Donners Bend (11 page)

He didn’t answer, but changed the subject, “Are mom and pop home
? 
Who’s been watching you guys?”

Demi pointed at her nanny as she said, “They’re home, but they’re working
. 
Ellie
’s been watching us.”

“
Ellie
’s our new nanny,” Gracie explained.

“Ah, I see
! 
Another nanny to add to the list,” he walked over to the stairs and
Ellie
came down to meet him
. 
“Good afternoon, miss,” he said, “I’m James
on Rhodes
, known by Jamie
. 
I’m the oldest
Rhodes
child, but I’ve been away at Lakeford University for a few months, that’s why we haven’t yet met.”

Ellie
shook his free hand, “It’s nice to meet you, sir
. 
My name’s
Eliana
Mae
Henderson
.”

Just at that moment,
Robert
and
Louise
entered after hearing all the ruckus.

“James
on
! 
You’re back!”
Louise
exclaimed, coming forward to greet her son
. 
She hugged him and Demi both at once and standing on tiptoes, kissed him warmly on his wet cheek, “When did you arrive?”

“Just a few minutes ago.”

Robert
didn’t seem as happy to see his son home so soon.
             

“James,” he said with a blank expression, “Lakeford doesn’t let out for three more weeks.”

“I know, pop,” Jamie answered just as seriously, ignoring Demi who was playing with his wet locks absentmindedly.

Louise
, trying to protect her son, said, “Oh please don’t bring this up now, dear
. 
Let’s just enjoy the fact that Jamie has come home early.”

“I can’t enjoy it if I know that he’s done something stupid again.”

“Please,
Robert
. 
Please don’t.”

Silence prevailed for a few moments
. 
Gracie, Leah, and Wesley came to stand beside
Ellie
, knowing a fight was about to occur; Demi was still in Jamie’s arms
. 
Wesley slid his little hand into
Ellie
’s.

“Six times,”
Robert
bellowed, “That’ll make it six times, Jamie, that you’ve done this
. 
Six universities I had to pay, and bargain, and work to get you into.”

“Please dear,”
Louise
coaxed her husband.

“I don’t understand it
. 
I don’t understand how you could do this to us again!”

“
Robert
dear, we can talk about this later, can’t we?”

He almost began to yell again, but stopped himself, let out a deep breath, and nodded.

“
Ellie
, why don’t you take the children back up to their room?”

“Of course ma’am,”
Ellie
said as she took Demi from Jamie.

“But we don’t want to go,” said Leah.

“Do we have to?” asked Gracie.

“You can see your brother later
. 
Right now your father and I need to have a talk with him, alright
? 
You can play with
Ellie
.”

“O-tay,” Wesley said sadly as
Ellie
led him upstairs.

Ellie
had only just begun reading to Wesley and Demi again when Gracie and Leah stopped their writing and approached her
. 

“May we go to the bathroom?” they asked.

Ellie
looked at them suspiciously, “Somehow, I don’t think you really need to go.”

“But we do.”

Ellie
still didn’t believe them.

Knowing they wouldn’t be able to convince her, Gracie came right out and said their plan, “We want to sneak downstairs and listen outside the door of daddy’s office
. 
We want to hear what’s happening to Jamie.”

Normally
Ellie
wouldn’t allow such behavior to occur, but her curiosity changed her mind
. 
After pondering a moment,
Ellie
agreed, “I suppose that as long as you promise to be careful you may
. 
If you get caught though, remember that I’m not to blame.”

“Okay, we promise.”

The girls crept down the stairs and eavesdropped outside the door
. 
They’d only listened for a few minutes when they returned to
Ellie
.

“What’s happened?”
Ellie
asked, letting her curiosity take over again.

“Jamie got kicked out of school again,” said Leah, “Daddy’s really angry.” 

“Why has he gotten thrown out of school so many times?”

“He’s really smart, but he just doesn’t like school
. 
Daddy says he’s really stubborn with his professors
. 
He got into another fight with one again,” Gracie explained, “Jamie says the professors don’t know what they’re talking ‘bout
. 
He says he knows more than those
darn
professors do.”

