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Ivory cry grew louder and the confused Irene was about to hold her when she remembered her fourth rule.
*Do not touch me without washing your hands*
Damn!
Irene sighed in confusion, looking around.
She doesn't know the way to the kitchen where she can quickly wash her hands.
"Hello" Irene heard and turned go see a woman in a white apron.
The woman had given her Ivory's booklet yesterday and she remembered Harold had called her Nola.
"Please where can i wa.." Irene was saying..
"Wash your hands" Nola completed it for her, smiling.
Nola knew the young lady had just resumed as ivory's nanny.
"Go through that doorway, you'll find the kitchen" Nola said.
"Thanks" Irene dropped her bag and hurried ahead,disturbed by the fact that Ivory is still crying...
She found the kitchen and quickly walked to the sink to wash her hands.
The kitchen looked amazing but she didn't have the time to properly look around.
She wiped her hands on one of the clean napkins before hurrying back to the living room.
She pulled the still crying girl into her arms and rocked her back, wishing she'll quiet down soon.
She doesn't like seeing kids cry, it sometimes want to make her cry too.
Irene gently sat on the couch with Ivory in her arms, patting her back and singing quietly to her.
Her cry had quieted down and she was just sniffing now.
"Who's Carrle? and why did Ivory started crying all of a sudden" Irene thought.
And why did all this had to happen the day she resumed.
Irene glanced at Ivory and noticed she had start to doze.
She positioned her neck properly and stared admiringly at the little girl.
She was almost tempted to touch her glossy brown hair but then she remembered her number one rule.
*Do not touch my hair without my permission*
Aaarrgh, so much rules, but she did a good job in memorising them, she had made sure she memorised the key rules, she'll go for the rest later.
Ivory had slept off completely in her arms.
She never knew the smart and talkative Ivory could cry that much and Harold also looked pissed when he walked out of the door.
She hoped something has not gone wrong.
Harold walked back into the living room, still looking quite angry.
He already made Carrle go away.
The lady is just a pain in the ass,she pisses him off so much.
His anger melted immediately at the sight in front of him.
Ivory is being held so perfectly in irene's arm that he can boldly say after him, this is the next person that holds Ivory so perfectly.
Even Carrle doesn't hold her daughter this way.
Irene is unaware of Harold's presence, she was still staring admiringly at Ivory.
Harold smiled,glad he finally has a nanny that loves his daughter genuinely.
He'll make sure he do everything he can to take her family out of the problem they are facing.
Irene glanced up nonchalantly and was startled to see Harold standing before her.
Geez!
This man is sure creepy.
Harold cleared his throat,lost for words.
"Hmm,did you wash your hands before touching her?" He finally asked.
"Yes i did, Nola showed me to the kitchen" Irene answered.
"Okay" Harold said.
"I think i should drop her in her room,so she'll be more comfortable" Irene said after a long moment of stealing glances at each other.
"That'll be okay. come with me" Harold said.
Irene who stood up with Ivory in her arms staggered back over the weight of the little girl.
Wow!
Harold quickly took ivory from her.
"I'm so sorry" Irene said.
"Sorry for what? You did nothing. It's normal for you not to be able to carry ivory, ivory has weighed a lot since birth" Harold said.
"Ohh,no wonder my hands were starting to ache" Irene laughed but quickly got hold of herself.
"You're free to laugh Irene" Harold said and Irene blushed at how smoothly her name moved out of his mouth.
"Okay, we should drop her in her room. Your hands must be aching" Irene said.
"No, I'm used to it but I'm just worried" Harold said.
"Over what?" Irene asked worriedly, noticing the hint of sadness on Harold's face.
"Ivory falls sick whenever she cries to sleep,she starts burning up and all" Harold said,staring pitifully at his daughter.
"Ohh...I'm so sorry about that. What can we do to prevent it?" Irene asked, blinking severally.
She does that whenever she's confused, worried or surprised.
"Nothing, I'll just call the doctor once she wakes up" Harold said.
"But we can just rub her body with wet cloth or she should
just take a cold bath" Irene thought,not daring to say it out..
Maybe the rich call the doctor for everything.
"Let's take her to her room first for a comfortable sleep" Irene said.
"Ohh..yeah" Harold said and started leading the way.
*
Harold placed Ivory on her bed and then kissed her forehead.
He pulled her blanket over her and then turned to Irene.
He found her staring all over Ivory's room.
He isn't surprised cause he made his daughter room more like a princess's room.
She's his princess.
"Wow!" Irene finally exclaimed.
The girl's room looks like a queen's.
Purple and white color dominated the whole room.
Ivory's shoe rack amazed Irene...the shoes are damn much and they're all beautiful, her wardrobe size is like an adult's.
There was a giant crystal chandelier hanging from the center of the white painted ceiling.
The room was so wide that it occupied three two seater couch and a sparkling glass table in the middle.
There was a TV plastered on the wall.
The floor was tiled with sparkling white marble tiles and Irene could see her reflection.
She even had a mini freezer in her room.
If Irene had not seen ivory's world boldly written on the wall in white and purple,she would have asked Harold if it was really Ivory's room.
Irene almost cried at the amount of money that would have been used to set up this room alone.
