An Unexpected Father

by Marie Ferrarella

  “Okay, now that that’s taken care of, take a seat,” Brady said, then added, “Please,” when the woman still looked as if she was undecided about staying.

  Brady noticed that when the stranger did sit down, she perched on the edge of the seat, like someone who was prepared to make a quick getaway if it came down to that.

  Again, he couldn’t help wondering just what this person’s story was. A woman who looked the way she did shouldn’t have a care in the world, but it was apparent that she did.

  Big-time if he didn’t miss his guess.

  Maybe he could draw her out if he told her a little about himself, Brady thought just as the waitress returned with the coffee.

  “Will there be anything else?” the waitress asked, looking from Brady to his new coffee companion.

  Brady, in turn, looked at the woman sitting opposite him, raising an eyebrow as he asked her, “Would you like anything else? Maybe a croissant?” he suggested.

  But the young woman shook her head. “No, thank you. The coffee will do just fine. Really,” she stressed.

  The waitress nodded. “Well, if you change your minds, just let me know,” she told them cheerfully. “My shift doesn’t end for another couple of hours,” she added just before she withdrew, leaving the two of them alone to share whatever stories they had to tell.

  The woman was barely out of sight before the awkwardness set in and for the moment, all conversation faded.

  Chapter Four

  Harper had to admit that she felt just a little awkward sitting here like this opposite a complete stranger.

  “So tell me about these kids who you said were filling your hands,” Harper, the woman sitting opposite Brady, said after taking a sip of her coffee.

  “Toby and Tyler,” Brady said, giving his coffee companion their names. “They’re twins,” he added as if that should explain everything, including why he was so frazzled. “I just finished registering them at the preschool.” The experience vividly brought back the feelings of resentment that had been raised. “Do you know what the woman at the registration office had the nerve to imply?” He didn’t wait to be asked to elaborate. Instead, Brady told her, “That I needed a psychologist.”

  Though she was trying to be sympathetic, Harper didn’t see the problem. Was she missing something? “Why would that annoy you so much?” she asked, reading between the lines and interpreting his reaction to what she viewed as a well-meaning suggestion. “Everyone needs a little help sometimes.” She could see by the look in his eyes that the man was distancing himself from both her and her suggestion. Harper decided to attempt another approach. “If you don’t mind my asking, where’s the twins’ mother?”

  Brady drew himself up, his body language telling her that she had just crossed a line and to back off. “She’s dead,” he answered.

  Harper had no idea the man was a widower. And at such a young age. Her heart instantly went out to him. “Oh, I am so sorry,” she told him, not wanting to scratch what could possibly be a fresh wound. “Maybe the three of you—you and your boys—could benefit from some counseling. This has to be a very difficult time for all of you,” she told him compassionately.

  As she watched, the stranger’s face clouded over.

  “It is extremely hard,” Brady informed her coldly. This was a mistake, he thought. “And having a total stranger sitting in judgment over my actions doesn’t help.”

  Did he mean her? Just in case he did, Harper backed away from the topic. “I’m sorry—I didn’t mean to offend you,” she began.

  But Brady was already on his feet. “No,” he told her. “The fault is mine. I was the one who engaged you in conversation when I shouldn’t have.” His tone left no room for any further exchange. His nerves felt raw.

  Taking out a twenty, he left it on the table between her cup of coffee and his. “That should cover everything. Have a nice day,” he told the woman crisply.

  And then he walked away.

  That settled it, Harper thought, getting up from the table herself. All men were crazy.

  * * *

  At least he had done something positive, Brady thought, attempting to comfort himself when he went to pick up the twins a few hours later. If nothing else, he had managed to get the boys registered for preschool. One thing down, four million to go.

  After parking his car in the school lot, he was unsure just where to go to pick up the boys. Deciding to take a chance, he followed the gaggle of parents who gathered at one of the gate entrances on the far side of the schoolyard.

  He kept his eyes peeled, afraid he might miss connecting with the twins. But he needn’t have worried. When the preschoolers and kindergarteners came pouring out of the building, he spotted his two immediately.

  And then his heart sank.

  Tyler was crying. The boy made a beeline for him the instant Tyler saw him.

  Toby was a couple of steps behind his brother and the moment he saw the boy, Brady could tell that Tyler’s twin had been in a fight.

  Tyler threw his arms around him while Toby, looking guilty, hung back.

  “Okay,” Brady began, bracing himself. “What happened?”

  The question was for both of the twins, but only Tyler answered him. His voice trembled and it was obvious that he was either on the verge of tears, or had just stopped crying.

  “I didn’t think you were coming back, Unca Brady. I was so scared,” he added after a beat.

  That really got to him. Brady put his arm around the boys, hugging them both. “You know I’d never leave you, boys. I brought you here so you could play with the other kids. You were supposed to have fun,” he reminded the twins, “not worry about me coming back—because I’ll always come back for you,” he assured Tyler. “For both of you,” he stressed, looking over at Toby. “Okay, what’s your story?” he asked the other twin.

