The Bad Boy's Nanny

Ch. 15 - Family Meeting

"This family is a mess."

"Amen, sister!" Ethan says from the couch, where he sits next to his twin sisters.

Elliott, Jonas, Addison, and Flynn sit on the other couch. I'm in the front of the room by the tv, an easel with the words, "Konnecting Kennedy Kit," written in sharpie on a large piece of paper. Yes, I thought of the title myself.

"Why am I here?" Flynn asks, his hand raised in the air as if in a classroom.

"You're part of the mess," I say. "Three days ago, Rose almost died. In fact, half of this family almost died. That was the climax of this horrible mess. Now, we have to pick up the pieces and glue them together before Jonas feeds Bethany another turkey leg."

Bethany giggles from her playpen.

"So, who would like to go first?"

"Did you make a slideshow or something?" Elliott asks, his arms crossed over his chest.

I smile. "Thanks for volunteering!" I flip over the large sheet of paper on to the next one that has "Elliott" written in marker.

"Oh my God," Elliott mutters under his breath, rubbing his forehead.

"So, it all started on my first day working here. I saw the very first glimpse of an Elliott v. Jonas fight." I take a minute to write that on the sheet of paper. "Now, I don't know why it is that you two are always fighting. Originally, I thought it was just Elliott picking on his little brother. The longer I've been here, the more
I realize this isn't brotherly love."

"Ivy, what's the point of this?"

"This is one of the many broken pieces. Rose, do you want to be close to death again just because your older brothers couldn't work out their dumb animosity towards one another?"

"Nope!" Rose says and eyes Jonas and Elliott.

I nod. "Exactly. So, Elliott, why don't you tell Jonas how you feel?"

"I feel like this therapy crap is pointless."

"No way, bro. So do I!" Jonas laughs.

I shut my eyes for a moment. "Listen, I'm not letting anyone leave this house until this session is over, got it? Even if that means we have to stay here tomorrow."

"But it's the Fourth of July tomorrow!"

"Hey, don't blame me. Blame the family members who refused to participate in today's activities," I say with a patronizing smile.

"Well, I have nothing to say to Jonas. He started it."

We all look to Jonas.

He groans. "Fine! Elliott, I'm still upset about what happened last year."

"What happened last year?" I ask with a raised eyebrow.

"Elliott did something that got him into trouble and that night he had this huge fight with mom. We were all upstairs listening in. He said all this shit-" Jonas stops and looks at me in horror. "I mean, crap. He said all this crap about how he felt so alone because in reality none of us are his family. He told mom that we weren't his real siblings. We're just adopted. So, yeah. That's why I have all that animosity towards Elliott."