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And also thinking how grateful he was that Dani Cooper really would be there to hold his hand through what seemed like the most daunting mess he’d ever been in.
Well, not to literally hold his hand.
Although there was something about that idea that made the thought of going back to the house to face what he had to face much easier...
* * *
“That man from last day is coming back and we have to go to the doctor with him?” Evie said, questioning what Dani had just told her and her brother.
“The man who was here last night,” Dani corrected. “Remember his name is Liam, and yes, he’s coming with us to the doctor.”
She was combing Evie’s long hair and putting it into pigtails while Grady watched.
“But we aren’t sick,” he pointed out. “Why do we have to go to the doctor? Are we gonna hafta have shots?”
“No, no shots and nothing that will hurt. You won’t even have to get undressed. All you’ll have to do is open your mouths and let the nurse touch the inside of your cheek with a cotton swab.”
“But why?” Evie persisted.
“It’s a test. Remember last time you guys had sore throats? The nurse used a cotton swab to get some stuff from back there and sent it to be tested to see if you had strep—”
“I didn’t like that,” Evie said.
“Me either,” Grady chimed in.
“I know, but this will be easier than that. Here, let me show you.” She took three cotton swabs from the medicine cabinet, demonstrated what would be done on herself first and then persuaded them to let her do it to them.
“See? This one is no big deal. But then they can send the swab to a laboratory to test it and tell all kinds of things about you.”
“Like what?” Grady asked suspiciously.
“It could tell that Evie is a girl and you’re a boy. It could tell the color of your hair and eyes—”
“I can tell you that,” Evie reasoned.
This wasn’t easy to explain to inquisitive four-year-olds.
“It can also tell you stuff that you can’t see—what’s inside of you that makes you you and who your family is. Like if I had the test, it could tell me that my grandmother was my grandmother.”
“So it’s gonna tell us if we have a grandmother?” asked Grady.
“Well, no, we already know your grandparents are all in heaven, too, but it might tell us if you have any other family you don’t know about.”
“You think we do?” Evie asked.
“Maybe,” Dani said. “And that would be kind of nice to know, wouldn’t it? That there might be someone else in the world who would love to know you guys are their family?” And she hoped that would somehow prove true—that if Liam Madison was their biological father, he’d eventually make his way through what had seemed like shock last night and embrace the news and the kids and become a loving, caring parent to them.
“I s’pose it would be nice,” Grady agreed marginally.
“Then would we hafta leave the glass house to live with them?” Evie asked.
They’d referred to this place as the glass house since moving six months ago from what they’d called the brown house—the house they’d lived in while this place was being built.
“I don’t know,” Dani answered honestly.
She didn’t want to go beyond that so she changed the subject.
“Okay, how about if you guys do some of the new puzzles while we wait for Liam?”
It felt a little odd saying Liam Madison’s name with such familiarity but it was for the sake of the kids. She wanted to give the impression that he really was a friend to them.
Dani sent them into the common area just outside their bedrooms. Once she knew they weren’t going to fight she went into the room she was using and checked her own appearance.
She’d gone to a few extra lengths today to make up for the way she’d looked the night before. She wore a pair of her good jeans and a blue T-shirt over a tank top edged with a row of lace that showed above the T-shirt’s square-cut neckline.
She’d also gotten up early so she could pay special attention to her hair. Rather than a quick blow-dry, she’d let it air-dry so she could scrunch it and bring out the natural waves. Then, instead of keeping it contained in some fashion the way she ordinarily did for working with kids, she let it fall free to the middle of her back—what Grady had deemed real princess hair when he and Evie had seen it this morning.
She’d also applied a pale eye shadow to accentuate her eyes and a little mascara to go along with her blush and lip gloss.
But even though it was all what she might have done for a casual, daytime date, that wasn’t the reason she’d put in the time and effort, she told herself as she checked to make sure the hours that had passed since then hadn’t left her in need of touch-ups. She just wanted to improve upon the bad impression she was afraid she might have made on Liam Madison with her hairstyle by Evie the previous evening.
As nanny—and now as guardian—she had to play two roles. To the kids, she had to be a disciplinarian in a warm, caring manner so that her young charges could be at ease with her. But to the adults in their lives, she had to present a more professional image. A more professional image that she might not have presented to Liam Madison the night before.
