All we did was held each other that night as we tried to figure out the best way out of our predicament.
We decided that Kennedy would tell her father what the deal was. She also insisted on doing it by herself.
Two days later she told him. Two minutes after that, he knocked on my door, and when I opened it, he broke my nose.
Sorry. My bad….
One Year Later
Well, there’s an old adage that nothing melts a heart like a grandchild will. When Zoe was born, Steve came around pretty damn quick.
With my nose still in a splint from my well-deserved beating and both eyes blackened and making look like a deranged raccoon, I took Kennedy to a justice of the peace and made an honest woman out of her. She moved her belongings from Steve’s house to mine next door with him glowering at every step. I was careful to stay out of arm’s length.
We didn’t talk much for the entire pregnancy. But when she went into labor, I asked about Steve.
“Baby, I need to call your dad. He’d want to be here.” My voice was simple, straight-forward and no-nonsense.
“Shit baby, I don’t want you having to get another rhinoplasty!” She exclaimed.
I cringed, thinking about the incredibly painful recovery from the surgery necessitated by her dad’s hard fist into my face.
“I’ll kill myself before that happens!” I told her defiantly.
“Oh, please don’t say that!” She said with a chuckle.
“I’ll call and see what happens. It’ll be cool.” I attempted my best, despite my nerves, to reassure her.
“OK.”
About thirty minutes later, Steve came to the hospital, looking like a first-time dad from hell. He was breathless, harried, and he had even buttoned his shirt askew. I was told he was waiting in the lobby by one of the nurses.
I went to the lobby. I saw Steve from across the room. He sheepishly stood, still disheveled and looking like something the cat had drug in.
He faced me, made eye contact, and shrugged his shoulders.
I walked over to him and stopped in front of him.
“Rob, I’m sorry.” His voice sounded contrite.
“Steve, I am too. I shouldn’t have blindsided you like that, and I feel guilty as hell because I did.”
“Shit, does that pale in comparison to breaking your nose?” He paused after saying this.
I shook my head in disagreement.
“Rob, I know you’ve been good to Kennedy,” he continued. “I guess the going behind my back shit got the better of me and I snapped. I’m a hothead. I’ve always been a hothead. I should have thought things through better.”
“Steve, I should have too.” I answered. “I’ve felt terribly guilty about going behind your back the way I did.”
“No. If you’d told me, I would’ve just broken your nose sooner.”
We both laughed.
“Now that we’ve pretty much established that I can kick your ass, I guess I don’t need to tell you what’s gonna happen if you don’t take good care of my little girl?” Steve asked with a grin.
“No sir. I have a real good idea!”
In the end, I had an amazing new wife. Steve appreciated the fact that his daughter was going to be taken care of by someone he could trust. Zoe had an adoring grandfather and we had a guaranteed babysitter anytime we wanted to get away for a bit. And of course, I had my best friend back, although with a twist.
My best friend was now my father-in-law.
And a damned good father-in-law at that.
The End
Breeding the Irish Nanny
Published by Natalia Darque at Smashwords
Copyright @ 2012 Natalia Darque
Dallas, Texas
Jake Larson hadn’t been through this much of a beat down since his divorce. The interviews with potential nannies had been going on for days, with a recruiter having set up several likely candidates. He looked at the candidate across his desk from him and was underwhelmed to say the least.
Chubby, with a pimply face, the 18-year recent high school graduate had some relevant experience, but her appearance was a real turn-off. She clearly didn’t take very good care of herself, and her clothes were frumpy and rumpled. He envisioned his daughter looking less than perfect if she was taken care of by someone who gave that little consideration of her own appearance.
“OK, thanks for coming in. We’ll be making a decision soon, and will let you know one way or the other.” Jake mercifully Kevorkained the interview, glad to get it over with. The chubby candidate waddled from the room. He lined through her name. He only had one more candidate to interview.
After his divorce, Jake maintained control of his hardware and fastener manufacturing business, which was quite successful. A great deal of his wealth went to hiring the best attorney money could buy to represent him in his divorce from Tamara, his vindictive and hateful ex-wife. She was represented well, but not as well as he was.
Jake had shared custody with his ex-wife, meaning that Anna, his five-year old daughter spent seven days with him, and then seven days with his ex-wife. His wife fought the arrangement tooth and nail, but when Jake finally was able to introduce evidence of his wife’s mental illnesses, he prevailed. In fact, his attorney told him he likely came close to winning full custody.
Jake joked with his friends that his ex was a “Mental Illness Collector.” The stupid bitch talked incessantly, and one of her favorite topics were her mental problems. Panic and Anxiety attacks, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and on and on and on. She drew the line at admitting what she actually was, which was just plain ol’ fucking nuts.
It did allow Jake to spend every other week doing what he loved more than anything in the world, which was being a full-time dad to Anna. He worshiped his daughter. Cute, blond and adorable, Anna was a precocious kindergartener. He footed the bill to get her into a prestigious private school after having her tested for the Gifted and Talented program, a test she passed with flying colors. Another bone of contention with his ex was that she didn’t seem to give a shit about Anna’s education. If she had her way, Anna would go to the fucked up public school down the street from her crappy little house.
