Page 61 of The Billionaire & the Nanny: Part 4

With another look at me and a huge sigh, he takes the pen.

* * *

It’sa hot May day when the doorbell rings. Everything in the house is perfect. His crib is perfect, his play room is perfect, little blue bunny is back in his rocking chair, I’m fully stocked with baby carrots and some nice new beets I want him to try. I can only hope that he still recognizes me, that six weeks hasn’t been too long for his brain to erase the memory of me and Alana.

Heading to the door, I can’t wait to see him. I’ve never quite burst with joy before, but now I know how it feels. Jumping down the last three steps, I skid all the way to the door, just as it rings again. I open the door, but it’s not Liam. It’s Nettie.

“Hey!” I’m happy to see her, but uh…why is she here?

“Can I come in?”

“Of course, how’ve you been, Ms. Bowman?”

“Doing just fine, Kase. I wanted to bring by a little present since I know he’s coming home soon, and I happened to be at the toy store. I know his grandfather would’ve wanted me to get it for him.” She pulls a gift bag out of her shopping bag and hands it to me.

“Thank you so much.” Reaching into the bag, I pull out a big T-Rex that’s about as tall as Liam himself. “Wow, check this out!”

“I know you used to call Mr. Roper an old dinosaur.”

“Oh—”

“No, no…it’s okay. He knew it. We used to have a good laugh over it. Told me that one day, I’d have to have him stuffed and put on display at the Natural Museum.” She giggles, and for the first time ever, I see Nettie Bowman’s natural smile. I see the woman she is, not the house nurse.

“It’s awesome. Thank you so much,” I say, giving her a hug. “He’s coming home today, you know. Should be here any minute. Would you like to come in for some coffee and wait for him?”

“Oh, no, no. I have to get going.” She steps back to the door and adjusts her hat. “Will that nice young woman be coming back to care for him as well?”

“Alana? Oh. No.” My lips press into a thin line. “Not sure where she is anymore, actually.”

“Can’t be too hard to find her, Kase.” She winks at me. And in that wink, I get it. All of it. I may not have a position at Newfound anymore, I may not have a billion-dollar company to my name, but I have all I need. I only had to lose it all to realize what that was.

A knock on the open door pulls my attention away from Nettie, and there stands a woman—the same case worker who took my boy away, Ms. Hernandez—holding the most precious gift I’ve ever been given. Raymond couldn’t even deliver Liam himself. Idiot.

This is it.

Will he remember me? Will he draw away shyly, recoil into the woman’s arms? Nettie studies the goofy smile on my face. Ms. Hernandez coos into Liam’s ear. Please, please, let him remember his home—his real home. Liam’s big blue eyes look around, up at the chandelier, down the hallway, and up the stairs, taking it all in.

He looks bigger, older in just the short time he’s been gone.

“Hi, Daddy,” the woman says on his behalf, and I just about lose it.

“Hi, baby.” When I see she’s going to set him on the ground, I crouch and open my arms. Everything I ever wanted, right here in this little package. The only thing missing now is Alana. And like Nettie inferred with her sly wink, it’s time to go get her and make this family complete.

Liam doesn’t crawl. Holding Ms. Hernandez’s hands for assistance, he walks—yes, walks, toddles at eleven months—straight toward me with that big goofy grin on his drooly face. “Dadadada…” Right into my arms.

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