“After this weekend, I suspect her mother will have other things on her mind,” he told the young woman, who was tugging uneasily at her thick braid.
Fiona hugged her favorite stuffed bunny. “Mommy’s coming to my party, isn’t she?”
“She might.” The custody order allowed Sabrina to see her daughter on her birthday, so Alec could hardly forbid it, but visits with Sabrina were uncertain affairs, with frequent delays and no-shows. Still, he understood that his little girl loved her mother. “And Fiona, we’re going to have it here at the clubhouse instead of Krazy Kids Pizza.”
His daughter stared at him in distress. “But you promised! I want clowns and games!”
“We’ll have better games.” His mother had promised to call a party planner in the morning. Please let somebody be available on short notice.
“I want my pizza party!” Fiona cried with all the pent-up emotion of a child who, Alec had to admit, had been through a lot. She’d been forced out of her bedroom today, on top of the recent move away from her friends. While he and Darlene had managed to invite a few children for Saturday, she scarcely knew them.
“I’ll make balloon animals,” Tatum promised.
“I want my pizza party!” Fiona had latched on to a theme and she was sticking to it.
Tatum’s eyes glistened. “I’m sorry I can’t be more helpful,” she told Alec, “but this is more than I bargained for.”
“I’m sorry for all the extra demands we’ve placed on you.” He tried to sound soothing despite his ragged mood. Mostly he was furious with his ex-wife for creating so much trouble. “You’ve gone above and beyond the call of duty.”
“Take a break,” Patty advised the nanny. “We’ll deal with this.”
With a short nod, Tatum fled down the hall. Alec heard her go into a bedroom, then come out and go into another one. Still unused to the change.
Fiona’s lower lip quivered mutinously. “My party! You promised, Daddy!”
“I know, but…” But I’d do anything in the world to keep you safe. Even make you angry with me.
Patty knelt on the carpet by Fiona’s chair. “Aren’t you going to introduce me to your bunny?”
The little girl regarded her suspiciously. Finally, she said, “This is Hoppity.”
“What’s wrong with his ear?” Solemnly, Patty examined the frayed rabbit.
“It’s busted. Me and Tatum patched it.” She sent a quick glance at Alec. “I mean, Tatum and me.”
Still ungrammatical, but right now, he couldn’t have cared less.
“Looks like the Band-Aid’s coming off.” Patty indicated the nearly unfastened patch. “Hoppity needs surgery. That’s the only permanent cure.”
What was she getting at? If this was a ploy to short-circuit his daughter’s hysteria, it could backfire. Fiona wasn’t a two-year-old with a short attention span.
“You mean like in a hospital?” Fiona regarded Patty curiously.
“Yes.” Patty set the bunny back in the little girl’s arms. “I saw an article in the newspaper once about a teddy bear clinic to help children feel comfortable visiting the doctor. We could do something like that for your party.”
“A teddy bear clinic?” That was a great idea. Alec had to give Patty credit, too, for taking his daughter’s feelings seriously. “I could round up bandages and other supplies.”
“It would be good to have a nurse in uniform. Think Bailey would do it?” Patty asked.
He nodded, relief flooding him. One minute, he’d been dreading the event, and now he could see how much fun they’d have. “We’ll invite the other kids to bring their old stuffed animals.”
“Can we run tests like you do, Daddy?” Fiona asked.
“You bet.” He would figure something out. Hmm. Teddy bear infertility—could be an emerging medical field.
“I bet you could learn to suture.” Patty raised her eyebrows at Alec. “She’s old enough to use a needle, isn’t she?”
“I’d say so.”
“Yeah!” The little girl bounced up and down.
As ideas poured forth, Alec jotted a few notes. It was an excited little girl who finally donned her jammies and got tucked into bed. To Alec’s surprise, she demanded a night-night book from Patty instead of him.
He indicated a row of his daughter’s favorites, but Patty waved them away. “I’d rather tell a story than read one. Okay?”
