Her Wickham Falls Seal

“The investigator who conducted your background check told me,” Aiden admitted. “I was afraid if I offered you less, you wouldn’t take the position.”

When Aiden had informed her he was going to have someone conduct a background check on her, Taryn had given him the information he needed to complete the investigation. She wasn’t concerned that anything negative would surface when it came to her profession, but she was less than confident as to her personal life. She still could not believe she’d been so trusting, so naive when there had been obvious signs that her love life was in trouble.

Once she discovered her boyfriend had cheated on her, Taryn had not explained to her colleagues why she moved back to her parents’ home. Nonetheless, the truth was revealed when her best friend, Aisha, invited James to accompany her to their faculty Christmas party. There had been whispers and shocked looks all around once everyone realized Taryn and James were no longer a couple. Gossip reverberated throughout the school building for weeks, while those who were bold enough to approach her and ask what had happened were disappointed when Taryn rebuffed their queries.

“It appears as if your investigator was quite thorough.” Her voice did not reveal the inner turmoil she always felt whenever she recalled the shame and embarrassment of coming face-to-face with her ex-boyfriend and her best friend and colleague in the private dining room at a restaurant overlooking the East River. It had taken Herculean strength not to retrieve her coat and leave. She managed to stay until the end and then got into her car and drove home. Within minutes of walking into her bedroom, she went online and searched for vacation websites. It hadn’t mattered that it was two weeks before Christmas and many of the airline deals were blacked out. Throwing caution to the wind when it came to price, Taryn decided to rent a villa in Fiji where she spent six glorious days detoxing from bad karma. She returned to the States tanned, rested and ready to start over.

“That’s because I have to be able to trust you to be around my children. The contract is for a year, beginning January 1 with an option to renew or opt out thirty days before December 31. You’ll notice I’ve included a clause where I’m willing to pay for your medical insurance. Once you give me your tax information, I’ll have my accountant add you to our payroll. All employees get paid on the fifteenth and the last day of each month.”

Taryn glanced at the contract again. The language wasn’t filled with the legalese she would usually have to ask her attorney father to interpret. She picked up the pen and scrawled her name where indicated on all three copies, dated it and then gave them to Aiden to countersign. “It appears very straightforward.”

“That’s because down here most of us are plainspoken. After breakfast, I’ll give you a tour of the house and show you where you’ll have your private quarters.”

“Will I have space to set up a classroom?”

“Yes. The enclosed back porch and sunroom should give you more than enough space for what you’ll need. A cleaning service comes in every Friday morning, so I don’t want you to do any housework. And you don’t have to concern yourself with cooking, because I’ll prepare meals in advance for breakfast, lunch and dinner.”

“When are your daughters coming home?”

“January 25. Why?”

“I’m going to need to order furniture and school supplies before I begin instruction. Once I return to New York, I’ll order what I need from a teacher store warehouse and have everything shipped down here.”

“There’s a warehouse in Beckley where you can get most of what you’ll need.”

“Do they have desks?” she asked.

“Yes,” Aiden said, as he added grits to the pot of boiling water and stirred the grains with a wooden spoon. “I looked them up online when I first decided to homeschool my girls.”

“What if I buy the supplies I need in New York and have them shipped to Jessica’s house, and then when I come back, you can take me to Beckley for the furniture.”

Aiden smiled and a network of lines fanned out around his large luminous eyes. “That’ll work. I’m off tomorrow and if you don’t have anything planned, I can drive you up to Beckley so you can select the furniture.”

Now that she’d signed the contract, Taryn was committed to Aiden’s children for the next year. “Okay. We’re on for tomorrow.”

Aiden lowered the flame under the pot of grits. “When do you plan to go back to New York?”

“December 30. I have to pack up my clothes and personal items and go to the teachers store and get the supplies I need for the classroom. If I get everything done in a couple of weeks, then I’ll call and let you know when to expect me.” Once she tied up all of her loose ends in New York, she planned to meet with a few of her former colleagues for a farewell dinner at one of her favorite Brooklyn restaurants before returning to West Virginia.

