Page 64 of Military Daddies' Nanny

“That was lovely. I don’t know why you suddenly chose to do this but I’m glad that we did. This has been the highlight of my week,” she says softly, the emotions flooding her voice.

Nathan and I exchange a look which she picks up on and she stares at us in confusion.

“Is there something else?”

Nathan clears his throat and nods. “Well, yes, there is. We hope that this will only make the night an even better memory for all of us.”

“Querida,we know that this week has been hectic for you and we wish there was more we could do to make it less painful. Unfortunately, there is only so much we can do in regard to the situation we’ve been forced into. However, I hope you know that there is nowhere else we would rather be than with you right now.”

“It is not because you’re carrying our child either, Nancy. In the months since you’ve been with us, you have become our home, and we cannot imagine life without you. You’re like…the missing piece in a machine that takes it from prototype to finished product, you know? Once it’s in, everything just runs smoother, and all the kinks are worked out. That’s how it felt when youcame into our lives. I don’t know if I’m making any sense,” Nathan says.

I can’t help my chuckle. Of course he would relate this to building some machine. Still, Nancy nods, love and understanding in her eyes.

I press my lips together for a moment. “You don’t know how much you mean to me. I have always wanted a family. As a kid, I never knew what it meant to have one, so when I met Nathan and Drew, and they accepted me with open arms, I considered them my brothers. I just wanted to be the best uncle I could be, waiting until I got the chance to find love, and maybe start my own family. You have given me that. You have completed my family.”

Nancy whimpers, her lips quivering as she looks between us, unable to utter a single word. I reach forward, kneeling by her seat, and wipe the single tear that rolls down her cheek.

My palm rests on her slightly warm cheek, and I stare adoringly into her eyes.

“I love you,querida.” My other hand caresses her stomach. “And I love our baby too.”

Nathan kneels at her other side and takes her hand in his. He kisses her fingers one after the other.

“I need you to know that having this baby with you is one of the best things that could ever have happened to us. There is no one else that we would love to share this moment with than the woman that we love with all of our beings. I love you, Nancy. We love you.”

Nancy stares down at the two of us kneeling beside her and with a choked sob, she lowers her head until it’s pressed against ours.

“I love you too. All of you.” she caresses her womb. “And this baby too.”

Chapter 24

Drew

I'm at my breaking point. I can barely focus during the day, haunted by dreams of Nancy's warm smiles and the way her presence seemed to illuminate every corner of our lives. What am I doing, letting this charade with Karen drag on unchecked?

Dinner that night is a painfully awkward affair. Karen tries engaging the kids, chatting about the fun activities they'd done together that day, but her attempts fall flat. Jason and Bella both seem disinterested, pushing food around on their plates with hollow looks in their eyes.

I can't blame them. For all of Karen's enthusiasm, she really knows nothing about who my children have grown into over these past six years.

The goofy jokes that used to make them erupt into peals of laughter now elicit little more than strained smiles. The stories she tells, striving to relate to their current interests and hobbies, miss the mark by a mile.

She's a stranger to them, plain and simple. A well-meaning stranger, desperate to force her way into their lives and reclaim some semblance of the family she abruptly abandoned. But no amount of effort on her part can undo that fundamental disconnect.

The kids have picked up on it too, their hopeful excitement from Karen's initial return steadily curdling into confusion and detachment with each passing day.

I can see it in the searching looks they keep flashing my way, that same silent pleading for...what? Answers? Reassurance? A return to the stable condition they'd only just begun adjusting to before I ripped the rug out from under us all?

I have no solutions to offer, no profound justification for forcing us all down this path of manufactured domesticity. By the time we've picked at our food in tortuous silence, the tension is damn near palpable.

“So, Jason,” Karen tries again. “What’s going on at school these days?”

Jason glances at me as if seeking my help with the question. “It’s good, I guess. Not so much to talk about.”

He would definitely give Nancy a different answer to that question, I think quietly.Then again, Nancy would never ask him ‘what’s going on at school these days?’. She’d probably ask about what new math formulas he’s currently infatuated with or what science project he plans to try his hand at next.

I hate that I keep drawing parallels between Nancy and Karen, but the differences between the two women are so stark, it would take a herculean effort to ignore them.

The kids clear their dishes quietly, leaving Karen and I alone at the table. She tries for a smile that doesn't reach her eyes.

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