Mommy Wanted

“Yes?”

“You can help me get in my seat.”

Mitch had started buckling Emmie, but his hands fumbled over the fastener. He looked up in time to see the lady smile at his little girl and change direction to walk toward his car.

“I’d love to help you,” she said, her voice filled with so much compassion that Mitch thought she seemed on the verge of tears. He focused on her eyes, blinking more than normal and definitely fighting whatever emotion Dee’s request had evoked.

Mitch was fighting one himself, because other than their family members, Dee didn’t typically ask for help from anyone but her daddy. He kept his attention on securing Emmie, now snoring softly, into her seat, but looked up to lock gazes with Kate. Her dark, unruly hair framed her petite face as she focused on buckling Dee in and then gave his daughter a smile.

“How’s that?” she asked.

Dee examined the buckle on her car seat and nodded. “You did good.”

Kate’s face practically glowed at Dee’s praise. “Thanks.” Then she looked up, caught Mitch staring, and they both quickly got out of the close space and shut their respective car doors.

“I’ll call you after I’ve spoken with your references,” he said, attempting to sound as professional as possible given whatever had just passed between them.

It’d been eighteen months since he’d felt anything remotely near to this. Maybe it was because she was someone new, someone who wasn’t from Claremont and didn’t know him as the young widower in town, as Jana’s husband, or as Dee and Emmie’s dad. Those were the references to him nowadays, and rarely did he simply feel like Mitch. But he didn’t want to give up his new monikers because giving them up meant letting go of Jana.

Wasn’t happening.

“Can you tell me something before you go?” Kate asked.

Mitch paused, his hand on the door handle. “Sure.”

“I’m going to stay at the town’s bed-and-breakfast until I find a place to rent. Can you give me some easy directions to—” she pulled a small slip of paper from her pocket “—111 Maple Street?”

Mitch nodded. “It’s easy to find, only three miles away, but it’d be even easier for me to show you, since I live across the street from the B and B. You can follow me.”

Another one of those mesmerizing smiles blindsided him again. “Thanks!”

Mitch climbed in the car, buckled up and then checked the rearview mirror to see Emmie still sleeping and Dee looking directly at him in the mirror.

“I like Miss Kate,” she said.

“I do, too,” he admitted. Which was good. He would need to like his employee, as long as he made sure to control the extent of that “like.”

Dee peered out the window and waved to Kate before Mitch put the car in Reverse and backed up. “She’s like Snow White,” she said.

Mitch thought of Dee’s favorite story and of the lady who seemed out of her element and took care of everyone she met. And maybe that was why God had plopped Kate Wydell in his world. He needed to simply thank Him and accept the fact that he might finally have someone to relieve the workload at the office. “Maybe,” he said, “she is.”

Chapter Three

Annette Tingle walked ahead of Kate toward the last room on the second floor of the bed-and-breakfast. “I know you said you wanted a small room, but this is the only one that we have available for an extended stay.”

“I’ll be looking for a house to rent,” Kate said, “but I’m assuming I won’t be able to move in until the first of the month.”

“That’s probably true,” the lady agreed. “Hard to believe it’s nearly June already. The year is flying by, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is,” Kate said. Life, in fact, had flown over the past year and a half.

“Well, this is your room.” Annette opened the door to a spacious bedroom complete with a canopied four-poster bed. A simple old-fashioned coverlet topped the mattress with embroidered pillows in shades of blue and rose adding a subdued hint of color. An enormous bay window with a window seat upholstered in the same shades overlooked Maple Street and consequently offered a direct view to the antebellum home across the street, the one where she’d watched Mitch pull in a short while ago.

Unable to stop herself, she walked to the big window, peered at his home and wondered how he and the girls were doing.

“Your bathroom is connected through this doorway,” Mrs. Tingle said from behind her, “and you have extra linens in your closet if you need them at night. We’ll charge you the regular room rate, even though this is master-sized, since that’s what you’d have preferred.”

“Thank you,” Kate said, still focusing on the house across the street.

“And you said you’re moving to Claremont?” Mrs. Tingle asked, causing Kate to reluctantly turn away from the window. She’d so enjoyed her time with Mitch’s little girls. Maybe that was an indication that she could be a good mother, which was the entire reason she was here. “Are you here for a job, or family?” the woman continued.

