Live-In Position (11 page)

“No, really, it’s okay.” I held up my cell. “I’ll call for a cab, problem solved.”

“Please…join us for dinner?” Dr. Bishop looked at me with an unfamiliarly soft expression on his face.

“Collin,” Allison hissed, “if the
nanny
wants to go home, then let her.”

“No, come with us. Please,” Victoria begged.

“Collin, stop her. She’s humiliating us,” Mrs. Bishop complained.

Biting back the urge to slap Mrs. Bishop, I placed my attention back on Victoria and gave in.

“I’m only going because you want me to.”

She shrieked and wrapped her arms around my legs.

C
hapter
S
even

DINNER THAT NIGHT was…different. Ilene Bishop seemed to be the foundation of the distant, cold behavior her son displayed on a daily basis. She didn’t touch or kiss her children. Most of her conversation revolved around society gossip, money, and shopping trips. Her husband, Connor, Mr. Bishop, talked about medical procedures and the latest technology with his sons. He was much more affectionate than his wife. I figured that was where Max got his soft side.

Max worshipped Larissa and everything she said or did. He kept a hand on her most of the time, and when she spoke he would immediately look to her before either joining the conversation or returning to the one he was in. Their relationship was truly a beautiful thing to watch. It made my heart ache with a twinge of jealousy.

Allison and Jonathan, on the other hand, were the younger version of Mr. and Mrs. Bishop. They barely spoke or touched. With the lack of interaction between them, I wondered how they managed to conceive the twins. Somehow, it was possible – Mrs. Bishop had produced three children in a similar relationship.

Examining each of the Bishop children, I realized Collin looked exactly like his mother with coppery brown hair, green eyes, and fair skin, but he was built like Connor, tall and lean. Max, on the other hand, was all Connor, except for his dimples and darker shade of hair. The more I looked at Allison, I decided she looked mostly like Connor, except for her black hair. Out of the three of them, Allison seemed to fit the least according to appearance. Perhaps she looked like another relative.

Victoria began nodding off, nearly asleep at the table, but the adults continued to talk amongst themselves without a second glance in her direction. Eventually, I pulled her into my lap, hoping it would draw some attention to the situation. I was sadly mistaken. At my final breaking point of the night, I softly excused myself from the table with Victoria in my arms.

“If you’ll excuse me.” I pushed away from the table and stood, wrapping my coat around my shoulders while trying to keep a tight hold on her.

Looking around the table, all eyes were on me. Allison and Mrs. Bishop both shared looks of disdain, Mr. Bishop was smiling small at Victoria, and Dr. Bishop had a perplexed look on his face. “Thank you very much for dinner. I think I better get Victoria home to bed.”

“Let me help.” Amber grabbed my purse for me and helped me slip Victoria into her coat as I juggled her in my arms to get a better grip.

I thanked Amber and threw a “good night” over my shoulder to the table as I walked away.

When I reached the front of the restaurant, the host quickly opened the door for me. “Shall I get your vehicle for you?” the valet asked upon my exit.

“No, I don’t have a car. I’m going to hail a cab, but thank you.”

“Miss, we have cabs on stand-by. Let me call one over for you.” He picked up a small black phone behind the podium.

“Thanks,” I smiled politely and adjusted Victoria in my arms again.

“That won’t be necessary.” Dr. Bishop stepped toward me. He handed the valet his ticket.

“I can get a cab.” My words were a bit harsher than I intended, but I had my fill of snobbish behavior for the evening.

“Don’t be ridiculous. I drove you both here and will take you both home.”

He reached for Victoria. Without thinking, I pulled away from him. His face reflected shock and anger. Panic was washing over mine. I hadn’t done it intentionally.

“I’ve got her,” I quickly mumbled and looked away.

Before he could say anything, his sleek black car pulled up, and the valet stepped out. I quickly opened the rear passenger door and slid into the back seat with Victoria laying her in the seat next to me. I refused to give him a chance to trap me in the front seat with him again.

As I reached to close the door behind me, it shut, and Dr. Bishop’s hand rested on the window for a few moments before he thanked and tipped the valet. When he climbed into the driver’s seat, I could feel the tension rolling off him like fog over a swamp. It had not escaped me that he had adjusted his rear view mirror just enough to take fleeting glances into the back seat.

When we pulled up to the house, I adjusted Victoria into my lap again. The door opened and Dr. Bishop was standing there with his arms out. I bit my lip before I slid to the edge of the seat and waited for him to take her. I immediately missed the warmth of her body.

I closed the car door and walked quietly behind him. He took her into the house and up the stairs.

Tossing my coat and purse to the floor, I quickly started to remove her shoes and coat. He was still holding her as I unzipped the back of her red velvet dress and pulled it off her arms. Finally, I managed to get her out of the dress and grabbed her out of his arms to lay her on the bed.

While gathering her clothes from the floor, I glanced over to Dr. Bishop. He was staring down on Victoria. I couldn’t tell if he was upset, irritated, or sad. He was difficult to read when he wasn’t wearing his stoic mask. I quickly returned my attention to the clothing and grabbed my things.

I had just taken a step out of the room when I felt his unmistakable presence behind me. Before I could get away, the heat of his hand on my arm stopped me.

“I apologize if you were uncomfortable this evening at dinner,” he said formally.

“Don’t worry about it.” I gently pulled my arm away, still refusing to look at him. On the way to my room, there was a mumbled sound from his lips, but there was no way I could decipher what he said.

