Mother in Training

Chapter Two

The last word Jack Lever would use to describe himself was impulsive.

It just wasn’t his nature.

He was thorough, deliberate and didactic. Born to be a lawyer, he always found himself examining a thing from all sides before taking any action on it.

It was one of the traits, he knew, that used to drive his wife, Patricia, crazy. She’d complain about his “stodgy” nature, saying she wanted them to be spontaneous. But he had always demurred, saying that he’d seen too many unforeseen consequences of random, impetuous actions to ever fall prey to that himself.

It was, he thought, just one of the many stalemates they’d found themselves facing. Stalemates that had brought them to the brink of divorce just before she was killed.

However, he thought as he slipped case notes into his briefcase, this was an emergency. Emergencies called for drastic measures. Tomorrow was going to be here before he knew it. Tomorrow with no nanny, with Emily needing to be dressed and taken to school, and Jackie still a perpetual challenge to one and all.

Walking out into the hall, Jack made his way to the elevator and pushed the down button. He needed a sitter, a nanny. A person with extreme patience and endless fortitude.

The express elevator arrived and he got on, stepping to the rear.

Desperate though he was, it seemed that fate—the same fate that had sent him three ultimately unsatisfactory nannies, one worse than the other—had decided to finally toss him a bone.

Or, in this case, a supernanny.

So when he stepped out of the fifteen-story building where the firm of Wasserman, Kendall, Lake & Lever was housed, and saw Zooey sitting on the stone rim of the fountain before the building, one child on either side of her and none looking damaged or even the worse for wear, Jack decided to go with his instincts. And for once in his life, do something impulsive.

The moment she saw Jack exiting the building, Zooey rose to her feet.

“Daddy’s here,” she told the children. A fresh burst of energy sent Jackie and Emily running madly toward their father.

Jackie reached him first, wrapping his small arms around his father’s leg as high as they would reach. “Hi, Daddy!” he crowed. For a little boy, he was capable of a great deal of volume.

“Hi, Daddy.” Emily’s greeting was quieter, but enthusiastic nonetheless.

He’d dropped his briefcase to the ground half a beat before Jackie and Emily surrounded him. “Hi, yourselves,” he said, wrapping an arm around each child.

Jack did like being a father. He just had no idea how to exercise small-person control.

Finding himself in a large conference room with a collection of the state’s greater legal minds, or in a tiny briefing area with a known hardened criminal, Jack knew how to handle himself. Knew how to maintain control so that the situation never threatened to get away from him.

But when it came to dealing with the under-fifteen set, especially with small beings who barely came up to his belt buckle, he was at a complete loss as to what to do.

Not so Zooey, he thought. Being with the children seemed to be right up her alley. As a matter of fact, she appeared to be as fresh as she always was when he walked into the coffee shop each morning.

He had no idea how she did it. His children had worn out three nannies in the last eighteen months, and seemed destined to wear out more.

Unless his instincts were right.

Slipping his arms free, he nodded at the short duo. “Did they give you any trouble?” he asked, almost afraid of the answer.

Zooey looked at him, wide-eyed. “Trouble? No!” she replied with feeling.

The way her green eyes sparkled as she voiced the denial told Jack that today had not been a boring one by any means.

Though he didn’t spend all that much time with them, he knew his kids, knew what they were capable of once they were up and running.

“Should I be writing out a check to anyone for damages they or their property sustained?”

She grinned. “You really do sound like a lawyer. No, no checks. No damages. Emily and Jackie were both very good.”

He stared at her. The trip to the parking structure that faced his office building and presently contained his car was temporarily aborted. “You sure you’re talking about my kids?”

She laughed, and it was a deep, full-volume one. “I am sure,” she assured him. “We went to the park, then saw that new movie, Ponies on Parade, had a quick, late lunch and here we are.”

Ponies on Parade. He vaguely remembered promising Emily to take her to that one. He guessed he was off the hook now. And damn grateful for it. He looked at Zooey with awe and respect. “You make it sound easy.”