Kate swallowed. Family would be the most correct answer, a little girl who was the same age as Dee Gillespie and whom Kate had abandoned nearly four years ago. But she wasn’t ready to divulge that colossal secret. She focused on answering the woman’s question instead of breaking down in tears. “I’ve applied for a job at Gillespie Insurance Agency as an office manager.”

Mrs. Tingle clasped her hands together. “Well, that’s wonderful. I’m so glad Mitch is getting some help. He’s been trying to find someone for quite a while now, but it’s a small town, you know. Not a lot of people with the kind of experience he needed. I told him that someone would turn up, though, and here you are.” She smiled so broadly she practically beamed.

“Yes, here I am,” Kate said, her voice raspy with emotion. Would Mitch still be so happy about her presence when he realized that Kate was the one who had hurt his friend?

“That young man stays so busy with work and raising his girls by himself and everything,” Annette said. “It’ll be good for him to have some help in that office. He’s our neighbor, you know, lives just across the street.”

“I know,” Kate said, wondering why Mitch was raising his girls “by himself.” “I was putting my résumé in at his office and asked him where I could locate the B and B, and he told me I could follow him, since he lived across from y’all.”

Mrs. Tingle frowned. “He’s home already? That’s surprising. It’s only four-thirty. He usually doesn’t finish at his office until five o’clock, then he goes to get his girls and then comes home.” She waved a hand in front of her face. “I bet that sounds like I’m nosy. I’m not, really. It’s just that L.E. and I try to watch after our neighbors, and they do the same for us. Mitch has a fairly regular schedule. Usually he doesn’t come home until his day is done.”

“His little girl was sick, so he went home early,” Kate said, then explained, “I’d stopped by to drop off my résumé, and he was there getting his computer so he could work at home.”

The worry on Annette’s face was instant. “Oh, bless that boy’s heart. I wonder if he’s got some soup for her. I bet he doesn’t. And some food for himself. If he’s trying to work from home and take care of both of the girls, too, he’ll need help, especially if one is sick.” She paused. “Which one is sick?”

“Emmie,” Kate said, touched by the concern the woman showed toward her neighbor.

“Poor little Emmie,” Annette said. “Well, okay, I’d normally have L.E. take some things over for them, but he’s gone to Stockville to pick up some supplies. And I’ve got a few more guests that are supposed to arrive within the next hour, so I shouldn’t leave. Do you think you’d mind running a little care package over to Mitch from us, dear? You did meet him already, right?”

“I did, and I’d be happy to.” In fact, she hadn’t been able to get the girls off her mind. Emmie was so sick, and Dee had seemed sad that her daddy’s attention would have to be focused on his youngest daughter instead of playing with her. Following along as the woman returned to the hallway, Kate thought of Mitch, holding Emmie and promising Dee that he’d find a way to play a game with her, too. What a wonderful parent he was, someone whom she could watch and learn from, for sure. Because she desperately wanted to be a parent, a wonderful parent, to Lainey. If Chad would give her a chance.

Annette stopped halfway down the hall and indicated a different staircase than the one they’d taken earlier. “This leads to the kitchen,” she said, heading down with Kate following in her wake. “So if you ever get hungry for a snack or would like iced tea or coffee, it’ll always be available for you down here. But for now, we’ll use it to get some things together for Mitch and the girls.” She crossed the room and removed a patchwork quilt from the top of a chest freezer.

Kate moved to stand beside her and got there just in time for Annette to fill her arms.

“Here we go,” she said, handing her a large bowl labeled Chicken Noodle Soup. Then she balanced a Ziploc bag labeled Corn Bread on top of the bowl. And then she withdrew another flat container with Pecan Pie written across the side. “You can take the soup over to the microwave for me, if you don’t mind,” she said. “There’s a defrost button we can use for that and the corn bread. We’ll have everything ready to eat, in case they’re all hungry now.” She continued rummaging through all of the labeled containers in the freezer.

Kate nodded. “Okay.” She found the oversize microwave, took the lid off the soup container and then started defrosting. She found it oddly comforting to hear the woman instruct her around the kitchen. She hadn’t had those experiences growing up that she often saw in commercials or on paintings, where the little apron-clad girl stood on a chair beside her mom and poured the chocolate chips into the cookie batter. Her stepmom hadn’t liked the kids in the kitchen, so Kate’s first attempts at cooking hadn’t occurred until she was in her first apartment. Assisting Annette Tingle in the kitchen touched her heart, and again, she found herself swallowing past tears. Wouldn’t it be something if she could help her own little girl make cookies one day?

