Page 11 of Hidden Truths

“Shit,” I mutter, trying to pry tiny baby hands off Harlow’s hair. Babies are superhuman levels of strong, and I’m not having a ton of success. Harlow just laughs and shrugs me off.

“Don’t worry about it. Babies love to grab, and my hair was right there for the taking. Wasn’t it sweet girl?” Harlow coos, and Cora smiles a gummy smile at her. My girl is smiling, and my heart fucking shatters.

Belle hands Harlow a bottle and a burp cloth. “Want to come sit with her on the couch so we can fill you in on the details of the job?”

Harlow nods and follows my sister. I look at Willa, who is smiling a genuine smile. She loves Cora, too, so I know seeing that smile made her happy too.

I watch as Harlow sits and starts feeding Cora, a small smile playing on my lips at the sight. But only for a moment. Then shock hits me, and I freeze in place. My baby girl has bright red hair, and it looks like it’s a shade or two lighter than Harlow’s. They look like mother and daughter sitting there right now. Where Harlow’s eyes are green, Cora’s seem to be turning the same shade of brown as mine. But other than that, they look so similar. It’s like a punch to the gut, and I can’t move or look away.

“We’ll be right back!” Willa yells and grabs me by the elbow, dragging me to the kitchen. “What the hell happened?” she whispers.

“Cora and Harlow, they look . . .” I can’t even get the damn words out.

“Yeah, I noticed that too. Is that going to be a problem?”

I bite my lip and think about it. “No,” I say eventually. “It just threw me. Reminded me that Cora doesn’t have a mom. That she’ll never know Bailey.”

Willa nods. She knows how broken up I was about Cora’s mom. I was sad Bailey died, but I was destroyed knowing Cora would have to grow up without her.

“Cora has so many people that love her. So many people to support her as she grows. Maybe Harlow can be one of those people too,” Willa says. “Just don’t fuck her and ruin everything.”

“I’m not going to fuck the nanny! Jesus, Willa.” I make sure to sound offended even though I definitely wanted to fuck the nanny the minute I saw her. I can’t though. I won’t risk ruining things for Cora by having someone to look out for her while I’m at the studio.

Willa just snorts and makes her way back to the living room. I follow to see Belle and Harlow laughing at something as Harlow burps Cora. She’s a natural. There’s no doubt about that.

“What have you explained?” I ask Belle, taking a seat in the chair across from the couch.

“Just what our recording schedule will probably look like, and that Dad is here on the weekends, so she’ll have those to herself.”

“It’s a live-in position. I need help at night. To be completely honest, that’s been the worst for me. Cora has never been great at sleeping and now that she’s getting older, it seems to be getting worse. I think she might be getting a tooth.” I leave off that I’ve been in tears with her every night the past two weeks.

Harlow smiles down at Cora. “Does your mouth hurt, sweet girl? I bet it does. Don’t worry. We can do all the snuggles until it feels better. And then, guess what? Once you have all your big girl teeth, you can start having yummy food!” Cora gives her that big gummy smile again and makes a cute noise that sounds like agreement. My heart can barely handle watching them.

“Since you’ll probably be stuck with a lot of night shifts until that tooth comes in, my dad is going to work remotely so he canbe here to help during the day. He lives close by, but not in this neighborhood. He’ll come over in the morning or whenever you need him. You guys can work that out yourselves. He’s super flexible and loves having Cora, so don’t ever feel like you’re bothering him if you need his help or want a day off,” Belle explains. Apparently, it’s a forgone conclusion that I’m hiring Harlow. I mean, I am, but it would be nice if they checked with me first.

Belle explains the salary and then leads Harlow on a tour of my house, pointing out where everything and anything she would need is. I follow along and watch them. Cora’s tiny hand is holding on tightly to Harlow’s finger, and her wide brown eyes are staring at the beautiful woman with something that looks like admiration.

“When can you start?” I ask the moment the tour is over and we’re back in the living room. Belle’s eyebrows raise in surprise. I’m sure she thought I was going to come up with an excuse for why Harlow wouldn’t work out at the last minute, and I bet I could if I wanted to. But with the way my little girl is looking at Harlow right now, I know she’s picked her nanny for me.

“Tomorrow? My lease on my apartment was up last week, and I moved in with my dad temporarily. As much as I love him, I don’t love moving back home.”

“Tomorrow it is. I need to run a background check, but that will be back by the time you’d be alone with Cora. We can help you move anything you want into one of the guest rooms later this week, and then you can shadow me for the day. That way you can learn Cora’s routine,” I say, reaching to take my baby girl back into my arms. As much as I love the way Cora took to Harlow, I still want her with me. It feels like my heart is outside of my body, and I have trouble being away from her for more than a few minutes. Willa keeps making fun of me for it, but Iwon’t apologize. Especially if I’ll soon have to be away from her for hours at a time.

Cora snuggles right into my neck, which is her favorite spot, and my heart slows back down to a normal rhythm.

“What time does your day start?” Harlow asks.

“Usually around six in the morning. Sometimes she lets me sleep until seven, but not recently. You don’t have to be here that early on your first day, though.”

“No. I’d like to learn her full routine, and I can’t do that if I miss some of it.”

I nod. “I’ll call down to Gary at the gate and have him put your name on the list, so you’re always allowed in. I’ll have a key made for you by tomorrow and a credit card by the end of the week to put any expenses related to Cora on. If you have any questions before the morning, you can always shoot any of us a text.”

“You will have to sign an NDA,” Willa adds. “We can’t afford to trust anyone with how public our lives tend to be. Please don’t take it personally.”

Harlow nods but looks pale. “No, I get it. You don’t want the press getting their noses in your lives, especially with a child involved. And what better way than to pay off the nanny to get all the juicy gossip?”

Belle laughs. “I forgot you still had to deal with all that in radio. It’s usually print we have to worry about, but I suppose gossip travels via all channels.”

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