“Okay!” Fiona buried her nose into the bunny as if drawing comfort from its familiar scent.
Patty settled on the edge of the bed. Seated in an old rocking chair, Alec noted how the lamplight made a halo of her blond hair. In the old days, he’d been intrigued by the contrasts in her nature, the way she would leap at physical challenges regardless of risk, then melt into his arms. Now, he saw how much she’d mellowed—and yet she hadn’t lost her passion for life.
“Once upon a time, there was a little girl who lived with her brother, Drew, and two mixed-up parents,” Patty began.
“Mixed up how?” Fiona asked.
“They lived in a messy apartment and sometimes forgot to cook dinner for their children,” she said.
She was telling her own story, Alec realized. Edited version, suitable for a child to hear. Considering that, as far as he knew, Patty hadn’t spent much time around kids, she had a lot of sensitivity.
“Did they do dumb things like my mommy sometimes?”
“They did,” Patty said. “So this little girl and her brother went to live with their grandfather, who used to be a soldier and had a very neat house.”
“Did he ever shoot anybody?” Fiona never lacked for questions.
“If he did, he didn’t talk about it.” Patty tugged the covers into place over the wriggly child. “It was hard on the little girl because she missed her parents, even though they had problems, and her grandpa was very strict. She had to get used to a new room, and she missed her old friends. But she had to be strong for her brother. It helps when you have somebody to take care of.”
Fiona clutched the stuffed animal. “Like Hoppity?”
“Exactly,” Patty said. “After a while, this little girl got used to living with her grandfather. Even when her parents cleaned up their act, the little girl and her brother stayed with Grandpa. And they lived happily ever after.”
Alec waited to see how his daughter would react. At four-going-on-five, she often came up with reactions that surprised him.
Sure enough, after a moment, she said, “What happened to her really?”
“She grew up to be me,” Patty replied. “I was a police officer for a while and now I’m in private security. I protect people, and for the next week or so, I’m going to be protecting you.”
“Why do you have to protect me?”
Alec wished they didn’t have to explain this to Fiona, yet if he shielded her too much, she’d be defenseless. She had to learn that adults, even those you loved, didn’t automatically deserve your trust.
Patty appeared to be choosing her words carefully. “Your mommy misses you and she might try to take you away from your daddy. But she’s not supposed to do that.”
“Because the court said so?”
“That’s right. So if she or anyone else takes you with them, run away. If for any reason we aren’t around, go inside a store, or find a policeman, or ask a lady with children to help you. Tell them you’ve been kidnapped.”
“Okay.” Two little arms lifted for a hug. Without hesitation, Patty drew her close. Alec could have sworn he saw a glimmer of moisture in his old friend’s eyes, but it might have been a trick of the light.
After he’d hugged his daughter, too, he and Patty went out. Down the hall, Tatum’s door was shut. He could hear her on the phone. The words were indistinct but he noted anxiety in her voice.
Patty glanced toward Fiona’s room. “She’s adorable.”
“She’s everything.” Alec barely resisted a desire to go take another look, as if his daughter might have vanished the moment he stepped out
. “I’m surprised you haven’t had one or two of your own by now.” No sooner had the words left his mouth than he wondered why he’d uttered them.
“Me?” Patty’s eyebrows went up. “Hey, kids are cute, but not really my style. I mean, where would I stash one while I’m working?”
“You’d do the same thing a guy does. Find someone you can trust to handle child care.”
“Huh.” With that cryptic comment, she drew out her pad. “Let’s plan my schedule for the week. What time do you usually leave for work? What do Fiona and Tatum and your mom do all day?”
He filled her in as much as he could, and arranged for her to return the next morning to confer with the nanny and Darlene on timing. Once they settled into their new routine, Alec told himself, he’d stop worrying about every detail.
But until he resolved this danger from his ex-wife, he’d never rest easy.
