Page 109 of Daddy's Naughty List

Her girls filled her life with love, joy, and responsibility. And fear. Lots of fear. Fear that she hadn’t done the right thing not telling Connor about his daughter. Fear that she wouldn’t be able to do this on her own.

Tipsy’s bright golden eyes reminded her of Connor. How could she miss him so much when she’d only been with him a day and a half? She only allowed herself to use Connor’s name once a day, and today she’d already used it twice.

With a sigh, she focused on the problem at hand. It couldn’t be that hard, right? She should just pull everything out of the trunk and get the tire changed. Or she could stand by the road with her thumb out, hoping someone would have pity on her and take her to Winnie’s house.

Pish-posh.Mary Poppins tapped her buttoned shoe on Bliss’s shoulder.Once begun is half done.

Sometimes, Mary Poppins got on Bliss’s very last nerve.

Hugging Tipsy closer to her chest, she stared at the flat. The rim being almost on the ground didn’t strike her as being a good thing. “I’ve never actually changed a tire before, Tipsy. Have you?”

Tipsy hadn’t ever changed a tire, either. They’d have to figure it out together. In a few minutes. Right now, she was going to sit here and imagine following Miranda’s advice and dousing her avocado-green rust-bucket of a car in kerosene and setting it aflame. At least she’d be warm then.

She’d left the house this morning without her coat. Again. The pretty teal sweater with the giant appliqued moose she’d worn to work didn’t deserve to be covered up. It should have been fine since her job was inside. She just had to walk into Bundles of Joy where she worked and then back to her car at five.

Bad things were supposed to come in threes. This day had given her way more than three bad things. First, Ivy had kept her after work to talk to her in private. Bliss had felt just like she did when she used to get called into Father Cassian’s office at the compound.

“We don’t like being nervous, do we? No.” That was the nice thing about asking Tipsy a question. She always had the right answer. Not with actual words, of course. She’d communicate with those golden eyes, like Connor had.

Thankfully, Winnie had been able to come get the girls. It was hard to focus on what people were saying when the babies were around. She didn’t mind since it was hard for the other people to focus, too. Everyone loved the girls. Sadie and Sophie were dimpled bundles of babbling, trying-to-walk joy. And Nori was taking in everything around her in that quiet, thoughtful way she had. Like her father.

It turned out Ivy wanted to know about how things were going at home. It was sweet, although it wasn’t anything they couldn’t have talked about over lunch. She’d asked about how Bliss was coping with raising three babies alone, and if they were getting enough to eat. She’d even asked how often Bliss changed their diapers. When Bliss had asked why she wanted to know, Ivy had gotten a funny look and said she wanted to make sure Bliss and the girls were doing okay.

See, sweet. But it put her trying to get out of town at the busiest part of the day. Running over the million and one happy tourists clogging up the streets with their happy vacationing wouldn’t help. Seeing all the Littles and their Daddies playing in the snow forts and having snowball fights in the town square just made her stroll downWhat Could Have BeenLane. Connor probably built great snow forts.

Darn it! That was two nickels. She was running out of nickels to put in the swear jar. Not that his name was a swear word exactly. But it made her heart hurt. She gave herself a consequence every time she went over the limit of saying Connor’s name.

Argh! Three nickels.

A glance at her watch had her groaning. It might not have been those happy tourists’ fault she was already twenty minutes late to pick up her kids from Winnie’s house, but they hadn’t helped. Winnie had said be there by 5:30, and it was almost that now. If changing the tire didn’t take too long—and why should it—she could still make it to Arcadian Hills before six.

Mary and Miranda both agreed.

It wasn’t as if he hadn’t tried to hurry earlier. Adjusting her speed to slightly above the speed limit, she’d cranked up her AM radio and belted outRockin’ Around the Christmas Tree. Not that she had a Christmas tree. But she would soon, a fresh one that made the whole house smell like Christmas.

When the song had shifted toRun, Run, Rudolph, she’d danced as she drove. The tiny jingle bells attached to the moose antlers on her sweater had jingled away, lifting her spirits as she sang. No one could’ve blamed her if the accelerator got pushed a bit too hard.

The sky had been all purples and deep pinks in the setting sunlight, and fresh snow blanketed the ground and branches, like a Christmas postcard. It had been way too gorgeous to stay cranky. So, she’d cranked the music up some more and pressed the pedal down. She would have been to Winnie’s in plenty of time.

But halfway to Winnie’s house, something under her car exploded. The steering wheel had jerked to the right so hard she’d veered into the oncoming lane. She’d seen the grim reaper holding out his hand to her.

Screaming, she’d gripped the wheel as hard as she could and slammed on the brakes. Her tires had locked, and she’d skidded and swerved all over the road. Leaning forward, she’d used every ounce of strength she had to get her car under control, steering her rattling and shaking car back into her lane.

By the time she’d gotten most of her car to the side of the road, her arms had been quivering like fresh-set Jello. She’d rested her forehead on the steering wheel and chantedbig girls don’t cryalong with Mary and Miranda.

She’d reached for her phone, but remembered her battery was dead. She’d had no way to call Winnie to let her know she was running late. When she’d calmed down enough to think, she’d opened the door and stepped out of the car on shaking legs to assess the damage.

Why did this have to happen now?

Mary had the answer.That’s what happens when you drive around on bad tires.Sometimes Mary could be snide like that.

Guilt overwhelmed her. Sure, she needed new tires, but tires were freakin expensive. She’d been saving up for them, but she’d only been back in Darling a couple of months.

It was the realization that the girls could have been in the car when the tire blew out that had dropped her to her butt in the middle of the road. She could have killed her babies! She was the worst mother in the world. In the entire history of motherhood. Mary Poppinstskedin Bliss’s ear.

It was all she could do not to curl up in a fetal position right there on the highway. Covering her face, she rocked back and forth. She’d give her legs thirty seconds to stop trembling. That’s all the time she had and then she’d stand up and tackle the car. Besides, the scent of burning rubber was hard to take.

After her allotted pit-party time ended, she glared at her tire. “I don’t suppose you’ll change yourself, will you? It’s the least you can do. No? Well, fine.” With nothing else for it, she pushed to her feet, whispering an apology to Mary for being ungrateful. Miranda understood.

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