Ian McGregor sank into a chair at his kitchen table, exhausted after wrestling with Joshua to take a much-needed nap. With his elbows on the oak surface still cluttered with the lunch dishes, Ian closed his eyes and buried his face in his hands, massaging his fingertips into his pounding temples. How did Aunt Louise handle Joshua when his youngest was dead tired yet fighting to stay awake?
With a lot of practice, no doubt. Something he lacked. Ian glanced at the clock on the wall and shot to his feet. The next candidate for nanny, one who had come highly recommended, would be here in ten minutes. He had high hopes she would work out because no one else had since Aunt Louise had passed away six months ago. Ian missed his aunt’s bright, cheerful smile and all the love she’d had for his family.
Locking away his sorrow, Ian looked at the chaos around him and noted he now had nine minutes. He snatched up all the dirty dishes and crammed them into the dishwasher, leftover food and all. Then after wiping down the counters, he stuffed all of his four-year-old son’s toys and the clothes he’d dragged out into the utility room off the kitchen and slammed the door closed.
Two minutes to spare. He wanted to be outside before Annie Knight rang the doorbell. He didn’t want Joshua scaring her away if he woke up from his nap, especially without the rest he needed.
Lord, please let this one work out. On paper she looks great. We need her.
He’d turned to God so many times in the two years since his wife had passed away. There had to be an answer to his most recent problem somewhere.
As Ian made his way toward the foyer, the doorbell chimes pealed through the house. He sighed, realizing that he should have foreseen, after the day he’d had so far, that Annie Knight would arrive early. He rushed across the foyer and swung the door open before she rang it again.
The woman greeted Ian with a bright, wide smile, and he looked at it for a few seconds before he lifted his eyes to take in the rest of her... His mouth began to drop open. He quickly snapped it closed and stared at the young lady, probably no more than eighteen, standing on his porch. She couldn’t be Annie Knight. That nanny had worked for six years, the past three years for a doctor he knew. She had graduated from college with a double major in psychology and child development.
Ian craned his neck, peering around the woman with thick shoulder-length blond hair and the biggest brown eyes he’d ever seen. Maybe she’d come with Annie Knight. But no one else was there. “Yes, may I help you?”
“Are you Dr. Ian McGregor?”
He nodded, surprised by her deep voice.
“I’m Annie Knight. Am I too early for the interview?”
“No, right on time,” Ian finally answered as he frantically thought back to reading her résumé. She’d graduated from high school ten years ago, which should make her around twenty-eight, twenty-nine. “Come in.” He stepped to the side to allow her to enter his house.
As Annie passed him in the entrance, he caught a whiff of...vanilla, and he thought immediately of the sugar cookies Aunt Louise used to bake. The young woman paused in the foyer and slowly rotated toward him, waiting.
Ian waved his arm toward the right. “Let’s go in there.”
He followed her into the formal living room that he rarely used. As she took a seat in a navy blue wingback, Ian sat on the beige couch across from her. The large chair seemed to swallow her petite frame. She couldn’t be any taller than five-one. His eldest son would surpass her in height in another year or so.
Ian cleared his throat. “I’m glad you could meet me here. My youngest son, Joshua, didn’t go to school today. He’s been sick the past two days but is fever-free as of this morning.”
“How old is he?”
“Four. He’s in the preschool program at Will Rogers Elementary.”
“Dr. Hansen told me you had four children. How old are they?”
“Jade and Jasmine are eight-year-old twins and Jeremy is nine, soon to be ten, as he has informed the whole world. I’m sure Tom told you that I need a nanny as soon as possible. My aunt who helped me with the children passed away six months ago and since then, I haven’t found anyone who fits my family.”
Annie Knight tilted her head to the side. “What has been the problem?”
All the good nannies have jobs. My family can be difficult. My children—and I—are shell-shocked after losing two important people we’ve loved in the past two years. Ian could have said all of that, but instead he replied, “The first nanny stole from me, and the second woman was too old to keep up with my children—her words, not mine, but she was right. Then the third one decided to up and quit without notice and left my kids here alone while I was in surgery. That was last week.” And the seven days since then had not been ones he would like to repeat. Ian had had to rearrange several operations he’d scheduled and change appointments.
Annie frowned. “That’s so unprofessional.”
“Tom is moving at the end of this week. I know he wanted you to go with the family to New York. May I ask why you didn’t?”
“My family is here in Cimarron City, and a big city like New York doesn’t appeal to me. Besides, his two eldest are teenagers and don’t need a nanny. His youngest will be twelve soon. Dr. Hansen will be able to hire a good housekeeper.”
Ian watched her as she talked and gestured. Warmth radiated from the woman across from him. Her face was full of expression, and when she smiled, dimples appeared on her cheeks. She had nice, high cheekbones. Her hair curled under and covered part of her face, which wasn’t unpleasant but not what most people would consider beautiful. As a plastic surgeon he was always drawn to how a person looked, but from experience he knew the importance of what lay beneath.
“Tom told me he hated losing you.” Why didn’t she use her college degree? Why did she choose to be a nanny? Ian decided to tell her everything so she would know what she would be up against. He heaved a composing breath. “Four children can be a handful.”
“I loved working with Dr. Hansen’s three children. We fell into a good routine. One more child shouldn’t be a problem. I grew up in a large family—four brothers and two sisters. I’m used to a full house.”
“I want to be blunt with you because I don’t want you to decide to leave after a few days. My children need stability. There have been too many changes in their lives lately. Their mother died two years ago, then my aunt. Joshua is—” he searched for the right word to describe his youngest “—adventurous. He’ll try anything once. He’s fearless.”
“Which could get him in trouble. My younger brother was like that. Actually, still is. He certainly tested my mother’s patience.”
“Jade and Jasmine desperately need a woman’s touch. They can be adorable, but if they don’t like you they will pull pranks on you. I suspect the reason the last nanny left was because of them, but I couldn’t get the truth out of any of my kids.”
“Are the twins tomboys?”
“Jade is, but Jasmine is totally the opposite. That’s the way you can tell them apart, because they do look exactly alike.” Ian stared at a place over her left shoulder while trying to decide how to explain his eldest