“It was, for the most part.”

Zooey thought it best to leave out the part that while she was taking Emily to the ladies’ room, with Jackie in tow, the latter had gotten loose and scooted out from under the stall door. He’d managed, in the time it had taken her to leave Emily and go after him, to stuff up a toilet with an entire roll of toilet paper he’d tossed in and flushed.

Moving fast, Zooey had barely managed to snatch him away before the overflowing water had reached him.

Jack had always been very good at picking up nuances. He studied her now. “Something I should know about?”

The man had enough to deal with in his life, Zooey thought. He didn’t need someone “telling” on Jackie. “Only that they’re great kids.”

“Great kids,” Jack echoed, ready to bet his bottom dollar that that wasn’t what had been on her mind at all.

But, when he came right down to it, he knew Emily and Jackie were that. Great kids.

They were also Mischievous with a capital M. Kids who somehow managed to get into more trouble than he could remember getting into throughout his entire childhood.

Reflecting back, Jack had to admit that he’d been a solemn youngster—an only child whose father had died when he was very young. For years, Jack had thought that it had somehow been his fault, that if he’d been a better person, a better son, his father would have lived.

His stepfather did nothing to repair the hole that doubt had burrowed into his soul. He was never around during Jack’s childhood. He’d been, and still was, a terminal workaholic, laboring to provide a more than comfortable lifestyle for Jack’s mother, a woman who absolutely worshipped money and everything it could buy. Growing up, Jack supposed it could be said that he’d had the best childhood money could buy.

Everything but attention and the sense that he was truly loved.

He studied Zooey’s expression now. “You mean that?”

“Of course I do.” Why would he think anything else? she wondered. “I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t mean it.” Truth was something she had the utmost respect for. Because once lost, it couldn’t be easily won back. Like with Connor, she thought, then dismissed it. No point in wasting time there.

About to grasp Jackie’s hand to help lead him across the street to the parking structure, Zooey saw that the little boy had both arms raised to her, a silent indication that he wanted to be carried. She scooped him up without missing a beat.

Holding him to her, she glanced toward Jack. “Nothing worse than lying as far as I’m concerned.” She would have expected that, as a lawyer, he should feel the same way. But then, she’d always been rather altruistic and naive when it came to having faith in people, she reminded herself.

Holding Emily’s hand, Jack waited beside Zooey for the light to turn green. He read between the lines. “Somebody lie to you, Zooey?”

Connor, when he said he loved me, and all the while he was in love with the family business. And the family money. She wasn’t about to share that with Jack no matter how cute his kids were.

Instead, she shrugged her shoulders. “No one worth mentioning.”

The slight movement reminded her that the uniform she had on still chafed. She hadn’t had a chance to go home and change before taking on the task of entertaining Jack’s children.

One movement led to another, and it was all she could do to keep from scratching. “I guess I’d better get out of this uniform and give it back to Milo.”

The light turned green and they hurried across the street.

Reaching the other side, Jack glanced at her. “So, you really are fired?”

Zooey nodded.

In his estimation, she didn’t look too distressed about it. Which he couldn’t begin to fathom. From what she’d told him, he knew that Zooey lived by herself and didn’t have much in the way of funds to fall back on. If it had been him, he would have been sweating bullets. But then, if it had been him, he wouldn’t have been in that position to begin with.

Jack was nothing if not pragmatic. “What are you going to do for money?”

“I guess I’m going to have to hunt around for another job.” She looked up at him brightly, tongue-in-cheek. “Know someone who wants to hire a go-getter who makes up in enthusiasm what she lacks in experience?”

He surprised her by answering seriously. “As a matter of fact, I do.”

Zooey had asked the question as a joke, but now that he’d answered her so positively, she was suddenly eager. This meant no hassles, no scanning newspapers and the Internet. No going from store to store in hopes that they were hiring.

It was nice to have things simple for a change.

“Who?”

And this was where Jack allowed himself to be impulsive. “Me.”

The parking garage elevator arrived and they got on. Zooey stared at him, dumbfounded. “You?”