“You don’t want to use a store down here?”

Taryn shook her head. “I’d rather go to the one I know will have the supplies I want.”

“I’ll give you a check to cover whatever you need to buy.”

Taryn shook her head again. “That’s not necessary. It’s the middle of the school year and some items may be on sale, and coupled with my teacher discount, I may not have to spend too much.”

“Make certain you give me the receipts so I can reimburse you.”

She wanted to tell Aiden she wasn’t concerned about him reimbursing her. The fact that she would earn the same salary and live rent-free, while not having to gas up her SUV at least twice a week was like winning top prize in a contest. And having a classroom of two rather than twenty-two made her feel as if she had been redeemed. “Tell me about your daughters.”

Chapter Two

Aiden picked up an egg and cracked it in a glass bowl. “What do you want to know about them?”

Taryn admired Aiden’s skill when it came to cracking eggs with one hand. “You told me they’re four and five, which makes them very close in age.”

“They were born eleven months apart. Allie just turned five and Livia was four in February.”

So, Daddy was really busy making babies, Taryn thought, as she bit back a smile. “I’m going to test them before I decide whether to offer them the same instruction.”

“I’m no teacher, but I’m going to go on the record to say that four-year-old Livia is as bright as her older sister. She’s also what I think of as a free spirit. Right now she’s into fairies. Last year, it was frogs.”

“I like her already,” Taryn said. “I must admit I was partial to fairies and unicorns when growing up. What can I expect from Allison?” she asked, watching as Aiden removed the bacon from the oven and placed the crisp strips on a plate lined with paper towels.

“Allie is a true Gibson because she loves to cook. She’s too young to touch the stove, so I allow her to sit on the stool and watch me.”

Taryn found her mind working overtime as Aiden talked about his daughters while he brewed a pot of coffee, whisked eggs and dropped slices of bread into the toaster. He informed her he had activated parental controls on the television, their tablets and on his desktop. There were strict rules for bedtime, but he still couldn’t get them to pick up after themselves.

“I plan to give them what students in a traditional school will experience. There will be instruction, recess and designated field trips. And given their ages, I will also assign a brief nap time.”

“That’s good to hear, because my mother complains constantly that Allie and Livia refuse to take naps. Most times, they’ll just lie in bed singing or talking to each other.”

Taryn made a mental note to devise a plan to get the girls to settle down enough to sleep for at least an hour. She wanted to ask Aiden about his daughters’ relationship with their mother. Although he had been granted full custody, did they get to visit with her? She’d had students who’d lost one or both parents to divorce, substance abuse, imprisonment, terminal illnesses or domestic violence. Aiden had alluded that his in-laws were not viewed in a good light in Wickham Falls, and she wondered what his ex-wife had done to set the townsfolks against his children.

The aroma of brewing coffee mingled with the distinctive smell of bacon wafted to her nostrils. “Can I help you with anything?” she asked Aiden after a comfortable silence.

“No, thanks. I have everything under control.”

Taryn waited for the weekends so she could choose between eggs, bacon, pancakes, waffles, biscuits, sausage or ham, grits and several cups of coffee with gourmet breads. Once a month she treated her family to Sunday brunch, which included mimosas, Bellinis and steak-and-eggs benedict, chicken-and-waffles or Belgian waffles with fresh fruit.

Aiden set two plates with napkins, coffee mugs and place settings on the breakfast bar. Minutes later, he ladled fluffy scrambled eggs onto the serving platter with strips of bacon, triangles of golden buttered toast and then filled the mugs with steaming black coffee. The bowl of grits and serving pieces were placed next to the platter.

“Do you want cream and sugar for your coffee?” he asked Taryn.

“Yes, please.” Taryn stared at the dishes Aiden had prepared quickly and with a minimum of effort. “It looks too good to eat.”

Aiden set a container of cream and the sugar bowl on the countertop and then sat next to Taryn, their shoulders mere inches apart. “You can sit and admire the food, but don’t blame me when I eat up everything before you.”

Taryn picked up a serving spoon and scooped up a serving of grits. “I did not sit here just to watch you eat.”