So today she wanted to compensate. It didn’t have anything to do with the fact that Liam Madison was a fantastic-looking man.
So fantastic-looking that the image of him had stuck with her, even as she’d tried to fall asleep last night. And it had still been with her the minute she woke up this morning and the whole way through her shower and all that extra primping.
But picturing him in her head merely came along with thinking about him actually doing what Audrey had wanted him to do—coming to the kids’ rescue. It wasn’t about anything personal between the two of them. And there wouldn’t be. They had one thing and one thing only bringing them together: the current care and future well-being of Evie and Grady. And once what would happen to them was established, Dani would move on.
It came with the territory of being a nanny.
Yes, she did get a little attached. It had happened with kids she’d nannied for much shorter lengths of time before Evie and Grady. It was especially true of these twins because she’d been with them for a little over three years now. And they were great, smart, adorable, funny kids who she’d needed to provide for more than she had others whose parents were more involved than Audrey and Owen had been.
Add to that that she’d gone through weighty loss with them—both the loss they’d suffered and a particularly difficult loss she’d suffered herself at almost the same time—and now she was their stand-in parent, so a bond had definitely formed.
But still, her attachment to them had to have a limit because it all came with the knowledge that Evie and Grady were not her kids. That she would have to move on and leave them behind. It was something she never lost sight of. And since her sole connection with Liam Madison was through the kids, she’d be moving on and leaving him behind, too.
So the fact that he was great-looking was insignificant and the fact that she couldn’t stop carrying around the image of his great looks in her mind was also unimportant and meaningless.
Besides, she reasoned with herself as she turned upside down to brush her hair from underneath to add some fullness, even if they’d met at a party, locked eyes across a crowded room and been drawn together last night, nothing would have come of it. Too much had happened recently that had left her in no position for anything.
She’d ended her engagement to Garrett after too long indulging his need for control and living under his thumb.
She’d lost the grandmother who had raised her, the grandmother she’d loved dearly.
And then Audrey and Owen had died.
Now she had to make sure that Evie and Grady would be okay.
Plus her grandmother had left her with the biggest decision she’d ever faced—a decision that could not only affect everything for her from now on, but that could also affect numerous people and their jobs.
And if all that wasn’t enough—which it was—Liam Madison was in the military.
She knew only too well what that could mean because her own father had served. And suffered for it.
So no matter how fabulously handsome the guy was, she had a laundry list of things that all added up to one really big no when it came to Liam Madison, and made those good looks and the fact that she couldn’t stop carrying the image of him around in her head totally and completely irrelevant.
She straightened up and flipped her hair into place, feeling a strong resolve settle over her at the same time.
She’d enjoy the view of Liam Madison but that was it. The nurse at the pediatrician’s office had said DNA results took about five days. There would likely be a few more days before a final decision was made for Evie and Grady, and she would do whatever she could to help them transition to any new situation once that decision was made. After that she’d pack her bags, move on and leave that view behind.
Simple as that.
“Evie says this piece is for her puzzle but it’s not for her puzzle. It’s for my puzzle!” Grady hollered from the other room.
The doorbell rang just then, making Liam Madison ten minutes early but giving Dani an excuse to sidestep the kids’ conflict.
“That’ll be Liam and we need to get to the doctor’s office so we’ll sort it out later. Get your shoes on,” she said to the twins before snatching one last glimpse of herself in the mirror and then hurrying to the front door.
Denying along the way that what she felt was eagerness to see the big marine again.
* * *
“Is he really gonna stay here?” Grady whispered to Dani that evening when the four of them returned home. Liam Madison was outside, retrieving his things from the back of his rented SUV to move in. Dani was in the kitchen with the kids.
“He really is going to stay here,” Dani confirmed. “He’ll be up in the guest room. It’s what your mom wanted.”
“Because he’s her friend?” Evie said in disbelief.
“Yes. And because she wanted you all to get to know each other, and he wants to help out with you guys.”
“I don’t think so,” Grady added his own skepticism, which had some foundation based on the way today had gone.
But rather than confirm the little boy’s doubts Dani instead said, “I want you guys to be kind of patient with him, okay? I don’t think he knows much about kids.”
“I don’t think he likes us,” Evie amended.
“I don’t think we like him,” Grady added under his breath.
