Page 55 of Marrying the Nanny

They burst out laughing.

*

Reid reviewed Emma’s log sheet while he waited for the timer on the casserole to tick down. She had recorded the window washing after all the new ones went in, but she put the dishes away every day, swept, and did Storm’s laundry without making note of it. She logged the walk she took most afternoons with Storm, but also took her for an hour in the morning while whoever was on shift showered and ate and checked email. None of that was on here.

Emma cooked most nights, too. That’s why there were a few of Glenda’s casseroles still in stock, but the freezer was running low. Reid dreaded having to think about meal plans.

Logan came in. “Not ready yet? I’m starving.”

“Make the salad.”

Logan made a noise and a face, but opened the fridge.

“You think Harpreet will get on our case about Emma?” Reid asked. “She’s working more than she’s admitting to.” He tucked the sheet where she left it behind the tissue box.

“I had to let her get up with Storm last night. That kid would not settle, and we have so many boats going in the water.”

Boat owners were fussy about their own babies. Logan needed to be on his game, not yawning and making stupid mistakes.

“Not ready yet?” Trystan asked as he arrived in the kitchen with Storm on his arm.

“Oh my God,” Reid channeled Glenda from every dinner hour fifteen years ago. “Set the table. It will be ready in a minute.”

Trystan snorted, hearing it, too. He handed Storm to him. “Clean and dry, but hungry.”

Reid met Storm’s gaze and couldn’t help return her gummy smile. “Hi there. Emma said we’re supposed to say hello when we take you, didn’t she?”

He said it more because he didn’t know what else to say, but Storm craned her neck, looking around the kitchen.

Reid’s scalp prickled. “Did you see that?”

His brothers stopped what they were doing to glance over.

“She’s looking for Emma.”

Storm twisted in his grip and raised her babbles, directing her attention to the archway as if she thought Emma was out of sight in the dining room.

“Em told me to play peekaboo with her because she’s learning object permanence.” Logan lifted a skeptical brow. “Every time she talks like that, I think we’re part of a social experiment, but it’s cool to watch the kid learn stuff, isn’t it? It hasn’t even been a full month since we got here.”

“I wouldn’t have said she could tell us apart until Reid got back today.” Trystan collected plates and cutlery. “You should have seen the way she freaked out when he showed up. She knew you disappeared, too. She was looking for you.”

“Probably because you put her back in baby jail and she wanted me to bust her out. Is that what happened?” He gave her diapered bottom a pat. “You want some of this?” He showed her the box of cereal.

She whined her hungry noise and rubbed her face into his shoulder.

“Where’s Em?” Logan asked.

Was that what they were calling her now? Reid wasn’t sure he liked that easy familiarity between Logan and “Em.”

“Sophie’s.” Reid didn’t mention what had happened upstairs. He didn’t need the ribbing, and once it started it wouldn’t stop.

He didn’t need for it to have happened. It was all he’d been able to think about, despite trying to catch up on some of his consulting work before he went back into the office tomorrow. He had already spent the last two days dwelling far too often on her confession that, My husband slept with anything that moved, but hardly ever slept with me. Now he was convinced that the useless twat was also blind and stupid. What kind of man wouldn’t want to spend the rest of his life studying and caressing those graceful curves?

Marrying—sleeping with the same person for the rest of his life—had always struck him as an unrealistic expectation. His cynicism was a side effect of his upbringing, and he certainly had no aspirations to marry, but there was something appealing in long-term relationships. The stability, he supposed. He liked the stage when things became comfortable. When conversations were picked up with ease because all the knotty history was out of the way.

Of course, every time he had reached that level with a woman, she’d already been looking to the next stage. Marriage, family, Do you love me? Why don’t you want a wife and kids?

He strapped Storm into her chair and fed her while his brothers put dinner on the table.

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