by Black, Tasha
“I think it’s fantastic,” Dax said quickly. “You could definitely use some live-in help.”
“Isn’t that kind of expensive?” Bane asked.
“It’s less than you might think,” Axel said. “And it’s an investment in Noah’s future. The service tells me she has a degree in early childhood development, and her references were amazing. Noah will be in great hands.”
“But don’t you have to, like, feed her?” Dax asked with a furrowed brow.
It was no secret that Axel was a terrible, bordering on dangerous, cook.
“They said for an additional fee she’ll prepare meals,” Axel said, “and even teach me to cook.”
“Good thing she has that degree,” Dax quipped.
“What?” Axel asked with mock offense. “I’m not that bad in the kitchen.”
“No comment,” Chase said, his eyes twinkling. “But the fire department might have a thing or two to say.”
“Okay, that was one time,” Axel admitted.
“Yes, but we almost died,” Chase reminded him. “So it’s worth mentioning.”
“Okay, mommies,” Jessica yelled in her cheerful nasally voice, completely ignoring the fact that there were dads and other caregivers in the room. “Time for music!”
“Here we go,” Dax said, leaning into Bane. “Just try to keep up.”
2
Delilah
Delilah bit her lip and signaled a left-hand turn.
The sign for Tarker’s Hollow indicated a shaded, tree-lined street. Hopefully the town wasn’t too sleepy.
As soon as she pulled in, branches met overhead, forming a green canopy. Beautiful old Victorians peeked out at her from behind the dappled shade of the enormous trees and hedges.
She felt as if she were driving into another world.
Two women approached each other on the narrow sidewalk, one with a dog, the other with a stroller.
Delilah glanced back at them, expecting a showdown.
But the dog lady stepped onto the grassy shoulder and the two waved to each other in the soft morning light.
Wow.
She’d been in the city so long, with nothing but concrete, glass and unfriendly faces. This town looked like something out of a fairy tale.
A person like Delilah didn’t belong in a place like this.
Even the misty air tasted too pure.
A few minutes later she passed the Tarker’s Hollow College campus and a little village came into sight. It was just a train station and a block or two of small shops. The library seemed to be the largest building in the whole town.
Delilah glanced around, anxious to find a mechanic or service station.
She had hoped she’d be able to dump the car at a big franchise, but that wasn’t going to happen, which was too bad. Small town people asked too many questions. And this was a pretty fancy car.
But the low fuel light had kicked on when she was still on I-95, so she’d had to take the Tarker’s Hollow exit and hope for the best.
The village shops passed by quickly, and she found herself back in the residential section. The trip had been a bust after all.
Just as she was about to give up hope, she saw the sign.
Swann Automotive
It was a tiny shop. Behind it, a gravel road seemed to lead into the woods.
She pulled in, hoping she could drop off the keys without much conversation. The last thing she wanted was to be remembered.
Her heart pounded as she approached the door and read the sign on the other side of the glass.
Closed - please use key drop!
She checked her phone.
It was after 9 am, surely this couldn’t be right. She was under the impression that all auto shops opened up at dawn. Just how sleepy was this town?
But there were no lights on, and the door was firmly locked.
Counting her lucky stars, Delilah dropped the car keys in the wooden drop box next to the door and looked around.
She could probably make it back into the little town center in ten minutes on foot. Hopefully, the change in her pocket was enough to get her on a train to Philadelphia.
From there, she just needed to find a place to lay low for a few days and she’d be home free.
She had found her way out of a con that had gone wrong.
She’d thought she was done for, but it looked like she was going to make it after all.
Just then, she heard the crunch of gravel as a car pulled into the lot.
Delilah spun on her heel, intending to try and get as far away as possible before the person got a good look at her. Hopefully it was just another customer, not an employee.
“Hey there,” a masculine voice shouted, stopping her in her tracks. “You’re early.”
I am?
She thought for an instant about just bolting, but the car door was already opening, and a man was climbing out.
He was more of a mountain than a man, really - tall and burly, his blue eyes twinkling at her.
She smiled back instinctively, her mind racing as she vacillated between flight and fight.
You can’t fight him. He’s freaking enormous, a little voice in the back of her head said appreciatively.
But there was no time to ogle and no time to run, because the man had already gotten something out of the car and was heading her way.
“The service said you’d be here this afternoon,” he called to her from the other side of the car. “I hope we haven’t kept you waiting too long.”
We?
She blinked back her amazement at the tiny bundle he carried.
He was carrying a baby - a baby that looked absolutely tiny in his massive arms.
“I haven’t been here long,” she ventured. She had no idea what he was talking about, but the first rule of a good con was not to ruffle the mark.
“I’m Axel,” he said. “And, as you already know, this is Noah.”
The baby gazed at her with large, blue eyes, just like his father’s. His tiny lower lip was pushed out slightly and the swirl of silky hair on his head gleamed in the muted sunshine.
“Hi, Noah,” she heard herself murmur. “I’m Delilah.”
