Live-In Position (6 page)

“Who are you?” I looked down when I heard Victoria’s question. She was standing with her head tilted, looking at a curly, brown-haired girl clinging to Miranda.

“This is Vanessa. But you can call her Nessa.” Miranda knelt down. “Nessa, this is Victoria. Remember I told you about her?” Vanessa nodded her head.

“What are you dressed as?” Victoria tried to see the whole costume.

“Dorothy,” Nessa whispered.

“Oh, like the Wizard of Oz!” Victoria exclaimed. “I really love the shoes!”

“Me too!” I knelt down, “Can I borrow those some time?” I winked at her.

“Your feet are too big,” Victoria teased.

“Hey,” I poked her side and stood up.

“Everyone ready?” A loud chorus of “yes” came from the kids.

“Let’s go Trick-or-Treat ourselves into candy comas,” I shouted and we all headed out the door.

I waited for everyone to walk out before I closed the door. Lucas stayed behind with me.

We walked the streets of the upscale neighborhood. Half of the kids were driven around in golf carts, which I really didn’t know what to think about. But by the end of the evening there was over a ton of candy in all of the bags, a million pictures taken, and some very exhausted kids.

The Bishop family would be out late so we all huddled around the living room floor and dumped out the candy. Going through it was overwhelming.

"Jeesh, when I was a kid I got apples, some candy bars, gum..." I drifted off.

"It’s crazy right?" Ella looked at me with a smirk.

"I mean, who the heck gives out Toys R Us gift cards?" I held up the card.

"That would be the Vandermeyers." I looked at William. "They do it every year."

"Well...heck...can I tell them when my birthday is?"

"They send me birthday presents," Victoria said as she dug through her bag.

I ruffled her hair.

After everyone left, I gave Victoria a bath and got her into bed. Then it was finally my turn to wash out the hairspray and scrub off the make-up and glitter. Around midnight, my body gratefully collapsed into my bed.

The weekend was quiet. Victoria was oddly less energetic. I spent Sunday afternoon with my father before I met Miranda, Benji, and Lucas for dinner. Before I went to bed that night I checked on Victoria.

Monday morning she was a lot more tired than usual, and when I tried to help her get dressed I could feel the heat pouring off of her. I quickly put her back in bed and placed a thermometer in her ear. Her temperature was one hundred and three degrees so I dialed the number for the doctor I found in the binder.

By eleven in the morning, I had Victoria in a comfortable outfit and in the car heading to the doctor. After some tests, he determined she had strep. He gave her a shot, a prescription for her cough, and handed me instructions on ibuprofen doses for fever and pain. I got her back into bed and made her some soup, which she ate very little of before falling asleep.

I decided to sleep on the couch in her room so I could be close to her. It was around two in the morning when her coughing attack began. I could hear the congestion in her cough and chest.

Grabbing her cough medicine from the bathroom, I poured out the correct dose and then coaxed her into taking it. I gave her a drink of water and lay her back down on elevated pillows. Her coughing subsided but I could still hear the rattle in her breathing. In the hall closet I searched on my hands and knees until I found a vaporizer.

“Is there something the matter with her?”

I gasped, almost dropping the vaporizer on the floor.

“Sorry,” Dr. Bishop mumbled quietly.

“She has strep throat,” I panted, still trying to catch my breath.

“Did you take her to see the doctor?” he frowned.

“Yes. He gave her a shot of penicillin and a prescription.” I lifted the vaporizer up. “I am just going to get this going to help with her congestion and cough.” I closed the closet door with my foot and headed back to her room.

I plugged in the base of the vaporizer, inserted the filter, and took the top into the bathroom to fill with water. Stepping out of the bathroom I saw Dr. Bishop standing at the end of Victoria’s bed looking down at her. With one deep breath, I walked toward the vaporizer base next to her bed and put the top on it before crawling between the side table and the bed to plug the vaporizer in.

A gentle hum filled the air along with the cool mist. Climbing back to my feet, his presence was still noticeable. He was standing looking at the couch – my makeshift bed.

“Is that where you are sleeping?” His tone was monotone as usual.

“Yes. I wanted to be able to hear her if she needs me.” I walked toward the couch.

“There are monitors in the wall that allow you to hear in your room.” He looked at me puzzled.

“I prefer to be here if she needs me,” I said in a flat tone as I sat on the couch. I looked up at him. “The doctor’s papers are in your mail slot on your office door.” He said nothing. “Was there anything else?”

He stiffened up and clenched his fists.

“No,” he said and then briskly walked out of the room, closing the door softly behind him. With a loud sigh, I threw myself back onto the couch and pulled the covers over my head.

Victoria stayed home for three days before she was finally able to get back to school on Thursday. Friday arrived, and after I took Victoria to school, I felt like crap. My head swirled, my body was tired and hot, and I was completely irritable. Once I got back to the house, I took some medicine and tried a nap. When I woke up, my sinuses were congested, my throat was itchy and irritated, and every joint in my body ached. With a groan, I trudged down the stairs and into the kitchen to make some soup and tea. Halfway through making soup, I had to lay my body over the cool marble counter top.