Aiden speared several strips of bacon with a pair of tongs. “I love breakfast.”

She gave him a sidelong glance. “Then we have something in common, because it’s my favorite meal of the day. Unfortunately, I don’t get to have a full breakfast until the weekends.”

“That will change once you move in. Most times, I use egg substitutes for omelets and frittatas because I don’t give the girls whole eggs more than twice a week.”

Taryn resisted the urge to moan when she swallowed a forkful of grits and eggs. “I’m looking forward to having you cook for me. The grits are delicious.”

Aiden leaned closer, their shoulders touching. “Do you like shrimp and grits?”

“Does a cat flick its tail?”

Throwing back his head, Aiden laughed loudly. “Should I take that as an affirmative?”

“It is,” she confirmed. “Whenever I go to Charleston, South Carolina, to visit a cousin, I order it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. If I had to request a last meal, then it would be shrimp and grits.”

“I had it for the first time a few years back, and I’ve tried recipe after recipe until I finally decided to use tasso instead of cured ham to give the dish a smoky taste.”

“What’s tasso?” Taryn asked.

“It’s heavily cured ham that’s smoked with a tremendous amount of seasoning. The result is dry, very salty, peppery and smoky. I only use a little bit because it can easily overwhelm a dish.”

“Do you smoke your own meats for the restaurant?”

Aiden nodded as he took a sip of coffee. “Yes. Tomorrow, after we come back from Beckley, I’ll take you to the Wolf Den and introduce you to my uncle and brother.”

Taryn concentrated on finishing the food on her plate and she thought about how her life was going to change within a matter of weeks. She would leave New York and go from teaching in a classroom filled with twenty-two third-graders to homeschooling a four-and five-year-old. Instead of getting into her car and driving fifty-five miles to a school building, she would get up and walk to her classroom.

And living under Aiden’s roof was definitely going to be an adjustment for her. The last and only man she’d lived with was James Robinson. When first introduced to each other, they had felt their meeting was predestined, the reason being that they shared the same surname. When she moved in with James, it was as a girlfriend. And once she moved in with Aiden, it would be as his daughters’ teacher.

“Leave everything,” Aiden said, as he clapped a hand on Taryn’s shoulder when she reached for the platter. “I’ll clean up later. I want to show you where you’ll set up your classroom.” His hand went from her shoulder to her arm and assisted her off the stool. “Right now the girls use the space as their playhouse. If you want, I can store their toys, dolls, bikes and dollhouse in the shed.”

Taryn didn’t know what to expect but the area down the hallway off the kitchen was much larger than she had anticipated and comparable to the average Manhattan studio apartment. It was at least five-hundred square feet. She walked over to the floor-to-ceiling windows with built-in pale-gray woven blinds. They were raised, allowing her a glimpse of an expansive backyard beyond the patio and outdoor kitchen. It was the perfect place for recess, where the girls could run around.

“What do you think?”

She shivered slightly when Aiden’s breath feathered over her ear. He hadn’t made a sound when he came to stand next to her. Taryn had a mental picture where she would place desks, bookcases, worktables and set up art, science and music corners.

Taryn turned to face Aiden. “It’s perfect. Do you know the exact dimensions for this room?”

He nodded. “It’s four-hundred and seventy-five square feet. Why?”

“I don’t know if you have a set budget for furnishing the classroom, but I want to order a rug that’s no larger than eight by twelve for my reading and library corner. My students always enjoy sitting on the floor whenever we have read-aloud.”

* * *

Aiden stared at the terra-cotta floor. He had debated whether to cover the floor with indoor/outdoor carpeting once the sunroom was installed, but then he’d dismissed the idea when the floor installer suggested the stone because it was maintenance-free.

“You can buy whatever you need. Come with me and I’ll show you your bedroom.”

The salary he’d earned when employed as a private military contractor allowed him to pay off his mortgage, upgrade and enlarge the house, and put money away for his daughters’ college education. He didn’t think of himself as wealthy, but financially comfortable.

“How many bedrooms are in this house?” Taryn asked.

