Both girls looked back and forth as if trying to interpret a foreign language.
“When you were a girl, Aunt Georgie?” Amelia asked.
“Oh my, yes,” Georgie said with a bright grin for her old nanny. “Miss O’Toole taught me my manners, you can be sure of it. And if she says fun should be had in the nursery, it should. What if we try it in our nursery as well?”
Sophie risked a look up at her. “What?”
Georgie shrugged. “A hug? I love hugs.”
“She does!” the other children chorused.
It didn’t quite thaw the girls, but they looked at each other and shrugged. “We could try,” Sophie said. “It is just that we are wild savages, and we should be very careful to present a good face.”
Georgie thought she would be delighted to share her opinion of that teaching with whoever had inflicted it, except she thought it might be long too late. “You present an excellent face,” she assured them, holding her arms open. “Isn’t that right, Uncle Grey?”
She heard the growl of emotion in his voice. “A most excellent face.”
Finally, the girls ran into Georgie’s arms and let her hug them both until she had them giggling as well. Then she handed them off to their Uncle Grey who knelt just next to her, his eyes suspiciously bright.
“I have an idea,” he whispered to them, kissing both their heads. “You may present an excellent face to everyone else. But your Aunt Georgie and I would be far happier if you were justyourselves at home. Just like her family is. Because now we are family. All right?”
Both girls backed up and checked both Georgie and him. “Truly?” Sophie asked.
“If it would suit you,” he said. “Because I become very sad if my girls feel uncomfortable around me.”
“As do I,” Georgie agreed.
“Would the bees?” Amelia asked, her little face puckered in concern.
Georgie almost choked. “Did the bees mind when you introduced yourselves?”
Both girls shook heads. “They sang to us!” Amelia declared.
Georgie nodded, her hand on Grey’s shoulder as he held on to his little girls. “Well,” she said. “No one knows better than the bees. “
Finally,finallythe girls surrendered themselves to Grey and Georgie. It was only then that Georgie saw O’Toole surreptitiously wiping her eyes.
“There was concern?” she asked the family nanny as Grey was collecting the girls’ clothing.
O’Toole shrugged. “They seem much concerned that they behave correctly.”
Georgie sighed. “I’m afraid Grey’s was the first kind smile they have seen.”
“I was afraid so.” The nanny patted Georgie on the shoulder. “Well, they have landed in good pasture now.”
Georgie smiled. “You’re sure. When I was twelve, you claimed I would be the death of etiquette and culture.”
O’Toole smiled back. “Sometimes etiquette and culture are overrated. You will be the perfect person for those girls.” Then her smile grew. “As long as you bring them over here frequently for a bit of mayhem.”
“That,” she said, giving her old nanny a brisk hug, the only kind the nanny would accept, “I believe I can guarantee. I would also consider it a huge favor if you would help me screen nannies for the girls.”
Miss O’Toole cast another surreptitious glance at the girls, who were in the process of chattering at their Uncle Grey about their adventures with the Packhams. “Shall I send out feelers?”
“I would be grateful.”
And as briskly as that, Georgie knew O’Toole would find the perfect nanny for the girls.
“Time to go, I’m afraid,” Grey said, regaining his feet. “Say goodbye to your new friends.”