A day passed before Allison cornered me in the kitchen to inform me I was expected to be around for the Christmas holiday. Apparently, the Bishops held a Christmas party at the house – during the day. The afternoon was reserved for family, but friends and colleagues were invited to join in the evening. In all of her bitchy gloriousness, she stated that I had certain duties she required of me.

“I will be having professionals in and out of this house next week.” She looked at me with disdain as she spoke. “The caterer will arrive the day before to prepare. Once they have set up, I need you to stay out of the kitchen. I don’t want you to ruin anything.”

I sucked in a deep breath through my nose.

“No problem,” I grumbled out.

The preparations were to begin on Monday. I didn’t understand why she was telling me this on Saturday.

“I also need to let you know that neither my mother nor I can take Victoria tomorrow. We will both be preparing for Christmas. I suppose it means you will not be able to take the day off tomorrow, given that Collin is away at a conference.” She shrugged.

My mouth gaped open.

“I have plans to leave this evening to visit my family since I won’t be able to see them for Christmas.”

She spun around on me with a look of disgust.

“Don’t tell me your problems,” she spat. “Victoria is your responsibility so you need to handle it.” She walked away, grabbing her purse from the entry table and slamming the door on her way out.

“Agghh!” I yelled to release the tension. “FINE!” I shouted to no one. Then channeling my own inner seven-year-old, I stomped my way up the stairs.

I entered Victoria’s room and received a strange look from her when I walked through the door. “Where is your suitcase?” I asked.

“Am I going somewhere?” She looked confused. I nodded. “Closet, on the back top shelf.” She climbed off of her puffy pink princess chair and skipped over to the closet. I walked in behind her, flipping on the light. She pointed above her head. “Right there.”

“Thanks.” I grabbed the rolling suitcase and pulled it down.

“Where am I going?” Victoria asked curiously. “With Aunt Allison?”

“Nope. You’re going with me.” I rolled her bag over to her bed and tossed it on top of the comforter before heading to her dresser.

“Where to?” I could hear the excitement in her voice.

“Well, your Aunt Allison and grandmother are busy this weekend, but I have plans to visit my family tomorrow for Christmas. So, you are going with me to see them.”

I wrote a note and placed it in Dr. Bishop’s mailbox but then recognized I should probably call him. Groaning, I went to my purse, pulled out my cell phone, and dialed his number. It was only for emergencies, but I wasn’t about to get my ass chewed out for taking his daughter an hour away without telling him. I breathed in relief when his voicemail picked up. I left a message detailing where and why I was taking Victoria with me to Tacoma.

I grabbed our bags and the box of gifts I was taking to my father’s. I started to get nervous about taking Victoria in my old Jeep, but I shrugged it off and loaded her in with me.

“We’re taking your car?” she asked with a raised eyebrow. I nodded. “Cool!” She smiled and buckled her seatbelt.

I called my father along the way and told him what was going on. He was happy to have Victoria and said they would wait until we arrived to get the tree so that she could be a part of it.

Roughly an hour and two pee stops later, we pulled into my father’s small driveway. The yard was filled with at least three feet of snow, and there was a large snowman in the front yard. The Christmas lights shone brightly, and the green, red, and yellow bulbs splashed the white snow with a tie-dye of color. The front door opened before we took one step onto the porch.

“Nice snowman,” I chuckled as my father took our bags.

“Yeah, the neighbor’s kids asked if they could do it.” Dad shrugged and ushered us into the house.

We took our things up to my old room before running back downstairs to go tree hunting. About a mile deep into the forest, my father pointed to a large tree with his ax.

“Don’t you think that’s a bit big for the living room?” Carla asked.

Dad shrugged. We kept walking until we came upon a group of deer sprinting through the large snow-covered clearing. I lifted Victoria up and pointed them out to her.

“Wow.” Amazement widened her eyes.

“Here we go.” Carla touched the pine needles of a tree, perfect both in size and shape. Dad moved up quickly and chopped it down. Once we tied the rope to the tree, Carla took Victoria’s hand while dad and I drug the tree back to the house.

When the tree was up in the corner of the living room, I pulled out the boxes of decorations from the closet under the stairs. Carla brought a tray with hot chocolate into the living room, flipped the off button on the television, and put on some Christmas music. I untangled the lights for the tree while Victoria carefully looked through the ornaments.

“Did you make this?” Victoria giggled at the clothing pin Rudolph that I had made when I was around four years old.

“Hey! That’s a one-of–a-kind masterpiece.” I winked.

Dad wrapped the lights around the tree and plugged them in. It lit up beautifully. We stood in front of the tree, arms wrapped around shoulders admiring the lights and decorations. The ring of my cell phone pulled me out of my gaze.

Stepping out of the family embrace and to the couch, I searched through my purse for the ringing cell phone. The caller ID blinked Dr. Bishop. I groaned and answered the phone.

“Hello?” I cringed and waited for the verbal lashing I was sure to receive.

“Sophia? This is Dr. Bishop.”

“Um…yeah?”

“I take it you already left Seattle?”

“Yes, sir.” Silence. “Sir?”

“Yes, well, I apologize for my sister and mother. They did not inform me about this situation before I left for the weekend.” There wasn’t a hint of anger in his voice.

“It’s really no problem. She’s having a good time and seems to be well entertained by my family.” Glancing back toward the tree, Victoria was laughing at my dad who’d pulled on a Santa hat and was rubbing his puffed out stomach.

“Okay, well…I received your message and thought I should contact you.”

“Oh, okay.” I was eager to end the call before the glacier reformed in his butt and his good nature evaporated.

“Okay. I will return Monday evening, so tell Victoria –”