“Gracie!”
Ellie
ordered, “I don’t want to hear you using language like that anymore
! 
It’s not proper for a lady to speak that way.”

“I was just sayin’ what Jamie said.”

“I know, but from now on you shouldn’t say any curse words
. 
Ever
. 
Alright?”

“Alright.”

About an hour before
Ellie
was originally supposed to leave, Jamie entered the playroom and told her she could leave early if
she wanted to; he’d watch the children
. 
She thanked him, and was just about to leave the house when she heard
Robert
and
Louise
talking in the office
. 
She couldn’t help but listen a few moments:

“But he’s such an intelligent boy, dear, and he’s got so much potential,” said
Louise
.

“It doesn’t matter how intelligent he is if he’s going to keep angering his professors
. 
It’s unbelievable how
many
times he’s done this
! 
I can’t believe he even has the dignity to come into this house and tell me that he’s done this again.”

“Well you know he’s always been a very confident boy.”

“Too confident
. 
If he hadn’t been so confident he wouldn’t
have
questioned his professor’s words
. 
And if he hadn’t questioned his professor’s words he wouldn’t
have
gotten thrown out of Lakewood
. 
He wouldn’t even be home for three more weeks!”
Robert
said, his voice
rising
, “But no
! 
No
! 
He had to be such a
ridiculously
clever boy with such
a ridiculously
contentious attitude.”

“Please lower your voice,
Robert
. 
And don’t speak that way of your very own son
. 
We should be thankful to
have such a sharp boy than to ridicule
him for it.”

“What’s he going to do now,
Louise
? 
What can he do
? 
No school will take him.”

“He’ll find something, dear
. 
Don’t worry
. 
James will be able to work things out.”

Ellie
left then
. 
She was afraid her employers would find out she’d been listening
. 
As she sat at home that evening,
Ellie
couldn’t help but wonder if she’d be seeing more of the infamous Jamie
Rhodes
...

“Look at this, Emy!” screamed an excited little Katie as she ran up to her nanny and
Ellie
, “Gracie painted me!”

“Do you like it,
Ellie
?” Gracie asked as she followed,
with
her brush in hand
. 

“I do,”
Ellie
said with a smile, “You’ve done a wonderful job and I must say Miss Katie makes an excellent model.”

Both Gracie and Katie giggled and blushed
. 
Ellie
handed the painting, which was rather good for a girl Gracie’s age, to Emily who exclaimed, “Why it’s rather remarkable, isn’t it
Ellie
?”

“It
‘tis
. 
It
‘tis
.”

“Have you ever thought of becoming an artist, Gracie
? 
For I’m sure you’d make a fine one,” Emily said as she handed back the painting.

“You really think so?”

“I do.”

“Why, thank you Miss Emy,” she gave a little curtsy, “Thank you very much
. 
I think I’m going to paint that yellow flower over that now,
Ellie
. 
Would you like to keep it when I’ve finished?”

“I would love to.”

The two girls ran off again to the painting easel
Ellie
had helped them set up beneath the shade of a giant oak tree
. 
Shades of color sat in little jars splattered with old, dried paint
. 
Half were open, half were not
. 
Gracie wore a cute white smock over her pink cotton dress and little dots of paint had already fallen onto it
. 

It was a beautiful day
. 
Puffy white clouds filled the clear blue sky and a gentle breeze blew over the fields of green grass
. 
A few days had passed since Jamie first arrived
. 
Ellie
and Emily sat knitting new socks, scarves, and mittens for the children, for winter was only a few months away
. 
On the back deck of the
Rhodes house
they sat, sipping ice-cold lemonade and watching over the children
. 
Gracie and Katie, as it has already been mentioned, were painting as well as having a tea party with their dolls beneath a tree
. 
Leah, Jeremy, Demi, and Wesley were playing a game of sardines, a variation of hide-and-seek, in the orchard.

“How have things been going with you and Matthew?”
Ellie
asked Emily as she pulled a new color of yarn out of her bag.