After Noticing Bruises on Children, Mom Installs CCTV to Test Nanny

<p>Lena was a devoted mother to her little son and baby daughter and didn&rsquo&semi;t want to leave them alone with a nanny&comma; but circumstances forced her to do otherwise&period; She never imagined she would return home one day to find bruises on her children&period; It was a bright Sunday morning&comma; and Lena was sipping tea on her front porch while her husband Todd was working in the garage&period; With pleasant weather and birds chirping merrily in the skies&comma; everything seemed perfect with the outside world&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Belena&rsquo&semi;s heart was anxious&comma; possessing every other fear that a mother&rsquo&semi;s heart could&period; Lena had taken a break from work after her first pregnancy and was supposed to return to her job&period; Now she adored her children as any mother would&comma; but she didn&rsquo&semi;t want to let go of her brilliant career&period; When she discussed that with Todd&comma; he suggested they hire a nanny&comma; but Lena didn&rsquo&semi;t want that&period; She knew her son Jeremy could be a handful at times&comma; and May was so small and young&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Lena&rsquo&semi;s heart skipped a beat every time she considered leaving her children in the care of a stranger – a nanny&period; She was almost sure she would put her career on hold for the sake of her children&period; But one fateful day changed everything when they hired Bella&comma; a young woman&comma; as their children&rsquo&semi;s nanny&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>« Todd&comma; the kids are very young and need me&period; I can give up the job&comma; » Lena had told Todd a week ago when they discussed hiring a nanny&period; « Come on&comma; Lena&comma; » Todd said&comma; « I know you love your job&comma; and I appreciate your concern for our children&period; But Jeremy&rsquo&semi;s a big boy and doesn&rsquo&semi;t need his mom all the time&period; He&rsquo&semi;s four&period; What about May&quest; She&rsquo&semi;s only two&period; »<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>« Hun&comma; leaving them with a nanny&comma; I don&rsquo&semi;t know if I&rsquo&semi;m ready for that&comma; » Lena said&period; « Look&comma; Lena&comma; I don&rsquo&semi;t want you to be one of those women who give up their dreams for the sake of their husband and children&period; You get what I mean&comma; right&quest; »<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>« Todd&comma; I&rsquo&semi;m a mother now&period; I&rsquo&semi;m more than just a woman who cares about her career&comma; » Lena knew how she was lying to herself when she said that&period; She&rsquo&semi;d always been a very ambitious woman who wanted to do much more in life than just raising her children&period; She wanted to make a name for herself&period; But the kids arrived sooner than she and Todd had planned&comma; and her motherly instincts couldn&rsquo&semi;t let her think about anything but the children&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Finally&comma; Todd said&comma; « I can&rsquo&semi;t force you to return to work&comma; but I&rsquo&semi;d like you to reconsider it&period; So many families hire nannies&comma; and the person won&rsquo&semi;t be a complete stranger&period; Honestly&comma; we&rsquo&semi;ll have their ID and any other information we need&period; »<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Lena thought it over for the next few days&comma; and the idea didn&rsquo&semi;t seem bad to her&period; « Maybe Todd&rsquo&semi;s right&period; The kids will be okay&period; I&rsquo&semi;m just overthinking&period; We&rsquo&semi;ll hire someone trustworthy&period; »<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>After contacting a few agencies and reviewing more than 30 profiles&comma; Todd and Lena chose Bella&rsquo&semi;s profile&period; She lived nearby&comma; and they thought they could call her on short notice if a situation arose&period; Bella visited Lena and Todd&rsquo&semi;s house on Saturday morning&period; She was a brunette with beautiful blue eyes and a strange charming smile&comma; which made Lena uncomfortable&period; But she brushed it off as a product of her overthinking brain&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>« Beautiful home&comma; Mrs&period; Woods&comma; » extending her hand to Lena and then to Todd&comma; Bella said&comma; « It&rsquo&semi;s a pleasure to work for you&comma; Mr&period; and Mrs&period; Woods&period; Nice to meet you&comma; Bella&comma; » Lena said&comma; forcing a smile&period; « Would you like to meet the