Chapter Ten
Although Patty kept tabs on a couple of other cases that week, she spent most of her energy arranging Fiona’s protection. On the surface, everything went smoothly. The neighbors were glad to cooperate, Darlene kept her doors locked and Tatum notified Patty whenever they planned to leave the premises. During their trips to the playground and a children’s museum, Fiona gladly joined in the game of watching for anyone or anything suspicious.
It seemed as if their efforts might be unnecessary. Sabrina had phoned again from New York to demand that her daughter visit her. “Eduardo’s wife keeps threatening to show up and raise a stink. How can I leave at a time like this?”
“You can celebrate her birthday later. Surely you don’t want her there when Mrs. Patron arrives,” Alec reported telling her.
He’d done a great job mimicking his wife’s shrill voice, as well.
“Eduardo might have some business in L.A., so maybe we’ll come, after all. I have the right to see her on her birthday.”
Alec had conceded the point. And yet, he told Patty, his wife hadn’t seemed happy about his acquiescence, either. Obviously, the woman didn’t want a solution, she wanted attention.
In the meantime, plans for the teddy bear clinic moved forward so well that Darlene decided against hiring a party planner. Her new housekeeper, Rosita, proved as skilled and dependable as promised, and spoke excellent English with a light, pleasant accent. Although she’d recently moved to the area from Houston and needed Darlene’s instructions on where to shop for decorations and refreshments, she pitched in with a will.
“I keep my eyes open for trouble,” she promised Patty. “Any problems, I call you.”
Still, no matter how well matters were falling into place, Patty couldn’t dismiss the possibility of some slip up. She kept remembering when she was thirteen and Grandpa had left for a military reunion, trusting her to watch ten-year-old Drew for the weekend. She’d planned meals, organized homework and set strict rules, but the next afternoon her brother fell while in-line skating and broke his arm. Forced to return early, their tight-lipped grandfather hadn’t assigned blame, yet his disapproval had reverberated through Patty for weeks. It didn’t matter who was at fault, or if no one was. She’d still let him down.
There was always one thing you didn’t foresee, one flaw that no one considered. She couldn’t allow that to happen. Especially not to Fiona.
Those melting brown eyes. That habit of thinking things over and trying to see inside them. The sudden flashes of vulnerability when Patty least expected it.
Just like Alec.
Patty knew what Grandpa would say: that she was an idiot to have feelings for a man who’d treated her so shabbily. That she risked letting him and the child and herself down if she didn’t stay focused. That emotions made you weak.
She wished she had a close girlfriend to talk things over with. Given Patty’s inclination to go target shooting or play pool in her free time, she rarely hung out with other women. When she did make friends, they always seemed to move away or get involved with a guy, and that was the end of that.
So when Bailey, who’d agreed to play nurse at Saturday’s party, suggested they meet for lunch at the hospital cafeteria on Thursday, Patty quickly accepted. Not that she planned to reveal much about her confused feelings, especially considering how freely her old high-school chum chattered, but just being around another woman might help put things in perspective.
After parking at the hospital, Patty texted Tatum to confirm she and Fiona were at home, giving stuffed animals their annual physicals as a practice for Saturday.
Bunny in bed w temp, Tatum sent back. Panda arm healing.
Fiona? Patty tapped.
Xray kit. In other words, taking digital photos of her third-favorite plush toy, KitKat.
Gd wrk! C U ltr.
Satisfied about the pair’s safety, Patty sauntered through the hospital lobby and down a short hallway to the cafeteria. She’d eaten here occasionally while visiting hospitalized friends, and enjoyed the array of serving stations with hot and cold dishes.
From a corner table, Bailey waved. Pregnancy agreed with her, Patty observed as she grabbed a corned-beef sandwich and got in line for the cashier. Her old friend’s short brown hair seemed thick and glossy, and her freckled cheeks shone with good health.
“I bet she keeps you busy.” Patty scooted into a seat.
“I sure hope we can find someone to fill in during her maternity leave. Maybe she won’t take much time off.” Bailey had a knack for downing bites of food with scarcely a pause in the flow of words. “Maybe Dr. Brennan will join us. I hear she wants to move her practice to Safe Harbor.”
