CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX.

The next morning, she reached for the brandy before her eyes were properly focused. Up on an elbow, she tipped the bottle back and waited for the warmth of the alcohol to seep into her veins on the way down. This was just for her first day, she told herself, to knock off the nerves before meeting the little rascals.

She dressed, brushed her teeth, and gargled until the taste of alcohol was gone. On the way out the door, the brandy bottle caught her eye and she went back and placed it inside the nightstand cupboard.

She padded downstairs, made her way up the same hallway she traveled the night before. She passed the family room, the formal dining room where she had dinner with Donald, past another door she figured must be the foyer that led to the kitchen, and then out the back door onto a large slab of cement.

A few feet to her left were steps leading up to a patio. To her far right off into a play area was the swing and a slide. To the right of the play area, just down from where she stood, was the basketball hoop.

Straight on from the house was a sidewalk made of stone slabs stretching a few hundred feet across the lawn into a forest. All around its perimeter-about four acres-were mounds of dirt covered with varieties of bushes and flowers. Unable to resist, she made her way into the trees where the stone path broadened into a large courtyard.

Near the entrance stood an impressive pond, four bird feeders, three cement benches, and a number of chairs on either side. Beyond the courtyard were three paths, two leading directly into the forest, and another that took the way around.

She chose the path straight ahead, and continued on as it wound up and down and around bends. No more than two or three minutes later, she found herself standing beneath an arbor of rosebushes. Inside was a beautiful flower garden with statues of little men and woman holding pots of flowers. In the middle was a bench beneath another arbor. At the far corner, a young girl with long blond curls was kneeling beneath a tree. Maria.

Emily felt like an intruder, and as she attempted a quick exit, she nearly tripped over a weather-beaten stick horse. She regained her balance and looked back as Maria scrambled to her feet. Her pale oval face was angelic-like even though her blue eyes looked on crossly.

"Sorry for bothering you," Emily said, watching her stroll over. "Sometimes I'm such an oaf."

Maria approached, lifted a rope from around a branch, freeing her play horse. She swung a leg over and looked up, her eyes softener now as she gazed upon Emily. "You make that skirt?"

"Yeeeah. How could you tell?"

Maria raised her brows and moved her eyes up and to the right in some sort of secret code. Then she turned and galloped up the sidewalk. "At least you're not cranky like the last one. You hungry?" she added happily, as if they had known each other for a while. "I'll bet Pearl has breakfast on by now."

Emily hurried after her, not sure what to think of this beautiful but strange little creature. "Good, I'm famished."

"You can meet Nathan too. Sometimes he's such a brat," Maria called over a shoulder. "I thought later us three could have lunch outside."

"You mean like a picnic, under a tree?"

"Yep"

"Sounds like fun."

When they reached the house, Maria flung the stick horse aside.

Emily had to force herself not to laugh. "You've had that for a while, huh?"

"It's junk," Maria said sourly. "I need a real one."

"So is your father going to buy you a horse?"

"Nah," the little girl said, pushing the door open.

Emily followed her down the hallway, through a door, then up the foyer. At the far end was a side entryway. To the left was a door Emily realized led to the formal dining room. To the right was an enormous open area with white walls, black molding, and dark hardwood floors. The large black and white kitchen was to the right. The lower cabinets were black with white countertops, and the upper cabinets were white. Straight ahead in front of a large window was a breakfast nook. To the left was a dining area.

Pearl was at the stove with an arm wrapped around a large bowl, ladling pancake mix into a frying pan. Bacon sizzled on the back burner.

"Here she is, Pearl," Maria said, pulling her into the kitchen.

Emily looked down at a stout brooding woman who she didn't think could be much over four feet tall. Her gray hair was twisted into a loose bun and her full face was red from the heat. "Hi, Pearl,"

The woman looked up at Emily with fading blue eyes slanted like the shape of a half moon. "Hi yourself." She dropped a plastic spatula into the bowl and motioned. "You two go on and take a seat. Where's that brother of yours, Maria? I've got pancakes warming in the oven and more cooking."