kids&quest; » « Oh&comma; that&rsquo&semi;s why I&rsquo&semi;m here&comma; » she grinned&period; « You have twin daughters&comma; right&quest; »<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Lena and Todd fell silent&period; « A girl and a boy&comma; » Lena said finally&period; « Two kids&comma; yes&comma; but a son and a daughter&period; » « Oh&comma; how silly of me&period; I thought you had twin daughters&period; I went to too many houses in the past few days and got confused&comma; » Bella exclaimed&period; « Oh&comma; well&comma; my&comma; we think it&rsquo&semi;s okay&comma; » Todd laughed&comma; easing the tension in the room&period; « They&rsquo&semi;re up there&period; Please follow me&period; »<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Lena stood there watching as Bella and Todd went up the stairs&period; « What kind of nanny is she&quest; How can you get mixed up with that kind of information&quest; Can I trust her enough&quest; I don&rsquo&semi;t think this is right&period; I don&rsquo&semi;t think she&rsquo&semi;s right&comma; » Lena&rsquo&semi;s heart shuddered when she left for work on Monday&comma; leaving the kids all alone with Bella&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>« Have a wonderful day&comma; Mommy&comma; » Bella waved goodbye from the front porch&comma; May in her arms and Jeremy standing beside her&period; « Have a great day&comma; Bella&period; See you soon&comma; kids&period; Don&rsquo&semi;t trouble Bella too much&comma; all right&quest; » she said before she settled in her car and drove away&period; On the way to her office and even at work&comma; Lena couldn&rsquo&semi;t take her children off her mind&period; Is Bella taking good care of them&quest; What if she forgets about Jeremy&rsquo&semi;s meds&quest; She didn&rsquo&semi;t even remember I had a son and daughter&comma; not twin daughters&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Lena&rsquo&semi;s heart couldn&rsquo&semi;t stop racing until she knew her children were safe&period; So she called Bella every 15 minutes to see if they were okay&period; « Jeremy&rsquo&semi;s allergic to dust&comma; Bella&comma; » Lena explained over the phone&period; « Please don&rsquo&semi;t take him to the playground&comma; no matter how much he begs and cries&period; I&rsquo&semi;m sure he&rsquo&semi;ll do that&period; » « Don&rsquo&semi;t worry&comma; Mrs&period; Woods&period; It&rsquo&semi;s all fine here&period; Jeremy and May are the loveliest children I&rsquo&semi;ve ever babysat&period; They&rsquo&semi;re great kids&comma; and everything&rsquo&semi;s perfect&comma; » Bella reassured her&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>« Great&comma; thanks&comma; Bella&comma; » she hung up the phone&period; « My children are just trouble&period; Jeremy is so hyperactive&period; I thought he had a problem&period; Is she lying&quest; Is Bella faking it and not looking after my kids&quest; I told Todd this was a terrible idea&period; »<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A week passed&comma; and Lena could never fully trust Bella&comma; but the kids were okay&period; Whenever she returned home&comma; it seemed like Bella was a good nanny&comma; despite her silly memory problems and excessive praise for the children that Lena found hard to digest&period; Was a storm about to arrive&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>One day Lena came home from work and went straight to the children&period; She saw they were playing with their toys&period; « Kids&comma; mommy&rsquo&semi;s home&comma; » she said&comma; hugging them&period; That&rsquo&semi;s when Lena noticed the bruise on Jeremy&rsquo&semi;s knee&period; « What happened to you&comma; hun&quest; How did you get that&quest; » she asked worriedly&comma; looking at the bruise&period; « Mommy&comma; I are okay&comma; May&comma; » Lena&rsquo&semi;s panicked and worried eyes checked May&comma; and she noticed bruises on May&rsquo&semi;s elbow&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>« Did she hurt you and your sister&quest; » « No&comma; mommy&comma; no&comma; no&comma; » Jeremy stammered&period; « We fell&comma; mommy&comma; we fell like playing&period; Bella didn&rsquo&semi;t hurt us&period; » Something inside Lena&rsquo&semi;s heart told her Jeremy was lying&period; Was Bella forcing the kids to lie&quest; That night Elena told Todd she wanted to fire Bella&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>« I don&rsquo&semi;t want her near my kids&comma; Todd&period; She&rsquo&semi;s hurting our children&comma; » Lena fumed&period; « I saw bruises on Jeremy&rsquo&semi;s knee&comma; and she also hurt May&period; » « What nonsense&excl; » cried Todd&period; « How dare she