Page 9 of The Accidental Nanny (All Of You #1)

CHAPTER SEVEN

Alex

I put Eden in my bed, and she cries herself to sleep. I stay with her until I know she isn't going to wake up. I kiss her forehead, then leave her to check on Ace. He’s sitting on his bed and has thrown his teddies across the room, apart from one he is cuddling.

“Mate, why don’t you stay with me and Eden tonight?” I ask him. His sobs are unbearable to listen to. “You have me. You’ll always have me. I’m going nowhere.”

“She doesn’t want us. What did we do wrong?” he wails, his cheeks red and splotchy from crying.

“Nothing, you did absolutely nothing wrong. If Mummy can’t see that you’re the best thing in this world, that’s her fault.” I tell him. That woman has a lot to answer for.

“Dad,” Ace says in a soft voice like it’s going to break. Taking his little hand, I guide him to my room. It’s just the three of us now. Maybe, that's the way it should be.

After a very restless night, I let the children sleep in while I call the school explaining why they won’t be there. In the kitchen, a chunk of lasagne is left on a plate. I scoop it up to put in the bin, only to find a whole burnt lasagne and a dish. I have never seen food so charred in my life.

Keeping busy, I tidy up the mess Gemma left. It isn't as bad as I remember, so I can only assume Gemma cleaned last night. It was a valiant attempt, but she's in no way a Mrs Hinch.

I sit down with a mug of hot coffee. I need it extra strong if I am going to get through today. Yesterday’s conversation with my soon-to-be ex-wife is going around my head and tying my thoughts in knots. Before long, Gemma is the first person to join me.

“Hey.” She grabs a cup, making herself a drink.

“Morning. Sorry about yesterday.” I must look stressed to her because she gives me an almost knowing look.

“It’s okay. I’ve got stuff to do today. Normally, I’d go shopping, but I don’t have any money. How do people cope with being poor? I only have ten thousand in my regular account. I can’t even buy an outfit with that.”

I raise my eyebrows. Is she being serious? Does she think that ten grand is too little money to shop with? She's more entitled than I thought she was. Still, I can't take another thing away from the kids right now.

“I’d imagine if you didn’t buy designer clothes, you’d do just fine,” I say before taking another sip of coffee.

She looks at me with disgust. “You want me to buy from the high street?" She shakes her head as though it's the most unbelievable thing I've ever said. She sips her drink, then changes the subject. "Are the children okay?”

“They will be,” I answer, my tone sharper than necessary. I need to figure things out.

“I’ll see you tonight, then.” She picks up her drink, leaving me to my dark thoughts .

“Gemma.”

“Yes.” She turns around to face me.

“They will need you. The children,” I say, fighting the urge to clear my throat.

She stands there for a moment before nodding and walking away. I watch her through the window as she climbs into the BMW and takes off.

Ace and Eden wake up late. Neither of them is talking much.

“Why don’t we go out? Let’s go to town,” I suggest. "We can do some shopping."

“Won’t we get into trouble with school?” Ace asks.

“No, I’ve spoken to the school. I’ve explained everything. I think we can do with a day to ourselves. Come on. Let’s go.” I try to sound eager, but they don't look excited.

I take Eden up to her bedroom and dress her in a cute flowery dress and sandals.

I brush her hair into pigtails and fix her loose curls with butterfly clips.

I check on Ace, who has dressed himself.

I run a wet brush through his hair before I help both of them to wash their faces and clean their teeth.

Shopping doesn't go according to plan as the kids aren't interested in buying anything. I drag them from toy store to toy store and stop at a few other places selling stationery and clothes, but they have no interest. In the end, we wind up sitting in the food court area.

“Are you two okay?” The silence from them crushes me; they are wrapped up in their own thoughts.

A large sharing portion of ice cream sits on the table between us, but no one’s eating it. I stare into the brightly coloured bowl as we sit in silence, the thrum of the mall noise happening around us .

“I’ll take that,” Gemma says as she sits down next to me, stealing my spoon.

She takes a large scoop of strawberry mixed with a bit of vanilla and chocolate, licking it in a seductive manner. Does she know what’s she doing?

"Good choice on flavours, guys."

“Gemma.” Eden’s face lights up.

I can't help but feel a little relieved. I didn't think anything would cheer them up.

“Eden," Gemma says with a small smile.

Gemma is so good with Eden. She is better with them than I thought."Well, I’m glad I spotted all of you. I need a lift home. I was going to call you to pick me up. Want some?” She gives me my spoon back.

The waitress who has been serving us comes over. “Do you need another spoon?”

