“They learn by doing,” Cassie said with a straight face, although he caught the slight quivering at the corner of her mouth.
“You’re laughing at me. You work in a preschool, you’re around children all the time. I’ve never been around them. Not since I was one.”
He thought about his childhood, how his mother had been always pushing him to make the most of his time. He’d been the younger of the two brothers and there hadn’t been many other children in their neighborhood. Now that he thought about it, except for school and his brother, he’d never been around kids.
“I swear I’m not laughing,” Cassie said. “You’re right, I do have more experience. I have a degree in child development. I’m sure if you put me into your world of business and computers, I would be just as uncomfortable. And to answer your question, yes, Sasha still needs a nap. At the school all the children have to rest for at least half an hour every afternoon.” Noticing his blank look, she continued her explanation. “The littler ones like her have a separate room and they generally sleep for at least an hour. She’ll still need a good night’s sleep, but the nap will make her easier to deal with in the late afternoon and early evening.”
He grabbed a notepad and scrawled the word nap. He couldn’t imagine how many other things he’d been doing wrong. “What else?” he asked.
Cassie wrinkled her nose. “I know that Sasha’s your niece and that you need to spend time getting to know each other. However, I wondered how you would feel about her going to the preschool a few mornings a week.”
He didn’t say anything because all he could focus on was the sense of relief, followed by a flash of guilt. He knew it was wrong not to want to take responsibility for Sasha. He supposed he must have a defect in his character or something because a normal, caring uncle would be thrilled to take charge of his family. But Ryan just wanted to pack up and head back to San Jose. He wasn’t proud to admit it but, given his choice, he would dump Sasha with Cassie indefinitely. However, no one was offering him that as an option.
“I know what you’re thinking,” Cassie said quickly, as if she was afraid he was going to protest. “It seems a little soon.”
“Actually, that wasn’t what I was thinking,” he admitted.
“Good. I believe that what will help Sasha the most is to get back into her old routine. She needs her life to return to normal as much as it can. She has friends at the preschool, other teachers whom she really likes. I think a couple of hours three or four days a week will make her feel more secure.”
“That sounds fine,” he told her. “You’re the expert.”
“You’re her family. I don’t want to interfere.”
He leaned forward. “Cassie, until last week, I’d never seen her. I don’t know anything about raising a child. To be honest, this was not part of my game plan, but Helen didn’t have any family and John only had me, so the buck stops here. I would appreciate any suggestions or thoughts you might have on the best way to handle any situation with Sasha.”
“All right. Thank you for your candor.”
Dark eyes regarded him appraisingly. He wondered what she was thinking about him. No doubt she found him highly lacking in paternal skills and feelings.
“How has she been eating?” Cassie asked. “I didn’t notice a problem at dinner last night, or at lunch today.”
She might as well have asked his opinion on the viability of a Mars colony in the next twenty years. “I have no idea how she’s eating,” he said wryly. “Sometimes she gets the food in her mouth, and sometimes she’s more interested in getting it on me and everything around her.”
“Oh.” Cassie smiled. “You’re right. You wouldn’t know what is normal and what isn’t. I’ll watch things and let you know.” She paused. “What about at night? Has she been having nightmares?”
He thought about the past few nights. “I think so,” he told her. “Sometimes she cries out. I’ve had to go in and rock her a couple of times. She just curls up in my arms and cries.”
He pushed those memories away. He didn’t want to have to think about that.
“Are you surprised?” Cassie asked.
“No. I guess not. I wish this hadn’t happened.”
“Give her time,” she said. “The same time you’re going to need. I suspect her pain will come in waves, then disappear for a while. She’ll probably make up stories about her parents to comfort herself. A lot of children do that when they’ve suffered this kind of loss.”