touch our children&quest; » « Well&comma; Jeremy claims he and Bella tripped while playing&period; Can you believe that&quest; They&rsquo&semi;re covering for her&period; »<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Todd fell silent&comma; his arms crossed across his chest&period; « What&rsquo&semi;s the matter&comma; Todd&quest; Aren&rsquo&semi;t you angry&quest; She&rsquo&semi;s forcing our children to lie&period; » « Stop overthinking&comma; honey&period; They could have been playing when they fell&period; You&rsquo&semi;re casting unnecessary doubt&period; » « Are you serious&comma; Todd&quest; You believe her but not me&quest; Why would the kids cover for her&quest; » she asked&period; « Just why&quest; Maybe she forced them or threatened them&period; »<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Lena was adamant that Bella was harming their children&comma; but Todd didn&rsquo&semi;t believe her&period; So what Lena did the next day was install CCTVs all over the house without telling anyone&period; Todd had left for his office early&comma; and the children were asleep&period; Then Lena asked Bella to come over later that day and got the cameras installed&period; After all&comma; she couldn&rsquo&semi;t just let Bella hurt her children&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>« I&rsquo&semi;ll expose that woman&period; How dare she hurt my babies&quest; Todd will regret not believing me&period; » Once Bella was there&comma; Lena told her to look after the children&comma; settled in her car&comma; and went off to work at her office&period; She switched on the camera footage on her iPad and began watching it&period; She saw Bella playing with the kids and helping them with coloring&comma; nothing out of the ordinary&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Lena kept watching the footage&period; At around 4 pm&comma; she noticed Bella taking the kids upstairs to her and Todd&rsquo&semi;s bedroom&period; « What&rsquo&semi;s she even doing&quest; » Molina&rsquo&semi;s hand went to her mouth and shrunk as she watched the footage further&period; « Jesus&comma; is that what she&rsquo&semi;s been up to behind my back&quest; » Lena couldn&rsquo&semi;t believe her eyes&period; She rushed home after informing her boss of a family emergency&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>When she arrived&comma; she ran upstairs to her bedroom and started crying&period; « I&rsquo&semi;m so sorry&comma; kids&period; I&rsquo&semi;m sorry&comma; Mrs&period; Woods&period; You&rsquo&semi;re early today&comma; » he said&period; « Bella&comma; we didn&rsquo&semi;t want you to know&period; » It turned out Bella was a dance teacher in the past and was teaching the kids to dance so they could surprise Lena on her birthday&comma; which was only a week away&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The kids had stumbled and fallen while dancing&comma; hence the bruises&period; Bella had to take the children to Todd and Lena&rsquo&semi;s bedroom because the music player was in their room&comma; and Bella&comma; Todd&comma; and even the kids were in the plan together&period; But thanks to Lena&rsquo&semi;s super-anxious brain&comma; she ruined the surprise for herself&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>« I&rsquo&semi;m sorry&comma; Bella&comma; » Lena said&period; « I suspected you&period; I shouldn&rsquo&semi;t have&period; I installed cameras all over the house because I thought you were hurting my children&period; I felt so embarrassed seeing the footage&semi; I had to rush home&period; I&rsquo&semi;m so sorry&period; » « Mommy&comma; this was a surprise&comma; you ruined it&period; » « Well&comma; it&rsquo&semi;s not completely ruined&comma; » laughed Bella&period; « We can still surprise her&period; Kids&comma; let&rsquo&semi;s not reveal our dance moves to Mommy&comma; okay&quest; »<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Lena felt so embarrassed&semi; she apologized to Bella again&comma; who said she didn&rsquo&semi;t mind any of it&period; « If I were in her shoes&comma; Mrs&period; Woods&comma; I&rsquo&semi;d be equally worried&period; Being a mother is quite a job&comma; isn&rsquo&semi;t it&quest; » « Tell me about it&comma; » said Lena shyly&period; A week later&comma; the kids finally showed their performance to Elena&comma; who cried after watching it&period; The family enjoyed a ballet&comma; lots of cake&comma; laughed&comma; and shed happy tears&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Lena realized she couldn&rsquo&semi;t have found a better babysitter than Bella&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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