by Tiana Cole
I left Sophie sitting uncertainty on the thick dining room rug amidst a sea of blocks and toys and hurried towards David’s mother to shake her hand. She took my hand, but by the tips of my fingers, like she wanted to touch me as little as possible. David was right, his mom was kind of a trip, and I was definitely nervous about her being here. But it was for more than he realized.
As soon as I saw her, I realized I knew David’s mother. Not well, not like we had had a bunch of conversations or anything like that, but I did know her. I recognized her from the hospital, from Nikki’s last stay there before she passed away.
This wasn’t just any mother. This was Dr. Elizabeth Carr-Wyatt. She was the head of the cardiology department in the hospital where David worked. She was the one who sat down with my family and explained how sorry the hospital was for our loss.
Even then she had seemed a little cold. Now, standing there with a look of obvious distaste, she seemed pretty close to terrifying. It didn’t matter. I wasn’t going to let myself be intimidated, not even by her. Not even by the narrowed, scrutinizing look she was giving me.
“Do I know you from somewhere?”
“I doubt it. Not unless you had a kindergartner at Mt. Harvey last year.” I laughed with a breeziness I didn’t feel.
She wrinkled her nose in distaste, something that didn’t surprise me all that much. Mt. Harvey wasn’t the kind of school women like this went anywhere near, let alone sent their children to. It was an inner city school, one full of people with stretched and troubled lives instead of massive amounts of wealth. It didn’t seem much like Elizabeth Wyatt’s scene.
“No, no, I certainly did not. Nevertheless, you seem quite familiar. Where else might I know you from? I’m almost sure I recognize you.”
“I felt the same way, Mom. I think she’s just that person everyone feels is familiar. Maybe she’s just too nice, so everyone feels comfortable with her.”
Dr. Wyatt gave David an unhappy look but seemed to be willing to let the matter go. Thank god. I still wasn’t entirely sure where I stood on the matter of David Wyatt, but at that moment I could have kissed him, I was so thankful.
His mom kind of reminded me of a pitbull. I had the feeling that if he hadn’t stepped in she would not have let this thing go until she got to the bottom of the matter. What on Earth would I do if she realized where she recognized me from, if she told David everything she could remember? She was back to frowning at Sophie’s scattered toys, however, so it seemed like I was probably safe for now.
“Don’t you think you should have the child put up her toys before we dine? The toys should never be in the dining room to begin with, my dear.”
She was looking at me. I didn’t exactly like the way she called me dear or the way she referred to Sophie as “the child” instead of using her name, but I held my tongue. I didn’t want to start a fight with David’s mother before dinner even got started. I knew he was already dreading the whole thing without me making it worse. I looked over at Sophie, still sitting silently in the corner, and gave her a friendly grin. She seemed unsettled, but smiled back. We were a team and she knew it. She knew I was going to look out for her.
“Come on, sweet girl. Let’s put these things away so we can eat. Mashed potatoes and peas. Yum, right?”
“Right!” she crowed, her confidence clearly beginning to return. She jumped up with a renewed vigor and began to scoop up her blocks and dolls. I joined her, getting down on my knees to help her clear the area. If it was up to me I would have just let her keep everything the way it was, but there was no need to make waves.
“Don’t you think you should let her clear them herself?”
“Why?”
I didn’t mean to say it. It just sort of slipped out before I could stop it. I wasn’t trying to cause trouble, really I wasn’t, but she was talking about Sophie like she was some kind of irresponsible thirty year old. She was only four, for Christ’s sake. What was wrong with helping her put away her things? That kind of disdain for a child didn’t exist in a vacuum. It sunk into their makeup, helped to form who they became as they got older. Making a child feel like they had a comrade was important to me. Especially this child. I just liked her.
“Why? What do you mean, why?”
“I’m sorry, I wasn’t trying to be rude. I just don’t see the harm in helping her put up her things. Besides, it’ll help us get to the eating faster, right, Sophie?”
“Right. Tater time!”
“Exactly.”
Dr. Elizabeth Wyatt didn’t say anything else so I quickly helped Sophie gather her toys and hurried her out of the room so that we wouldn’t cause any kind of significant delay in the flow of the evening. Still, as we left I glanced back to see David receive a severely disapproving look. It was clearly meant for me and I felt bad for putting him in such an awkward situation. Hopefully I wouldn’t do anything else to make the situation tenser. As we walked, I felt Sophie’s warm little hand slip into mine and give it a light tug.
“What’s up, sweetie?”
“Grandma is mean, huh?”
“No, she’s not mean. She’s just serious.”
“Nope,” Sophie said with a tone of finality that made me chuckle, “mean. Really mean.”
I hoped sincerely that Dr. Wyatt hadn’t heard that. I was pretty sure it wasn’t going to improve things between the lot of us.
