Chapter 2
The Girls
Carlotta didn’t knowwhat to think about Darren and his girls.Adele and Ellis were lovely little girls.She was sure that she would develop a good relationship with the girls; her problem was that she was worried about the relationship that might develop with Darren.She’d been shocked to recognize that Darren was her one.How that would play out, she had no idea because she'd not seen any reaction on his part except a little sexual interest.
She was a witchy wolf, and even though there were more of those than she'd originally thought, there were still not that many.Her great-grandmother was a full-blooded witch who fell in love with a werewolf.Her mother had mated a wolf, a warden, and her mom was a stay-at-home parent.Magic wasn’t a big interest of her mother’s, but she used magic every day for things like the dishes and making beds.As was usual in a mixed household, they had several children.Carlotta had two sisters and three brothers.
Mom always said they could have had more, but she thought six was enough.Witches had ways to limit how many children they had, and her mother had spaced them out by two years.Carlotta intended to do the same thing someday, once she was mated and had children.Since witches were generally long-lived, she was thirty and still single.None of her siblings was mated yet, either.There was no hurry, and they all wanted to make sure that they got the right one.Even if Darren was the right one, she didn't know that a relationship between them would work.Carlotta would go slow and see how things worked out.
These two girls would be a handful, and she would keep them busy, and that was alright because she was very energetic.She knew it was not a good idea to let children watch too much TV or play too many video games.Carlotta sensed some magic in both girls, but Ellis had a high level of magic.Darren might not want her to be schooled in magic since he didn't seem to have any.It was possible in time he might change his mind, and she thought Ellis would be a good student.
Right now, Darren had gotten a phone call, and he didn't look very happy.He seemed to be trying to explain something, but it was doing no good.
“That's one of my biggest customers, and he wants a face-to-face meeting.He lives in New York, and I'll have to be there tomorrow.Sometimes the girls could go with me, but this isn't one of those times.Do you think you'll be alright having them on your own?”Darren asked.
She gave him an ‘are you crazy look’.“I'm sure there'll be no trouble, especially since I'll be here with your mom and Carlos,” Carlotta answered.
“Alright.I thought maybe, because you don't know the girls well yet, that you might be a little nervous.I'm glad you feel confident, and I will be leaving after breakfast.”Darren explained.
When he didn’t make any calls, she wondered how he’d made travel arrangements, but maybe his client made them for him.It was none of her business anyway.She would plan things for tomorrow so that the girls would be busy and burn off all that extra energy that they obviously had.They would stay here unless someone else had plans to go somewhere.Carlotta suggested they go on an ATV ride, and Darren agreed.Each of them took a girl on the bike with them.
Carlos and Flo only had 50 acres, so there wasn't much sightseeing they could do, but it was still nice, even though it was a short ride.Sometimes they would go to see Ariel, and that would be a nicer ride because not only could they visit her farm, but they could also visit the farms next door.A fishing or hunting trip would also be nice, and she was sure they could go with Flo sometime, since she was a big outdoorswoman.There was so much they could do, and she would talk to the girls to see what kind of things they liked to do.She thought it was important for children to be active and kept busy.Even though it was fall, it wasn't yet cool enough for being outside to be an issue.There was also some gardening to be done, and she hoped to involve the girls.The ride had been great, and they made it back by lunch.
Carlotta had to admit that she had never been a nanny before, but only a guard, and that was only for adults.This couldn't be that difficult because she liked kids, although she hadn't been around a lot of them.These were active children, and it should be no problem to keep them busy.She liked to stay active, so this should be easy.Flo had suggested to Darren that both girls learn self-defense, so maybe she could help them learn some of that, too.She was thinking about all the things she could do that the girls might enjoy, but Flo said they were homeschooled, and school would have to be dealt with, too.
Apparently, the last babysitter was a college student working toward a degree in education.The girls were both several grades above what was expected for their ages.Hopefully, they will stay ahead in school.Carlotta believed in education, and she was sure that if they stayed here, Flo would help with the girls’ lessons.They were finished with lunch, and Carlotta waved her hand, and her spot was cleared and clean.
“I’d prefer it if you didn’t do magic around the girls,” Darren stated.
“If that’s what you want.”
She wasn’t too surprised that Darren, as a human, would be against magic.Maybe she should have been smarter about using her magic, but it was a habit that she did without the slightest thought.Now, she would have to think about holding back.It was a shame that she would have to fight to stop her habit.Carlos and Flo said nothing, and she understood that it was Darren's decision what he wanted around his children.At some point, he might be happy that she had magic, but until that point, she would try to curb it.
Darren let the girls watch a little bit of TV after supper, and since she had nothing to do, she went to her room to work on her computer.Carlotta did a little work for both the witch and the wolf, or rather, the shifter councils.Much of it was running background checks on those who caught the council's attention.These weren't particularly important people, or they would send the work to either Tyne or Sebastian.Only the minor ones were sent to her because her work was much cheaper than theirs.
She finished all the jobs she had to do, then got ready for bed.Tomorrow would be her first real day on the job.The job paid well enough, and she hoped it would be fun for both her and the girls.When she woke in the morning, she immediately started to get ready so she would be there when the girls came down for breakfast.Darren led the way with the girls trailing after him.She could see that he was a good dad and that he was worried about his daughters.He was probably glad that right now, when she was starting her job, his mother was here to supervise.
They all ate a very good and hearty breakfast, and then Darren took the time to say goodbye to each of his girls.“Please look out for them and keep them safe.”He told her.
