The Prince's Nanny Read Online Free PDF Page B

containing more clothes.
    “Is this all your makeup in here?” Gianna asked holding a small velvet vanity bag in her hand.
    “I’m afraid so.  Maybe you can take me to a store to buy some more.”
    The way the girls smiled and nodded at her told Sabrina she’d said the right thing.  As for her clothes, they made it clear they would have liked to see spangles, rhinestones, diamonds, or at least a few frills.  Together they held up her sundress and looked at her.
    “What will you wear to dinner?” Caterina asked, a frown on her little face.
    “I…I don’t know.  That dress?”
    Caterina and Gianna shook their heads.  “Nanny Chisholm always dressed for dinner and so did we,” Caterina said.  “We’re princesses so we always wear princess clothes from our dress-up closet, especially when Papa is having important guests.  We’ll get you something too.”
    “Thank you,” Sabrina said dubiously.  So this was a special occasion.  What sort of dress would come from their closet and fit her?  Maybe it was something Nanny Chisholm had left behind.
    They grinned happily at her, showing missing front teeth.  If this is all it takes, she thought, to make these girls happy, then this summer is going to be fine.  Better than fine.
    After they left promising to bring her a “dress-up” dress for dinner, Sabrina treated herself to a long soak in that deep tub, then wrapped in the robe she found in the bathroom, gave in to fatigue and fell asleep on her bed.  But first she checked under the sheets for any unwelcome arachnids.  She told herself she was being foolish.  The twins were nothing like her sisters.  They’d even gone to find her a dress to wear.
    When she woke up, they were back in her room standing at the edge of her bed looking at her.  She sat up quickly and looked at them, wondering where she was and how she’d gotten there.
    “Nanny Chisholm didn’t ever take a nap,” Caterina said.  “And she was about one-hundred years old.”
    Gianna nodded.  Her blond curls bobbing.  “I suppose that’s why she had to leave.  She needed to go home to rest.”
    Sabrina was so groggy it took her a few minutes to realize she’d arrived in Italy on the shores of the lake with her two charges who were comparing her unfavorably to a one-hundred-year old woman.  She also realized the sun was setting on the lake and the girls were wearing long dresses, shiny black patent leather shoes, and ropes of pearls and beads around their necks.
    “You look…very nice,” she said to them from the edge of the bed.  Nice was not exactly the word to describe their extravagant attire.  But if these were their normal dinner clothes, it was no wonder they’d deemed her own cotton sundress unworthy.
    “This is for you to wear,” Caterina said, laying a long black dress with a bright fuscia sash across the bed.
    “Are you sure?” Sabrina asked, fingering the feather trim at the hem.
    They nodded solemnly.  “Until your real clothes arrive.  And you get a chance to buy your cosmetics.”
    “These are my real clothes,” Sabrina said.
    “Too bad,” Caterina said.  “It’s a custom to dress up for dinner.”
    “But where did you get this dress?”
    “It was in our dress-up closet,” Gianna said.  “Someone left it here. We think it’s beautiful. Don’t you like it?”
    Instead of answering, Sabrina went into the dressing room and came out wearing the black dress which hit her just below the knees, but otherwise fit her well.  The girls exchanged looks then beamed their approval.  A gong echoed through the house.  She slipped into a pair of ballet flats and combed her hair.
    “Dinner time,” Caterina said.  Both of their faces were wreathed in wide toothless twin smiles.
    They descended the marble staircase together.  Below in the reception area it was a scene out of an Italian movie which featured the upper classes at play.  In the drawing room there were about a dozen people dressed more