Read Online Time After Time by Antoinette Stockenberg - Free Book Online

a
wealthy socialite on her thoroughly landscaped oceanside
estate.
    That background of
domestic service was a big part of why Liz had wanted to have her
own business. The sudden loss of her husband's support and the
desire to be with her daughter were other reasons, certainly; but
mostly, Liz wanted to break with tradition and be her own boss. It
wasn't until the food was being served that she had a chance to
take a good, hard look at herself.
    Self-employed
businesswoman, my foot, she
decided. I'm a nanny, and an unpaid one at
that.
    As soon as the children
showed signs of being finished with their food, but before they
actually began throwing it, Liz went into the kitchen to light the
candles on the Mickey Mouse cake. She was wheeling it out on a
serving cart when Caroline suddenly appeared ahead of her, arms
akimbo, like Jesse James in front of a train.
    "I don't want them to have my
cake," she said, her round cheeks flushed with anger. "I
don't like them.
Especially Heather. She made fun of my shoes. Because they don't
have Velcro."
    "Oh, she didn't mean that,
Caroline," said Liz, nervously eyeing the flaming candles. Not now, for pity's sake. Have this tantrum some
other time.
    "Tell Heather to go home,"
said Caroline, stamping her foot.
    Liz glanced down the empty
hall. No help there. "Caroline, go back and join the others,
please, or you'll have candle wax all over the
frosting."
    "What about my shoes?" she
demanded. "They only have buckles."
    "I'll see what I can do,"
said Liz in desperation. "Now hurry. Go."
    "All right, but I don't
want Heather to have the ears," Caroline said with one last glance
at her cake. "She can only have Mickey's chin."
    She stalked off, and Liz,
convinced by now that her career path had taken a detour into hell,
rolled Mickey Mouse, his candles blazing, into everyone's
midst.
    The cake was a big
success. Caroline, who was an incredibly pretty child, was all blue
eyes and dimples as she blew out the candles. Everyone cheered.
Miss Caroline Stonebridge — whoever she was — was now officially
five years old.
    Netta, having somehow
hypnotized little Bradley into taking a nap, was on hand to help
serve the cake, which eased things considerably. After that, adults
and children alike gathered around the birthday princess to watch
as she opened her gifts.
    Caroline displayed a side
that Liz had not yet seen: an almost grown-up graciousness, coupled
with pretty compliments and artful glances at the adults who'd paid
for the extravagant presents. Later in her life it would no doubt
be diamonds that prompted those looks of pleasure; but for now it
was toys.
    One gift particularly
pleased the little girl: a spectacular Madame Alexander doll, done
up in long blond locks and lacy nineteenth-century dress. Liz had
seen the exact doll in one of her most upscale catalogs; it was
worth hundreds of dollars.
    Netta picked up the tag
from the wrapping and read it aloud for her. "Oh, thank you," the child
said, turning to Jack Eastman with eyes that danced with pleasure.
"I really, really love it!"
    Jack Eastman! Liz turned to him with an astonished look. For
this, she'd worked for free? So that this spoiled brat could have a
doll that Susy could only dream about?
    Jack Eastman was standing
in back of the guests, across from Liz, his arms folded across his
chest. "You're welcome," he said grimly. But he was watching his
father as he said it, with a look that Liz couldn't begin to
understand. Some kind of power play was going on; that seemed clear
enough. But why and over what — those questions she couldn't
answer.
    There was one last gift:
an envelope from Cornelius Eastman, the family patriarch. He was
sitting in the leather armchair alongside the beautiful mother of
one of the bored teenagers. He interrupted his chat with her to
watch Caroline open his card and hand Netta the check inside
without so much as a glance at it.
    Netta's eyes opened wide.
She flushed and said, "I'm sure Caroline is very