Chapter 4

Like a proud grandmother she introduced each child. When she came to the youngest, Romeo, he hide behind Mrs. B.'s skirt. When he was pushed forward to meet Alex, she noticed his lip tremble.

"Hello Romeo. What a handsome young man you are. " Alex smiled at him. Romeo smiled a little but went back being sad, clutching his grandmothers leg. Stephanie didn't seem to like that Alex was going to take care of them, and Alex knew that this was not going to be as easy as she had thought.

Mrs. B. looked back to the lawyer and they began to walk out of the room, Romeo was still clutching her skirt. Alex looked at the remaining children. Stephanie had her father's features but you could see her mother in her stance. Jessie was more into his Game Boy than his new sitter. Jake was looking at a book he had picked up off the coffee table. Well, this isn't going to be easy, she thought.

"HI. I know you really didn't want a new person in your life right now, but let's see if we can make it work." She gave them her best new job voice. The kid's just gave her a funny look. Mrs. B. chose that time to come back into the room.

"Alex dear, why not get Stephanie to help you unload your car." To this Stephanie gave her Grandmother a pained look. Alex could hear the wheels turning in her mind; she wasn't going to help anyone move anything into her parent house.

"It's okay I only brought a few things; I didn't know how long I was going to stay." Alex thought she heard a small voice saying....'not long at all!'

"I only brought a suitcase and my Wii.: That seemed to get Jessie and Jake's attention.

"Wii? We have one of those." Jake said and Alex smiled.

"You might, but I have high score on all my games, so I'm not sure I want to go back to being low man." Alex smiled and started to the door with Jake and Jessie following, asking her what games she had.

Mrs. B. watched them leave and turned to Stephanie sitting on the sofa. She went over and sat beside her sad faced granddaughter.

"I know this isn't how you thought life would be, but give her a chance." She said laying her hand on her shoulder.

Looking down at her folded hands Stephanie shrugged, "I don't need a baby sitter." she looked up at her grandmother with a determined look in her eyes, "The boys do, but I know when Mom gets settled she'll send for us."

Mrs. B pulled her in her arms. "Honey, I don't know what she's going to do. That's between your mom and your dad. Try and make Alex feel at home....," she heard Stephanie take a deep breath, "... even if it's for a short time. She only brought one suitcase." That brought a small smile to Stephanie's face.