Page 35 of The Accidental Nanny

“This wine,” I joke, ignoring her comment.

Eden giggles again. "Is it because you're drinking wine?"

"Eden, enough, honey." Alex’s voice is firm. "Leave Gemma to eat her meal. We should cook together more often." He takes a huge bite.

"I can't cook, you can't cook, but together we make a decent enough team." I try to break the tension between us.

Alex smiles, and then I see him glance again at my breasts before he clears his throat and looks away.

"Gemma, will you read to me again tonight?" Eden asks. "I want to hear about the princess unicorn."

"We read that last night. Why don't we pick something else?"

"Because that's my favourite.” Her eyes go all watery and her lips start to wobble.

I look at Alex, who shrugs. "It's her favourite."

"Fine. First, we need to run a bath and don’t forget we need to wash your hair and dry it, and we need to take off that nail polish."

"I don't want to," Eden pouts.

"Well, you have to," I respond. "No arguments or we can't do it again."

Eden goes back to her food, and I feel guilty. Next time, I'll take her on a Friday to do her nails so they can be pretty for the whole weekend. Ace finishes first and goes upstairs to shower by himself. Once he's done, I run a bath for Eden and get her in. I wash her hair, then her body, and then take her into my room to dry her hair. I've already laid out her pyjamas on my bed, so I dress her as well. Once her hair is silky soft and dry, and her nails are clean, I lead her back to her room.

"I'm going to sleep by daddy," she starts to get out of bed.

"You know you don't have to. Big girls sleep in their own beds," I say, my voice is soft. "But if it makes you feel better, why not?"

Eden climbs into her bed and hugs her teddy bear. "Where is Mr Snuggles?" she asks in her innocent little voice.

"Mr Snuggles?"

"My unicorn, he's always on my bed." She looks around, worried.

I check under the bed. "You sure you didn't take him downstairs?" I ask.

"No," she says, tearing up.

"You're very tired. Maybe you did without thinking. I’ll go look and be right back for our story," I say, getting up.

I go downstairs and find Alex relaxing on the sofa. I start poking around the living room, leaning over the sofa, and I'm acutely aware of his eyes on me.

"I'm looking for Mr Snuggles."

"He's in my room," Alex replies. "She brought him there last night. You'll find him on the bed."

"Thanks," I say, brushing my hair out of my face. I look at him, and we both blush.

"When you're done, why don't you come finish your wine?" he asks.

I fidget with my dress, flattening it down. "I should get to bed. I want to wake up early and make the kids breakfast."

"You're doing well, Gemma," he says after a pause. "I can see you're trying hard."

"Thank you." My voice has gone quiet. Why can’t I speak like a normal person? Like the usual me?

I go upstairs to get Mr Snuggles before I read Eden a bedtime story.