“Five. And that’s not counting the one in the attic that doubles as my home office. When I first bought this place, it was only twelve-hundred square feet. Before Livia was born, I had a construction crew expand it on both sides, add the sunroom, mother-in-law suite, raise the attic ceiling, finish the basement and install central air and heat. Allie and Livia play in the sunroom whenever it’s too hot or cold to play outside.”

“Did you live here during the renovations?”

“No. We stayed with my aunt and uncle. It was a little cramped but we pretended it was an extended sleepover.”

“How many bathrooms do you have?”

Aiden paused, counting. “Five. A half-bath off the kitchen, one in the basement with a vanity and commode, a full-bath in your suite, a bathroom in the attic with a commode, vanity and shower stall, and the original full-bath on the second story.”

Taryn gave him a sidelong glance. “Should I assume you spend most of your free time in the basement?”

He smiled. “How did you know?”

“If you finished your basement, then it’s obvious it would double as a man cave.”

“Dudes need a place to drink beer, watch sports and trash talk without being censored.”

“You can do that at a sporting event.”

“That’s true in big cities like New York and Philadelphia. Remember, West Virginia doesn’t have any professional teams.”

“Don’t you go to high school and college football games?”

“Not really,” Aiden admitted. “I enlisted in the navy right out of high school.”

“How long did you serve?”

“Fourteen years.” He had taken an oath at eighteen to protect his country and he’d fulfilled that commitment as a navy SEAL. Being away for extended periods of time had placed a strain on his marriage and whenever he returned home it was to a house in crisis. Nothing he’d done for Denise was ever enough and after a while he stopped trying to please her. She had complained bitterly that the house was too small for four people, so to appease her he used the money he’d earned as a private military contractor to expand it.

After the entire house was renovated Denise wanted to leave Wickham Falls and that’s when he put his foot down. There was no way he was going to pick up and move after giving her what she’d called her dream house. Once their arguments had escalated to screaming matches, Aiden knew their marriage was in serious trouble. He’d suggested counseling, but Denise refused to go with him.

Aiden stopped at the end of the hallway. “Here’s your room, also known as the in-law suite.”

* * *

Taryn entered the sun-filled bedroom suite and felt as if she had stepped back in time when she saw the honey-toned, queen-size, hand-painted sleigh bed with a white goose-down comforter, lacy, sheer dust ruffles and mounds of matching pillows. She opened the door to a massive armoire to find a large flat-screen television and audio components. Stacks of linens, comforters and quilts were stored in the drawers of a smaller ornately carved armoire. A double mahogany dresser with a gilt mirror contrasted to the other pale furnishings. Taryn thought of the space as a lady’s bedchamber and sitting room, with a sofa set on a straw rug and covered with yellow polished cotton and two flanking armchairs with hunter-green suede seat cushions. The suite was a quiet retreat where she could relax, sleep or just escape from the world around her.

Framed photos of Audubon prints were set on the mahogany desk and bedside tables. She walked over to French doors, which led out to the porch. It was the perfect place for her to begin the day with a cup of coffee or end it while watching the sunset. Pale yellow silk drapes could be closed to provide privacy or left open to take in the view of the distant mountains.

“I hope it’s to your liking.”

Taryn turned to find Aiden in the doorway, arms crossed over his chest. “It’s more than I could’ve imagined.”

His pale eyebrows lifted slightly. “You like it?”

“I love it.” Taryn didn’t say she would love it even more once she added her personal touch. She walked across the room and opened a door to a closet with overhead shelves. It wasn’t as large as the walk-in closet in her Long Island bedroom but it would be adequate if she donated clothes she hadn’t worn in years instead of packing them up and bringing them to Wickham Falls.

She opened another door to find a bathroom reminiscent of those in spas. Taryn could imagine herself whiling away time in the black marble garden tub with a Jacuzzi. A dressing table and chair were tucked under an alcove, while a vanity, freestanding shower with a large showerhead, commode, bidet and mirrored walls made the bathroom appear larger than it actually was.

