Page 3 of Architect's Christmas Nanny

She moved to the seat beside the head of the table, knowing from his expression that the point of this talk wouldn’t be anything so silly as all that.

As a matter of fact, the look on his face was even more serious than usual, and it was starting to make her stomach twist in worried knots.

“You know how grateful I am for all you’ve done for Josie,” he said gently. “And for me, as well. I couldn’t have gotten her this far without you. And even if we’d managed somehow, Josie wouldn’t be the smart, curious, confident girl she is now without your influence.”

Knowing he felt that way about her impact on Josie should have been the most gratifying thing in the world.

But it sounded like he was saying goodbye.

“Josie is a very special girl,” she said, looking down at her hands, so he wouldn’t see the pain in her eyes. “And that’s all her. I don’t think you or I or anyone could have made that happen, no matter what we did.But it has always been a privilege to work for your family.”

“You’ve done so much more than work for us,” he said, his voice deeper than usual. “That’s what makes it so hard for me to tell you this.”

He paused and she made the mistake of looking up and seeing a flicker of pain flash across his face.

“Josie and I are moving to Trinity Falls next month,” he said quickly. “I know it’s not a lot of notice, but of course you’ll have your severance, and you can stay here as long as you need to, until you find another situation you really like.”

Jillian had known this day would have to come. Even if Brad kept her around as a kindness, Josie wouldn’t be a child forever.

But somehow it still felt like a hammer had come down on her chest.

“I’ve already asked around,” Brad told her. “There’s actually someone local—a bit of a celebrity, really— whose wife is due in January. They have their pick of nannies, but I put a bug in the husband’s ear, and he’d love to hire you. We can talk more about it later.”

“Th-thank you,” she managed. It was really kind of Brad to think about her future.

She looked up into the beautiful dark eyes she had come to love, and felt her heart squeeze.

I have nothing to lose now,she realized.I finally have a chance to tell him how I feel.

He was gazing at her strangely, as if he wanted to say something more, as a new kind of tension crackled in the air between them. She gathered her courage and openedher mouth to speak the words she had been holding back for years, before he said something else practical and threw her off track.

“Dad,” Josie’s agonized wail broke the silent spell between them.

Jillian turned to the little girl, stomach wrenching all over again when she realized that she must have overheard everything.

“Hey, Junebug,” Brad said, opening his arms and letting Josie slam into his chest. “Were you listening in?”

“It’s almost Christmas,” Jillian said right away, not wanting Josie to get a scolding as well as having to absorb this news. “You probably thought your dad wanted to talk about a nice surprise, didn’t you?”

“Yes,” Josie said, letting go of her dad and whirling on Jillian. “But he can’t just fire you. You’re part of the family. Why don’t you ever stick up for yourself?”

Jillian stared at the little girl in amazement.

“Andyou,” she said accusingly, turning to her father. “We can’t have Christmas without Jillian, or birthdays, or Easter, or anything. Jillian takes care of us. She loves us.”

“Jillian had her own life before she came here,” Brad said gently. “She has her own dreams. And we’ve let her put them aside to take care of us for too long. Now she has a chance to work for a family that has more hands to help, and that means she’ll have time to get back to her writing.”

Jillian felt off-balance for the second time in a few minutes. She honestly hadn’t thought much about writing in years.

“They’ll have a night nurse,” Brad said quietly to her, nodding as if that was going to make her happy.

Brad had offered to get a night nurse for Josie back when Jillian first came. But she had known instinctively that having lost her mom, the little girl needed consistency from everyone else.

Besides, she had loved those hazy, sleepless days and nights with Josie. There was a peace that came with relinquishing everything except caring for another person. But no matter how much she loved being with them, she knew the best thing for everyone right now would be to make this a clean break. There was no sense dragging it out and making things even harder than they already were.

“We have to wrap the presents,” Josie whispered, tearing up again. “We have to build the gingerbread house and do a volunteer project.”

Jillian felt her heart cracking open as she thought about all their traditions. They had already missed them last year while Jillian was away helping Rachel with her baby.

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