“Oh, shoot, here you go,” the man said. “I should have introduced you properly.”
He held out the baby, enormous hands wrapped around the tiny ribcage.
Delilah had never held a baby before, but she couldn’t think of a way to decline. There was something decidedly alarming about seeing the tiny baby dangling in the air even in those big hands.
She took him in her own arms, where he still looked pretty small, and cradled him to her chest, wondering at the incredible scent of him.
He laid his head against her shoulder and she didn’t want to breathe for fear that she might startle him like a deer.
“He likes me,” she whispered.
“Yeah, he’s a good boy,” Axel said tenderly. His voice was so deep it was almost a growl. “Let me show you the house.”
She followed the big man down the gravel path that led behind the shop.
His impossibly wide shoulders narrowed at his waist and hips. He reminded her of the cartoon version of Tarzan she’d crushed on as a tween.
The path led not into the forest as she’d suspected, but to a little cottage with a covered front porch. It was the first in a line of three small homes that bordered the trees.
“I never had a nanny before,” Axel said. “A high school girl was watching Noah for me this summer. I did my best with your room. You’ll let me know if you need anything else in there?”
“I’m sure it’s fine,” she replied.
A nanny. He thought she was a nanny. It was starting to come together.
They walked through a charming living room with a fireplace and headed upstairs.
“This is Noah’s room,” Axel said, indicating the room at the top of the steps with handprinted wooden letters that spelled out the little guy’s name.”
Little as he was, Noah was fe
eling decidedly heavier in her arms after the trip up the steps. He had definitely seemed smaller when his enormous father had been the one holding him.
“My room is here,” Axel said, pointing to the door next to Noah’s. “And yours will be at the end of the hall.”
He opened the door to her room and stepped aside for her to enter.
Bright sunlight greeted her from a bank of windows that extended on both side walls and across the front of the house into the branches of a huge maple. She felt as if she were in some kind of tree house.
A full-size bed in a simple white frame with a matching dresser next to it took up most of the room, though a cozy rocking chair fit perfectly in the far corner.
It was beautiful, maybe the most beautiful room she had ever seen.
“I know it’s really small,” he said. “It used to be a sleeping porch, but the former owner converted it. The house just isn’t that big. It’s only me and him, and now you…”
“It’s perfect,” she told him. “I love it.” She looked around for a moment, pretending that she was really going to live here and sleep in this magical room.
But that wasn’t the case. The real nanny would probably be along any minute. She had to figure out a way out of here before that happened.
“He’s sleeping, isn’t he?” Axel asked, looking down at the baby. “Here, I’ll put him down this time.”
He took the baby carefully from her arms, which suddenly felt empty and cool without Noah’s sweet weight.
“I’m, um, gonna check out the living room again,” she lied as she catapulted herself down the steps.
She was almost at the front door when the phone rang.
It wasn’t a cell phone. This was a true, jangling ring, like the landline at her grandma’s house.
“Cozy Cradles Nanny Service,” the machine announced in a robot voice.
On pure instinct she grabbed the receiver.
“Hello,” she said softly into it.
“Hi there, ma’am, this is Elaine from Cozy Cradles,” said a polite voice on the other end. “I’m very sorry to tell you this, but your nanny has the stomach flu that’s been going around. We’re working hard to find a substitute but with the fall weather there’s a lot of illness, and we’re stretched pretty thin.”
“Oh, that’s fine,” Delilah said smoothly. “Don’t bother with a sub for us, we’ll be okay. What does she need? Just a few days before she can start?”
“Oh thank God,” Elaine said in a relieved way. “Yes, just a couple of days and I’m sure she’ll be ready to report for duty.”
“That’s just fine,” Delilah said. “You have a nice day now, Elaine.”
“You too,” Elaine said happily.
Delilah hung up just in time to see Axel heading down the stairs.
“Was that the phone?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said. “I saw it was my agency and I thought I’d better pick up, so the phone didn’t wake the baby. They just wanted to make sure I made it here okay.”
“That’s very nice of them,” Axel said.
“You picked a great agency, Mr...” she thought of the sign over the shop. He must be the owner. “Mr. Swann.”
“I hope so,” he said. “But please, just call me Axel.”
“Axel,” she echoed with a smile, remembering her mom’s old obsession with ‘80s hair bands. “So the shop out front is yours?”
“Guilty as charged,” he said with a smile. “I’ve always liked working with my hands.
It was hard not to think of what else he might like to do with those hands.
The living room suddenly felt very tiny and the space between them charged with electricity.
“So where are your bags?” he asked, clearing his throat.
“It’s um, just this,” she said, holding up her backpack.
“You don’t have a suitcase?” he asked uncertainly.
“Oh, well I did have one,” she lied. “But I left it on the train. I’m such an idiot. I’m sure I’ll get it back.”
“Was your cell number on your luggage tag?” he asked.
“Oh, I don’t have a cell phone,” she lied. All she needed was him asking for her number. She only had the burner phone from the con.
