shouting to the front door.
“They’re here,” she said superfluously.
Ms. Henderson strolled confidently to the living room, standing a few feet from the front door. Sophie was the one to open it, squeezing herself through the entrance and making room for her sister before stopping short at the sight of the strange woman in front of her.
Phoebe, waddling up behind the nanny, put on her best smile.
“Hi, girls. Did you have a good day at school?”
“Yes...?” Ally said, more concerned with the stranger than her mom’s question.
“That’s good. This is Ms. Henderson. She’s going to be a... helper,” Phoebe decided at the last moment that ‘nanny’ sounded too infantile for her daughters, so she changed the woman’s title, “She’s going to help me around the house and watch over you two.”
“Hello, darlings,” Ms. Henderson said, smiling warmly. “I’m sure we’ll get on fabulously.”
“Right...” Sophie said. She turned back to Phoebe. “Do we have any zebra cakes left?”
“Instead of raiding the pantry,” Ms. Henderson said, “what if we made our snacks for today? I have a recipe for peanut butter cookies I think you’ll both enjoy, and as they say: many hands make light work.”
The promise of cookies won the two girls over. Maybe too fast for Phoebe’s liking, but if there was a better way for Ms. Henderson to make a first impression she couldn’t think of it.
For the next hour Phoebe relaxed on the living room sofa, listening to her daughters and Ms. Henderson working in the kitchen. The girls were as animated as ever, but the teeth-grinding crashes or spills never came rushing to Phoebe’s ears. At peace for the first time since she could remember, Phoebe could almost feel the tension draining out of her body as she snuck several zebra cakes.
‘We do need to get rid of them,’ she reasoned to herself.
After the cookies were in the oven Ms. Henderson oversaw the girls as they did their homework, and then she started on dinner, also with their help. When Phoebe waddled to the dining room table her daughters triumphantly presented the chicken and potatoes dinner they helped make.
“This looks delicious,” Phoebe said. “You’ll join us, won’t you?”
“Certainly,” the ‘helper’ answered.
And as they ate Ms. Henderson regaled the three with stories of her travels; she had not only worked as a nanny in America, but in Britain and Hong Kong. Enthralled, Phoebe went back for thirds and even fourths, while her daughters ate three full plates of food. But at the end she didn’t feel like she was about to crash from a sugar high.
“Will you be back tomorrow?” Ally asked when Ms. Henderson, after cleaning the dinner table and doing the dishes, made ready to leave.
“Bright and early, darling,” she assured the young girl. “I look forward to seeing a lot more of all of you.”
When Phoebe went to bed that night she took a moment to marvel at how wonderful the day had gone. The girls had gotten their homework done and stayed out of trouble all evening, and they had even gone to bed without a fuss.
Ms. Henderson was a miracle worker, and it was only her first day.
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