James’s face lit up like the Fourth of July when he saw Mayra, decked on both sides by Nancy and Susan. It hadn’t been a dream. She was still here! James bounced up and down reaching for Mayra, playing favorites as the older ladies looked at him with amusement.
Once Mayra had picked him up by his armpits, bouncing him in his arms to calm him down, Nancy and Susan began pinching at his cheeks affectionately.
“Oh hims gots a wittle cwush,” Nancy teased. “Jamey-Wamey wants to pway wif Maywa and not his grammies?”
“Such a cheeky little boy,” Susan commented. “Mayra, what do you think of this.”
Mayra looked at Ellen, who nodded in approval. Mayra kissed James in the magical spot again on his face as she patted his diapered bottom, noticing a slight heaviness. She carried him to the changing table where all four ladies gathered around to take care of the little bundle of sweetness and joy in Mayra’s arms. Laying him down on the table, Mayra gave him little eskimo kissies as she told him the good news. “Mayra’s not going anywhere, pequeño. Your grammies and I are going to be pampering you for quite a while.”
“A while?” James asked in a big boy voice, which was promptly dismissed as Susan plopped a pacifier in his mouth to listen as Ellen towered over him, tickling his sides and getting a little smile out of him as he kept his eyes on Mayra.
“That’s right, precious,” Ellen cooed, fishing a small note in a familiar-looking stationary from her purse. James’s eyes widened as she held it up to him. Just barely, he could make out his mother’s handwriting. “Shall I read it?”
James became still as Ellen smoothed out the paper and cleared her voice:
“James, I hope you are having a wonderful time so far at Miss Ellen’s house. I’m so sorry about this, but I’ve been called overseas by the main office to help with a big project. I trust you, sweetie, but it would be far too much to ask you to take care of yourself all summer. I talked with Miss Ellen a few weeks ago and she asked I send you straight to her, and that she’d love you just as much as I would if I was able to stay there. I’ve talked with other mothers and they say she is the best babysitter a mother could ask for. I should be back by September, but I’ll send notice if I’m later than that. Miss Ellen will take care of everything you need, baby, so don’t worry about a thing. If you’re a good boy for her, I’ll get you the bike you’ve been working so hard to earn. Have a wonderful summer,sweetie. Love, Mom.”
James couldn’t believe it and reached out for the letter. The thought that this was planned, that his mother had intended for all this, was simply too much for him to bear. He reached up from the table and snatched the paper. It was his mother’s handwriting and her stationary. Maybe she was forced to do this, maybe this was a set-up, maybe…
“You see, pequeño?” Mayra’s voice soothed him from such paranoia as she stroked her long red nails gently and delicately across his cheek, standing over his head and smiling down on him warmly. “Everything’s going to be just fine.”
Reaching down again to give James eskimo kisses, he began to babble again, reaching up happily and grabbing playfully at Mayra as Ellen began to change his wet diaper. This was going to be the best summer ever.