The Gilded Cage - Finding My Place

Schools

"I don't like it." Henrietta insisted as I buttoned up her Deepdene blazer for her.

"Don't like what, pickle?" I asked, grinning at her, because she looked so smart in the strict uniform with her hair in pigtails, decorated with ribbons. I had played a light hand since we got the girls back to Meadvale. They were still looked after like all my other nurslings, but I gave them a bit more space to talk to the others and feel their way into their new life. It was good for them to be surrounded by other nurslings, and with Caris as a guide, they had settled well enough into the routine. It felt right for them and I really was hoping that they would be happy once they all found their feet, but tears and reluctance were always close, even if I thought that they were coming on fairly well. I certainly hoped so. Because that would make all of the angst that I had experienced in sunny California worthwhile.

"This uniform...this place...I want to go home, Nanny?" She said, her little face gazing up at me, those big blue eyes full of fear and dismay. "It's too cold and everything is..."

"School uniform is a British thing...I suppose...and although not every school demand hats and school coats...or diapers...almost every school has a uniform of some sort...and you need to go to school, my dear," I pointed out, tightening her blue striped tie, and not letting her finish that particular sentence. "And you are home, so you just need to give yourself a chance to get used to the weather...I thought we had got past this, pickle?"

"I am not a nursling...Nanny." She said, uncertainly.

"Maybe not...inside that pretty little head of yours...but you are changing into one, slowly but surely, and I don't think you were happy in California, were you?" I suggested brightly, in an effort to jolly her along. I liked Henrietta and her sisters, and I was worried about them, and not because of what was happening to them in Meadvale. I had dealt with Caris, who had no real affection from her parents, and had seen her blossom when given some love and attention in her life, and I felt there were definite similarities with the girls. They did not seem to miss their father, or anything about their former life. They hardly mentioned working anymore. They did not seem to regret leaving that part of their lives behind. Not liking the British weather was quite understandable, and she would get used to the uniform, in time. I just had to keep her moving in the right direction.

"No, Nanny." She admitted, as I turned to grab her heavy navy-blue duffle coat and helped her thread her arms into the sleeves. Henrietta had been different with me since she asked for a cuddle on the plane. Less resistant, I suppose. I thought that we had made a connection, and at least she was talking to me.

"You have a family here who love you for who you are, not what you can earn for them, and want you to have the time to grow up naturally," I said, as I did her up. "You have missed out on so much of your childhood...so, my advice is just let yourself settle down...you have had a lot of stress in the last few days, pickle...things will get easier?"

She had tears in her eyes as I popped her pacifier back in, and then helped her into one of our new four-seater child-carriers. Bella would push one, and me the other, and I must admit that I was proud of the sight of my seven nurslings, all looking so smart in their uniforms. I felt that Deepdene would help my newbies. They would have to work hard, and they would be tired out at first, which would help them settle. And they were surrounded by cousins, who would all look out for them, because Nicola, Natalie and Naomi had joined Caris in looking out for their cousins. I did not think the girls had friends in California. They were not at school and the only other children they seemed to see were working on their television shows, which had been an intense working environment, not a playground, and they had been the stars, so relationships would not have been easy for anyone. Bringing them back to Meadvale was not exactly what they wanted, perhaps, but I had to think that it was what they needed, and I was sure that when they got over the culture shock, they would be happier. I had to believe that, because I had been the one charged with forcing them inside the gilded cage.