“So, David, dear, tell me how things are going at the hospital. Are you happy with your work? Are you feeling challenged enough?”
“Mom, you know I don’t like talking about the hospital when I’m out of work. And I particularly dislike doing so when Sophie is in the room.”
“And you know I detest it when you call me ‘mom.’ It sounds so crass.”
“I’m sorry. Mother. I would really rather not talk about work, if it’s all the same to you. I’m trying to lower my stress level a little bit.”
His mother rolled her eyes at that, an exasperated and maybe a little bit disgusted look on her face. Sophie looked from one of us to the next with cartoonishly wide eyes. She was obviously aware of the tension in the room and she didn’t like it one bit. I felt terrible for her. I wished there was something I could do to make things a little bit better, but I had a feeling that the only way for me not to make things worse was to keep quiet. Sophie, however, did not appear to share my opinion.
“I gotta giraffe,” she said matter of factly, just as casually as if she was letting us know that it was going to rain later on. David smiled and I bust out laughing, but Dr. Elizabeth did not look even a little bit amused.
“Excuse me? What did you say? I’m not sure that I heard you correctly.”
“I gotta giraffe,” she said again, sounding slightly annoyed that Grandma wasn’t keeping up. “He lives up in my room but nobody sees him but me. Cus I’m his most favorite.”
“Dear, we do not fib in this family, and we certainly do not do so whilst at the dinner table. Perhaps your father hasn’t taught you the appropriate behavior for a child at the table with adults.”
“What was I supposed to teach her?”
“David, children are to be seen but not heard. I know it’s an old fashioned belief these days but it is absolutely true. Children should not be allowed to speak such nonsense at the table.”
I could see the muscles in David’s jaw clenching and unclenching as he ground his teeth together. He was angry about what she had said. What I couldn’t possibly know was whether or not it was because he didn’t like his authority being challenged or if it was because he didn’t want her talking about Sophie that way. I realized that I sincerely hoped it was the second one. As confusing as it was, I was really starting to like David. I wanted him to be better than I had expected him to be when this whole thing began. I wanted Dr. Johnson to be wrong.
“I’m sorry you feel that way, Mother. I’ll work on that with her.”
“Alright, that’s just fine. And perhaps the nanny can assist you in the endeavor. What do you thi
nk? Do you feel up to the challenge?”
She was looking at me with slightly narrowed eyes, already disapproving of an answer I hadn’t even given her yet. It seemed almost funny to me that she was so upset about Sophie’s manners when she couldn’t be bothered to call me by my name instead of “the nanny.” I bit my tongue, though, determined not to let her get to me. She was his mother, after all, and this was his house.
“Sure, of course I am. We’re learning all sorts of things, aren’t we, Sophie?”
“I don’t think I’m sposed to talk now.”
Sophie whispered the words, making my heart clench a little bit in my chest. She wanted to do what she was supposed to, she just wasn’t sure what exactly that meant. Personally, I felt like she did a pretty fantastic job, especially for a four-year-old dealing with hyperactivity and focus problems.
“That’s alright, sweetie, I already know the answer. You’re doing such a good job.”
I reached out and smoothed her soft blonde hair down and out of her face and she beamed up at me with a smile full of love and gratitude. She didn’t need to say one word for me to know that she was grateful to receive some praise in an otherwise hostile environment.
“Now, David, are you sure we don’t know this girl from somewhere? She really does look so familiar.”
“Mother, her name is Kayla. And I already told you, I think she just has one of those faces that makes you feel like you already know her.”
“Yes, yes you did. That doesn’t mean it’s true, though, and I’m not entirely convinced that you are correct.”
Shit. I thought we were off of this topic. She was obviously a really smart woman or else she wouldn’t be in such a powerful position in the hospital. At this point I felt like the only thing I had going for me was that she was so busy and powerful that she wouldn’t remember the details of our meeting and so could be convinced that we had never met at all.
“Mother, stop. It isn’t some big conspiracy, okay? She applied for the position, she was more than qualified, and I hired her. She has done an unbelievable job with Sophie. I haven’t seen her this happy in a long, long time. She’s made just about everything easier so let’s not make her feel uncomfortable. I want her to actually stay here. I need her here.”
I felt slightly dizzy listening to him. David had never expressed anything close to that kind of sentiment to me before. He needed me? Needed me? I didn’t think a man who said that kind of thing could be the same man who let a pill addiction get in the way of doing his job.
“You need her, do you? Fine, that’s fine.”
David nodded his head in gratitude and then winced, his whole face momentarily contorting in pain. It was just a brief thing, but all of us saw it. Even his mother’s tone softened slightly. And I mean very slightly.
“What is it, David? Is it your leg? Is it bothering you again?”
I looked from one of them to the other with poorly disguised curiosity. This might be something. This might tell me what that little bottle of pills was for, why he carried it around in his pocket.