Chewing her sandwich, Patty merely nodded. How did a person work the topic around to what really interested her, which was how to sort out inappropriate romantic impulses?
Bailey chattered on. “But I’d hate having to work for Dr. Tartikoff. I hear he’s an arrogant pain in the neck. He’ll probably bring his nurse with him from Boston. He obviously likes to have his own staff around him, like Alec.”
Patty’s ears pricked. The trouble was, she didn’t want to talk about Alec. Not specifically. Her goal was to figure out, without naming names, how to stop fantasizing about a man she had to work with.
Hopeless. Ridiculous. And, of course, by now Bailey had moved right along to another subject. The names Phyllis and Boone jumped out at Patty. They, she recalled, would be the sister and brother-in-law.
“…cash-flow problems,” Bailey was saying. “I know it’s part of running their own company, and investments are never a sure thing, but I didn’t expect to be fronting the money for some of my medical costs.”
That sounded wrong to Patty. “You’re the surrogate. They should be covering everything.”
“Absolutely, and they will. But…” Her friend paused to wave at a couple of women approaching with trays.
Patty felt a jolt of dismay at the possibility that these new arrivals might decide to join them, and sent them a mental push. It must have worked, because they went on out to the cafeteria patio.
“In the meantime, I can’t let the bills pile up,” Bailey added. “Hurting their credit rating isn’t going to help the business.”
“You said they’d invested your savings,” Patty reminded her. “What are you paying the bills with?”
“I always keep enough cash on hand to cover expenses for three months. Unfortunately, it’s down to one month at this point.” The nurse’s hand drifted to her slightly rounded abdomen. “Oh, darn. I thought that might be movement, but it’s just my stomach grumbling. I can’t wait to feel the baby!”
Much as she wanted to empathize, Patty couldn’t take much interest in a pregnancy. It seemed alien, the idea of carrying another life inside her. Then again, what if that baby came out as cute as Fiona?
“Are there women who’re better at parenting older kids?” she blurted. “I mean, I don’t think I’m into diapers.”
Bailey laughed. “Oh, Patty, you were never like other girls. I’m sure you’ll find your own path.”
Now,
there was an opening, even if a slim one, to a discussion about relationships. “Being different isn’t always a good thing. I mean, in high school, I never dated around like most girls, so I didn’t learn much about boys. Other than Alec, obviously. I’m kind of ignorant for being almost thirty.”
“But you work with guys,” Bailey pointed out.
“That’s different.” Patty had listened to plenty of locker-room comments, but the guys hadn’t said anything that would help her through the current circumstances.
“You must have dated some of them.”
“A few. But nothing serious.” How could it be when I compared every guy to Alec? Whoa! That was a scary thought. “How about you?”
“I got married at nineteen. We eloped.” Patty stared into the distance as if picturing the guy’s face. “He was cute, I was emotionally needy and running away to Las Vegas sounded romantic. How dumb is that? Neither of us had a clue about marriage. It’s amazing we lasted two years. A year and a half, actually.”
It struck Patty that she didn’t have a clue about marriage, either. “What do you wish you’d known?”
“About marriage?”
“Yeah.”
Bailey regarded her dubiously. “What do you mean?”
“I guess I’m asking what it takes to make a marriage work.”
“I have no idea.”
Well, that didn’t help.
“I’ll tell you what I’ve learned about guys, though,” Bailey went on.
“Okay.” Patty would settle for whatever pearls of wisdom she could gather, however random.
“Don’t take your feelings too seriously. Just run with them. Fall in love, and when it’s over, kiss the guy goodbye and move on,” the nurse told her earnestly. “That’s what men do, so why shouldn’t we?”
“You don’t miss any of them?” Patty asked.
“For about five minutes,” Bailey said, raising her hands, palms out. “I allow myself two days to cry, and then it’s done.”
Falling for the Nanny Page 10
