The past perfect describes two situations that occurred in the past: 1. the asking and 2.the agreement. She was presently acting as the caretaker. The simple past would make it seem like it just happened very recently. The past perfect clarifies the timeline of events to show that these two events occurred sometime in the past.

For the first, past perfect works best. You can use it for the second as well but simple past is just as good. The first past perfect establishes the time frame very well. You do not need to do that twice.