Since Jake had started his business before the marriage, he was able to maintain sole control of it by giving her a financial settlement to buy her off. She immediately pissed away her settlement on a variety of questionable purchases, the only one of which was worth anything was the house she lived in, which was a fucking dump. It pissed him off that Anna had to live in that shithole half the time.
He on the other hand, had taken out a mortgage and bought a fantastic four bedroom, five bath home in North Dallas. It was new construction, with a fully updated and modern kitchen, with brand-new stainless steel appliances. He had a maid that came two days a week and kept everything cleaned and his laundry done. He was living the good life every other week with Anna, while his wife was just the way he left her, miserable and unhappy.
His only gripe was not having Anna all the time. He supposed that there was nothing he could do about that, unless his ex would manage to get herself run over by a truck or something.
The phone on his desk rang. It was his assistant. He pushed the speakerphone button.
“Jake, Erin Murphy is here for her appointment,” the disembodied voice of his assistant came out of the speaker. He knew from the paperwork that this one came highly recommended by the previous family. It also indicated that, like the last candidate, the girl was 18 years old.
“Send her in.”
A few seconds later, his assistant opened the door and motioned for the girl to come in.
Jake’s had to exercise supreme self-control to keep his eyes from bugging out when he saw her. The girl was petite, only about 5’2 inches tall, he guessed. But she was wearing what looked like about 4 inches heels, which made her appear taller. She was wearing a cute little sundress that did absolutely nothing to hide her figure. She had a trim tiny little ass, which was
Her long blonde hair fell straight down, cut in a Jennifer Aniston type haircut. Her complexion, unlike the previous candidate, was creamy and flawless. Her eyes were a deep sapphire shade of blue that sparkled brightly.
Jake stood up and extended his hand.
“Hi, I’m Jake Larson.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Erin Murphy.” She spoke with an accent, which he guessed was Irish. She smiled at him and displayed a dazzling set of perfect white teeth.
“Jesus, I could really get in trouble with this one,” Jake thought to himself.
Erin took his hand. Her skin was warm and soft. Unnerved by her beauty and her charming accent, he shook her hand longer than usual before letting it go.
He looked up at his assistant. Robin was a cute, but very married late 20-something. She was an unrepentant smartass, which he oddly found to be his favorite quality about her.
Behind Erin’s back, she shot up her eyebrows twice, Groucho Marx-style, and grinned at him as she walked out of the room closing the door behind her.
“Please have a seat,” Jake motioned to the chair in front of his desk.
“Erin, let me get right down to business. The recruiting service said you were highly recommended. You had experience as an au pair with your last family.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Please call me Jake.”
“All right, Jake.” He was captivated by her accent, which served only to make her more enchanting than she already was.
“Was your previous placement here in Dallas?”
“No, it was at home in Ireland,” she told him.
“Oh, that’s interesting.”
“I became an au pair after my father died. I really had place to go after he was killed, so becoming an au pair was a good way to get a home and a place to stay.”
“Oh I see. And I’m sorry about your dad.”
“Thank you.”
“So tell me about your experience,” Jake asked her.
Erin explained, at fairly great length. She had lived with a family in her hometown of Omagh, which was in Northern Ireland for two years after her father was killed. The family had two children, a boy and girl. The girl was Anna’s age when Erin began taking care of her. She had a reference letter from the family which she offered to Jake. Jake took it and scanned it quickly. The letter sang her praises effusively, concluding by saying that the family was devastated to lose Erin.
Jake took in all that the letter said. It was a great recommendation.
“So why did you leave this family. It looks like everything was going great,” Jake asked her.
Erin’s eyes filled with tears.
“I’m sorry to get weepy,” Erin started to apologize.
“But I just had to get out of Omagh. There were too many bad memories.” Erin hung her head down and wiped tears away. Jake slid a box of tissues across his desk to her, not saying a word. Erin took one and dabbed her eyes. She composed herself and began to speak.
“My father was murdered in front of me. He was a policeman in Omagh. The IRA hated him for being a Catholic and working for the British in their police force. So they broke into our house late one evening and shot him right in front of me.”
“Jesus! Erin, I’m so sorry. Please forgive my blundering way of bringing that up. I had no intention of upsetting you.” Jake was genuinely contrite.
“It’s OK. You need to know, and I understand.” She composed herself and wiped the last of her tears away.
“Well, let’s talk about something more pleasant. Let me tell you about the job.”
Jake told her about Anna, and showed Erin the picture of her that decorated his desk. He explained the seven and seven arrangement. With her enrolled in school, Erin would have a great deal of time available for herself.
Erin expressed an interest in attending college courses. With a number of universities and community colleges in the area, that wouldn’t be a problem. With her time available, she would easily be able to attend classes, even during the seven days that Anna was with them.
As they talked, Jake found less and less reason for why to even interview anyone else. He knew that this was the one. But he knew who had to make the final decision.
“Well, if you’re interested in the position, I would like to schedule you for the final interview.” Jake told her.