  Toby turned to him, then looking a little too innocent, and replied, “No story.”

  Brady raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Then why do you look like you were in a fight?” he wanted to know.

  It was Tyler who piped up with an answer. “’Cause he was in a fight.”

  “Toby, is this true?” Brady asked the disheveled twin, placing his hand on the boy’s shoulders.

  Toby shrugged his small shoulders and looked off into the distance. “Maybe,” he finally admitted.

  “Okay, and why were you fighting?” Brady wanted to know.

  Tyler shrugged again, but this time he followed the action up with an answer. “’Cause that kid made fun of Tyler.” Toby vaguely pointed off into the distance. There were still a number of children in that area. “He called Tyler a baby for crying. I made him take it back,” he added proudly.

  “Look, Toby,” Brady told the twin wearily, “while I think it’s great that you stood up for your brother, you can’t settle things by pummeling people who annoy you.”

  Toby’s brow furrowed. “What’s pum-pum—that word?” he finally asked.

  “It means beating up the other guy,” Brady explained to Toby, then stressed, “You can’t do that.”

  “How come?” Toby asked, confused. And then he proudly declared, “I won.”

  “Because eventually, someone might wind up beating you up when you come out swinging and I’d rather that didn’t happen.” Feeling as if his lecture was going nowhere, Brady decided it was time to wind it up. “C’mon, guys, let’s go home.”

  Taking each twin by the hand, Brady brought them to his vehicle.

  After securing the twins into their separate car seats in the rear, Brady set out for home.

  Maybe that woman in the registration office, Mrs. Ferguson, was right, he thought as he drove. Maybe he did need help.

  One thing was for sure—this certainly wasn’t going the way he had hoped it would. If it was, by now his own life should have been settling down into some ki
nd of orderly routine. Instead, it felt as if the chaos was only growing, absorbing him.

  If it got any worse, he was fairly certain that it would wind up swallowing him up whole.

  Trying to smother the desperate feeling he felt bubbling up inside him, Brady thought of the card that Mrs. Ferguson had given him. He hadn’t had time to throw it away yet, the way he had planned.

  Slipping his hand into his pocket to make sure it was still there, he came in contact with the business card. Okay, that settled it.

  He decided to make the call.

  What harm would it do? And who knew, maybe talking to this H. Radcliffe guy might even help him. It certainly couldn’t make it any worse.

  He realized that Toby was asking him a question. “We going back tomorrow?”

  “Yes,” Brady answered, bracing himself for a fight. “You are.”

  Toby totally surprised him by saying “Cool.”

  It was Tyler, the more quiet of the pair, who protested, “I don’t wanna go!”

  “It’ll get better,” Brady promised automatically. “Besides, you don’t want to be known as a quitter, do you?” he asked, thinking that would convince the twin to go back.

  But again, Brady discovered he was wrong.

  “Why not?” Toby challenged him.

  Everything was always a debate, Brady thought wearily. “Just give it another shot, okay?” he asked, then added, “For me,” for good measure.

  But it was Toby who shocked him by telling his twin, “I’ll be there to take care of you, Ty.”

  Brady looked up in the rearview mirror to see Tyler’s reaction. The boy still looked somewhat unconvinced, but he didn’t protest any further.

  When they got home, Brady made sandwiches for the boys and put out two servings of grapes as dessert. While the twins were busy eating—and using the grapes to lob at each other—Brady went to place a call to H. Radcliffe.

  He was more than ready to admit that he needed help—but instead he found himself leaving a voice mail.

  According to the message, H. Radcliffe was out of the office.

  Most likely saving someone else’s sanity, Brady thought. The next moment, he found himself talking quickly in hopes that H. Radcliffe would get back to him sometime today. Right now, it was the only thing Brady had to cling to.

  “Hello, this is Brady Fortune. You don’t know me, but Mrs. Ferguson at the Rambling Rose preschool suggested I get in contact with you. She’s the one who gave me your card,” he added, thinking that might help tip the scale in his favor. “I’ve recently become the guardian for four-year-old twins and I realize that I’m really out of my depth here. I could really use any help I can get. Please give me a call back as soon as possible. I’ll be waiting for your call,” he added for good measure. And then he left his number.

  Brady was aware that the polite way to go would have been to say at your earliest convenience, but at this point, he felt the situation was way beyond anyone’s convenience. Certainly beyond his. His life felt as if it was in a state of constant emergency and he desperately needed help dealing with it now.

  Brady ended the call just as he heard a crash coming from the other room.

  Brady went to investigate this latest threat to his peace and quiet, fervently hoping that H. Radcliffe would listen to his messages before going to bed tonight and give him a call.

  * * *

  Harper saw the blinking light on the landline in her studio apartment the moment she walked in. Crossing her fingers and hoping that this was about a possible job, she didn’t even bother taking her jacket off. Instead, she went straight to the phone on the nightstand and hit the green arrow marked Play.

  She listened to the message twice.

