The Nanny's Double Trouble

She peeked into the kids’ bedroom and also the playroom before following him. Nobody there. Grace must have them downstairs somewhere.

Working together, they hauled everything up to her two rooms, bringing the big thread pegboard up last.

“You want this board mounted on the wall?” he asked.

“That would be terrific.”

“I’ll get to that tonight. Once we get the bed out, we can set things up pretty much like the room you were using at your place.”

It was exactly what she’d hoped to do, and she got a minor case of the warm fuzzies that he’d not only pitched in to help move her things, he’d also given real thought to making her as comfortable as possible in his house. “Totally works for me. Thanks.”

With the barest nod of acknowledgment, he pulled a folded scrap of paper from his pocket—a check. “First week’s pay.” She took it. “I need to go on up to Warrenton,” he said. Valentine Logging operated a log sorting and storage yard, deep water and barge cargo docks, and a log barking and chipping facility in nearby Warrenton at the mouth of the Columbia River. The company offices were there, too. “You planning to look in at the gallery today?”

“I am, yes. But I’ll be back in the afternoon, ready to take over with the kids.”

“No rush. Grace is here until tomorrow. She’ll watch them today and tonight so you can get settled in.”

That didn’t seem fair. Grace had spent her whole week helping with the kids. “I’m fine on my own with them.”

His regular frown got deeper. “Grace’ll be here. In case you need her.”

She considered the wisdom of arguing the point further. But his mouth was set and his eyes unwavering. Maybe not. “See you later then.”

With a grunt, he turned and went down the stairs.

* * *

From the docks in Warrenton, Daniel called a handyman he trusted to haul the bed from the white room down into the basement. He’d been feeling pretty desperate yesterday when Keely showed up to save his bacon on the childcare front.

True, her offer had seemed like a bad idea at first. He’d been afraid they wouldn’t get along. In the last years of Lillie’s life, as his marriage unraveled, Keely had never said a mean word to him directly. But he got the message in her disapproving glances and careful silences whenever he happened to be in the same room with her. She’d been firmly Team Lillie, no doubt about it. Still, for the twins’ sake, she’d stepped up to provide the care they needed.

It was important to do everything he could to make her happy in his house. He planned to be home for dinner and then to help her get everything just the way she wanted it.

But the day came and went. By late afternoon, he still needed to go through the stack of paperwork he hadn’t managed to get to during the week. After a short break to grab some takeout, he headed for the office, ending up by himself at his desk until after seven.

When he finally pulled his truck into the garage, he caught Grace, in tight jeans and full makeup, as she was coming down the stairs from the inside door. She flashed him a smile and tried to ease past him on the way to her car.

“Hold on.”

“Daniel.” She made his name into a serious complaint. “I have to go. I’m meeting Erin at—”

He caught her arm. “We need to talk.”

“But—”

“Come on.”

She let out a groan, but at least she followed him back into the house. “What? Can you please make it quick?”

“Let’s talk in my study.” She trudged along behind him to his home office off the foyer. Once they were both inside, he shut the door. “The kids and Keely?”

There was an eye roll. “Jake and Frannie are already in bed. Keely’s upstairs, putting her stuff away, fixing up her room and her workroom. She said it was fine for me to go.”

A hot spark of anger ignited in his gut. But when he got mad, Grace just got madder. He reminded himself to keep his cool. “The agreement was that you would give Keely a hand tonight, help her get comfortable, pitch in with the kids.” He kept his voice level. Reasonable.

Still, Grace’s eyes flashed blue fire. “The kids are in bed. Got it? And what agreement? You told me what to do as you were going out the door.”

“Grace, I—”

“No. Uh-uh. I talked to Keely. I asked her if she needed me. She said go, have fun.”

“Of course she would say that.”

Grace looked up at the ceiling and blew out a furious breath. “You know, some people go to Cancún for their spring break. Me, though? I come home and help your mother-in-law look after your kids. And then when she trips over Jake, it’s just me. Until Keely stepped up—which I totally appreciate. Keely’s about the best there is. But me, I’ve got one night. One night of my spring break to myself. A few hours with my friends, and then I’m on my way back to school.”

