“Dammit,” he grimaced then realizing as Gabriel got older, he would probably have to watch his words so his son wouldn’t pick up anything and carry it to daycare.
Darren yelled out for Rosa to hold on a moment as he set Gabriel back into his crib. His crying was dying down now, so Darren’s plan was to just ignore him and hope that he’d fall to sleep when the attention he craved just wasn’t coming. Darren then rushed to his bedroom closet, threw on some black dress pants and a blue collared shirt, and rushed downstairs.
“Hey, Rosa, come on in,” Darren said. He stood to the side, allowing the Guatemalan woman to step into the foyer. He spent a few moments explaining what her duties would be for the day then rushed off, telling her to make sure to let him know if she needed anything.
Darren checked the time, knowing that he had a telecom conference with a firm in Buenos Aires his family partnered with for business. He darted up the stairs to check on Gabriel. As he approached his door, he noticed the silence. The new father peeked inside and smiled, seeing his beautiful baby boy fast asleep in his crib. Darren made a mental note to check his diaper when he finished up the call.
Down in his dining room, Darren pulled the pocket door shut most of the way, leaving it open just enough to hear if Gabriel started crying. For the next twenty minutes or so, he discussed foreign investment with Cordoba, Inc. out of Buenos Aires, laughing and being as cordial as possible. There wasn’t any doubt in his mind his father would be calling later on to see how it went. Easily, his family could’ve made at least a million dollars a year off of working with this firm. One of Darren’s objectives was to go down to Argentina on his next vacation and spend some time in Buenos Aires. He thought it would be cool to have his first “family” vacation there while also meeting with some of the Cordoba’ s team.
As Ricardo finished up going over the investment report, Gabriel screamed at the top of his lungs from his crib. Darren’s face flushed with embarrassment when he noticed the facial expressions of the three other conference call members. One, a woman, smiled endearingly, clearly sympathetic toward a man taking care of his child. Darren excused himself and rushed out of the dining room. As he approached the bottom of the staircase, Gabriel still crying at the top of his lungs, Rosa stepped out of the sitting room. She started dusting the vase next to the front door.
“Rosa?” Darren said, jumping off of the third step.
“Yes, Mister McWaters?” the 50-year-old woman asked, nodding her head submissively.
“I hate to ask you to do this again, Rosa,” Darren said, glancing up the steps. “But you’re so good with babies. Do you think you could go up there and calm Gabriel down like you did last time? I’ll pay your for a couple extra hours or work today. It’s just that I’m on this conference call with this firm in Buenos Aires. I’m almost done. Do you think you could just go up there and calm him down for like, maybe ten minutes?” Darren hated
to ask her again, as he did have a daycare where Gabriel would be going for the afternoon, but his crying was so loud there is no way the other members of the conference call would be able to take him seriously with it going on in the background.
Before Rosa could answer, Darren patted her on the shoulder then rushed off toward the dining room. The frustrated Guatemalan woman looked at the back of the businessman then slammed her duster onto the small end table. The older woman then trudged up the steps and into baby Gabriel’s room. She sighed, thinking that her days of taking care of children – her three daughters were approaching thirty years-old – had long gone.
When Darren sat back down at his dining room table, he excused himself once again then insisted that the conversation continue on. He listened to the firm’s objectives when it came to real estate and investing in the Chicago area. Darren took detailed notes, knowing that his father would want a scanned copy and would probably still come up with tons of questions. Nonetheless, to Darren’s relief, Gabriel calmed down. Thank God for Rosa, he thought.
The conference call with Cordoba finished up within fifteen minutes. Darren tended to some emails from the property management company, made a few calls to contractors, then stepped out into the calm hallway. He looked around downstairs, expecting Rosa to have come back downstairs at this point and have gotten back to her duties. The trash in the kitchen still hadn’t been taken out; there were some dishes in the sink from last night that had yet to have been washed. Posting an ad for a nanny crossed Darren’s mind as the next thing he would need when his afternoon calmed down.
“Rosa?” Darren yelled out. He headed upstairs and found the woman standing in the window of the Gabriel’s bedroom. She rocked him gently as she peered out at the street.
“Oh,” Rosa said, a bit startled. She forced a smile, even though she was frustrated and trying to not show it. “I’m sorry, I must have lost track. He’s just about sleep right now, Mister McWaters.”
Darren thanked Rosa graciously for helping to calm Gabriel then took him from her arms. He rocked him gently then noticed the way Rosa looked away, nibbling at the end of the thumb as if something were on her mind. “Rosa?” he asked. “Are you all right?”