And no way was she giving him anything that could get him entangled in that mess.
It was bad enough that she had left the car at his shop.
“Want me to call Septa’s lost and found?” he asked.
“Oh gosh, no, I’m sure you have work to do,” she said. “Is it okay for me to use your land line to do that while Noah naps?”
“Sure,” he said. “I guess it worked out that I had the landline for Hannah.”
“Who’s Hannah?” she asked, looking around for signs of a woman. If the baby had a mother, she might be more perceptive than Axel was. It could make it much harder to hide out here even for a day or two.
“She’s the high school student who helped with Noah for the last month or two,” he said. “She doesn’t have a cell phone either.”
“Okay,” Delilah nodded, feeling better. He had told her it was only himself and Noah in the house. And now Delilah.
“Well, I’ll be at the shop if you need me for any reason,” Axel said. “Please make yourself at home.”
“Thank you,” Delilah said. “I will.”
He had no idea.
3
Axel
Axel headed to the shop with a spring in his step.
She’s just a nanny, she’s here for Noah, not for you.
But it was impossible not to enjoy the afterglow of the simple conversation with Delilah.
It wasn’t that she’d said anything particularly deep. He had hardly learned a thing about her. Frankly, she seemed a little nervous.
But he was moved by the careful way she held Noah, and the look of wonder in her eyes when she’d seen the tiny room he’d set up for her.
And Noah himself, who was in a phase where he was wary of strangers, had gone right into her arms. And apparently felt so secure in his decision that he’d gone promptly to sleep on her narrow shoulder.
These things made him feel like he already knew Delilah in the most important ways. She made his son feel safe. She appreciated the view of the treetops from her small room.
“What’s got you smiling this morning?” his apprentice, Bill, said in an almost accusatory tone.
“The nanny’s here,” Axel said. “And Noah likes her.”
“How do you even know she’s qualified?” Bill demanded. “I can’t believe you just left him with her.”
Sometimes he thought Bill was more protective of Noah than he was himself.
“She’s experienced,” Axel said. “She has a degree in early childhood development, too. The agency found her for me.”
Bill snorted, but kept his mouth shut.
“I think she’s amazing,” Axel heard himself say.
“You hardly know her,” Bill muttered.
“Are you jealous that someone else is spending time with Noah?” Axel teased.
Bill shrugged and ducked back under the hood of the Prius he was working on.
Axel smiled.
During Hannah’s last four days before school started her foster mom had taken the whole family on a special shopping trip and an excursion to the Jersey shore. Hannah had offered to skip the fun so she could watch Noah, but Axel insisted that she join her family.
As a result, Noah had been hanging out at the shop with Axel and Bill all week.
Axel had felt bad letting his apprentice take care of the baby while he talked with customers and did the more difficult jobs himself. But Bill had taken on his new duties cheerfully.
Axel hadn’t suspected the transition to having a nanny would be hard on his apprentice. Not that he could blame the man. Noah was a pretty awesome little guy.
The only actual mystery was why Axel had been so quick and passionate about defending Delilah. Bill was right - he hardly knew her.
&nbs
p; He had a sudden memory of her scent, like honeysuckle, and the bear stirred approvingly in his chest.
No way.
He was not going to fall for the nanny. Not only because it was classic after-school-special fodder, and also deeply problematic, given the obvious balance of power between them - but because it was just plain wrong for his kid. Noah needed things to be consistent in his world. His dad lusting after the nanny would not make things better.
Keep it professional, champ, he told the bear.
“Whose BMW is that?” he asked Bill.
“The one in the lot?” Bill asked, his head popping up comically.
“Yeah,” Axel said, wondering what other BMW he could be talking about. They didn’t work on a lot of beamers. Plenty of people in Tarker’s Hollow had money, but they weren’t usually very ostentatious with it. Ten-year-old Volvos were more the norm.
“I dunno,” Bill said.
“Did you check the messages?” Axel asked.
“Yeah, it was just the guy looking for an ETA on the Prius,” Bill said. “And the keys for the beamer were in the drop box - no note.”
“Damn,” Axel said, racking his brain about who might have dropped it off.
The only downside to being a mechanic in a small town was that wherever he went people would pull him aside and ask about their cars.
While it was definitely hilarious to hear them try to imitate odd engine noises, he usually just wound up telling people to drop by and let him have a look.
Most of them didn’t, until they needed an oil change or a serious repair.
But once in a while someone just dropped off a car unexpectedly. He was normally around when they dropped off the vehicle. But not this time.
The only recent car conversation he could remember was about a week ago when Dr. Ryan Stevenson had asked if he might be willing to take a look at his grandmother’s car, which she was getting ready to sell. Axel had told him to feel free to drop it off and he’d give it a once-over.
He glanced out the window at the BMW. It was a few years old, but it looked spectacular - the paint job was still glistening. It seemed over-the-top for an old lady’s car - especially a car she was about to upgrade.
