Nanny Diaries 3 - Pride and Prejudice

The Worm Turns

"You are supposed to be setting an example, you know." I whispered, as I settled Nicola on my lap in a sort of storage cupboard, just behind the stage in the auditorium at Deepdene. She grunted, around her pacifier, shifting around in an effort to get comfortable. I smiled and kissed her hair and slipped the pacifier out of her mouth.

"I keep messing the harmonies up...and Mrs Rogers is a demon...we have done it about ten times already." She moaned, clearly tired and in a bad mood, which was why Mama had asked me to take her off somewhere quiet and give her a bottle. Rehearsals for the Deepdene Carol Concert and Nativity were taking over our lives in the run up to the big day, and the girls were all stressed out, because they still had lessons and tons of homework to cope with, as well as feeling the pressure of being the stars of the show. Nicola, like me before her, was not much of a singer, but the Brewster Sisters, who used to be the Bethlehem Sisters before, were suddenly the Hughes Sisters, and there were seven of them, not three. Luckily for me, maidens were not included! "Do I have to have a bottle?"

"Mama said, Nic." I reminded her, kissing her again. She looked so cute in her striped blazer and her pigtails, and I found it impossible to think of her as almost eighteen years old. Not that age was ever actually relevant to nurslings, or maidens for that matter. "You were quite clearly getting frustrated, so just relax, drink this and then I can change you, before we hand you back to the demon choir mistress."

"Is she all right, Daphne?" Sheila Radcliffe asked, popping her head around the door as Miss Grumpy gave in and started to suckle.

"She is just about perfect, Ma'am...but the pressure is getting to her...I know what it is like to sing with Henrietta, Georgina and Philippa...one starts to feel inadequate!" I smiled, giving my sister another cuddle, and pleased to see Sheila without a chaperone for once, even if I was a little surprised that anyone had followed me to check on us. "She just needs a bit of peace and quiet for a few minutes."

"Your mother was a little concerned that you were going off on your own..." Sheila sighed as if reading my mind. She was looking elegant, as always, wearing a yellow and green plaid DiMarco gown, with her hair in sausage curls, and her face carefully made-up, which combined to make her look much younger than her mid-fifties. She was certainly taking more care over her appearance as a married woman, but I was not entirely sure that it was her choice. Before her oldest son, Joshua Blackstone, interfered in her life, she had been a practical, no-nonsense sort of person, and whilst she always dressed in the modest Meadvale style, she was a worker and dressed accordingly, never wearing much make-up and just pulling her hair greying back into a bun. She undoubtedly looked better, and younger, although I was not sure that the ringlets suited her, but I did not recognise the person she had become.

"Mama was not...and whatever Mummy thinks, I answer to her, or Grandmama...although I would rather you didn't tell her that, Ma'am." I replied, initially feisty, but then thinking a bit better of it. Grandmama would not approve of me arguing with my mother. It was not up to me to tell her that I wanted nothing to do with her, or my father. "Sorry, Ma'am."

"Don't be...I did hear that Elizabeth and Barry wanted you to come and live with them...but your wishes were made very clear to them...and believe me, dear, I know how direct Catriona can be...but I have to do as she says." Sheila sighed, closing the door behind her, and watching Nicola feed, her skirts filling most of the remaining space. "Nicola is coming along very nicely as far as I can see...and she clearly loves her big sister."

"Oh, that is mutual, Ma'am...I love them all, of course...but Nicola and I are rather more on the same wavelength...I suppose." I explained, kissing Nicola again. "She helped me through my time in the nursery...she is the best sister ever. But I don't understand why you have to do what Mummy tells you, Ma'am...it's ridiculous?"