By the time Annette joined her with a breakfast casserole and another large bowl labeled Potato Soup, Kate had harnessed her emotions, defrosted the soup and corn bread and was moving on to the pie.

“We’ll just defrost the pie and leave it that way for him to put in and heat up a piece at a time. But the soup and corn bread we’ll go ahead and heat so it’s ready to go,” Annette said, taking the other frozen items in her hand with her to a set of side shelves organized with plates, cups, utensils and a couple of picnic baskets. She brought the largest basket to the table, placed the potato soup and casserole in the bottom and then situated several red-and-white-checked fabric napkins over them. “We’ll put the heated things on top, and you can let him know to put the food for tomorrow in his fridge.” She smiled. “That’ll help him out a bit. He’s such a sweet man and a great daddy to his girls. I’m sure you will enjoy working for him, too.”

Kate continued heating the food for tonight but found the courage to ask what she wanted to know most. “You said he takes care of the girls all by himself?” She attempted to sound nonchalant. She remembered meeting the pretty lady who had been Mitch’s wife three years ago, though she couldn’t recall her name. And she also remembered that the two had appeared very much in love and absolutely thrilled with their little baby. Dee.

“Oh, yes,” Annette said, placing the pie in the basket and putting more napkins around it while making room for the soup and corn bread. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking that you wouldn’t know. I’m sure Mitch wouldn’t mind me telling you since you’ll find out soon enough working for him and all. He’s a widower, poor dear. His sweet wife, Jana, had breast cancer, and it got really bad when she was carrying little Emmie. She wouldn’t have treatments while she was pregnant because she was afraid, you know, chemo and radiation might hurt the baby.”

“But you can be treated while you’re pregnant,” Kate said. She didn’t explain why she knew. Luckily, the lady didn’t ask.

“Oh, I know. That’s what they told Jana and Mitch, but she was so afraid that it might hurt the baby that she didn’t want to risk it. You know, they’re always finding out new things, and she didn’t want to be treated and then find out later that they just didn’t realize it’d hurt Emmie.”

“And the cancer got worse?” Kate guessed.

Annette pulled the steaming soup from the microwave and put it on top of the napkins in the basket. “By the time Emmie came, there wasn’t any chance of survival. Jana lived a couple of weeks after the baby was born.”

Kate’s stomach pitched. A year ago, she’d thought that she wouldn’t have the chance to ever see her little girl. Mitch’s wife had barely met Emmie before she died. “That had to be so hard for him.”

“It was hard on him and on the whole town really,” she said. “Everyone loved Jana. Her family has lived in this town for as long as I can remember. And everyone loves Mitch.” She placed the corn bread in the basket and closed the lid, then winked at Kate. “We all try to take care of him and those girls. That’s the way this town is, you know. Everyone is like family.”

Kate nodded, remembering Chad trying to sell her on the move to Claremont by saying that very thing. And remembering how she’d stayed here only a few days before leaving him, the town he loved and her baby girl behind.

“So would you mind taking this over to him?” Annette asked. “And I’ll finish getting those other rooms ready for our guests.”

“I’m happy to do it,” Kate said, meaning every word.

* * *

Mitch poured apple juice into Dee’s sippy cup and handed it to her while he looked at the bare shelves of his refrigerator. He had eggs, so he could scramble some for dinner. That should be easy enough on Emmie’s stomach. But then if he cooked those tonight, what would they have for breakfast in the morning?

“Daddy, I’m hungry,” Dee said, echoing his problem.

“How about an apple to hold you over until I can get something fixed for dinner?” He plucked one out of the fruit bowl.

She frowned. “I want green this time,” she said, then added, “please.”

Mitch returned the Red Delicious and retrieved a Granny Smith apple from the bowl. Lately he’d noticed her voicing her opinions and making more decisions on her own, displaying the independence and confidence that he’d always admired in her mom. He couldn’t be more proud. “One green apple coming up.”

“Thanks, Daddy.”

“You’re welcome.”