They sat at the table, Emily next to the window that overlooked the patio. Pearl brought over a plate of pancakes just as Nathan barreled into the room.

"Stop running!" Maria hollered. "You're gonna fall and break another tooth."

Nathan stood with his hands on the back of his chair, wagging his tongue. "Can't make me."

Pearl forked a couple of pancakes and bacon onto his plate. "Sit, young man, and eat!" She set the platter in front of Emily, shoved a container of jelly over to Maria, and then set off into the kitchen to start cleaning up the mess.

Emily could see that Nathan took after his father with the dark hair and eyes, although the lines of his nose and chin were softer, more pleasing. He pulled out his chair, and sat, glancing at her with a mischievous smile.

"Hi, Nathan."

He reached for the syrup, glancing up again. "Hi."

Maria smeared jelly on her pancake. "Guess what, Nathan. We're goin' on a picnic."

"We are?"

Emily caught Pearl's eye over the counter. "Is that all right?"

"Fine with me. Long as you tell me when, so I can put everything out on the patio..."

"Today, Pearl," Maria said. "Only we're sitting under a tree, so we need a sack lunch, and a blanket."

"You can just as well get your own blanket."

"Whoopee!" Nathan squealed, kicking his legs so they hit the bottom of the table.

Maria covered her ears. "If you stop screeching, you weirdo. And stop kicking the table." She slid down in her chair and aimed a kick at him.

"Stop it, you creep. Pearl! Maria's trying to kick me."

"Nathan called me a creep."

"Emily, they're all yours." Pearl chuckled, picked up a load of dishes, and waddled to the sink.

The room became silent as the children's eyes turned to Emily.

"I..." She swallowed, willfully, ready to face the challenge. "Stop your bickering... or... Or no picnic." She thought the children looked more amused than threatened and narrowed her eyes so they'd know she meant business. She was satisfied when they showed what looked like mild fear. She cleared her throat then, smiling at her success. "Excuse me," she said, reaching for the syrup.

After breakfast, they went out to the backyard to find the tree where they would have lunch.

Emily hadn't forgotten the noise she heard the previous night and expected a couple of dogs to come charging around a corner at any moment. "Maria? Where're your dogs, anyway?"

"You probably mean Harold's dogs. They live with him out in the brush."

"Yeah. And they're killer dogs," Nathan growled scratching the air with a claw-like hand.

Maria nudged him. "Oh, who told you that?"

He leaped in the air and grabbed a branch, swinging back and forth. "I just know. And Harold's as mean as they are."

Maria glared at him. "That's 'cause you bug him like you do everyone else."

"I'm sure your dad wouldn't allow killer dogs so close," Emily said.

Nathan dropped to the ground. "Yoou'll see." Then he punched Maria in the arm and ran off.

"You brat!" she squealed, starting after him.

"Hey, Maria, just let him go."

She turned back sourly. "I hate him."

"He's not that bad, is he?"

"Mean as the dogs are. Only they don't come over and bother me."

Emily burst out laughing. "That's good, I guess."

The two headed back to the house and Emily decided to get one more thing out of the way. "Say, Maria? I was just wondering. Did your father set up an airport or something?"

"Don't think so. Why?"

"A noise woke me last night, and Ia"

"Oh, that. It's just the neighbors."

Her casual response made Emily feel silly for being concerned in the first place.

During the next few weeks, Maria and Nathan tried to pull the wool over her eyes a number of times. She used her scruples, bothered Pearl for the facts if she had too, although that was always a pain. The woman had a gripe of some sort. Emily made sure not to get on her bad side.

She heard the low rumble again, but knowing it was the neighbor's affair, it no longer startled her. Though she was curious, it wasn't enough to get into something that was none of her business.

