Page 3 of Sheltering Lily

He walked me to the door and stepped onto the front sidewalk with me. The sameness of the neighborhood struck me again, and I had a sudden idea.

“Would you mind if I placed a couple garden stakes on your lawn?” I asked.

“What for?” He raised an eyebrow, clearly puzzled.

“The houses on this street are so much alike, I’m afraid I’ll drive right past your house. I promise it won’t be too showy.” I sensed he wouldn’t like something flashy on his lawn. He was clearly an orderly man. Neat, precise, and…way good-looking. During my interview, I’d managed to push those thoughts aside as I focused on getting the job. Now that I had it—unless Sofia turned out to be some kind of hellion, which seemed unlikely given her father’s demeanor—my mind was free to wander to places it probably shouldn’t.

Colin’s lips pinched together, and I wondered if I’d offended him. Maybe I should have waited with my request until I knew him better. But then he surprised me by suddenly giving me a devastating smile. “I guess that would be acceptable.”

“Great. I’ll see you tomorrow.” I glanced in the rearview mirror as I pulled away. Colin stood on his sidewalk watching me. I’d give a pretty penny to know what he was thinking.

2

COLIN

Iheard a car door slam in front of my house. My new nanny had arrived in her little yellow car. I looked out the window in time to see her shoving a garden stake with a brightly colored butterfly atop it into the ground. She placed a matching one on the other side of the walk to my door. Not what I’d had in mind when I agreed to a marker—I’d pictured something simpler, more in keeping with the look of the house. Definitely less garish.

I opened my door to say that, but she looked toward me with a ready smile on her face and I bit back the words. If gaudy markers were the price to pay for good childcare, I’d ante up… although it was on the tip of my tongue to comment that she’d made her way back to my house just fine without any kind of marker to keep her from getting lost.

“Hi,” she called before leaning back in her car to grab a bag.

She was interesting, I had to admit. Not at all what I’d expected, just judging from her resume. I had my fair share of run-ins with Hartford Academy boys back when I was a kid growing up on the wrong side of the tracks. They were all so full of themselves, so convinced that they were the very best of the best just because of their wealth and privilege. But what’s the fun in being superior unless you can lord it over the people you think are inferior? They’d seek out kids like me and my brothers whenever they could find us, looking to start fights that they just assumed they’d win.

It was actually amusing to knock them down a few pegs. It was like it never occurred to them that a hefty trust fund couldn’t actually protect you from a punch to the jaw. I didn’t start any of the fights—but you can be damn sure I ended them. As a result, most of the Hartford Academy teachers I came across back then looked at me like I was nothing more than a delinquent and a disgrace.

I hadn’t actually thought Lily would look down on me—she was the one asking me for a job, not the other way around—but I had expected someone with half a decade of teaching at the Academy to be at least a little prim and stuffy. To care more about manners and etiquette than kindness or generosity.

I certainly hadn’t expected a beautiful, vibrant woman with a warm smile that went all the way up to her eyes. Someone who wasn’t afraid to speak her mind or chase after her dreams. Someone who torpedoed her own career to protect a child who had no one else in her corner. Lily was quite a surprise. One that I found way too attractive. Her thick dark hair, big hazel eyes, and even her horn-rimmed glasses appealed to me. They shouldn’t, but something about them did. I hadn’t missed her curves, shown off by the slim-fitting skirt either.

Not that I had any business noting that. She was my employee, and nothing more.

“Where’s Sofia?” she asked as she came up the walk.

“Taking a nap. She’ll be up soon.”

I had had a tough time getting her to settle for her afternoon snooze. Sofia was excited to meet the new live-in nanny and had questioned me, as much as a twenty-seven-month-old’s vocabulary allowed, about Lily. I smiled as I thought of my daughter. She wasn’t biologically mine, but she’d been my responsibility for over half of her life, and by this point, she was my whole world. While I deeply regretted the terrible circumstances that had led me to adopt her, I was still so grateful to have her in my life.

I’d been on a mission in Colombia, working directly with a woman who was helping our team capture a dangerous smuggler. The woman, Julia, was a single mom, and through our interactions, it had been clear how much her daughter meant to her. I wasn’t able to save Julia, but she lived long enough after being shot to beg me to look after her daughter. I swore to her that I would.

It wasn’t easy, getting the adoption to go through when I had no actual link to the child in question, but I didn’t become a Navy SEAL by backing down in the face of trouble. Finally, the paperwork cleared, and one-year-old Sofia was put in my care. I retired from the Navy so I could give her a stable home, moving back to my hometown while I tried to sort my situation out.

Thank God for family. My older brother, Zach, had left the Navy just a few months earlier and had discovered that he and his ex-fiancée had a child together that—thanks to a communication snafu—he hadn’t known about. By the time I came home with Sofia in October, little Austin was sixteen months old…and my brother and his once-again fiancée, Carolyn, were endless sources of help, encouragement, and advice when it came to what year-old babies needed. Zach also helped me get a job at the same security company where he worked, while our cousin Chance insisted that I use the family house until Sofia and I could find a place of our own. We’d only stayed there a few months before I’d gotten this house on Silvan Street, but it had still been a lifesaver to have somewhere to go right away—somewhere that Carolyn and Chance’s wife, Mandy, had insisted on setting up for us with everything Sofia would need.

Learning to be a dad had been a process, but it was so very worth it. There was nothing quite like coming home at the end of the day to be greeted with a happy squeal and a stream of “Dada, Dada.”

I focused on Lily, who had walked into the house ahead of me, her dark green shoulder bag over her arm. She wore leggings, a white lace top, and a denim jacket. Less formal than her interview attire, but just as good at showcasing her figure. Not that her curves were any of my concern.

“Let me show you around,” I offered, to distract myself from my inappropriate focus on Lily. I gave her a quick tour of the home’s first floor. In addition to the living room, which she’d already seen, this meant the kitchen, dining room, and utility room. She said nothing as she looked around, but I thought I saw her suppress a smile. What was that about?

“Dada, Dada, Dada.” Sofia’s soft babble came from above our heads by the time I’d finished showing Lily around the kitchen.

“I guess she’s awake,” Lily said. “Can I come up with you?”

“Of course. She’s looking forward to meeting you. And you need to see the second floor, too.” I led the way to the stairs and gestured for Lily to go up ahead of me. At the top, she headed straight for Sofia’s open door, pausing outside it so I could enter first.

“After you. She won’t be scared,” I said.

Sofia was plenty brave. She’d already survived losing her mother in a brutal way, living in an orphanage for the weeks it took me to adopt her, and coming to a new country with me as the only person she knew. I’d worried about my daughter’s mental health, but she seemed well adjusted and happy to be with me.

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