Page 19 of Carly's Heart

♥ Chapter Ten ♥

Tanya’s Wedding Day:

Carly looked around the small, confined room and did a mental head count. Yup. All fourteen kids were still here. The question was, where was the help she was promised? Barely discernible over the shrill excitement of toddlers at a wedding, she could hear the revelers in the hall above them. She puffed out a breath, blowing away a clump of hair that a rambunctious kid had yanked out of her once artfully piled hair.

Today was Tanya’s wedding. It was a celebration. With Mrs.Romero in charge, the wedding plans had spiraled out of control. The intimate family gathering had morphed into an enormous celebration. There were even reporters from the society section there. She hoped the ceremony had been lovely for Tanya and George. For Carly, it was hell on earth, just like the youngsters around her.

Many of the kids hadn’t seen the bride and groom yet and were chomping at the bit to do so. The ceremony, no children allowed, was over; the happy couple and wedding party had left for photographs. Carly had been lucky to see the ceremony on the country club’s in-house streaming system. It had been set up for the elders and guests who didn’t want to sit in the sun outside the gazebo where the ceremony was held.

A gazebo wedding at a country club. Wow. Never in her life had she expected to be in such a luxurious space. Even the basement was a step above any rental facility she’d ever been in.

With the bridal party off for photos, many guests were enjoying a glass of wine upstairs, while others retreated to the golf course for a few quick holes, courtesy of the groom’s father. It was the strangest wedding she’d ever nearly attended. Who played golf during a wedding?

While the other adults were occupied, Carly was left holding the bag. The babysitting bag.

Minutes before the ceremony started, George came to Carly saying Tanya needed Carly to help out. So here she was. In a very expensive dress and killer heels ... supervising rugrats. Her three promised teenage assistants hadn’t shown up. The impromptu daycare was supposed to be short-term only, but most of the children had been dropped off early. Nearly two hours after the ceremony ended, many of them were still here. There’d been a few come and go, but almost too few to mention.

The string quartet stuck up a flourishing tune, and the revelers upstairs broke into applause. Clearly the wedding party had returned. Still, no parents came to retrieve their little darlings. It was getting ridiculous. Helping out a friend was one thing, being blatantly taken advantage of for hours on end was too much to tolerate. Demoted from bridesmaid to abandoned daycare worker. It rankled. More than a little

She puffed out another breath. It was Tanya’s day, and as her best friend, Carly would do everything in her power to make it the best day she could. Even if that meant she missed the ceremony, and the arrival of the bride and groom at the reception. They hadn’t bothered to stream that portion of the event. Really, she was lucky to have seen the ceremony. Now she could look forward to dinner and dancing. Maybe even with Birch. First, though someone had to come get these kids.

Tiny hands tugged at her dress. “Lady? Lady? I gots to go pee.”

Carly looked down at the adorable preschooler at her feet. “Okay, princess. Come with me.” Hand in hand, she walked the minuscule blonde in her Disney princess costume to the adjoining bathroom. Thankfully, she could help this little tyke without losing track of the rest. It was obvious that no reinforcements were coming. Finished, she helped her young charge wash the glue from her hands.

Glue? Egads!

She looked down in dismay at the hem of the dress she’d spent most of her savings on. The dress Tanya had wanted her to have. The once lovely dress was ruined. She had two perfect handprints of pink and purple glitter glue adorning her hemline. She had handprints on her arms too, where the youngster had grabbed Carly when teetering on the toilet.

She sighed and bit back half a dozen choice words as she wiped down her arms.

The sound of wheels rolling across the floor and rattling dishes heralded the enticing smell of food. Fabulous, she was starving.

“Ma’am,” a young dark-haired girl greeted her. “Mrs.Romero, the old one, don’t tell her I called her that, said to bring food down to the children. She doesn’t want them to interrupt the festivities.” The girl mimicked George’s snobbish mother to perfection then clapped a hand over her mouth. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to ...” She blushed beet red.

“It’s okay, I’m familiar with Mrs.Romero. Aren’t the children to eat upstairs?” she asked though she already knew Mrs. Romero’s opinion on children at the dinner table.

“No, Ma’am. They’re to remain downstairs until the end of the traditional first dance.”

“And who, exactly is going to care for the little monsters?” Carly snapped.

“Um? You?” The teenage member of the catering staff offered apologetically.

Carly scrunched her face up and pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to remain calm. Finally, she sighed. It wasn’t this girl’s fault that Carly had let her very generous nature let her be taken advantage of. She should have refused George to start with.

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