“Yes, I fine,” Rosa said, looking away again once her smile wore off. “Well, Mister McWaters….I wanted to ask you what you were going to do about a nanny.”
Darren stopped rocking Gabriel, picking up on the sincerity in Rosa’s voice. The woman had been coming three times a week to clean for a little over two months at this point, so he’d gotten to know her somewhat. “Yes, actually, that’s one thing I’ll be doing today… I guess when I drop Gabriel off at daycare.”
“Okay, well,” Rosa said, “I no nanny, Mister McWaters. I no nanny. I getting older. You know?” She shook her head and waved her arms at Gabriel then whisked passed Darren and into the hallway.
Darren looked down at the floor for a moment then lowered Gabriel back down into his crib. His mother’s words about the struggle of raising a child on his own. As much as he hated to admit it, his mother was right. The first thing he would do when he got done with his day and had picked Gabriel up from daycare was post an ad on the list of local family service websites he already gathered. He needed to find a nanny quickly and get his life into a sort of daily routine so days like today wouldn’t happen anymore.
Chapter 7
Sherry pulled her hair back into a ponytail then put on a black business casual shirt Chrissy helped her pick out at Goodwill. She forced a smile, seeing she’d lost so much weight since giving birth then going into chemo treatments. Today she had a job interview to be a nanny for a single father. Aside from the black dress-shirt, she had on the pants of a white pantsuit and a bit of jewelry. She then did her makeup, thinking about her life and how if she didn’t get this job, she didn’t know what she would do. My motivation is literally running out.
Since giving her baby up for adoption, Sherry felt the struggle of living with her own reflection. In the weeks following the snowy day she walked out of the Hope Adoption Agency office and was taken back home, guilt consumed her in ways she would’ve never imagined. There were some days she couldn’t get out of bed because her emotions paralyzed her so much. Other times, she would see a young mother walking her child down the street and think about how that could’ve been her – times she wondered what kind of woman she would become in the future knowing her desperate situation caused her to make desperate decisions.
Pushing her guilty feelings to the side so she could get herself together mentally, Sherry finished getting ready. With time to kill, she sat down on Chrissy’s couch and thought about her upcoming interview. This was an opportunity she really needed at the moment. In light of this, she spent a bit of time last night researching possible questions that might come up during the job interview. Funny enough, there was more information online about that sort of thing than Sherry would’ve ever imagined. The baby pictures attached to the articles were enough in themselves to recall the moment she handed Gabriel over to Mrs. Harris.
Sherry finished up brainstorming potential questions, put her coat on, and took one last look in the mirror. Holding her head high, shoulders back, then taking a deep breath, she went outside and waited at the curb. Her arranged Uber ride would be showing up any minute. When the red Toyota pulled up, Sherry hopped into the backseat. For much of the ride, she grappled with how she was going to present herself as a nanny kind of person. Was it the job she wanted? No, not necessarily, but it was the job she needed. Eventually, as the driver crossed over St. Mary’s River and rolled into downtown, Sherry cracked the window. The chilly air was just what she needed to let it go and just see what would happen. A chuckled slipped out of her mouth. “Bartender turns nanny. Who would’a guess that?”
***
The red Toyota pulled into the well-preserved, historic neighborhood not too far from downtown. Sherry had driven down the area’s main street numerous times, but she had yet to turn down any side street. To say the least, she was impressed with the house. She wondered if she would ever be able to have one to call her own. Turrets, wrap-around porches, stain glass windows. Some homes looked like mini-castles with well-manicured yards and cast iron fences.
“Here you go!” the Middle Eastern man said.
Sherry paid the driver, hopped out onto the sidewalk, and thanked him. As he sped off, she walked down the sidewalk until the car passed a tall row of bushes. She had arrived as the bushes matched the description given with the address when she’d been emailing this McWaters. The house was easily the second largest on the block. It’s glossed wooden wrap-around porch was stunning in its own right. A turret, which looked large enough to have a bedroom within it, climbed the front corner of the house. As Sherry headed toward the walkway, she could get a glimpse of the back of the house around the side. She saw at least three sets of french doors lined the back wall from where she stood. Sherry again held her head high then trudged up the brick walkway and onto the porch. She pressed the doorbell.
The curtain behind the door window moved then the doorknob twisted. A tall, handsome man dressed in laid-back beige pants and a blue button-up shirt opened the door. He smiled. “Hi, are you...” His words trailed off; his welcoming facial expression transformed into that of shock. A mild case of deja-vous set it. “Oh, Hey?” His lips curled into a smile as he stepped out of the way.