He nodded, wondering if she was going to turn him down, after all. Until this moment, he hadn’t considered that option.

“I need a nanny.” He heard Emily giggling again. “The kids need a nanny,” he corrected. “And you need a job. Seeing as how you got fired doing me a favor, the least I can do is hire you.” He paused, then added the required coda. “If you want the job.” The last thing he wanted was for her to feel that he was trying to railroad her, or pressure her into agreeing. He might be desperate, but she had to want to do this.

Zooey narrowed her eyes, trying to absorb what he was saying. He’d always struck her as being a cautious man, someone who believed in belts and suspenders. Normally, she found that a turnoff. But there was something about Jack Lever, not to mention his looks, that negated all that.

“You’ll pay me to watch your kids?”

“It’s a little more complex than that, but yes.”

Zooey looked at him guilelessly. “Sure.”

He really hadn’t expected such a quick response from her. All the women he’d previously interviewed for the job had told him they would have to think about it when he made an offer. And they’d wanted to know what benefits would be coming to them. Zooey seemed to be the last word in spontaneity. Patricia would have loved her.

“You don’t want to think about it?”

Zooey waved her hand dismissively. “Thinking only clutters things up.” And then she hesitated slightly. “One thing, though.”

Conditions. She was going to cite conditions, he thought. Jack braced himself. “Yes?”

A slight flush entered her cheeks. She looked at him uncomfortably. “Could you give me an advance on my salary?” He gazed at her quizzically, compelling her to explain the reason behind the request. “I sort of owe a couple of months back rent and the landlord is threatening me with eviction.”

From out of nowhere, another impulsive thought came to Jack. He supposed that once the gates were unlocked, it seemed easier for the next idea to make its way through.

He refrained from asking her the important question outright, preferring to build up to it. “Do you like where you live?”

The elevator had reached the fourth level. Zooey got out behind Jack and Emily. A sea of cars were parked here.

Like was the wrong word, she thought, reflecting on his question. She didn’t like the apartment, she made do with it. Because she had to.

“It’s all I can afford right now,” she admitted. “More than I can afford,” she corrected, thinking of the amount she was in arrears. A whimsical smile played on her lips as she added, “But that’ll change.”

Did she have a plan, or was that just one of those optimistic, throwaway lines he knew even now she was prone to? “It can change right now if you’d like.”

Zooey’s smile faded just a tad as she looked at him. A tiny bit of wariness appeared. She was not a suspicious person by nature—far from it. For the most part, she was willing to take things at face value and roll with the punches.

But she was also not reckless, no matter what her father had accused her of that last day when they’d had their big argument, just before she’d taken her things and walked out, severing family ties as cavalierly as if they were fashioned out of paper ribbons.

“How?” she asked now.

“You can move in with me. With us,” Jack quickly corrected, in case she was getting the wrong idea. “As a nanny.” He moved Emily forward to underscore his meaning. “There’s a guest room downstairs with its own bath and sitting area. From what you mentioned, it’s larger than your apartment.”

She rolled his words over in her head. It wasn’t that she minded jumping into things. She just minded jumping into the wrong things.

But this didn’t have that feel to it.

Zooey inclined her head. “That way I could be on call twenty-four–seven.”

“Yes.” And then he realized that might be the deal breaker. “No.” He shook his head. “I didn’t mean—”

Zooey couldn’t help the grin that rose to her lips. Here he was, a high-priced criminal lawyer, actually tripping over his tongue. Probably a whole new experience for him.

He looked rather sweet when he was flustered, she thought.

She was quick to put him out of his misery. “That’s all right, Jack. I don’t mind being on call twenty-four–seven. That makes me more like part of the family instead of the hired help.”

Jack wasn’t all that sure he wanted to convey that kind of message to Zooey. Right now, he had all the family he could handle. More, really, he thought, glancing at the deceptively peaceful-looking boy she held in her arms.