She watched as he sliced the apple, put it on her Dora the Explorer plate and placed it in front of her at the kitchen table. Emmie had been asleep ever since they got home, but he expected her to wake soon. She’d be hungry and thirsty, and he wanted to make sure he was prepared.

“Maybe I’ll go ahead and have some eggs ready for when Emmie wakes up,” he said to Dee.

Dee, chomping happily on her apple, nodded. “Yep, that’ll be good. You want to play a game while she’s still asleep?”

“Sure.” He’d kind of hoped she would forget the game promise for a while, at least until he got a few of those policies checked out, but he didn’t want to let her down, and playing while Emmie was asleep was probably the best route to take, since Emmie would undoubtedly not want to leave his arms once she woke. Which would also make it impossible for him to get his work done.

Help me out, here, Lord. You know I need it.

Mitch almost didn’t hear the tiny tap from the front of the house, but Dee did.

“Someone’s here,” she said, abandoning the apple and crawling off her seat to run toward the front of the house. She was probably hoping it was one of her friends coming to play. Mandy and Daniel Brantley occasionally brought Kaden over, and Chad and Jessica Martin visited every now and then with Lainey. But the majority of Dee’s friends were out of town with their families. Mitch had considered letting the girls go along with their grandparents on the family trip, but he simply hadn’t wanted to part with them for that long. Now, with Emmie’s sickness, he was glad he’d kept them home. But somehow, he’d need to find a way to combat Dee’s boredom with their current situation. Maybe whoever was at the door would help.

By the time he got to the foyer, Dee had already started reaching for the doorknob. Naturally, it was locked, but even so, he wanted her to remember the rule. “Wait, sweetie. Daddy needs to open the door, remember?”

“Okay.” She’d already moved to the sidelight, pulled the skinny curtain aside and peered out. “Hey! It’s Miss Kate!”

At the sound of Kate’s name, Mitch realized that he’d actually hoped to see her again tonight. He’d planned to call her and let her know he’d talked to her references, but telling her in person would be better. He didn’t know why he felt that way, but he wasn’t about to try to analyze it.

He unlocked and opened the wooden door, which left the screen door separating Mitch and Dee from their visitor.

“What you got in the basket, Miss Kate?” Dee bounced in place while she waited for Mitch to open the screen door.

Kate clutched the handles of an oversize picnic basket with both hands. From the strained look on her face, the thing was pretty heavy.

Mitch pushed the door open and hurried to take the large basket.

Kate smiled. “Thanks. I don’t think I could’ve stood here holding it much longer.”

“What have you got in here?” he asked, turning to go back into the house.

“It’s from Mrs. Tingle,” she called, and Mitch realized she still stood on the porch.

“Come on in!” Dee said, waving her inside, and Mitch nodded his agreement.

“Yes, forgive me. Please come in.” He led the way to the kitchen, where he placed the basket on the table then opened the lid to release the most amazing aromas he’d smelled in this kitchen in months.

“Oh, that smells good,” Dee said, climbing up on her seat to peer into the basket.

“It’s chicken noodle soup, corn bread and pecan pie for your dinner,” Kate said, as Mitch removed each of the named items from the basket.

He lifted an abundance of checked napkins and then saw more containers on the bottom.

“That’s a breakfast casserole and potato soup for tomorrow,” Kate said. “Mrs. Tingle said she didn’t want you to worry about cooking.”

“That lady spoils me,” Mitch said, grinning, “but I’m not about to complain.”

“She seems very sweet,” Kate agreed.

He placed the hot items on the stove and the cold ones in the fridge. Then he turned to see Kate standing awkwardly near the table as though she weren’t certain whether to stay or to leave. Mitch didn’t know whether he should politely usher her out or follow an instinct he didn’t quite understand...and ask her to stay.

It turned out, the decision wasn’t really his to make. Dee took over.

“Daddy has to work but I really want to play a game. Would you play a game with me?”

Kate’s eyes lifted and found Mitch’s. “Would that be okay with you?”

“If you wouldn’t mind, that’d be fine. I’m sure Dee would like it.” He’d like it, too, actually. He did have a lot of work to do, but he hadn’t wanted to let his little girl down.

“Yes, I sure would,” Dee said. “I can get my Memory game. Do you like the Memory game?”

“I’m not sure, but we’ll see,” Kate said.