“It’s nothing, it only hurt for a moment. I was in a car accident, Kayla. I injured my leg pretty badly and it still pains me from time to time.”
“That’s what the medication is for, David. Why don’t you just take one, for god’s sake? That’s why you have them.”
“I don’t like them. You know I don’t. I won’t take them until it’s impossible not to.”
That was it. That’s what the pills were for. They were pain medication for an old injury. So then Dr. Johnson had been right, David was taking some kind of heavy duty pills. The question was, how often did he actually take them? Was he telling the truth when he said he almost never used them, or were the little tabs in that bottle the reason my sister was dead? I felt a little bit like I was going to throw up but I fought to keep my face a bland mask of mild concern. It wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense if I got terribly upset out of nowhere.
“Sophie! Just what exactly do you think you are doing over there?!”
Dr. Elizabeth’s appalled face and raised voice seemed to come out of nowhere, totally out of left field. David and I both jumped and I whipped my head around to see what Sophie had done. She was sitting in the chair right beside me and I couldn’t imagine what could have been so offensive. If she had done something awful enough to warrant that kind of response I was pretty sure I would have noticed.
Sophie looked up at me with a mournful face, her big expressive eyes already brimming with tears. She had been playing with her food. There were peas and potatoes all around her plate, some of which looked like they had been smashed down with a little thumb. Her chocolate milk was still leaking over the sides of her cup from the excessive bubble blowing she had been doing. Yes, it was a mess, but that was it. Messes could be cleaned up. They weren’t worth breaking a little girl’s heart over.
“I’m sorry,” she said in a small, wavering voice.
“Sorry doesn’t clean that table young lady. What did you think you were doing? Why would you behave in such an atrocious manner?”
“I, I don’t know.”
“You’re going to have to do a lot better than that. And what do you intend to do about this situation, Kayla?”
I didn’t answer her, but instead looked down at Sophie, wiping the tears falling down her poor, sweet face.
“Do you know that what you did wasn’t okay?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Why did you do it?”
“I was making pretend. I didn’t like your voices. You guys sounded scary.”
“I know we did, I’m sorry. What do you think might be a better way to do things if something like that happens again?”
“Tell you?”
“Sure, that’s a great plan! Now let’s get this cleaned up, okay?”
“Yuppers.”
The two of us started to clean the mess Sophie had made, me trying to make sure she knew I wasn’t mad and this wasn’t the end of the world. From the end of the table I heard David’s mother let out a sound of disbelief.
“Is that it? That’s her only consequence? David, aren’t you going to intervene? This isn’t some kind of hippie compound, or at least I hope it isn’t. Children need discipline, David. That is not what I call this.”
I couldn’t take it anymore. What exactly did this lady want? It seemed like she wouldn’t be satisfied until Sophie was a distraught mess curled up in a little ball on the floor. That was just too bad because there was no way in hell I was going to let that happen.
“Dr. Wyatt, she’s only four years old. The conversation we were having was much too adult for her and she acted out because of it. You’re right, she shouldn’t have acted that way, but she clearly understands that. There doesn’t need to be more of a consequence that that. Why would we want to make her feel really bad about herself?”
She looked just as surprised as if I had walked straight up to her and slapped her in the face. This was not a woman who was used to being challenged or talked back to, especially by someone who was just one of the help. She didn’t seem to know what to say, just sat there and looked at me for what felt like a year before turning to David.
“Do you have anything to say about that?”
David just shook his head slowly, his eyes never moving off of me. His eyes were veiled, impossible for me to read. Oh god, was he angry at me? It was totally out of line to talk to his mother that way and he would have every right to be. I just appreciated him not chastising me right then and there. It would be easier not to have the two of them gang up on me and I knew that something like that would only upset Sophie further.
“Right. Then it would seem that my help and wisdom are not wanted here. You be very careful, young lady. My son may not have anything to say at the moment, but make no mistake. You are not a part of this family, and if you become too intrusive you can be dealt with. David, take care of my granddaughter. Try not to completely ruin her before she reaches puberty.”
With that she stood abruptly and walked towards the front door. She didn’t even bother to complain about the lack of a butler and she did not make any kind of formal goodbye. Neither David, Sophie nor myself said a word, just waited to hear the sound of that front door slamming shut.
“Ding dong,” David said with laughter in his voice, “the evil witch is dead.”
Chapter Six
David
“Well! I think we’ve all earned a little bit of ice cream, don’t you? What do you say, Sophie?”
“But I was bad, Daddy. I was a bad girl.”
“No, no you weren’t. The things Kayla said were exactly right, okay, honey? She’s a smart lady so I know she’s right.”
Sophie looked skeptical, first cocking her head to the side and staring at David and then turning to analyze me.