“We’re okay,” I reply with a curt smile.

“You sure? You can’t leave your daughter out.” The waitress looks at Gemma.

“Yes, Daddy. I want a spoon,” Gemma says with a grin.

I am going to kill her, but Ace starts to laugh, and so does Eden.

“She’s our nanny,” Eden says and laughs like it is the funniest thing she’s ever heard.

The waitress’s face turns a deep shade of red as she scurries off, leaving us alone. Gemma joins in with the children’s chuckles and for the first time in ages, I laugh too.

“Why do you need a lift?” I manage to ask her as everyone calms down, and Eden and Ace start eating the melted ice cream.

“My family. Apparently, I shouldn’t have taken the car without asking. Dad said I can’t have the BMW as Brody needs it. He won’t drive the Lamborghini because it’s pink. She’s so beautiful; I don't know what his problem is.” Gemma shrugs her shoulders.

“Why did you go home?” I take another scoop of ice cream.

“To see if Dad would give me my credit card back.” She looks at me like I asked a stupid question. “Anyway, he said no because I left without telling anyone. Although I am allowed to take the Lamborghini, that’s because it’s mine. But nothing else.”

Ace and Eden take my phone and start watching YouTube, now bored with our conversation.

“Gemma, I think your dad is right. You left your home to prove a point, and when you found out that you didn’t have enough money to go shopping, you went straight back to him.

Have a serious think, but maybe you should get your car and sell it.

Buy something you can afford to run without your dad’s help.

You could buy other clothes. You’re twenty-five, it’s time you stood on your own two feet. ” I give her a generous smile.

I look at her bag of clothes, and so does she.

“But…”A worried frown settles on her forehead.

“You know I’m right.” My voice is quiet.

“They’re so pretty,” she whines.

“Let’s return them, Gem. How much have you spent?” I ask.

“Eight thousand,” Gemma admits, turning pink.

I have to stop the urge to roll my eyes.

“Guys," I say, turning to my children, "we are going to return some things. Gemma needs to do some shopping, then we are going home.”

Returning the clothes is probably the most painful part for her.

Gemma looks heartbroken over each item that she has to hand back.

I almost feel sorry for her. This is the life she's grown up knowing, and it's been yanked out from under her feet.

No one's to blame, except her parents. They should have raised her better.

Her brother and Gemma seem like total opposites, but I prefer Gemma. Brody misled me too, after all.

Once we've sorted out her refunds, which I notice the sales assistants are rather snotty about, I take Gemma to a shop I know is popular with the ladies at work.

We walk in, and Gemma looks around hesitantly. I sit Ace and Eden down on a seat and give them my phone again for YouTube before joining them. We watch Gemma as she takes her time looking through the rails until she finds something she likes.

“Oh, this is kind of sexy… Why haven’t I been here before?” she asks me.

“I have no idea,” I reply dryly.

Gemma starts to hand me the clothes she wants to try on.

“Gemma. This is pretty,” Eden says. Her and Ace have given up with my phone and are helping by pulling clothes off the racks and looking for a size eight for Gemma.

“This is enough. You have nowhere to put it all,” I say, struggling to hold onto everything that’s been handed to me.

“There's a wardrobe in my room,” Gemma suggests.

I pause for a moment and then say, “I need to get rid of my wife’s stuff, don’t I?”

Ace and Eden don't say anything, and neither does Gemma.

Gemma decides to put on a fashion show to see how she looks. We rate the outfits out of thirty, with anything below twenty-five discarded. Once we're done, I'm left carrying all the bags.

"Normally, when you spend a lot of money, you get a free gift. How can this store not do that after I drop one thousand just like that?" Gemma complains.

"It's still a lot of money for clothes,” I say while I pile the shopping into the boot.

I help Ace and Eden get buckled in first before jumping into the front seat to find Gemma scrolling on her phone, her long legs crossed. Feeling uncomfortable, I clear my throat.

Gemma looks at me. “Are you okay?" she asks.

"Never better," I say under my breath.

We get home and Gemma starts to skip her way inside when I call her back. "Gem, are you forgetting something?"

Gemma blushes and comes back. "Thank you for helping me take my things inside."

"I meant for you to take your own things inside. I'm not your maid.” Raising an eyebrow at her, I gesture to the bags.

She pouts and nods. I feel a bit mean, so I grab some of her things.

I get Ace and Eden settled in front of the television before I head upstairs to Gemma's room. "Just give me an hour to sort through the wardrobe," I call to her, thinking she would come and help, but she leaves me to it.