Page 24 of The Night Nanny

Removing Isa from her swaddle, she expertly lifts my baby from the stroller and holds her in her arms.

“See, I knew she would wake up and be hungry.” She gently rocks her. “Ava, would you be kind enough to hand me her bottle.”

I do as she asks. After adjusting Isa in the crook of her right arm, she puts the bottle to Isa’s mouth with her free hand. My baby instantly latches on to the nipple and quiets.

“Good girl,” Marley coos as Isa sucks away.

“Nurse Marley, can I feed her?” Though I feel emboldened, the tone of my voice sounds timid.

Without looking up at me, her gaze fixed on Isa, she breathes out, “Ava, please just relax…Drink your coffee. This is what you and Ned pay me to do.”

I feel a tinge of hurt. Her words make me feel useless and incompetent.

She stays focused on Isa. “You need to let me take charge…learn to trust me.”

But how can I trust her when I can’t even trust myself?

As I sip my coffee and watch Marley feed Isa, I hear a car pull up in front of our house. It doesn’t sound like one of Ned’s fancy sports cars. Could my mother be here early?

My chest tightens at that thought when I hear the front door unlock. The door slams shut, and heavy footsteps crescendo in my ears. Then a thunderous voice.

“Ava, what’s going on? What’s the emergency?”

Ned.

His words heat up the air. They’re like red-hot embers.

“Hilda reached me at the Chateau Marmont. I was in the middle of an important meeting with our potential investors.” He looks angry. Very angry.

I meet his narrowed eyes. “Why didn’t you pick up your phone when I called?”

“I didn’t hear it ring. It was on vibrate in my briefcase. When Hilda couldn’t reach me, she called the hotel and asked to speak to the maître d’.”

Why didn’t I think of doing that?

Loosening his tie, Ned tosses his briefcase onto the gleaming island counter. “When I couldn’t reach you, I dashed out of the hotel and grabbed a cab instead of waiting for the valet. I thought the house was on fire.”

My heart hiccups. Did he actually think something happened to me? To our baby? Or was he only concerned about his precious house?

His eyes bore into mine, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “So, what exactly was the ‘emergency’?” He carves out air quotes, then tightly folds his arms across his broad chest awaiting an explanation.

“I—I thought someone kidnapped Isa.”

“What?!” He throws his arms up and his voice rises decibels with fury. “How could someone kidnap her? The road to our house is private. Our house is gated. And we have a state-of-the-art security system.”

Tears gather behind my eyes. He must think I’m paranoid. Delusional. A nutjob. Am I? In my fragile state, it takes all I have to hold back the waterworks.

Nurse Marley looks up from feeding Isa and chimes in. “I can explain.”

Ned’s gaze meets hers and his expression softens as she elaborates.

“I took Isa for a walk down the hill in her stroller. I left a note by the coffee maker, but I’m afraid Ava didn’t see it.”

Ned strides toward the Nespresso machine and picks up the note. “Ava, how could you have missed it?”

Hot tears prick my eyes. My voice falters. “I was in a panic. When I didn’t see Nurse Marley or Isa in the nursery—and with Isa’s stroller gone—I hurried outside, and they weren’t there either. Plus, Marley’s car was gone. So was her bag. And she didn’t answer her phone.”

Ned shakes his head in disbelief. “Seriously, how could you jump to such a ridiculous conclusion?”