“Oh, I’m very interested.” Her voice, with its accent, was bright and lilting.
“Well, Anna has to approve.” Jake told her. “So what I was thinking was that you could come have dinner at our house tonight. Just you, me and Anna.”
“That sounds lovely!”
“I’m going to leave here in about 30 minutes to go get Anna from school. Would you like to just ride there with me? I’ll give you ride to wherever you need to go after that.” Jake offered, hoping very much that she would accept.
“OK, that’ll be smashing!” Erin said brightly, her British way of speaking taking him off guard.
Erin stayed at the office and hung out for the final thirty minutes of Jake’s workday. He completed the phone calls and ordering that he needed to do, and gathered up his things and prepared to leave. He found Erin, waiting in the lobby for him. She smiled when she saw him come out of his office.
“God, she’s beautiful!” he thought to himself.
“You ready to go, Erin?”
“Yes, sir!”
Robin gave him a knowing glance and a smartass grin as he left. Behind Erin’s back, he flipped her the bird.
They went outside to where Jake’s car was parked. He drove a BMW Convertible that he had just gotten. It still had the new car smell. He unlocked the doors and climbed in the driver’s side. Erin opened her own door and got in the passenger side.
“Nice car,” she commented.
“Thanks. I just got it about a month ago.”
They drove across town to Anna’s school. They got into the pickup line, and Jake smiled when he saw Anna running toward his car. Jake got out and opened the door for Anna to get in the back seat.
“Anna, this is Erin,” he made the introduction as he supervised Anna buckling her seat belt.
“It’s nice to meet you, Anna. Your father’s told me a lot about you.”
“You talk funny,” Anna said, screwing up her face.
Erin laughed.
“You know, I was thinking that you talked funny.” Erin laughed. Anna looked at her bewildered.
Jake went around and got back in the car after closing Anna’s door. By the time he got in, Anna and Erin were already in deep conversation.
“Anna honey, I’m talking to Erin about working for us as your nanny.”
“Oh,” Anna voice sounded non-committal, not betraying one way or the other how she felt about that.
“She’s going to eat dinner with us, and you two can talk and decide if you like each other. How’s that?”
“OK,” Anna’s answer was short and sweet, as usual.
After several minutes of bright conversation about school between Erin and Anna, Jake arrived at his house and pulled into the driveway.
“This is a lovely home,” Erin’s voice betrayed the awe she felt at the sight of his home.
Once inside, Erin took in the scenery. He had paid to have his house renovated and professionally decorated after he bought it. It was furnished in a sleek, modern open concept.
“This is a very lovely home,” Erin repeated herself.
“Anna, why don’t you show Erin around? She probably wants to see your room especially.”
“OK, Come on!” Anna almost shouted, grabbing Erin by the hand and tugging her toward the staircase. Erin shot Jake a smile, shrugged her shoulders and pounded up the stairs after Anna.
Jake went to the phone and called a local Italian restaurant that delivered. He ordered lasagna which was Anna’s favorite. Delivery was promised in 30 minutes. After getting the order placed, he went up the stairs and walked softly down the hallway. In Anna’s room, he could hear his daughter’s voice talking to Erin. Erin periodically stopped to ask questions, but let Anna do most of the talking. She was excitedly talking about her new school and how much she enjoyed her teacher. She was rattling away like a little magpie. Jake smiled and turned to walk back down the stairs.
Jake decided to just let the girls decide what to do at their own pace. Erin seemed very able to develop a rapport with Anna. If they did develop a friendship, Jake decided that he would hire her. It certainly would be nice to have a good nanny, but even more of a bonus would be having one as beautiful as Erin.
Very soon, the food was delivered and Jake got everything ready on the table, and called the girls down for supper. Anna came running down the stairs excitedly, with Erin in tow, hand in hand.
“Are you having a good time, sweetie?” Jake inquired of Anna.
“She’s fun, daddy!”
“So would she make a good nanny?”
“Yeah!” Anna’s eyes danced with excitement.
“Daddy, she’s from Ireland!” Anna, who still had a little trouble with her “R” sound, made it come out sounding almost like a drawn-out ‘Island,’
“I know, baby. She told me. But don’t let her fool you. It’s her that talks funny.” Jake lowered his face to the table and told her in a conspiratorial whisper.
Erin watched, smiling.
Jake turned to Erin and looked into her sapphire blue eyes.
“Well, I guess that settles it. If you’ll have us, you’re hired.”
“Oh, I’ll certainly have you!” Her brogue was pronounced due to her excitment, but Erin’s smile was broad, showing her happiness with the result.
“Well, let’s eat, and we can discuss all the details,” Jake motioned for the girls to take their seats.
Two Months Later
Dallas, Texas
After two months with Jake and Anna, Erin had become indispensable to both of them. For Jake, it allowed him more time to devote to work, which increased his profitability greatly. For Anna, it provided fantastic supervision and friendship with a beautiful nanny that she came to adore. When he awoke in the morning, she was always awake, and he found, more often than not, something prepared for breakfast before he went off to the salt mines. Jake adored Erin as well and very soon began to wonder if what he felt was more than just a working relationship.
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