She checked Sophie’s temperature when instructed.
She encouraged small sips of water when the child woke.
She kept the cabin calm and refused to let anyone bundle the feverish toddler under heavy blankets again.
Alexander followed every instruction.
The man who had probably spent his adult life giving orders now asked Estelle before adjusting a pillow.
“Is this all right?”
“Move it lower.”
He did.
When Sophie became restless, Estelle began telling her a quiet story about a rabbit who got on the wrong train and ended up somewhere unexpected.
Alexander looked at her.
“That’s not subtle.”
Estelle almost smiled.
“I’m tired.”
For the first time since she woke on the jet, he laughed.
It was brief, but genuine.
Then his expression turned serious again.
“Why were you going to Boston?”
“Because I live there.”
“You said you had work tomorrow.”
“I do.”
“After a sixteen-hour shift?”
“Different family.”
Alexander frowned.
“You were going directly from one job to another?”
“After sleeping.”
“For how long?”
“If the universe had cooperated? Twelve hours.”
He looked toward the front of his private jet, then back at her wrinkled clothes and worn suitcase.
“You thought this was an airline upgrade.”
“In my defense, I was operating at ten percent brain power.”
“You boarded an empty private aircraft.”
“I have already accepted that this was not my strongest professional moment.”
His mouth twitched.
The humor vanished when Sophie whimpered again.
Estelle immediately checked her.
Alexander noticed how quickly she moved and how calm she remained.
“What made you become a nanny?” he asked after Sophie settled.
Estelle hesitated.
“I’m good with children.”
“That sounds like the answer you give employers.”
“It is.”
“What is the real answer?”
She looked down at Sophie.
“Children tell you what they need even when they don’t have the words.
Adults usually stop listening because they’re busy deciding what the child should need instead.”
Alexander said nothing.
Estelle continued.
“I like listening.”
He glanced toward the medical folder.
The implication was impossible to miss.
Someone else had wanted Sophie quiet.
Estelle had wanted to understand why she was crying.
By the time the jet began its descent toward Paris, Sophie’s fever had eased slightly.
The doctor remained in contact and arrangements had been made for her to be examined immediately after landing.
Estelle fastened her seat belt beside the child.
Only then did she remember the absurdity of her own situation.