When she said it like that, he felt like an ogre. A litany of swear words scrolled through his brain. Playing stand-in dad to his own sisters and brothers should be more rewarding, shouldn’t it? How come so much of the job just plain sucked?

She’s the last one at home, he reminded himself. He was pretty much done with raising his siblings.

Too bad he still had a couple of decades ahead with his own kids.

“Come on, Grace. Don’t exaggerate. You’ve spent time with your friends this week.”

“Not much, I haven’t.”

“You went out last night, remember?”

Another giant sigh. More ceiling staring. “For like two hours.”

“I want you to stick around tonight in case she needs you.”

“But I promised Erin—”

He put up a hand. “You’re needed here. And that’s all I have to say about it.”

If looks could kill, he’d be seared to a cinder. He waited for the yelling to start, dreaded the angry words about to erupt from her mouth—I hate you, Daniel and Who died and made you king? and the worst one of all, You are not my father.

As if he didn’t know that. As if he’d asked for the thankless job of seeing that his brothers and sisters made it all the way to fully functioning adulthood without somehow crashing and burning in the process.

But this time, Grace surprised him. “Fine,” she said way too quietly. And then, shoulders back and head high, she marched to the door, yanked it wide and went out.

He winced as she slammed it behind her. And then, even with the door shut, he could hear her boots pound the floor with each step as she tramped through the downstairs to her room off the kitchen—and slammed that door, too.

Chapter Two

Daniel scrubbed both hands down his face. And then he stood stock-still, listening for cries from upstairs—Jake or Frannie, startled awake by Grace’s slamming and stomping. He didn’t breathe again for several seconds.

Finally, when he heard nothing but sweet silence, he stuck his head out the door and listened some more.

Still nothing.

By some minor miracle, Grace had failed to wake up the kids.

Daniel retreated into the study and quietly shut the door. He really ought to go straight upstairs to see how Keely was managing.

But Grace might still have angry words to hurl at him. He would check his email now, hide out for a few minutes. If Grace came flying back out of her room again loaded for bear, he didn’t want to be anywhere in her path.

* * *

Keely was in her bedroom, putting her clothes in the dresser when she heard a door slam downstairs, followed by the loud tapping of boots across hardwood floors.

Grace. Had to be. Keely tucked a stack of bras into the top drawer, quietly slid it shut—and winced as another downstairs door slammed.

Apparently Daniel had come in before Grace could escape.

Keely felt a stab of guilt. Daniel had made it abundantly clear he intended for his sister to stay home tonight. If Keely had only asked Grace to stick around, the confrontation that had so obviously just occurred downstairs could have been avoided.

But come on. Grace had a right to a little fun with her friends now and then. And Keely really didn’t need her tonight.

The question now: Should she leave bad enough alone and stay out of it?

Yeah, probably.

But what had just happened was partly her fault. At the very least, she could offer Grace a shoulder to cry on.

Still not sure she ought to be sticking her nose in, she tiptoed out into the hall, down the stairs, past the shut door to Daniel’s study and onward to the back of the house, into the hall off the kitchen. She tapped on Grace’s door.

After a minute, a teary voice called, “Go away, Daniel!”

Keely tapped again. “Grace, it’s me.”

Silence. Keely steeled herself to be told to get lost.

But then she heard footsteps in there. Grace opened the door with red-rimmed eyes and a nose to match.

Keely held out a tissue. “I come in peace.”

Grace took the tissue and wiped her nose. “Where is he?”

“Still in his study, I think.”

“Jake and Frannie?”

“Not a peep.”

Grace sniffed again. “Come in.” She stepped back. Keely entered and followed her to the bed where they sat down side by side.

Keely made her apology. “He told me this morning that he expected you to stay in. I should have warned you that he seemed kind of dug in about it.”

“He’s kind of dug in about everything.” Grace stuck out her chin. “You know it’s true.” Keely didn’t argue. Why should she? She agreed with Grace on that. “He treats me like I’m a borderline delinquent. I’m twenty-one years old, getting decent grades in school, doing a perfectly fine job of adulting, thank you so very much. I could just get up, get in my car and go.”