But as Jack opened his mouth to correct the mistaken impression, something cautioned him not to say anything that might put her off. He was, after all, in a rather desperate situation, and he wanted this young woman—the woman his children had taken to like catnip—to accept the job he was offering her. At least temporarily.

If things wound up not working out, at the very least he was buying himself some time to find another suitable candidate for the job. And if things did work out, well, so much the better. There was little he hated more than having to sit there, interviewing a parade of nannies and trying to ascertain whether or not they were dependable. So far, every one he’d hired had turned out to be all wrong for his children. Neither Emily nor Jackie ever liked who he wound up picking.

This was the first time they had approved.

And he had a gut feeling about Zooey. He had no idea why, but he did. She was the right one for the job.

Emily was becoming impatient, tugging on his hand. He pretended not to notice. His attention was focused on Zooey. “So does that mean you’ll take the job?”

She wasn’t attempting to play coy, she just wanted him to know the facts. “Seems like neither one of us has much choice in the matter right now, Jack. You’ve got your back against the wall and so do I.”

She smiled down at Emily. The little girl seemed to be hanging on every word. In a way, Emily reminded Zooey of herself at that age. As the oldest, she’d been privy to her parents’ adult world in a way none of her siblings ever had. There was no doubt in her mind that Emily understood what was going on to a far greater extent than her father thought she did.

Zooey winked at the little girl before looking up at Jack. “Lucky for both of us I enjoy kids.”

As a rule, Jack liked having all his i’s dotted and his t’s crossed. She still hadn’t actually given him an answer. “Then you’ll take the job?”

He was a little anal, she thought. But that was all right. As a father, he was entitled to be, she supposed. “Yes, I’ll take it.” And then she looked at him, a whimsical smile playing on her lips. “By the way, how much does the job pay?”

She was being cavalier, he thought. Her attitude about money might have been why she’d found herself in financial straits to begin with. He was annoyed with himself for not having told her the amount right up front. He told her now, then added, “According to the last nanny, that’s not nearly enough.”

Zooey did a quick calculation in her head, coming up with the per hour salary. She had always had a gift for math, which was why her father had been so certain that getting an MBA was what she was meant to do. Zooey liked numbers, but had no desire to do anything with them. The love affair ended right where it began, at the starting gate.

Jack was going to be paying her more than twice what she’d gotten at her highest-paying job so far. She wondered if that was the going rate, or just a sign of his desperation.

“That should have been your first clue,” she told him glibly.

He didn’t quite follow her. “Clue?”

“That the woman was all wrong for the job.” Still holding the sleeping Jackie, she ran a hand over Emily’s hair. Zooey was rewarded with sheer love shining in the girl’s eyes. “Nobody takes this kind of job to get rich,” she informed him, “even at the rates you’re paying. They do it because they love kids. Or at least, they should.”

Reaching his car, Jack dug into his pocket for his keys. Once he had unlocked the vehicle, Zooey placed the sleeping boy in his arms.

This time, Jackie began to wake up, much to his father’s distress. The ride to his Upstate New York home wasn’t long, but a fussing child could make it seem endless.

“You’re leaving?” Even as he asked her, he was hoping she’d say no.

But she nodded. When she saw the distress intensify, she told him, “Well, I do have to get my things from my place.”

But Jack wasn’t willing to give up so easily. “Why don’t you come home with us tonight, and then I’ll help you officially move out on the weekend?”

Zooey raised her auburn eyebrows and grinned. “What’s the matter, Jack, afraid I won’t come back?”

“No,” he told her adamantly. And then, remembering her comment about the truth, admitted, “Well, maybe just a little.” Once the words were out, he was surprised by his own admission. “You know, what with time to think and all.”

“You don’t have anything to worry about,” she assured him. “This is the best offer I’ve had since I left college.”

He noticed that she’d said “left” rather than “graduated.” He wondered if lack of funds had been responsible for her not getting a degree. If she worked out, he might be tempted to help her complete her education, he decided. That would definitely get her to remain.

