A Child's Choice

Chapter 5

That evening, after getting both children to eat their dinner with bribery of the apple pie and their lolly for dessert, Ebony watched as they both brushed their teeth, and sent them both off to bed, and retired to the lounge room to read the contract Alex had provided her with.

She had managed to get the document he needed sent to him when she got back with the children after their outing. She sat in wonder and read through the document, wondering what he was expecting her to do during the day, as he had someone come in on Monday, Wednesday and Friday to clean, and she wasn't expected to cook. All she really had to do was make sure Dakoda was happy, run her too and from school, and keep out of Alex's way during the week.

She got every Sunday afternoon off, and was paid almost $100,000 a year, plus benefits, all outlined in a separate part of the document. She got a week over Christmas and New Year off, and a week over Easter. It was too much, and she planned to say as much too him. She had never seen a job so generous in her life, hell, she had never heard of something so generous!

When he got home, all Alex wanted to do was eat, watch some TV, and go to bed. Instead, he found the new nanny standing there, waiting for him, the contract in her hands. He wondered if he got this one wrong, like the last one. Apparently the last one didn't have enough holiday's, and even workers in childcare got more than she did, so she quit. The one before, it was that she was expected to cook. The one before that, she was expected to clean. The first one apparently didn't get paid enough.

Each new nanny had had the last nanny's requirements written in or out, and each had found something new to complain about. He wondered what had set this one off. He simply had to have a nanny for his daughter. He spent too many hours working to properly take care of her, and he wanted her to grow up loved and cherished. None of the nanny's so far had fulfilled that requirement yet.

"What's wrong with this one?" He asked wearily.

"It's too generous!" Ebony got out, "What do you expect me to do all day?"

"I don't know?" He asked, helplessly, "I don't know what women do during the day!"

"I can't just do nothing!" She cried, "Can I at least cook?"

"You want to cook?" he asked, sceptical.

"Yes! You have a great kitchen, and it doesn't look like it gets used. You know I can cook. You ate several pancakes." She said proudly. "And I made dinner, which your daughter ate happily."

"She ate without a fuss?" He asked, wondering what this woman had done to get his daughter to eat without a fuss.

"Yes. She wants scallop potatoes for dinner again tomorrow night. We made enough." Ebony admitted. "I figured even if she didn't eat it, I could. It's just a plain one. Ours has a bit more in it. Jacob eats it."

"Scallop what?" Alex asked, stunned.

"Scallop potatoes." Ebony said, slowly. "Layers of potato, milk, and cream, chopped with cheese and baked. Ours has mushroom, bacon, chicken, and spring onions in it too. It gives it that bit more flavour, and gets veggies and meat into you. Besides, it's healthy." She added as an afterthought.

"I see." Alex said helplessly. He had no idea about cooking, and his late wife had laughed when he ended up in the kitchen, knowing what a helpless cook he was. She told him he could burn water. After she passed, he tried, and ended up just getting the kitchen downstairs to cook for them.

"Did you want some, and I can talk about this," she waved the document around in indication, "While you eat. Then we can discuss it."

"Okay, lead on. I'm starving." He said, dropping his briefcase of a chair, he remembered this morning, and sat down heavily at the dining table.