Page 53 of Marrying the Nanny

After two nights with his mother, Reid arrived back in Raven’s Cove mentally exhausted. He left the shopping on the wharf and walked up to the lodge office where Trystan had been covering for him.

“Hey,” he greeted Trystan as he walked through the open door into his office.

A noise in the corner snapped his attention to Storm. She sat in a baby contraption tricked out with a padded seat, a tray of fixed toys, a mobile, and some shock absorbers that made it bounce as she kicked.

At the sound of his voice, her gaze came up, up, up to his face and her whole body went into excited convulsions. Her arms lifted and she released a squealing laugh.

“I didn’t think you would notice I was gone, let alone give a damn if I came back.” A roll of laughter rose in Reid’s chest, propelling him across to crouch in front of her.

She continued running in place, making the saucer rattle. He and Trystan both chuckled.

Unable to resist, Reid lifted her from the seat and settled her against his chest. She kept up the wiggling and squawking, nearly bonking her forehead into his jaw.

“Take a chill pill,” he chided, but the way her little fists knotted in his shirt was bizarrely endearing. Why couldn’t every relationship be this easy, so all he had to do was show up to make someone happy?

“Hey, Storm. Show him your tooth.”

“What?” Reid touched his thumb to her chin and drew her lip down to see a spot of white on her bottom gum. “I was gone two days.”

Storm pulled from his touch even as she caught his thumb and tried to bite it.

“Yeah, she’s all grown up now. Actually, the other one’s coming in beside it. She’s been sweet and sour the whole time you’ve been gone. Have a lovely night.”

Reid glanced at the clock. “I have two hours.” But he was oddly ambivalent about waiting, tempted to take her with him. He had several loads to carry to the house, though. “I came for the truck. Anything going on I should know about?”

“Nothing that can’t wait until round table.”

That’s what they’d started calling the dinner hour when they communicated daily blips and challenges with the house, the resort, and the baby.

Trystan rose to fish the truck keys from his pocket and dropped them on the desk. “Throw something in the oven, would you? Emma’s going to Sophie’s for wine night.”

“Will do.” He bent to put Storm back in her seat.

As he lowered her, Storm picked up her knees in protest and burst into a sharp cry that yanked on his conscience. He might prefer women spelling out their feelings, but he had ears. He’d been learning his kid sister’s different cries and this wasn’t a complaint of hunger or a startled shriek of pain. This was the sorrow of being abandoned by the side of a highway. A scold. How could you do this to me, you monster?

“Hey,” Reid chided softly, straightening with her still in his arms. A second ago, he’d been flattered that she was excited to see him. Now he saw the flip side of her attachment—acute guilt.

She curled into his shoulder, seeking comfort, and his heart creaked open.

“I’m on deck tonight,” he reassured her as he rubbed her back. “You can tell me later how bad they treated you while I was gone.”

“Sweet and sour.” Trystan ambled over. “Come here, mosquito. We’ll play airplane. That always cheers you up.”

Fickle as any diva who took spoiling as her due, she quit crying and began to squeal as Trystan sailed her through the air. Reid slipped out while her back was turned.

Twenty minutes later, he pulled into the carport and unloaded the baby supplies he’d picked up along with a few toys he thought Storm would like. He’d bought himself some jeans and a couple of shirts, his mom had given him a tin of European shortbread, and he’d impulsively bought a novelty mug for Emma. It had been a dollar and was probably supposed to be for Christmas. It was white with a black line drawing of a penguin in a green bow tie trying to conduct a chorus of three fur seals. They each wore a red ribbon around their neck.

He would probably never hear the end of it from his brothers, but everyone liked a show of appreciation, right? He set it in the kitchen on his way to the upper floor.

He paused in Storm’s room to drop off the diapers and lotions, then strode across to throw open the pocket door into the bathroom—

“Oh, fuck.”

Emma stood with one foot in the tub, one on the mat. She had one arm reached out, presumably to lock the door he had just thrown open. Her emerald eyes were huge. She was naked. Shiny and rosy with foamy bubbles sliding down her breasts and stomach down to—

Fuuuck.

He turned and walked out.

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