“Give me your home address, Jack. And your home phone number,” Zooey added. “Just in case I get lost.” Her eyelid fluttered in a quick wink. “I’ll be at your house bright and early tomorrow morning, I promise. By the way, when is bright and early for you?”

“Six-thirty.”

“Ouch.” At that hour, she’d be more early than bright, she thought. “Okay, six-thirty it is.”

Setting Jackie in his car seat, Jack wrote out his address and number. Reluctantly. Wondering, as he gave her the piece of paper and a check for the advance she’d asked for earlier, if he was ever going to see her again.

Chapter Three

October

Zooey could still remember, months later and comfortably absorbed into the general routine of the Lever household, the expression of relief on Jack’s handsome face that first morning she’d arrived on his doorstep. She’d had her most important worldly possessions stuffed into the small vehicle, laughingly referred to as a car, that was parked at his curb.

Funny how a little bit of hair coloring could throw a normally observant man for a loop. When she’d taken the job at the coffee shop, she’d been at the tail end of her experimental stage. Auburn had been the last color in a brigade of shades that had included, at one point, pink, and several others that were more likely to be found in a child’s crayon box than in a fashion magazine.

Going back to her own natural color had seemed right as she opted to assume the responsibility of caring for a high-powered lawyer’s children.

It was the last thing she’d done in her tiny apartment before she turned out the lights for the last time.

It had certainly seemed worth it the next morning as she watched the different expressions take their turn on Jack’s chiseled face.

Finally, undoubtedly realizing that he’d just been standing there, he had said, “Zooey?” as if he were only seventy-five percent certain that he recognized her.

She’d drawn out the moment as long as she could, then asked, “Job still available?”

“Zooey,” he repeated, this time with relief and conviction. A second later, he moved back, opening the door wider.

She had only to step over the threshold before she heard a chorus of, “Yay! Zooey’s here.” And then both children, Jackie in a sagging diaper and Emily with only one sock and shoe on, an undone ribbon trailing after her like the tail of a kite, came rushing out to greet her.

Jack had continued staring at her. “Why’d you dye your hair?” he finally asked.

“I didn’t,” she’d replied, laughing as two sets of arms found her waist, or at least made it to the general vicinity. Neither child seemed the slightest bit confused by the fact that she had golden-blond hair instead of auburn. “I undyed it.” Raising her eyes from the circle of love around her, she’d looked at him. “It just seemed like the thing to do, that’s all.” She couldn’t explain it to him any better than that. “This is my natural hair color.”

Jack had nodded slowly, thoughtfully, as if the change in color was a serious matter that required consideration before comment.

And then he’d said something unexpected. And very nice. “I like it.” It was the first personal comment he had addressed to her.

Hard to believe, she thought now, as she threw on cutoff jeans beneath the football jersey she always wore to bed and slipped her bare feet into sandals, that nearly ten whole months had gone by since then. Ten months in which she’d discovered that each day was a completely new adventure.

She’d also discovered that she liked what she was doing. Not that her life’s ambition had suddenly become to be the best nanny ever created since Mary Poppins. But Zooey did like the day-to-day life of being part of a family—a very important part. Of caring for children and seeing to the needs of a man who went through life thinking of himself as the last word in self-sufficiency and independence.

The very thought made Zooey laugh softly under her breath. She had no doubt that Jack Lever was probably hell on wheels in a courtroom, but the man was definitely not self-sufficient. That would have taken a great deal more effort on his part than just walking through the door and sinking into a chair. Which was practically all he ever did whenever he did show up at the house.

There were days when he never made it back at all, calling to say that he was pulling an all-nighter. There was a leather sofa in the office that he used for catnaps.

She knew this because the first time he’d called to say that, she’d placed dinner in a picnic basket and driven down to his office with the children. He’d been rendered speechless by her unexpected appearance. She and the kids had stayed long enough for her to put out his dinner, and then left. He was still dumbstruck when she’d closed the door.

Zooey wondered absently if her employer thought the house ran itself, or if he even realized that she was not only “the nanny,” but had taken on all the duties of housekeeper as well.