“We all just have to give each other a chance,” Dani said, making it a quiet command. “That’s why we get to know people—so we can find things about them that we do like.”
“He doesn’t smile,” Evie observed.
“He’s like a robot. But not a fun robot,” Grady contributed.
There was no disputing either criticism because both things were true during the time they’d known the man.
“It’ll get better,” Dani assured, hoping she was right. “Now go put on your pajamas and I’ll cut you some yellow cheese and tomatoes and avocados to go along with your yogurt since you didn’t have much dinner.”
“I want my adocados in salad,” Evie informed.
“And the magic word is...” Dani said.
“Please,” Evie complied.
“Please,” Grady said, too, even though Dani hadn’t been instructing him. “But I want my adocados sliced.”
Then they headed downstairs. But they were both eyeing the front door the whole way, not looking pleased with the addition that was about to be made to their household.
Dani couldn’t blame them.
It had been a long—and stilted—four hours since Liam had arrived that afternoon.
The first stop had been the pediatrician’s office where—after a half-hour wait during which the twins had played with the office toys and Liam had sat silent and straight-backed in one of the waiting room’s chairs—Evie’s and Grady’s DNA had been taken.
Unfortunately, between the time Dani had called and made the appointment—when the receptionist had said that yes, they would also take Liam’s DNA—the doctor had nixed that. Apparently the receptionist hadn’t been clear on just how strict the office policy was against addressing anything to do with an adult. Instead they’d been given an address for a lab they could go to for Liam’s swab.
The lab had been a twenty-minute drive from the doctor’s office. A twenty-minute drive during which Liam had not made conversation beyond asking for Dani’s navigations.
The lab had required another long wait in a small area with only three chairs and no office toys for the kids. Dani carried coloring and activity books in her purse but there also wasn’t a table the kids could use. So she’d set them up on the floor, out of the way of incoming and outgoing patients. Then she’d sat in one of the empty chairs but couldn’t persuade Liam to take one of the others.
“The kids should sit in them,” he’d said, standing as if he was on lookout, and seemed embarrassed that the kids weren’t using the remaining chairs.
After his test, Liam had suggested taking them all to dinner at a restaurant his brother had recommended. At the restaurant there had been another lengthy delay before a table opened up for them—during which the kids had again colored, this time using the seat of a chair as a desktop—something else that Liam eyed as if the irregularity made him uneasy. From his position again standing like a sentry.
Once they were led to a booth Liam had sat at one end of the table while the twins had huddled on either side of Dani as far away from him as they could get.
They’d agreed to grilled cheese sandwiches from the uninspired children’s menu and while they’d waited for their food, Grady had devolved into entertaining himself by tormenting his sister. That caused a small ruckus when Evie fought back, and while Dani managed them, Liam seemed not to know where to look, staring over their heads like a Buckingham Palace guard.
By the time the food arrived the kids were just plain contrary and had taken one look at the grilled cheese sandwich and refused to eat it because the cheese was white instead of yellow. And even after Dani had persuaded them just to try it, Evie had gagged on her bite and Grady had let his roll back down his tongue and onto the plate, delivering the verdict that it was yucky.
They did eat the french fries and fruit that came with the sandwich, so that was something, but through it all Liam Madison’s discomfort and embarrassment had been palpable.
And the twins hadn’t been all that happy themselves when they’d learned during the meal that Liam was going to be coming to live with them.
Dani had been grateful that they hadn’t said anything rude, saving their comments for Dani alone now that they were home and Liam was out of earshot. But the news had so sobered them that there was no mistaking they were not thrilled with the idea. From then on they’d become as quiet as Liam, so the car ride home had been stony all the way around.
And that was how a weary Dani had left it. She’d exhausted every effort to engage Liam in things with the kids, she’d failed at getting the kids to interact with Liam, and for the time being she just gave up.
But this needed to work, she told herself now that they were back at the Freelander house. If Liam was Grady and Evie’s biological father, she really needed him to save them from the system.
Just then Liam came in the front door carrying a large duffel bag.
Dani left the kitchen and went into the entry as he closed the door behind him, trying not to notice how good he looked in the khaki slacks and white shirt that had replaced the uniform of Sunday night.
“Stairs or elevator?” she asked.
“Your choice,” he said.