  There was no doubt about it. Someone was calling about a possible position.

  Someone wanted to hire her, Harper thought, her heart leaping up in her chest. Finally, just when she had begun to give up all hope, there was suddenly a light at the end of this extremely long, dark tunnel.

  What that meant, she thought, was that she didn’t have to convince that chef at Roja that she had what it took to be a waitress—because truthfully, she really didn’t.

  Now, with any luck, she could actually get back to what she was good at—being a nanny.

  Harper played the message for a third time to make sure she wasn’t getting ahead of herself.

  No, she wasn’t wrong, she thought. The man who had placed the call definitely sounded as if he was looking for a nanny, no doubt about it.

  It also occurred to her that the voice on the phone sounded somewhat familiar, but even though she concentrated, she couldn’t place the voice.

  Maybe, she decided, it was her imagination.

  It didn’t matter, though. All that mattered was getting back to what she loved doing—working with children. If she got this job, that could wind up being the answer to all her problems. She didn’t even care about the salary.

  Harper smiled to herself.

  Just when she was ready to give up, the sun had broken through the clouds. Apparently moving to Rambling Rose hadn’t been the beginning of the end for her. It had wound up being only an excruciatingly long, but ultimately temporary pause.

  In truth, she had never wanted to come out here in the first place. A few months ago, she had been working in Dallas as a nanny. But when Justine Wheeler, the woman she had been working for, had been transferred to Rambling Rose by her employer, she had begged Harper to come with the family.

  Harper had really wanted to say no, but she had trouble asserting herself, so she had agreed to the woman’s pleas and wound up moving here even though her common sense told her not to.

  It wasn’t actually the location she had a problem with, it was the fact that the woman’s husband had slowly become progressively more and more flirtatious.

  She did her best to keep the man, Edward, at a distance, but apparently Justine’s husband didn’t accept any of her rebuffs as genuine. The situation between Harper and Edward had been a very touchy one at that point and the move to Rambling Rose only seemed to make things worse.

  Harper loved the children she was taking care of, but more and more she found herself trying to politely avoid the woman’s husband. While Edward Wheeler had always been nice to her, after they had made the move, he became a little too nice.

  He grew even more flirtatious, a lot more than she was comfortable with.

  When he made an outright, undeniable pass at her, Harper decided that she had no choice but to quit. But when she told Justine she was leaving, without citing the reason why, Justine once again begged her to remain, playing on her sympathies and her love for the children.

  The woman did everything in her power to make her stay. She said that they were new in town, lamenting that they would never be able to replace her on such short notice.

  So once again against her better judgment, Harper agreed to stay on. But, predictably, things only got worse. The Wheelers’ marriage was coming apart at the seams. So when Justine saw her husband flirting with Harper, she got the totally wrong idea. She viciously blamed Harper for all her marital woes and fired her on the spot. She never gave her a chance to defend herself.

  Harper had never once mentioned to Justine the uncomfortable situation she had endured all this time. At that point she knew that whatever she said wouldn’t be believed anyway.

  With that in mind, Harper packed up and left immediately.

  Her only regret about leaving was the couple’s two little girls. The girls were heartbroken and cried when she left.

  That was how she had wound up being jobless in a town where she didn’t know anyone. She had no funds and with her parents gone, she had no one to go back to. Her only family was a brother who was currently in the army overseas. She was not about to ask him for any help. She had always taken pride in earning her own way.
They did correspond, but not all that often. She refused to be the one in their relationship who just complained and unloaded, especially given the pressures he was under. So she kept her emails short and upbeat.

  However, to make matters worse, Justine Wheeler had quickly begun spreading vicious lies about her so all of her potential nanny jobs quickly dried up. If she had any doubts that was happening, having the phone go dead in her ear quickly convinced her that this was true.

  No one called the number on the cards that she had made up.

  With her back against the wall and very little money in her pocket, Harper had started looking for any sort of work at all. That was how she had wound up interviewing for a waitressing job.

  Quickly exhausting her meager savings, she needed money and she needed it fast.

  Truthfully, she had given up all hope of getting any sort of a position as a nanny. But someone had obviously decided to give her a try and they had called the number on one of the numerous cards that she had left scattered about the town in her wake.

  Harper’s hand was trembling as she called the number that was left on her voice mail. As she listened to the phone on the other end ring, she prayed that the person who had called was home—and that he hadn’t found a nanny yet.

  Mentally, she counted off the number of rings.

  Her heart had started to sink when the phone rang six times.

  The person wasn’t home.

  And then she heard the receiver being picked up.

  She could feel her pulse going into overdrive. Her mouth was dry, but even so, she forced herself to start talking.

  Quickly.

  Chapter Five

  Harper had no idea why she felt so nervous. After all, it wasn’t as if she was new to this whole thing. She had been a nanny for a number of years now. That meant that she had placed calls and made appointments for interviews before.

  The problem right now was that she felt at the end of her rope and this could very well be the lifeline she had been hoping for—if she didn’t somehow wind up messing everything up.