Mail Order Nanny (Book 3 of the Amory's)

by Hestand, Rita

  Chapter Thirteen

  Katie's dance turned out to be more than anyone anticipated. Not only did the Elvis impersonator show up, he spent a long time talking to Annie when they got there. He looked just a tad relieved to see other adult faces.

  Tanka busied himself with the lights as none of the band knew anything about the lights and how they worked.

  "So do you like Elvis?" he asked sidling up to her in his impersonator gear.

  She smiled. "Doesn't everyone?"

  "I'm Steve Brodie, your DJ for the night. Most of these kids don't know much about Elvis. But I aim to change that tonight. I've got seven songs I'm singing, but I brought my band along. And what we can't sing, we can play. Oh and by the way, I like your poodle skirt and bobby socks. Like I dig it the most."

  Annie laughed.

  Katie was standing beside Noah a little shyly, but at least they were beginning to talk.

  Kasie had agreed to watch Jewel and Tara, so all they had to worry about were Katie and Noah. Tanka eyed the boy with skepticism. Just from his expression he wasn't wild about his daughter liking a boy so young, but Annie had tried to soften the blow on the way to the dance.

  Tanka finished the lighting for the gym and joined Annie and Steve, even though his attention was more on his daughter than anyone.

  "Looks like they had a good turn-out for the dance," Tanka said.

  "Actually, three schools are throwing this shindig, that's why it looks so full. And why they could afford me. I'm kind of glad, saves me some time and doing it three different nights. I guess you two got elected as chaperones."

  "Looks like we're the only ones, too." Annie glanced about the room.

  "They should have someone from each school here. But hang tight, I usually keep the kids entertained enough there won't be much need of them," Steve boasted.

  Annie smiled and glanced around the room.

  When her eyes landed on Noah, she smiled. His hair was dark red, but there wasn't a freckle on him. Annie was amazed. He was handsome as all get out. He wore black pants, white shirt and a leather jacket, lending him that wild James Dean kind of look, and looked thoroughly miserable. If he had looked any other way, Annie would have been shocked. Katie looked so cute in her poodle skirt and bobby socks.

  "Want some punch?" Tanka offered her a cup.

  "Sounds good."

  Then Steve went into his first number capturing the kids' attention. He was funny, pleasant and the kids really liked him. Some of them danced. Katie hung back. Obviously, Noah hadn't asked her to dance yet.

  "He's obviously too shy to ask her." Annie smiled as she leaned toward Tanka.

  Tanka mingled over to them and when Katie excused herself to the restroom, Tanka took him aside.

  "This is a dance. A lot of the girls here bought nice dresses and got all dolled up. The least you can do is ask my daughter to dance."

  "I'm not very good at dancing." Noah cleared his throat.

  Tanka smiled at the young man that was trying to act so much older. "You don't have to be. If you are too good, she'll never want to dance with you again. And if you aren't good enough, you will make her comfortable. So relax and enjoy. Dances are supposed to be fun."

  Noah looked up at him with his green eyes, and pushing his red hair away from his face. "Yes sir…"

  Tanka went back to Annie's side.

  "These kids need to loosen up a bit. Shall we make some waves ourselves?" He looked into her eyes. "If we make it look easy, maybe they will get the hint."

  Annie blushed at first, but took his hand and let him lead her to the dance floor.

  Once they joined, some of the kids became bold enough to try; more kids began to gather and either dance or watch. Annie stopped, brought out a hula-hoop and demonstrated that some of the fast steps were like using a hula-hoop. The kids tried it, got the hang of it, and then began to dance.

  Annie looked at Tanka in his black leather jacket and white shirt open to his chest and knew she'd never seen a man look so handsome in her life. His wild dark hair and deep brown eyes made him devilishly handsome tonight. Not only that, but Tanka was enjoying himself and relaxing with her.

  They did every dance, and the kids ate it up. Before long most of the kids were out on the floor and trying new moves.

