Chapter 2 - THE CONTRACT
“I was hired to care for Noah,” I said.
Eleanor’s mouth tightened. “That isn’t the entire answer.”
Alexander looked at her. “Mother.”
She crossed her arms. “Ask her.”
He turned back to me. “Emma?”
Noah was listening. I could feel it in the way his body had gone still.
“Your household manager interviewed me,” I said. “Mrs. Bell offered me the position. I accepted it because I needed a job.”
“That’s all?” Alexander asked.
“That’s all I knew.”
Eleanor gave a short laugh.
She led us into the small sitting room beside the ballroom and shut the door. The noise from the departing guests faded, though I could still hear car doors slamming outside.
Eleanor opened a folder from the desk.
“Your application came through an agency called New Start,” she said. “That agency received a substantial payment from me.”
My stomach sank.
Alexander took the folder. “You paid an agency to place her in my house?”
“Noah had driven away four caregivers in six months. Emma had experience with grieving children.”
“I taught preschool,” I said. “That was on my application.”
“There was more,” Eleanor replied.
She pointed to a page Alexander was reading.
I shifted Noah higher on my hip. “What is that?”
“Your employment agreement,” Alexander said.
“My agreement is in my room.”
“This is an attachment.”
I looked over his arm. There was my name, my address, and a list headed OBSERVATION PERIOD.
The first three items concerned Noah’s routines. The last one made my skin go cold.
Document any inappropriate emotional dependence between the child and household employee.
“You asked them to watch me?” I said.
“I asked them to watch everyone around my grandson,” Eleanor answered.
“Emma never saw this,” Alexander said.
“She signed the agreement.”
“I signed the pages Mrs. Bell gave me. I’ve never seen that one.”
Eleanor’s eyes sharpened. “Then you should have read more carefully.”
Alexander turned the page. “Mother, there’s a signature here.”
I looked down.
It was almost mine.
My first name leaned to the right the way I wrote it. My last name didn’t. Whoever had copied it had made the final n too tall.
“That’s forged,” I said.
Noah pulled at my sleeve. “Are you going away?”
I crouched so I could meet his eyes. “I need to talk to your dad. I’m here right now.”
“You packed your suitcase.”
I froze.
Eleanor and Alexander both looked at me.
“How do you know that?” I asked.
Noah rubbed his eyes. “Mrs. Bell told me.”
May you like
The room fell silent.
Then he said, “She told me you were leaving because I picked the wrong mommy.”
