The medication had complicated an illness that already made her miserable, but she had been monitored early enough that no lasting harm was expected.
When the doctor finally said those words, Alexander lowered his head.
For several seconds he said nothing.
Then he reached for his daughter’s hand.
Estelle turned away to give him privacy.
Later, in the quiet corridor outside the examination room, Alexander found her checking flights back to Boston.
“You’re leaving.”
“That was generally the plan before I invaded your aircraft.”
He stood beside her.
“I have a proposition.”
Estelle looked suspicious immediately.
“No.”
“I haven’t said it yet.”
“You’re a billionaire.
Propositions from billionaires are rarely simple.”
“I need someone I trust around Sophie.”
“You met me this morning.”
“I’ve employed people for years without learning half as much about them as I learned about you in one flight.”
“That sounds like terrible hiring practice.”
“Possibly.”
She studied him.
He continued.
“I’m not asking you to abandon your life.
I’m asking if you would consider becoming Sophie’s nanny under an actual contract, with sane hours, proper rest and compensation that reflects the responsibility.”
Estelle said nothing.
He added, “And boundaries.
You seem fond of those.”
“I am.”
“You can say no.”
That mattered.
She looked through the glass at Sophie, who was sitting up now, still tired but alert, the stuffed rabbit tucked beneath one arm.
Then she looked at Alexander.
“What happens when you disagree with me?”
“I imagine you’ll tell me.”
“That wasn’t the question.”
He nodded slowly.
“I listen.”
Estelle thought about those words.
Earlier on the plane, he had asked how she calmed Sophie.
I listened.
Now he was offering the same thing back.
“Send me the contract,” she said.
“I read everything before I sign.”
Alexander smiled.
“I would expect nothing less.”
She did not become part of his world overnight.
There was no magical transformation in which exhaustion disappeared or class differences stopped existing.
Estelle went home to Boston first.
She slept nearly fourteen hours.
She spoke with her employers.
She read Alexander’s proposed contract line by line and returned it covered in notes.
The schedule was reduced.
Rest periods were guaranteed.
Travel was optional unless agreed in advance.
Medical decisions remained with Sophie’s doctors and Alexander, with every medication documented.
And Estelle was paid for the expertise everyone had once expected her to provide simply because she cared.
