Nanny Diaries 2 - The New Litter

The New Nanny

Helen seemed to have decided to let everyone sleep in late. Because it was the holidays for the girls, of course, and they had a late night after a very exciting day. I woke up in the gloom of the nursery, but sunshine was testing the blackout blinds, so it was definitely not early. I had lost my pacifier in the night, but I was warm and snug in my sleepsuit, which made it easy to just lie there and listen to the girls breathing around me. I had decided on a fresh start. Pastor John had told me that learning to fully embrace the doctrine would test me, and he was right of course, because I had been a little arrogant and a little bit selfish, expecting everyone else to make allowances for me. But I was not a special case in Meadvale. Not anymore. I had asked them to accept me into their community and I had promised God, no less, that I would abide by their rules. Helen and Colin Hughes were just asking me to keep my vows, and I really felt that I had learned a very important lesson in the first three days of my maidenhood. So, when I heard footsteps on the stairs, I closed my eyes like the good girl Helen expected me to be for her, happy to be under her discipline and determined to show her how good I could be.

"She is going to be quite a challenge, one way or another," I heard Helen whisper as a hand reached into my cot, found my errant pacifier, and slipped it gently back between my lips. "She means well, and her faith is quite genuine...but she is going to need a very firm hand to keep her focused on her own progress. She will do anything for her sisters, if we let her, but in the short-term, she has to learn her place."

"She can help by setting a good example, Mrs Hughes." Someone else said, and I tensed as I felt the same hand reaching down beneath the duvet. Not just because the hand was checking my diaper, but because I recognised the voice. "I'll start with Daphne and if the other little girls wake up, they will see her behaving and naturally copy her...they will know what I am as soon as they see my uniform...you don't need to worry about helping me."

"Eight girls on your own, Miss Davenport?"

"It is the holidays, so there is nothing to rush for...I'll take my time and get acquainted with everyone...if that is alright with you, Ma'am?" Karen Davenport, my old roommate at Norland Nanny College said breezily, clearly keen to make a good impression on her new boss, whilst I tried to stop myself screaming. It was bad enough Helen and Colin appointing a new nanny to do my perfect job but employing someone I knew so well was a complete nightmare. Karen and I roomed together in our first year at Norland, and although we got on well enough during those three terms, we were always colleagues, never friends. Because we were real opposites in both character and background, I think. I was a grammar schoolgirl from Kent who chose to go to Norland because I wanted to work with children, whilst Karen was a posh private school graduate who saw a couple of years working as a nanny as a good way to see the world without doing anything too taxing and please her parents at the same time. So, even as Helen left the room, and I felt Karen lowering the side of my cot, I was asking myself why she would ever take a job like mine. She wanted summer holidays in the Caribbean, Christmas in Verbier and Easter in Paris, Barcelona, or Rome. Not seven, or eight if you included me, not so little girls to look after. But then she pulled back my duvet and I had no choice other than to open my eyes.

"Best behaviour now, Daphne dear." She whispered, treating me to a knowing smile. "Your Mama has told me all about you and I am going to make quite sure that you stick to your vows young lady...but we'll start with a clean slate...come on, let's get you on the potty."

I let her take my mittened hands and help me out of the cot, because we were a similar height and build, so she was not going to try and lift me. Maidens would not normally be picked up like a nursling of course, but I was a maiden under discipline, and I was making my fresh start from the nursery, so anything was possible. But I took that, and the fact that she seemed happy to let me use the toilet, as good signs. And I was not going to let another wave of embarrassment deflect me from my fresh start, because that was my route back to adulthood, of course. So, I offered her no resistance, just obedience, as she led me into the bathroom, shut the door to avoid waking up everyone else, and removed my sleepsuit. I ended up standing before her in just my nappy, sucking on my pacifier and waiting for her to decide the next move. With a big smile, she reached out and removed my comforter.