“But you won’t. Because you are sweet and helpful. You love your brother, and you want to get along with him. You know he’s got way too much on his plate, and so you try your best to be patient with him.”

Grace let out a reluctant snort of laughter. “Yeah, right.”

“I want to make a little speech now. It will probably annoy you, but I hope you’ll listen anyway.”

“Go for it.”

“When he was your age, he was married, working, fitting in college classes as best he could and raising you and your brothers and sisters—and probably getting zero nights out with his friends.”

Into the silence that followed, Grace shot her a surprised glance. “That’s it. That’s the speech?”

“That’s all.”

Grace seemed to consider. “I know you’re right. He hasn’t had it easy. But he still drives me crazy. I mean, does he have to be such a hard-ass all the time?”

Keely put her hand over Grace’s and gave it a pat. “I’ll go talk to him.”

Grace scoffed, “Like there aren’t a thousand ways that could go horribly wrong.”

“Trust me.”

“I do. It’s him that I’m worried about.”

* * *

Daniel was still holed up in his study, reluctant to venture out and possibly have to deal with his sister again when the tap came on the door.

Grace? Doubtful. Probably Keely. He didn’t really want to listen to whatever she had to say right at the moment either. Chances were she’d only come to give him a bad time about Grace.

There was another knock.

He gave in and called out, “It’s open.”

Keely pushed the door wide and then hesitated on the threshold. She wore what she’d had on that morning—jeans rolled at the ankles, a black-and-white-striped shirt half-tucked-in and hanging off one shoulder, with high-tops on her feet. Her hair was naturally reddish blond, but she liked to change it up. Today, it fell in fog-frizzed brown waves to her shoulders. Her big, wide-set green eyes assessed him.

He leaned back in his swivel chair and cracked his neck to dispel some of the tension. “Go ahead. I’m listening.”

She braced a shoulder in the doorway, stuck her hands in her pockets and crossed one high-top in front of the other. “I really did tell Grace I didn’t need her, and I urged her to go out and have a little fun.”

Women. They always knew how to gang up on a man. “All right.”

She pushed off the door and straightened her shoulders. “All right, she can go—or all right, you heard what I said and I should get lost?”

He stared at his dead wife’s cousin and reminded himself all over again that he was really grateful she’d come to look after his children, even if she did consider him to blame for all that had gone wrong between him and Lillie.

And maybe he was to blame.

When his parents had died suddenly on a second honeymoon in Thailand, he was eighteen. The most important thing then was to keep what was left of his family together. He’d stepped up to take care of his three surviving brothers and four sisters. Lillie, a year behind him in school, stepped right up with him. He and Lillie had been together—inseparable, really—for two years by then. They’d agreed to get married as soon as Lillie graduated high school.

A born nurturer just like her mother, Lillie was only too happy to take over as a second mom to his big brood of siblings. She always claimed that choosing a life with him and his ready-made family was the perfect solution for her. She could have the kids she longed for and not risk her health.

But as the years passed and his brothers and sisters grew up and moved out, her yearning for babies of their own only got stronger. He didn’t share that yearning. No way. An empty nest. That was what he’d looked forward to. He’d thought they might travel a little, get to know each other all over again...

“Daniel? You all right?” Keely was waiting for him to answer her last question.

He shook himself and put his regrets aside. “Sorry.” Grace. He needed to smooth things over with Grace. “You’re sure you don’t need her?”

“Positive.”

He got up. “I’ll go talk to her.”

* * *

Grace opened the door at his knock. “What now?”

“Grace, I’m sorry we got into it.”

“It’s all right,” she said flatly. He got the message. It was not all right. It was anything but.

“Listen, go ahead. Go meet Erin. Enjoy your last night home.”

She almost smiled. But she was still too pissed at him for that. “Thanks.”

Don’t stay out too late. He closed his mouth over the words. She was an adult after all. He had trouble sometimes remembering that. She’d been a sweet little six-year-old in pigtails with two missing front teeth when George and Marie Bravo decided they needed a romantic getaway in Thailand. They got there just in time for the tsunami that killed them. And Grace had had to grow up without them.

No, he wasn’t his baby sister’s father, but sometimes he felt like it. He liked it when she stayed home—and not only because she helped out with the kids. He wanted her safe, damn it, wanted all of them safe. Life was too dangerous. Anything could happen. He knew that from hard experience.

