today?”
“I am, yes. But I’ll be back in the afternoon, ready to take over with the kids.”
“No rush. Grace is here until tomorrow. She’ll watch them today and tonight so you can get settled in.”
That didn’t seem fair. Grace had spent her whole week helping with the kids. “I’m fine on my own with them.”
His regular frown got deeper. “Grace’ll be here. In case you need her.”
She considered the wisdom of arguing the point further. But his mouth was set and his eyes unwavering. Maybe not. “See you later then.”
With a grunt, he turned and went down the stairs.
* * *
From the docks in Warrenton, Daniel called a handyman he trusted to haul the bed from the white room down into the basement. He’d been feeling pretty desperate yesterday when Keely showed up to save his bacon on the childcare front.
True, her offer had seemed like a bad idea at first. He’d been afraid they wouldn’t get along. In the last years of Lillie’s life, as his marriage unraveled, Keely had never said a mean word to him directly. But he got the message in her disapproving glances and careful silences whenever he happened to be in the same room with her. She’d been firmly Team Lillie, no doubt about it. Still, for the twins’ sake, she’d stepped up to provide the care they needed.
It was important to do everything he could to make her happy in his house. He planned to be home for dinner and then to help her get everything just the way she wanted it.
But the day came and went. By late afternoon, he still needed to go through the stack of paperwork he hadn’t managed to get to during the week. After a short break to grab some takeout, he headed for the office, ending up by himself at his desk until after seven.
When he finally pulled his truck into the garage, he caught Grace, in tight jeans and full makeup, as she was coming down the stairs from the inside door. She flashed him a smile and tried to ease past him on the way to her car.
“Hold on.”
“Daniel.” She made his name into a serious complaint. “I have to go. I’m meeting Erin at—”
He caught her arm. “We need to talk.”
“But—”
“Come on.”
She let out a groan, but at least she followed him back into the house. “What? Can you please make it quick?”
“Let’s talk in my study.” She trudged along behind him to his home office off the foyer. Once they were both inside, he shut the door. “The kids and Keely?”
There was an eye roll. “Jake and Frannie are already in bed. Keely’s upstairs, putting her stuff away, fixing up her room and her workroom. She said it was fine for me to go.”
A hot spark of anger ignited in his gut. But when he got mad, Grace just got madder. He reminded himself to keep his cool. “The agreement was that you would give Keely a hand tonight, help her get comfortable, pitch in with the kids.” He kept his voice level. Reasonable.
Still, Grace’s eyes flashed blue fire. “The kids are in bed. Got it? And what agreement? You told me what to do as you were going out the door.”
“Grace, I—”
“No. Uh-uh. I talked to Keely. I asked her if she needed me. She said go, have fun.”
“Of course she would say that.”
Grace looked up at the ceiling and blew out a furious breath. “You know, some people go to Cancún for their spring break. Me, though? I come home and help your mother-in-law look after your kids. And then when she trips over Jake, it’s just me. Until Keely stepped up—which I totally appreciate. Keely’s about the best there is. But me, I’ve got one night. One night of my spring break to myself. A few hours with my friends, and then I’m on my way back to school.”
When she said it like that, he felt like an ogre. A litany of swear words scrolled through his brain. Playing stand-in dad to his own sisters and brothers should be more rewarding, shouldn’t it? How come so much of the job just plain sucked?
She’s the last one at home, he reminded himself. He was pretty much done with raising his siblings.
Too bad he still had a couple of decades ahead with his own kids.
“Come on, Grace. Don’t exaggerate. You’ve spent time with your friends this week.”
“Not much, I haven’t.”
“You went out last night, remember?”
Another giant sigh. More ceiling staring. “For like two hours.”
“I want you to stick around tonight in case she needs you.”
“But I promised Erin—”
He put up a hand. “You’re needed here. And that’s all I have to say about it.”
If looks could kill, he’d be seared to a cinder. He waited for the yelling to start, dreaded the angry words about to erupt from her mouth—I hate you, Daniel and Who died and made you king? and the worst one of all, You are not my father.
As if he didn’t know that. As if he’d asked for the thankless job of seeing that his brothers and sisters made it all the way to fully functioning adulthood without somehow crashing and burning in the process.
But this time, Grace surprised him. “Fine,” she said way too quietly. And then, shoulders back and head high, she marched to the door, yanked it wide and went out.
He winced as she slammed it behind her. And then, even with the door shut, he could hear her boots pound the floor with each step as she tramped through the downstairs to her room off the kitchen—and slammed that door, too.
Daniel scrubbed both hands down his face. And then he stood stock-still, listening for cries from upstairs—Jake or Frannie, startled awake by Grace’s slamming and stomping. He didn’t breathe again for several seconds.
Finally, when he heard nothing but sweet silence, he stuck his head out the door and listened some more.
Still nothing.
By some minor miracle, Grace had failed to wake up the kids.
Daniel retreated into the study and quietly shut the door. He really ought to go straight upstairs to see how Keely was managing.
But Grace might still have angry words to hurl at him. He would check his email now, hide out for a few minutes. If Grace came flying back out of her room again loaded for bear, he didn’t want to be anywhere in her path.
* * *
Keely