“Ahem.”

Slowly I pulled my head up and squinted until I was able to focus on Dr. Bishop leaning in the doorway. With a groan I just put my head back down.

“Not feeling well?” Maybe it was the cold medicine, but I swore I heard humor in his voice.

“I’ll be fine,” I croaked.

The microwave beeped and I dragged myself over to it, pulling out the mug of soup before heading back up to my room. I hadn’t even cared enough to excuse myself from the room.

Not able to finish even half of the soup, I fell into a Nyquil induced sleep. I woke to a knock on my bedroom door and jolted up, but then had to brace myself from the dizziness flooding my head.

“Whoa,” I groaned and closed my eyes.

“Come in.”

My eyes widened when they landed on Dr. Bishop, wearing glasses, sitting in the corner of my room with his laptop on a table in front of him. I heard the door open but didn’t look at who came in. I was still trying to understand why he was in my room while I was sleeping.

How long had he been here?

“Ah, Harold, Thank you for coming over so quickly.” He walked over to greet a black-haired gentleman with a black leather bag.

“It’s been awhile since I made a house call,” the man chuckled.

“Well, I appreciate it.” Dr. Bishop released his hand.

“I take it this is my patient.” His steel gray eyes examined me.

“Yes, this is Sophia, Victoria’s new nanny.” Dr. Bishop now laid his intense green eyes on me as well. Under their stares, discomfort filled my stomach.

“So, my dear Sophia, tell me what’s going on.” He sat on the edge of the bed.

“It’s just a cold.” I forced a smile. “I’ll be fine.” Looking at the alarm clock next to my bed, I threw the covers back, not caring that my shorts were way too short and I didn’t have a bra on. “Crap!”

“Sophia? What are you doing?” Dr. Bishop moved to the side of the bed where I tried to climb to my feet.

A wave of dizziness overtook me, making it impossible to answer. All I could focus on was not falling over. Hands grabbed onto my elbow and hip.

“Sit down.” His tone was forceful and startled me. The warmth from his hands radiated through my clothing and deep into my skin.

“I have to pick Victoria up from school,” I croaked as he sat me on the bed. I put my head in my hands to stop the room from spinning.

“You are in no condition to drive, dear.” I heard the older man’s voice behind me.

“Victoria is taken care of. William will pick her up.” Dr. Bishop’s voice sounded closer.

“Please lie down.” I did as the older gentlemen requested. Cool hands rested on my head and opened my eyes to look up at him. “I’m Dr. Vaughn, by the way.” He had a large thin-lipped smile.

“Pleasure to meet you,” I croaked.

“Open up.” He held a light in my face and looked into my throat, ears, nose, and then took my temperature. “You said Victoria just got over strep, right?” He looked over me to Dr. Bishop. He must have silently answered him because I didn’t hear anything. “Well, dear, it seems Victoria has shared her germs with you.” He smirked down at me. “Are you allergic to any medicines?”

I shook my head.

“Alright, well I am going to give you a penicillin shot and leave you with some cough medicine. You can use Motrin or Tylenol for the fever.” I felt the pinch in my arm and then heard the bottles as he set them on the table next my bed. “If any other symptoms arise, please call me.”

“Okay,” I rasped. Dr. Bishop answered at the same time. Too tired to even care about Dr. Bishop, I rolled over to my side and fell back to sleep.

Waking at two in the morning with my first coughing attack, I rolled out of bed and got a drink of water from the bathroom. I stopped just before lying back down. Dr. Bishop hovered in my open doorway.

“I, uh...I just got a drink of water,” I choked out and then started coughing horribly. Ignoring him, I stretched across my bed and grabbed the cough syrup. When I looked back towards the door Dr. Bishop was gone.

The next morning, I woke to hot tea and toast, courtesy of Mrs. Baker.

“Thank you,” I coughed.

“Of course,” she smiled down and brushed sweaty hair off of my forehead.

“Sophia!” Victoria ran in and jumped on the bed, crawling up to lie down with me.

“Hey, you.” I pulled her into a hug.

“You aren’t dying, are you?” She looked at me with concern.

“No,” I coughed. “I feel like it, but I’m not. I promise.”

She eyed me skeptically. “Nanny Swear?”

“Nanny Swear,” I grinned.

Mrs. Baker took Victoria when she left the room, and I drifted back to sleep.

My off weekend turned into a weekend in bed. And the fact that Dr. Bishop stayed home all weekend was odd. I never knew what he did on my weekends off, but I certainly didn’t think he was much of a homebody. Victoria, on the other hand, was not home at all. It was weird being there without her.

I woke up late Saturday morning feeling a little better, but still awfully congested. I tried a hot shower in an attempt to feel human again. After drying off and brushing my wet hair, I slipped into another pair of cotton shorts and a t-shirt.

Sick of being in bed, I walked out to the living room of my suite and stopped when I saw Dr. Bishop sitting on a chair by the small table at the far side of the room. He had his laptop open and was talking on his cell phone.