Page 58 of Architect's Christmas Nanny

Her jaw dropped when she saw that it wasanotherof the books that she and Josie had written together.

“It’s the dinosaur one,”Josie whispered, elbowing her.

Jillian wrapped an arm around her, and even managed to smile up at Brad when he came to stand on Josie’s other side.

The three of them watched as the children leaned in, laughing at the funny parts, and murmuring at the brief moment of peril.

“And that’s why our family isn’t afraid of Jurassic travel,” Caroline read the last page aloud with a smile.

“See,” Josie whispered to Brad. “Look at the picture.”

Jillian felt her cheeks heat.

She remembered the day she and Josie finished writing this story had been an especially sad one. Brad was off to Asia to work on a building project, and they knew he might not make it home in time for Josie’s birthday.

Josie had been wishing so much that her dad could be home with them. Jillian must have had that in her mind when she drew the little heroine of the story with her parents—the three of them embracing for the end of the book. Since the book was just for Josie, the dad did look a lot like Brad. He held the little girl in his arms, and the woman with the long hair beside him looked up at him with all the love Jillian secretly felt for him.

It was only when Josie colored the woman’s hair in the same auburn red as Jillian’s that she realized she had drawn a version of herself.

Brad had never remarked on it when Josie proudly showed him their creation. But now his eyes were fixed on the simple drawing, and Jillian felt like all the air had gone out of the room and she couldn’t get a breath.

“Come on up here, Jillian,” Caroline said, oblivious to Brad’s realization. “Josie too.”

Jillian tore her glance from Brad and looked over at Caroline, feeling like a deer in the headlights.

“Come on,” Josie told her, tugging her by the hand.

“Jillian is the author and the artist,” Caroline told the gathered children and their parents. “And Josie colored every one of those pictures.”

“She helped with the stories too,” Jillian said right away.

“Isn’t that amazing?” Caroline said, turning to the kids. “What do you think?”

The children and their parents clapped again, and Jillian felt her cheeks heat.

“These are incredible,” Caroline said. “You have a real gift.”

“They were just something Josie and I did for ourselves,” Jillian said. “We love them, but we never imagined that other people would enjoy them too.”

“They never had books exactly like what I wanted,” Josie explained. “So we made our own.”

“Well, I think you two should keep at it,” Caroline said. “And Jillian, I think you should talk with Susan Grentz about getting a literary agent. If you won’t be working as a nanny anymore, maybe you can write for children instead.”

“She’s going to college,” Brad said proudly from the back of the small audience of parents and kids. “She was accepted into a creative writing program.”

“Well that’s nice,” Caroline replied. “But Susan’s agent told her she didn’t need to drop everything and go toschool just for writing when she was already doing so well.”

“My classes are online,” Jillian said, shrugging. “I don’t have to drop anything.”

“Your classes areonline?” Brad demanded.

His tone was intense, and his eyes flashed with emotion. Was this the hot-tempered young architect she had read about in articles, but had never seen any evidence of at home?

She nodded slowly.

“I asked you to leave because I didn’t want you to give up on your dreams,” he said.

“All my dreams areright here,” she told him firmly.

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