She hadn't forgotten the way Donald laid down his rules. Since their meeting in the library that first night, there wasn't a day that passed when she didn't think about how and why she had ended up where she was. Having the children under her care wasn't always easy, but it was a blessing in that it allowed her hours of peace away from memories that would sometimes leave her distraught and in tears. Her stay at the Schillings' estate may just postpone the inevitable, although seeing no way out for the moment she made a concerted effort to put her mind on her responsibilities and not her past.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN.

It wasn't even eight o'clock in the morning yet and the children were at each other's throats. Emily stepped from the shower, drying as she rushed into her bedroom. As she pulled on a robe and burst into the hallway, she heard Maria cursing at her brother.

Nathan had a world globe tucked under an arm, and he was twisting back and forth so Maria couldn't take it away.

"Give it to me, you brat!" she screamed, making a dive for him.

He shuffled the globe around to his back and grabbed her hair with the other hand.

"Ouch. Let go of me. Ooouch!"

"Stop this nonsense, you little animals!" Donald rushed around the corner. He dropped his suitcase, grabbed them each by an arm, and shoved them at Emily.

Nathan landed at Emily's feet as the atlas spun across the floor. He looked up at her through a tuft of dark locks and gave her an impish smile. When she realized he was enjoying himself, she rolled her eyes, hooked an arm around one of his, and pulled him up.

Donald wasn't amused. "What did I hire you for anyway, young lady?" He picked up his luggage and brushed past her, turning at the stairs. "I'm gone for a few days," he said, "but I want these... hooligans out by the time I get back. You hear?"

"Yes, I'll talk to them, Mr. Schillings."

"Well, you'd better do some quick talking." He gave a glaring sweep of the three, reached for his cigarettes and headed down the steps.

The children watched him disappear then rolled their eyes over to Emily.

She folded her arms and glowered at them. "Well, good morning to you too. Humph. And I expect an apology from the both of you." She turned then and marched back into her room.

"Gee. What a way to start the morning," she said, slamming the door.

She looked over to the nightstand cabinet, where the brandy beckoned behind its doors. No, she wasn't going to do it. The bottle was down a fourth and she wanted it to last, save it for more desperate times. From the looks of it, more were sure to come.

Since the day she arrived-and even though she tried-she hadn't completely gotten over the disappointment that there wasn't going to be this loving big sister, little brother-sister thing going on between the three of them. Instead, there had been an overwhelming responsibility placed on her shoulders.

She didn't mind making sure they did their homework, got to bed on time, or up in the morning, dressed and down to breakfast, their teeth brushed, and then off to class; didn't mind that is when they didn't baulk against one thing or another, or start battles that always left her unsettled. What she didn't like was the discipline, hated it, in fact, because then there was the arguing, saying things she didn't want to say, hurt feelings, and sour faces. And then to top it off, if they did something wrong, she was at fault as much as they were. She didn't think it was right to put the burden on her.

There had been plenty of resentment too at first. Although as time passed, she came to accept that there was more than just her feelings at stake here. They had lost their mother, for crying out loud. She tried to keep in mind how heartbroken she was when she lost her grandmother, and how hurt and angry she was when Haity died.

Life wasn't exactly a breeze after her soul searching, far from it at times. And when she realized she was desperate for help, she had marched down to the library and found a number of books on child rearing. There she learned that once you lost control of a child they were more apt to take advantage of you. That piece of information came like a revelation to her, and it gave her the courage to put some muscle behind her words, and why she had given them a cold shoulder that morning. Tough love is what they called it.

After class, the children went out to the backyard where she was reading.

"Sorry," Maria said first.

"Sorry," Nathan mumbled, not quit as enthused.

She gave them each a long hard look, sighed, and then smiled. "Thanks for your, you know, little thing there. Say, you guys wanna play a game of basketball?"

The children's eyes popped open. "Yeah...yeah we wanna play."

She set her book aside, leaping to her feet. "Okay then, first one to the court gets the ball."