  "That's how I like to see them, moving about, not huddling in a small crowd."

  Tanka glanced over to see Noah and Katie mimicking them.

  Steve got more physical and began showing them some things they'd never seen. One young black boy came up and copied every move with him. Steve encouraged him and the boy put on a show. Everyone clapped at his performance.

  "I've never seen Katie more gorgeous than tonight. All thanks to your work. The way you did that ponytail for her. She looks like a young Sandra Bullock. The clothes you two must have gone shopping. And she's never had lipstick or nail polish so I know this is a first for her in many ways." Tanka beamed as he stared admiringly at his daughter. "Only problem is, she looks way too grown up now. I never really understood just how much she had grown up until tonight. I'll lose her sooner than I am thinking. Especially the way Noah is staring at her."

  Annie laughed. "You are right. She is growing up. But don't worry about losing her. At least not yet anyway. I don't think you will ever lose your children. They love you too much."

  "Look at her. Look how she's looking at that kid, you'd think he was Brad Pitt or something?" He frowned and tried to smile.

  Annie snickered. "More an Opie Taylor I'd say. I guess I need to talk to you about her. You see, your daughter became a young woman this week," Annie announced.

  "You're kidding me?" He looked shocked. "Already?"

  "It would seem. So be especially sensitive to her needs for the next few months. She's not sure how to handle it. And her body is changing so you will see a change there too. I just wanted to warn you about it. Sometimes these things tend to shock parents."

  "Did she tell you?"

  "Sort of. I had noticed a change in her personality this week. A little grumpier, moody, but after I confronted her with it, she began to relax and understand that she's just going through what all young girls eventually have to. She'll grow more comfortable about herself as time goes on." Annie let that sink in.

  "I'm really not prepared to see her become a young woman. I thought I might have a few years yet," Tanka explained.

  "Not with Katie."

  Tanka seemed to wrestle that around in his head a minute. Then he suddenly reached out and took her into his arms for a slow dance; Annie tensed once more. But she felt the tension in him and pulled away to look at him. "Don't worry, this is part of my job. Talking to her about this, making her understand what is going on inside her, and giving her a few hints about how to be around boys. Men usually don't know how to handle this kind of thing. So don't feel embarrassed or clumsy. This is what I do, and I'm good at it. But feel free if the time comes to talk to her about boys whenever you want to, and then go with it."

  "You amaze me, Annie. You're good at a lot of things…" he said huskily.

  "You know, Katie I think suspected this was going to happen soon. I think that might have been what prompted her to find a Nanny. She was a little scared about it all, when we first talked, but when I explained it was a natural thing, that other girls would be going through the same thing, she began to ease up. But if she hadn't had a woman to talk to about it, someone who knows, it could have been traumatic for her."

  "Thank you for making it easier for her. I wouldn't have known what to say or do," Tanka admitted.

  Tanka's eyes glistened into hers now. "I'm sorry I gave you such a hard time, Annie."

  "Hard time?"

  "When you first came. I really was in a funk. And I had no idea how much I needed you, until I realized how much I relied on you to be there for them. And you are. You don't know how much worry you take off my shoulders every day," Tanka said pulling her back close to him.

  Annie relaxed a bit and smiled a
gainst his shoulder. "Thanks…I think I needed to hear that from you."

  "You have no idea how scared I was when I saw that car over the cliff," Tanka whispered near her ear. "I couldn't go down there and look…" He seemed to pause his step. "First time I ever remember being such a coward."

  Annie swallowed hard. She felt his warm hand at her lower back. She felt the brush of his thigh against her hip. His heartbeat seemed to join hers. Then there was that moment when he looked into her eyes and everything inside her melted against him.

  She was losing it. Everything in the room faded as Tanka's words soaked deep into her heart. She looked into his eyes and saw the worry and pain, and something else. Something that warmed her to her toes.

  "I'm sorry I scared you. That was a day I don't want to repeat," she whispered.

  She laid her head on his shoulder, and let herself dream.