"Irene" Harold called, bringing her back to reality.
"Hu..h?" She stuttered.
"I'm sorry..i was a little bit lost " She said.
"It's fine, what happened earlier...the lady called Carrle is Ivory's mother" Harold paused.
"Ohh" Irene blinked, now getting everything.
"But we divorced five years ago" Harold continued.
"I'm so sorry about that " Irene said and Harold shrugged.
It has been five years and he got over her already.
"I don't allow her in my house except on her visitation rights which is twice a month for 24 hours. She comes every second week of the month to check on Ivory and please whenever she's around ,do not hesitate to call me immediately cause i might be at work and i don't leave her alone with my daughter." Harold said.
"Okay" Irene nodded.
Ivory shifted a bit in her sleep and the blanket fell off her shoulder. Both irene and Harold quickly made to draw the blanket back at the same time but Irene reached it first.
She pulled it properly over Ivory and then realized she had beaten Harold to it.
She smiled to herself but Harold caught her.
"Why are you smiling?" He asked.
"I beat you to it" She suddenly laughed.
"Damn!
What did she just did?" She thought.
She's only this playful whenever she's around her stepmum and Damien.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to laugh" She quickly apologized.
"It's fine" Harold smiled.
He had loved the way she laughed playfully.
This will be the first time he'll see her laugh and she looked more beautiful at it.
"You dont have to be sorry cause you laughed, you are free to laugh anytime you please" Harold said and she nodded.
"I need to get in my room now and start preparing for work tomorrow, you can go meet Nola so she'll enlighten you more about the happenings around here but please you need to check on Ivory every fifteen minutes"
"Okay,i will do just that" Irene said.
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"Do you care for anything?" Nola asked Irene as she entered the kitchen.
"No, ivory is asleep and Mr Harold said i can come spend some time with you" Irene said..
"Ohh,you're welcome" Nola smiled, motioning her to sit opposite her.
They both sat on the breakfast bar in the kitchen.
"So, you are?" Nola asked.
"I'm Irene, Ivory's nanny"
"Okay, I'm Nola, the cook. Nice to meet you"
"Nice to meet you too" Irene said.
"I'm gonna introduce you to the other workers later and i'll show you around later" Nola said.
"Okay" Irene smiled,glad at the woman's friendliness.
"You're welcome here and i know you're really gonna enjoy your stay here. Mr Harold is a very nice person, he treats every of his worker like his family" Nola said.
"That's so obvious and Ivory is also a nice kid, though her rules are not very nice" Irene said and Nola laughed.
"Ivory can be eccentric at times. But, once she really likes you, she'll be the one to break the rules she made for herself" Nola said.
"Really?" Irene asked.
"Yes"
"You must have been working for Mr Harold for long" Irene said.
"Yes, I've worked here for sixteen years, i was 24 then and i had just given birth,i had no job and my husband died the day i gave birth to Allysia, my daughter " Nola said.
"I'm so sorry about that Nola" Irene said sadly.
"It's fine. So, Harold was just Eleven then and what made me met him was because i found his favourite lost puppy at my doorstep. I returned it to the address i found on the puppy's chain and Harold who loved the puppy so much thanked me profusely. We became close and he loved playing with my daughter. He learned of my condition and begged his parents to take me in with my daughter. Harold has been benevolent right from time, he really love helping people that are in need. He's the only child of his parents and they did everything he wanted. His parents took me in with my daughter and they took care of Allysia like she was theirs,anyone would think she was Harold younger sister,she attended the best school in the city and wore the best clothes. Right now Allysia is with Harold's parents in Spain. She comes here every summer" Nola said.
"Wow!" Irene exclaimed.
"So then, i do assist their cook in the kitchen and suddenly she left. I volunteered to be the cook and i clearly told them not to pay me but they didn't heed, they paid me every month and still took care of my daughter. I watched the tiny Harold grow into the huge man he is today" Nola smiled.
"That's interesting" Irene smiled too.
"Oh..my, i need to go check on Ivory" Irene said glancing at the wall clock.
She stood up and quickly walked out of the kitchen.
Nola smiled, she like the lady and this is actually the first time she would tell someone this story.
Ivory's past nannies were always interested in checking out the whole house,rather than sit and talk with her.
Most of them do ask her what Harold likes and dislikes,they concentrate more on Harold that ivory whom they were here for .
But this lady is different.
Anyone can tell she genuinely cares for Ivory even if she just resumed today.
Nola had watched her from the kitchen while Ivory was still in her arms and she had seen how Irene badly wanted to touch Ivory's hair but she didn't. Ivory was asleep and wouldn't have known if anyone touched her hair but Irene didn't use that advantage to disregard her rules. She kept strictly to the rules.
Nola had been impressed and happy they finally had a different nanny.
"She's not awake yet" Irene said, walking back into the kitchen.
"Ohh" Nola smiled.
Irene took her seat opposite Nola.
She found the woman interesting,she's sharing so much with her even if she just resumed today.
"Can i ask you something?" Irene asked.
"What?"
"Does Mr Harold pay his workers close to one million dollars a week?" Irene asked.
"One million dollars a week?" Nola nearly screamed.