“The suite gets an A-plus,” she told Aiden once she returned to the bedroom.

He inclined his head. “I’m glad you’re pleased with it. Now, are you ready to see the rest of the house?”

“Yes.”

“We’ll take the back staircase.”

There was something about Aiden’s body language that also prompted her to recall Langdon’s, who’d bragged that all special ops had a particular swagger identifying them as military elite. She did not want to ask Aiden about his past because she didn’t want to open the door for him to ask about hers. Taryn wanted their relationship to remain strictly professional.

Her single focus was educating his daughters and nothing beyond that. She had no intention of becoming his friend or replacing his wife as a mother for his children. She’d given up her condo to move in with a man who’d deceived her, and now she was giving up her home on Long Island to move in with a man who would become her employer. And she had a hard-and-fast rule never to engage in an affair with a supervisor or coworker. She had witnessed firsthand the fallout and embarrassment when a first-grade teacher had been dating the school psychologist, who hadn’t disclosed he was married, and was confronted by the man’s pregnant wife after she showed up unexpectedly at the school building to threaten her husband’s lover.

She climbed another flight of stairs with Aiden until they came to the third-story landing and his home/office/bedroom. A king-size platform bed, bedside table and a brown leather love seat were positioned under an eave, while a workstation with a desktop and printer was placed in front of a window overlooking the front of the house. An entertainment stand held a television and stacks of DVDs. Taryn walked over to the credenza to study several framed black-and-white photographs. The image of an elderly couple sitting on a bench holding hands captured her attention. There were other photos of the same couple with the tall thin man dressed in his Sunday finery, while the short dark-skinned woman by his side wore a Native American beaded dress and moccasins.

“The woman is my maternal grandmother,” Aiden said as he moved closer to Taryn. “Grandma Esther belonged to North Carolina’s Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. My sister is named after her.”

Taryn’s eyes went from the photographs to Aiden’s features, noticing he’d inherited his grandmother’s high cheekbones. “Is she still alive?”

“No. She died eight years ago, exactly one month to the day my grandfather passed away. My mother claimed she died of a broken heart.”

“How did your grandparents meet?”

“That’s a long story. I’ll tell you about Grandma Esther’s people another time.”

Taryn wondered if Aiden had told his daughters that their great-grandmother’s tribe had occupied what is now Western North Carolina for countless centuries. “How much time do you spend up here?”

“A lot, but only when the girls are away. Whenever they’re here I sleep in the bedroom across from theirs as a safety precaution.”

She did not want to imagine the consequences of someone attempting to break into Aiden’s house. Given his size and military training, there was no doubt he would prove a more than worthy opponent. “Do you have a lot of crime in The Falls?”

“We have burglaries and vandalism, but it’s been years since there’s been a murder. Most of the break-ins are from kids hooked on drugs and looking for something they can easily sell so they can get their next fix. Back in my great-granddaddy’s day it was the revenuers chasing moonshiners, and now it’s the sheriff and his deputies going after those dealing drugs.”

“How large is the police force?”

“We have a sheriff and three deputies now that they’ve hired Seth Collier. Seth grew up here and enlisted in the Marine Corps. The sheriff got the town council’s approval to hire him.”

“How many folks from here join the military?”

“It has to be at least forty to fifty percent. Now that most of the mines are closed, boys who graduate high school have to find employment elsewhere. The recruiters from all the branches come during career week and have a windfall when they’re able to sign up kids who can’t wait to get out of The Falls. Some join and become lifers, while others use the military as a path to complete their college education.”

“Like Sawyer?”

Aiden nodded. “I was a few years ahead of Sawyer but he was one of the smartest kids to ever graduate from Johnson High. He made straight As and had a near perfect score on the SAT. Everyone was shocked when he enlisted in the army instead of going directly to college.”

Taryn smiled. “It looks as if he didn’t do too badly.” Jessica’s software engineer husband had become a multimillionaire before turning thirty.

“He’s done very, very well for himself. We’re just glad he decided to come back and give back when he donated the money to create a technology department for the school district.”

“Do you like working at the Wolf Den?” she asked.