Hudson’s voice preceded him as he came charging out of the bedroom with no diaper on.
Violet stooped to greet her second son, laughing. “Well, hello young streaker. Do you have a kiss for me?”
Hudson smacked a kiss on her face, then turned and darted away as his nanny appeared in the bedroom door.
“Hudson, you scamp! Get back here and put on some pants, mister!” Rani Ogitani propped a hand on her hip and shook her head. “I’ve never seen a kid with so much energy! And believe me, I’ve babysat for some rambunctious kids in my day.”
“Rani, I bless the day I found you. I don’t know what I would have done these past few months without your help with the kids.”
The nanny grinned. “Oh, probably hired someone else just as competent.”
“Not likely.” After going through three nannies in eight months, Violet had mentioned her child care troubles to an old high school friend, with whom she kept in touch through email. Her friend, Zoe Bancroft, mentioned that her babysitter was looking for a job as a full-time nanny and gave Rani high marks. A week later, Rani had moved from Louisiana to Beverly Hills to live with Violet, Adam and the boys.
Violet shook her head. “No one’s better than you, and the proof is in how my boys are thriving, even without—” a rush of emotion overwhelmed Violet, and her throat closed “—you know … Adam …”
Her nanny gave her a sympathetic smile. “They are thriving because of the love and attention you give them.”
Or don’t you Hollywood types believe in raising your own children? Gunnar Colton’s accusations reverberated in her memory, and she sighed.
“I wish you would tell that to the linebacker,” she mumbled, then wondered why she gave a fig what Gunnar Colton thought of her parenting skills. Perhaps because he prodded her working-mommy guilt over leaving so much of her children’s care up to Rani.
“Linebacker?”
“Never mind.” She stood and held Mason out to her. “Here, you take this one, and I’ll round up the streaker and finish dressing him.”
Rani held up a hand of refusal. “Wait.” She turned her head and coughed several times into the crook of her arm. “Sorry. I’ll take him now.”
Violet frowned. “Are you coming down with something?”
“I hope not.” Rani rested Mason on her hip and brushed his blond curls out of his eyes. “Maybe it’s just the changing weather or dry air or something. I can’t seem to shake this cough.”
“I’ll watch the boys for a while if you want to rest. I told the Yoders I’d be back for dinner, but if you need—”
“I’m okay. I grabbed a short nap while the boys were asleep. Besides, don’t you need to go over the new script for the barn scene they sent over this morning?”
“New script? They changed the barn scene again?” Violet’s shoulders sagged. “I wish they’d make up their minds. I wanted to be through shooting by Christmas. The boys should be in their own home on Christmas morning.”
Rani turned her head and covered another cough. “Mac still think that can happen?”
“It’ll be close.”
The hydraulic hiss of the bus door opening announced a new arrival, and Violet turned.
“Knock, knock,” Mac called as he poked his head around the corner. “Everybody decent?”
“Everyone except Hudson,” Violet said, meeting her director in the living area of the bus and scooping Hudson off the couch where he was bouncing on the cushions. She turned to ask Rani to grab a diaper out of the boys’ bag and discovered, as usual, Rani was a step ahead of her. The nanny tossed her a diaper and a toddler-size pair of overalls. Violet caught the diaper. Mac snagged the overalls and eyed them.
“I didn’t know they made these for tykes.”
Violet had the diaper fastened around Hudson in a few deft motions, then took the denim clothes from her director. “They make just about anything you can imagine in babies’ sizes. But I’m sure you’re not here to discuss toddler fashions. What’s up?”
“Just making sure you’re all right. If you think that Gunnar fellow is going to be a problem, we can look for another location—”
“I’m fine. And this ranch is perfect for the scenes at the lawyer’s house. I’m sure if we stay out of the big bad wolf’s way, he’ll stay out of ours.”
“Bad woff!” Hudson repeated. “Puff, puff, bwooooow!”
Mac gave Hudson a raised eyebrow glance.
“I’ll huff and puff and blow your house down,” she said to clarify as she struggled to button Hudson’s overalls while he hopped up and down on the couch. “The Three Little Pigs is one of the boys’ favorite stories.”
Her son filled his cheeks and acted out the scene from the fable while grinning impishly.
“Okay, I’ll sign the contracts with Dr. Colton then. Did you get a chance to look over the revised script? I’d like to shoot the barn scene tomorrow.”
Violet winced. “No, I haven’t. How much did the script change?”
“A lot. We decided to combine a couple scenes. Jan now has Matthew showing up while Grace confronts Luther, and the three of them have it out.”
Jan Teague, the lead writer for Wrongfully Accused, had won numerous awards for her past scripts, so Violet trusted her to do the right thing for the movie. But the constant last minute changes were exhausting to keep up with.
“I’ll have to burn some midnight oil—literally—” because her Amish host family didn’t have electricity and used oil lamps instead “—but I’ll be ready in the morning.”
Mac chucked her lightly on the chin. “That’s my girl. Things okay at the Yoders?”
Benjamin and Alice Yoder, an Amish couple with three children in Paradise Ridge, had agreed to let Violet live with them for several weeks in order to immerse herself in her role as Amish woman Grace Moon. Violet wanted to understand and appreciate the nuances of the Amish lifestyle, religion and traditions in order to bring more authenticity to her character. She was learning a tremendous amount about the Amish community while staying with the Yoders, but in order not to crowd and add chaos to the Yoders’ home, her boys and Rani were staying in the bed-and-breakfast rented by the film crew. She missed the time away from Mason and Hudson, but the arrangement was better than leaving them in California for several weeks while she shot the movie in Pennsylvania.
Mac pulled a frown. “I know the recent abductions and murders have the Amish community on edge.”
“Not just the Amish community. I’m a little spooked myself, but … yes, things at the Yoders are fine,” Violet said.
In recent weeks, three Amish girls had disappeared from the community, and two of the teenagers were later found dead in a remote cabin. The shock of the