“Have a good time.” He pushed the words out of his unwilling mouth.

“I will,” she said obediently and then lifted her arms in a limp offer of a hug.

He gathered her close, but only for a moment. She pulled free quickly, and he left her to go offer Keely some help setting up the white room for her studio.

* * *

By a little after eleven, they had the thread pegboard hung and covered with giant spools. He’d put up some shelves for her, ones he’d found down in the basement. The shelves used to be in his brother Matthias’s room way back before Matt moved out. She had two worktables set up, one for sketching and one for her sewing machine. There was an easel in the corner and another, smaller table next to it piled with paint and brushes.

“This is looking good, Daniel. Thank you.”

“What else needs doing?”

“That’s it.” She hid a yawn behind her hand. “We are finished.”

“You sure?”

She pushed in the chair at her sewing table. “Yep.”

He felt the oddest reluctance to head for his own room. After Grace left for her night out, it had been pretty much a no-pressure evening. He’d felt useful, helping Keely get the room the way she wanted it. And besides that, it was kind of good just to hang with her. Kind of companionable.

He hadn’t had much of that, of companionship. Not for a long time. Not for a couple of years at least. Not since he’d found out that Lillie was pregnant.

And really, since before that, even. More like five years, since about the time Lillie started really pushing him to try for a baby of their own.

“Okay, what’d I say?” Keely asked.

“Huh? Nothing. Why?”

“You looked... I don’t know. Faraway. Unhappy.”

He tried for a laugh. It came out as more of a grunt. “I always look unhappy. Ask anyone who knows me.”

“Now, see. I want to say that’s not true. But, Daniel, it kind of is.”

He had the absolutely unacceptable urge to start talking about Lillie, about how angry he still was at her after all this time, for betting on her life. And losing.

What was the matter with him? To even consider spilling his guts about Lillie to Keely, of all people? That would be a bad idea of spectacular proportions.

Wouldn’t it? Why did he have this powerful feeling that Keely would understand?

Didn’t matter. He just wasn’t going there. No way.

And he needed to get out of there. Now.

He rubbed the back of his neck. “What can I say? Except, yeah, I’m a gloomy guy. And since you’re good to go here, I’ll see you in the morning.”

She didn’t reply for several seconds, just looked at him, kind of thoughtful and sad, both at once. A soft sigh escaped her. “All right then. Night.”

“Night—come on, Maisey. Let’s go.” The dog, stretched out by the window, got up and followed him from the room.

With Maisey trotting along behind, he went down the stairs to let her out before bed. He walked fast, too, just in case Keely got it in her head to try to stop him, to start asking questions he saw no win in answering.

* * *

Daniel got in bed around midnight. He had trouble sleeping until a little after two, when he heard Grace come in. Relieved that she was home safe, he finally drifted off.

He woke to the sound of one of the kids crying. Maisey was already out of her dog bed and sniffing at the door. She gave a worried little whine, urging him to hurry as he yanked on track pants and a frayed Go Beavers T-shirt. When he opened the door, she pushed out ahead of him, leading the way along the hallway to the twins’ bedroom.

The door stood open, dim light spilling out. Maisey went in first.

Keely was already there, Frannie in her arms. She was pacing the floor in the muted light from the little lamp on the green dresser. She turned when he entered, her hand on the back of Frannie’s head, stroking gently as Frannie sobbed against her shoulder.

He felt that familiar ache his chest, the one he got when one of his own was hurting. A quick glance at Jake’s crib showed him his boy was still asleep. That miracle wouldn’t last long. “Let me take her,” he whispered.

Keely kissed Frannie’s temple. “Here’s your daddy,” she murmured, keeping it low, probably hoping Jake wouldn’t wake up.

Yeah. Good luck with that.

Daniel held out his arms. With a sad little cry, Frannie twisted in Keely’s hold and fell toward him. “Da-Da!” she wailed. He caught her and gathered her in. She dropped her head against his chest. “Ow. Ow, ow, ow.”