  Did she dream he kissed her cheek? She couldn't be sure. She knew he moved his head and thought she felt his nose and lips touch her there.

  But suddenly the kids were all staring, and the music had stopped. Steve was smiling and the band continued to play the slow song that they danced to.

  Annie broke away from him and tried not to blush. Composure, she needed composure.

  She was embarrassed, until Tanka squeezed her hand and directed her to the punch bowl once more.

  Other chaperones from different schools showed up. They were late, and they all gathered around them.

  But when Steve broke into another fast song, she escaped out the back door of the gym and leaned against it for a minute. She was weak with her feelings. She had to gain a semblance of composure before she went back in.

  However, Tanka followed her out.

  When she turned to look at him, he shrugged. "There's plenty of back up now." He smiled.

  "It feels good out here," she murmured.

  "It's freezing actually…" He grinned infectiously.

  She had never in her life gotten so involved in a client's life. How could she remain here? She was such a fool.

  "I guess it was a little stuffy in there." She tried to will herself not to shake.

  When he put his coat around her, she nearly jumped out of her skin. The way his hands seemed to caress her shocked her into a stillness.

  "Easy…" he murmured near her ear.

  He was so close. She wished he'd go back in. She couldn't just turn her feelings on and off and she had to find a way to back off from him without seeming to.

  "I'm scaring you, aren't I?" he whispered.

  "No…of course not." She rebuked the idea. But it was true.

  "Don't be afraid of me, Annie. I want to get to know you better," he said softly coming to close the coat around her.

  The intimacy of that act didn't go unnoticed.

  "In case you are wondering, I've put Gina where she belongs, in my heart and my memories," he confessed, staring into her confused face.

  "I guess that's a good thing, huh?" She tried to smile.

  "It's a very good thing…Annie." He bent closer, and reached to hold her face in his hands. "You've made me see that I was living with a ghost. Even my kids thought so. But…not any longer."

  "That's good. I guess…" She gulped.

  "Now I shared something with you, you share something with me."

  "What do you want to know?"

  "Why did you come here, Annie?"

  She looked at him curiously now. He released her and she moved to put distance between them.

  "I mean, why did you sell everything, and come here to take care of someone else's children?"

  "It's what I do, I'm a nanny. A professional nanny."

  "And why did you become a nanny, I mean at your age? I could see it if you were old and ugly and had no chance for a life of your own. But you are none of those things. You're a beautiful young woman, completely selfless. So I'm asking you why?"

  "I don't know…Do I have to have an answer?"

  "No…but it would help me understand you a little more."

  She looked at him and saw he wasn't going to give it up until she talked about it. "When my father died, my mother grieved for him for a long time. As a kid, I felt I had to fill a gap for her. She was completely lost. I was too. Dad was a wonderful man. He took her everywhere and me too. We were a real family when he was around. So when he died, a part of my mother died too."

  "That's pretty natural, don't you think?"

  "Yeah…but I felt I had to comfort her, be with her, and do things with her, sort of fill in for my dad. And as the years past, I didn't mind taking care of her, I loved her so much. She'd come so far, without him. By the time I realized just how much of my own life I missed, it was too late to turn back the clock. So I reasoned that since I gave up my education and my social life for so long, I couldn't just go put it back together again. So I studied being a nanny. I actually took courses online. Got my Associates degree. And before long, I was one. To three lovely children back home."

  "What happened?"

  "Oh, the usual in this business. The wife was a widow, she worked, so I took care of her children. But one day she came home with a man on her arm, and that was the end of my job. And if I’m truthful, I was lost. Totally lost. I loved those kids. But they weren't mine to love. So when I received what I thought was your letters, it seemed to reach out to me. It was a chance to get away from all I'd known and make a new place for me to belong. I applied and got the position. End of story."

  "So you've been through this living with ghosts before, hadn't you?"

  "Yes."

  "You upended your life and came here because you thought I wrote those letters, telling you how much I needed you. Don't you ever think of yourself?"

