I don’t know for sure that there’s a way to fix your family. But I think it’s a start. And I think you owe it to yourself and Gino to try.”
He shuffled the blocks in front of Gino, who batted at them before he picked up the yellow one and inspected it.
When he didn’t answer, guilt from their argument in the kitchen rose up in her again. At a point when he would have spoken about his mom, she’d been so wrapped up in her own troubles that she hadn’t reached out to him. Every day they’d been here, he’d reached out to her. She owed him.
“If you can get your brothers to come up for a weekend, I’ll stay here with Gino until the Monday after that weekend.”
He glanced up sharply. “Their schedules aren’t going to be any easier than mine. It might take eight or ten weeks before they can come.”
“I’m fine with that.”
He studied her for a few seconds. Finally he said, “I guess I do have enough room here that we could easily invite my brothers for a weekend.”
Darius spent the first few hours at work on the phone with his brothers. He didn’t actually speak with each of them all that time. He used most of it calling various numbers he had for them before reaching secretaries who could have given him Cade and Nick’s private numbers, but didn’t. Each opted to have her boss return Darius’s call. Luckily, and somewhat unexpectedly, both did. Immediately.
Though Nick and Cade were reluctant to accept his invitation, he reminded them of their childhoods without their father. He asked them if they really wanted the fourth brother to be raised that way—never really knowing the rest of his family. And suddenly the tones of the conversations were different. Both brothers agreed that Gino needed to know his half-brothers and both agreed to spend a weekend.
He hung up the phone satisfied, happy that his brothers would be at the house in three weeks, until he realized that not only did he have to spend three days with two brothers who hated him, but also that Whitney would be spending three days with them.
Cade the rich, rebellious cowboy and Nick the brooding Southern gentleman.
Jealousy speared him.
He actually stopped walking.
He’d never been possessive of a woman before, never been jealous. Plus, he’d already figured out he was all wrong for Whitney. He had to get over this.
Before he could take his thoughts any further, his phone rang. His first impulse was to ignore it, then he remembered Whitney would be interviewing nanny candidates that morning and he’d promised to spend five minutes with each of them to determine which of the four would get interviews at the house, with Gino.
He picked up the receiver. “Yes.”
“I’m sitting here with Mary Alice Conrad,” Whitney said happily. “If you have a few minutes, I’d like you to meet her.”
* * *
After Darius’s five minutes with Mary Alice Conrad, Whitney had a very good idea of the kind of nanny Darius envisioned for Gino. She didn’t invite him in on any more of the interviews and simply chose Liz Pizzaro and Jaimie Roberts for interviews at the house.
On the drive home that evening, Whitney informed Darius that the following night they’d be conducting the home interviews with Liz and Jaimie. So, Thursday night, they set themselves up in the den. When Mrs. Tucker escorted Jaimie in, Darius sat behind the big desk in the corner. Gino chewed on a block in the playpen and Whitney stood by the double-doored entrance.
“Come in,” Whitney said, shaking Jaimie’s hand as Mrs. Tucker discreetly exited and closed the door. She pointed at Darius, who rose. “This is Mr. Andreas, Gino’s half-brother and other guardian.” She turned and motioned to the crib. “And that’s Gino.”
Jaimie, a tall redhead wearing tight jeans and a red leather jacket, gasped. “Oh, he’s darling!”
Darius dryly said, “We think so, too.”
He walked from behind the desk over to the playpen. “Would you like to hold him?”
Jaimie turned and smiled at Darius. “Yes!”
He directed her to take him out of the playpen and she eagerly did so. But he also watched her like a hawk. Through the one-hour question-and-answer session, Jaimie didn’t miss a beat, but Darius still didn’t seem to like her.
When tall, blond, gorgeous Liz Pizzaro arrived, Darius brightened.
“Come in!” he said, rising from the leather sofa where he’d been sitting to chat with Jaimie.
Whitney’s chest tightened oddly. It was such a cliché for the woman of the house to be jealous of the nanny that she refused even to let her thoughts wander to the possibility.
“That’s Gino,” Darius said, pointing to the baby who was now growing restless in the playpen.
Liz didn’t wait for an invitation. She reached in and lifted Gino out and into her arms. “What’s the matter, little guy,” she crooned.
Gino screeched. But Liz only shook her head and smiled. “He’s tired. Yet he’s not very fussy. I’m guessing he’s a really good baby.”
Darius laughed. “Well, we think so, but we’re prejudiced.”
Liz jostled Gino and made him giggle. “Daddies are supposed to be prejudiced, aren’t they?”
Darius winced. “I’m Gino’s half-brother. Not really his dad.”
Liz blinked innocently. “Of course, you’re his dad. I can tell by how protective you are that you take the job as his guardian seriously.” She smiled. “And that’s what dads do.”
Whitney suppressed her own smile. She didn’t even have to wait for Liz to leave to know what Darius’s choice would be.
“Gino just seemed more comfortable with her.”
She nudged his foot with the toe of her high heel. “It didn’t hurt that she called you Gino’s daddy.”
Darius raised his eyes until he snagged her gaze. “Is that so bad?”
Whitney’s heart expanded to painful proportions. “No.” Guilt assailed her. It suddenly seemed abundantly wrong to take Gino away from Darius, even for visits. Yet it seemed equally wrong for her to simply drop her life and move in with a man she barely knew.
There didn’t seem to be a middle of the road to this problem unless Darius could mend the rift with his brothers and get close enough to them to ensure that Gino wasn’t his only family.
SUNDAY NIGHT, when dinner was over, Whitney rose from her seat and motioned for Darius to follow her.
“I took the liberty of having my secretary gather some information about your bothers, just to get some background details.”
Darius