Keely moved in close, the soft sleeve of her flannel pajama top brushing his arm. He got a faint whiff of sweetness—her shampoo? Her perfume? “Ear infection?” she whispered.

He felt the back of Frannie’s neck as she sobbed against his chest. “She seems kind of hot.”

“I thought so, too.”

“We should take her temperature.”

“I’ll get the thermometer.”

“It’s the one that says rectal on the case,” he advised over Frannie’s unhappy cries. Rectal. Story of his life. Rectal thermometers and never enough sleep—and did Keely know where to look? “Cabinet in the big bathroom,” he added. “On the left, second shelf. Just to be sure it’s sterile, clean it with alcohol and a little soap and water.”

“You got it.” She disappeared into the hallway. Really, she was a champ, that Keely.

About then, Jake woke up with a startled cry. “Da?”

“It’s okay, big guy.”

“Fa-Fa?” It was Jake’s name for his sister.

“She’s not feeling so good.”

Jake stood up in his crib. “Fa-Fa?” he called again.

Frannie answered, “Day!” She couldn’t make the j sound yet, and she tended to drop hard sounds at the ends of words, so the k got lost, too, and she called her twin Day. “Ow, ow, ow!”

“Shh.” Daniel soothed her. “It’s okay...” Gently, he laid his wailing daughter on the changing table. As she wiggled and whined, he took off her one-piece pajamas and her diaper. Meanwhile, Jake jumped up and down in his crib, calling out “Fa-Fa, Fa-Fa!” in frantic sympathy, followed by a bunch of nonsense words to which Frannie replied with nonsense of her own—well, maybe not nonsense to the two of them. They had their own language that only they understood.

Keely came back with the thermometer in one hand, a bottle of liquid Tylenol and a dosing syringe in the other. “We’ll probably need it,” she said, meaning the Tylenol. Chances were way too good she was right.

He held out his hand as Frannie continued to cry and squirm. Keely passed him the thermometer—and Jake let out a wail from his crib.

“I’ll get him,” she said. “Tylenol’s right here.” She set it on the shelf above the changing table and went to reassure Jake.

The thermometer registered 102 degrees. He put a fresh diaper on Frannie and dosed her with the Tylenol as Keely sat in the corner rocker, soothing the worried Jake.

Once he had Frannie back in her pajamas, he walked the floor with her until the Tylenol seemed to kick in. She went to sleep against his shoulder.

He kissed the top of her sweaty little head and glanced over to find Keely watching him.

She mouthed, Sleeping? At his nod, she nodded back, pointing at Jake, who was curled up against her, sound asleep, too.

It was only a few steps to Frannie’s crib. He carried her over there and slowly, gently, laid her down. She didn’t stir as he tucked the blanket in around her.

Across the room in the other crib, Keely was tucking Jake in, too. She turned off the lamp, and they tiptoed from the now-quiet room together.

“Psst. Maisey,” he whispered. The dog lurched to her feet and waddled out after them. Daniel closed the door. “Whew.”

Keely leaned back against the wall next to her bedroom and said hopefully, “Maybe they’ll sleep the rest of the night and Frannie will be all better in the morning.”

“Dreamer. And what rest of the night? It’s already morning, in case you didn’t notice.”

“Don’t go overboard looking on the bright side there, Daniel.” She glanced through the open door to her room and blew out her cheeks with a weary breath. “Sadly enough, though, you’re right. The clock by my bed says it’s almost five. Tonight is officially over.”

“Let’s hope we get lucky and they both sleep till, say, eight.”

“As if.” She laughed, a sort of whisper-laugh to go with their low, careful whisper of a conversation. The low light from the wall sconces struck red glints in her brown hair, and she looked sweet as a farm girl, barefoot in those flannel pajamas that were printed with ladybugs.

He thought of Grace suddenly, knew a stab of annoyance that kind of soured the companionable moment between him and Keely—and there it was again, that word: companionable. He’d felt companionable with his dead wife’s cousin twice in one night, and he didn’t know whether to feel good about that or not.

“What?” Keely asked. “Just say it.”

He went ahead and admitted what was bugging him. “Grace. She’s got one of the baby monitors in her room, so she had to hear what was happening. But she didn’t even come check to see if we needed her.”