Page 48 of Marrying the Nanny

“No.” He sounded truthful, if indifferent. “But we don’t have anything in common.”

“Except a father and ten years of your childhood.”

“He’s all suits and bottom line. Wound so tight it’s suffocating to watch. Bossy as hell and ‘do it my way.’ Did you hear him last night? There’s not a right way to move furniture, but he has to find a system and it has to be efficient. Do you think he’s going to come out here and sit by a lake and listen to the birds? Not if there’s an email to answer.”

Emma was starting to get a picture of how the three boys had grown into men who didn’t stay in touch with their father or each other. How they could not expect to be informed if one or the other had married. How they could doubt their own ability to love a baby.

Storm was greedily trying to drain the air from her bottle. Trystan handed it to Emma and brought the baby up to his shoulder.

“You going to throw up on me the way you did yesterday?” He rubbed Storm’s back.

Storm let out a sizable burp.

Emma checked. “Clean.” She reached for their lunch as Trystan sat Storm with her back braced against his thigh. Emma put her teething ring in front her and she grabbed it up, exercising her vocal cords as she brought it to her mouth.

“Shh,” she whispered. “Your brother wants to hear the birds.” So far, Emma had only heard the raspy cry of a raven. “He won’t bring us again if you ruin it.”

“She’s all right.” His big hand caught under Storm’s arms to adjust her as she began to topple. “One more sound of nature.”

Emma smiled, hoping it meant this loner would let at least one of his siblings into his heart.

Chapter Nine

Reid had one eye on the clock, which read 5:45 p.m., one eye on the stack of invoices he was approving for payment. One hand held a pen; the other held the telephone against his ear.

“No, I don’t think she’s your babysitter,” he said in his most reasonable tone. “But it’s a big trip to take alone.” Or even with her neighbor and best friend. “Did you have a disagreement? Why don’t you want Olive to come with you?”

“She’s been really down on me lately. She thinks it’s too much money, and she’ll miss her granddaughter’s birthday.”

“Those are fair reasons, Mom.”

“You think it’s a bad idea, too!”

“That’s not what I said.” But he did think it was a terrible idea.

She was talking fast, which meant she was riding a high, feeling intensely optimistic, and not absorbing the reality of being out of her element, alone, for three long months. Within the next few days or hours even, she would experience a rebound of depression. She would crash quicker and harder if he wasn’t careful with his criticism.

“There’s a lot to think about with a long cruise like that. Have you talked to Velma?”

“I don’t need approval from my therapist to book a vacation. Or you.”

She did, though. To some extent, he had to let her empty her bank account if that’s what she wanted to do. It was her money. But she did things in fits of mania that were not in her best interest, which was why she kept her credit card limit very low. When she was rational, she understood that she needed fail-safes in place for when she wasn’t.

One was to have Reid make her bigger purchases on his own card. Sometimes she paid him back; sometimes he said Happy Mother’s Day. Occasionally, like today, he cautioned that she needed to take more time before committing. It was a razor’s edge, walking this line of protecting and respecting, but her life had been shaken up by his father’s death. She was still processing it.

“This is not the best time to spend a big chunk of money, Mom. I would really like you to wait.” He kept his voice gentle, but firm.

“But you’re going to pay me what your father owes me.”

“A lot has to happen,” he said for the millionth time. “Probate takes a while. Maybe in a year we can talk about this cruise.”

“That’s when it is, a year from July, but I have to book now.”

“I mean that you should wait until the money is in the bank before you consider something like that.” He didn’t dare mention Raven’s Cove was running at a loss and the kind of money she expected might never show up. “Can you look at something smaller? What about the Saint Lawrence cruise? I thought you and Olive had decided to do that this year, for the turning of the leaves.”

“I can do both.”

“No, Mom, you can’t.” He couldn’t. At the moment, he was covering her support payments from his own pocket, hoping to get it back when the dust settled.

---