“Okay!” Dee jumped off her chair and darted out of the kitchen toward the game room.

Mitch found himself alone with Kate. She eased into a chair at the table and nervously pulled at one of her black curls.

“Are you sure you don’t mind staying here a little while to play Memory with her?” he asked. “I can promise you she won’t be satisfied with one game, and I should also tell you she’s pretty good and doesn’t tend to show mercy.”

A small laugh escaped. “I was just hoping you didn’t feel like I was trying to bombard your space or take away from your time with your girls.” One corner of her mouth lifted along with a shoulder. “Or try to sway you into feeling like you have to hire me because I’ve won Dee over.”

“I’ll admit it doesn’t hurt that she likes you so much already,” he said. “But truthfully, I called your references as soon as I got home, and they all sang your praises. Just be forewarned that Dee and Emmie come with the territory. Playing games and having tea parties may actually end up being a part of your job description.”

Her eyes practically danced. “Oh, Mr. Gillespie, I can’t tell you how much I’d enjoy that.”

“Mitch,” he corrected. “Please call me Mitch.”

She blinked, and he saw something pass over her face that he didn’t understand, as though maybe she were debating them being on a first-name basis. But it didn’t mean anything. Everyone in Claremont went by first names. And thankfully, she nodded. “Okay. Mitch. I can’t tell you how much I’d enjoy that as a part of my job description.”

Dee bounded into the room with the game clutched in her hands, and he watched the two flip the square pieces over on the table. Dee’s excited chatter and Kate’s gentle words to his daughter filled the kitchen, but Mitch heard only one thing.

Kate Wydell...saying his name.

Chapter Four

Mitch quietly stepped away from Dee’s room so he wouldn’t wake her from her nap. His oldest princess had tried to deny the virus had gotten the best of her, saying that she was not going to let Emmie’s “bad bug” make her sick, too.

But as Mitch suspected, yesterday afternoon, when Emmie had begun to feel better, Dee’s stomach had started, in her words, “feeling yucky.” And then, like Emmie, she hadn’t been able to keep any food down. Today, after two full days of taking care of the girls, it seemed the worst of the virus was thankfully behind them.

And he was thankful for his new employee’s willingness to spend her first couple of days on the job working from Mitch’s front porch. The weather, in the low seventies with a frequent breeze, had made their temporary work environment quite enjoyable, and Mitch was glad for the ability to keep the office running remotely while also personally taking care of his girls.

He’d kept the wooden front door open throughout the day so he could listen for Dee through the screen one. Now he took advantage of that from the opposite side as he listened to Kate speak to one of his clients, her fingers tapping the keys of her laptop while she cradled the phone between her right ear and shoulder.

“Yes, Mrs. Tolleson,” she said, “I’ll be happy to let you know how much that would cost. I just need a little more information about your son.”

Mitch stopped walking and watched her capably select the website path to obtain a quote for renter’s insurance. And while Kate followed through the standard questions about the son’s age, address, marital status and home-contents value, Mitch studied the picturesque scene of his front porch.

A few feet from Kate, Emmie dozed peacefully in her pack-and-play, the mesh sides allowing Mitch to see one tiny hand clutching her nighty-night, the blanket Jana had sewn for her while she was pregnant. She’d created the satin border from one of her blouses and had said she hoped it’d somehow keep her close to her baby after she was gone.

Whether Emmie realized the fabric was from her mommy or not, the blanket was a must-have whenever she slept. Her opposite hand was balled near her chin with her tiny lips subtly moving around her thumb. The image would make a beautiful painting, but Mitch would be lying if he said that the sleeping child was the only thing worthy of a painting on his front porch. He turned his attention to the woman still speaking softly on the phone, her quiet tone obviously due to the sleeping baby.

A couple of decorative, very feminine bobby pins held back Kate’s dark curls on each side. Like yesterday, her outfit was dressy enough to qualify as business-casual but also appeared comfortable and modest. Today she wore a short white crocheted jacket over a sleeveless sky-blue dress that reached her ankles. Small pearls dotted each ear and a matching single-pearl necklace rested against her throat. She wore minimal makeup, only a hint of eye shadow and a pale pink lipstick, from what Mitch could tell. He wasn’t an expert on makeup or anything, but it seemed that the small amount only accented her blue eyes and heart-shaped lips.