The Nanny Diaries

Part 2

Home Sweet Home

Roslyn Square was a very exclusive address, and exactly the sort of place where a Norland nanny in the famous brown and beige uniform could never look out of place. Huge white town houses, four and five stories high, with wrought iron railings and super-expensive cars parked in the resident only bays. As I got Nicola out of the taxi and paid the driver, I looked around at my surroundings and decided that I liked Kensington. But I was a little nervous, too. Because I was about to start my first fulltime job, leaving my studies behind me, and after Norland and my brief interlude at Charlesfield, it felt like being out in the big wide world. Saying goodbye to Bella and Roberta had brought it all home to me. No more friendly faces. No more familiar surroundings with advice on tap. I was confident about my own abilities, but it was still a very big moment for me. However, luckily, I had Nicola to distract me, and I could sense her getting ready to face her parents. She had slept after her bottle and woke up just outside Euston with a pleasingly full diaper, which I changed in the station facilities. But as soon as I got her clean and back into her raincoat and boater, it was clear that she was focusing on the big finale of her plot to fool her parents into believing that she had seen the error of her ways. And as soon as the front door opened, she exploded into action, no doubt following a script that she had been practicing and perfecting for days.

"Oh, Mummy...I am so glad to see you...and so sorry I let you down." She began, throwing herself into her mother's arms as she shook me off and spat her pacifier out. "I will never ever do anything so stupid again...it was just finishing our exams...everyone went a little mad...and I deserved to be punished, I know I did...but I'll study all summer and I'll do brilliantly at my new school, I promise. I'll make everything up to you and Daddy...I'll work so hard, and get into Cambridge like Daddy...it's so good to be home...I don't mind boarding again...there are lots of good schools..."

"Stop it, Nicola...this minute!" Mrs Hughes barked, as soon as she could get a single word in edgeways. "How dare you spit out your pacifier...and pull away from Nanny like that...Miss Scott, do come in..."

"Thank you, Mrs Hughes...here Nicola," I said, stepping nimbly over the threshold with a clean pacifier in my hand, and approaching my charge. She looked stunned and starting backing away, glancing desperately at her mother.

"Mummy...she isn't my nanny...I don't need a nanny..." She gabbled, until her back banged into the wall, and I had her cornered. I pushed the comforter into her mouth.

"She is...and you do, as this little performance proves." Mrs Hughes snapped, her expression and tone leaving her daughter under no further illusions. "Follow me, Miss Scott...and I will show you up to the nursery...my younger daughters are already up there waiting for you, and I think the sooner we get Nicola settled the better...but your luggage arrived safely and I will show you your suite, too."

"That is very kind of you, Ma'am," I said politely as she headed for the stairs, before taking a firm grip on Nicola's hand again and pulling her with me. "I am keen to see the renovations Mr Hughes was talking about...and to meet Natalie and Naomi, of course."

"Everything is exactly as you discussed with my husband, and the house in Meadvale is really very suitable...but we are having that redecorated and fitted out with the latest equipment for you, of course..."

My nursery at Roslyn Square was just about perfect, I thought, as Nicola and I got the guided tour, although the continual sobbing from the child was distracting as well as amusing. So, after a few minutes, when she had got the general idea, I put her in the playpen with her sisters, who were sitting quietly, wearing pretty pale pink dresses and sucking on their own pacifiers. I did not have to worry about leaving Nicola in the little wooden cage. She was obviously big enough to climb out of it, but she knew better than that, and the reality of her situation was obviously hitting home. I could see it in her eyes. That allowed Mrs Hughes to show me the rest of what was a converted loft space, at the top of the huge house, which had been hastily remodeled in the two weeks since Nicola upset everyone. It had been guest bedrooms, before, but a couple of walls had been moved, to create a big day room plus a good-sized bedroom and a really nice bathroom, as well as a private room with full facilities for me. That was a really nice perk, free accommodation in central London, plus thirty thousand pounds a year. I thanked Mrs Hughes for her welcome, her kindness and her generosity, and arranged to bring the children downstairs for a slightly late lunch in due course. But first, I had to get Nicola out of her uniform and into her own pink dress, a process which would include her second paddling.