  "I was thinking of myself. I needed to get away from the sorrows there. I was drowning in self-pity. I knew how you felt because I felt the same way. Seeing you so in love with your dead wife, made me realize I was just running away from my mom's death, and my lack of a life for myself. I needed a new beginning in life. You know how friends are, always trying to fix you up with someone, and that someone has absolutely nothing in common with you. And so…you back away and even sometimes back away from your friends. Mainly because you realize you have become sort of an old maid hermit. At least in their eyes. I was tired of that. Tired of the pity I saw in their eyes. Look, I'm trained to do this kind of work. I do it well. The letters were so…nice. I felt I was truly needed again. And when I met the girls, they were so charming, I was sure I made the right decision."

  "It's important to be needed, isn't it Annie?"

  "I think so, yes."

  "Have you ever been in love?"

  "No…" She moved away from him. "Not really."

  "You haven't been with a man, have you Annie?" he asked staring into her eyes.

  "No…" she barely breathed, staring at him.

  "I thought not. That's part of what's so darn charming about you. You're such a natural lady, a natural beauty. Like an untouched flower. You're not exactly beautiful, but there's something so unsettling about the way you face life, so unselfishly. The real beauty in you is your soul."

  "I'm no angel…" she began.

  "And the way you kiss a man back, as though you want to give everything. I feel as though I've touched an angel's wings," he said, staring into her eyes with a smile as though he knew something she didn't. "And yet you are so sweet a man can hardly resist you. I can't resist you…and believe me, I've tried." He breathed loudly just before his lips came down on hers in a kiss that shocked her to her toes. How could a man kiss like that, without devouring her whole? Every time he kissed her it was different, as though he were asking a question with each kiss. But this kiss was so tender, so loving; it stole her breath, made her mind blank and her heart soar like an eagle riding on the wind.

  He brushed his lips over hers slowly, like a painter, stepping back to see the effects, softly parting her lips as his tongue sought to search out her very soul from the unknowns within her
. She moaned softly as he pulled her ever closer. Their tongues mated, dancing against each other like hot torches. He pulled away to look into her eyes, and smiled as his lips feather-touched hers once more, twice, then taking full possession once more.

  "You taste so sweet," he murmured at her ear, as his breath sent a new awareness through her. "You don't even know what you do to a man, do you?"

  She shook her head and stared into eyes that devoured her.

  She tried to think, but the wave of sensations going through her put rational thought out of reach. Her body had never been so stirred to fire before.

  What had she done?

  She leaned against a tree that was behind her and tried to muster her will power to resist this all male attack on the senses. But resisting was not what she wanted. In fact, the very world melted away with every kiss.

  She gasped when he finally released her roughly.

  She hadn't expected him to push himself away, but he did. He had the control, she didn't.

  Her eyes were wide with horror for a moment. "I'm sorry…" she began.

  "Well, don't expect me to apologize!" he said and turned away for a moment. "I'm not sorry. You kiss a man as though there is no such word as no. You lead with your heart and soul. And I'd say we both enjoyed that to the fullest."

  She didn't know whether to be flattered or insulted. She couldn't deny it, it would be a lie. Kissing Tanka Amory was the most special thing that had ever happened to her.

  She couldn't think.

  He turned around and smiled sexily at her. "You may be a virgin; you may be naïve, but honey, your kisses turn a man into an inferno. I've kissed a few women, but I've never been kissed back with such fire."

  "But…"

  I didn't do anything!

  She looked shocked. How could he say that? Wasn't Gina the best thing that ever happened to him? How could her inexperienced kiss do anything to a man? She felt so overwhelmed.

  "Did I do something wrong?" she asked with tears in her eyes. "You can tell me…"

  "Annie, you didn't do anything wrong." He stared into her eyes as his hand cupped her chin. His eyes caressed her, and sent a shiver through her. "Not one damned thing…" he murmured, dotted her nose with a finger and walked back into the school.