at her twin sister Amanda’s house for the noon meal. When not working, Annie spent a lot of time with her twin. Annie had been thrilled when Amanda had married Ben last year. Amanda would be a great mother, and Annie knew her sister wanted children.
The day was gorgeous with the temperature around seventy degrees and not a cloud in the sky. Annie made her way around back where her father stood talking with Ben at the grills, flipping hamburgers. With his thinning blond hair and the deep laugh lines crinkling at the corners of his brown eyes, Dad was no doubt telling her brother-in-law another Amanda and Annie escapade from childhood.
The scent of ground beef saturated the air and Annie’s stomach rumbled. She scanned the yard, enjoying the sound of merriment from the children playing on the elaborate swing set. Her twin might not have children yet, but she spoiled her nieces and nephews.
“Ah, it’s about time you arrived,” Amanda said as she put a Band-Aid on the youngest child’s knee. “We’re almost ready to eat. What took you so long?” She rose as her nephew ran back to play with the others.
“I went back to the house to say goodbye to the Hansen family. The moving van will come tomorrow. They were heading to the airport when I left.”
“Aren’t we supposed to help you move later today?” Her dad laid the spatula on the plate for the burgers and turned toward her. “Is everything boxed up?”
Annie nodded. “Ben and Charlie’s trucks should be enough for the small pieces of furniture I have. After we empty my suite of rooms at the Hansen house, I’ll lock up and we’ll go to Dr. McGregor’s. Then the hard work starts. There are stairs on the side of the garage that we’ll have to climb with all the boxes.”
Her youngest brother, twenty-year-old Charlie, came out of the house and clapped her on the back. “Remember, you promised me my favorite pie for helping. I’ve been thinking about that for days.” He rubbed his stomach in a circular motion.
“I’ll bake you an apple pie this week.”
Charlie’s dark eyebrows shot straight up. “Apple? Bah! Double-chocolate fudge is the only one I’ll accept.” Then he said to Ben, “I’ve been sent to find out when we’re going to eat.”
Ben pressed the spatula down on each patty. “One minute, so get the kids to wash up inside.”
As Charlie corralled the children and headed for the house with them, her dad chuckled. “Get ready for the onslaught.”
Annie stood back with Amanda as ten children from the ages of three to fourteen invaded the deck, all talking at the same time. The other day Dr. McGregor had wondered if she could handle looking out for four children, but Annie was usually the one assigned to keep her nieces and nephews in line or make sure the older ones kept an eye on the younger ones because Annie enjoyed helping with them.
Her gaze drifted to Amanda, an exact replica of Annie, although her twin usually wore her long blond hair pulled up in a ponytail. She doubted there was anything Jade and Jasmine could pull that she and Amanda hadn’t tried years ago. They had never fooled her parents, but they had confused a couple of their teachers when they exchanged places in each other’s classes. Now they went out of their way to be different.
Annie herded the kids into a line so they could fill their plates with hamburgers, coleslaw and fruit salad while Amanda and Samantha, who was married to her eldest brother, Ken, helped the two youngest children with their food.
As Annie’s nieces and nephews sat at their table, she arranged older ones to be near younger ones. “Let’s pray. Carey, do you want to say the prayer?”
“Yes,” her ten-year-old niece said, then bowed her head. “Bless this food and, Lord, please don’t let it rain tomorrow on my soccer game.”
When the children dug into their meal, Annie went to make a plate for herself. As she dished up an extra helping of coleslaw, she glanced at the lettuce for the burger. The green reminded her of the color of Dr. McGregor’s eyes, except his had a sparkle in their depths, especially toward the end of their conversation about his kids. She’d felt his relief that he’d told her everything about them and she hadn’t declined the job. He didn’t understand—instead of frightening her off, he’d intrigued her. Annie had decided years ago to help children in need, and Jeremy needed her whether he knew it or not. The Hansens’ middle daughter had, too, at one time, but now she was fourteen and growing up to be a mature young lady.
“You haven’t told me much about your new position,” Amanda said when she joined Annie at the end of the food line. “What’s your boss like?”
“He seems a little overwhelmed at the moment.”
“Four children will do that.”
“More than that. He lost his wife and then his aunt, who was assisting him with the kids. All in two years’ time.”
Amanda gave her a long, assessing look. “Sounds as though you want to do more than help the children.”
“Any kind of loss can be hard to get over. I don’t think Dr. McGregor’s even had time to think about either his wife or aunt. He’s had his hands full.”
“You got all of that from an hour interview?”
Annie started for the adult table. “Well, not exactly. I asked Tom and his wife about him. I have a nurse friend at the hospital where he does surgery. She told me some things, too.”
One perfectly arched eyebrow rose. “It sounds as though you also checked his references.”
“I could be working for him for quite a while—his youngest is four years old. I discovered that his colleagues respect him as a surgeon, but what I particularly like about him is that he spends some of his time at a free clinic for children, fixing things like cleft palates. Tom told me Dr. McGregor has had to reduce his regular work time because of his trouble with the nannies, but he didn’t decrease his hours at the free clinic.”
Seated at the table, Amanda leaned close to Annie. “So he’s a plastic surgeon. Maybe you should talk to him about your situation.”
Annie gripped her fork and whispered, “No. I was told there’s nothing else that can be done.”
“That was fourteen years ago. Methods are bound to be better now.”
“I don’t have the money. The last operation nearly cost Dad his house. I can’t do that again. I’ll live with the scars. I have for over fourteen years. Besides, the fire wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t left the candle burning when I went to sleep.”
Tears filled Annie’s eyes. She’d forgotten about the candle that day at the cabin because she’d been too busy moping and missing her boyfriend.
The memory of that day when she had been fifteen and the family had been staying at their grandparents’ cabin on Grand Lake inundated her with feelings of regret. The fire that had destroyed the vacation home had also nearly killed her when a burning beam had pinned her down. Part of her body was burned. The pain swallowed her into a huge dark hole that had taken a year to crawl out of. But the worst part was her mother had never made it out of the cabin. Her dad had managed to get to Annie, but when he’d tried to go back in, the building had been engulfed in flames.
“You have four brothers and two sisters who can help you with the money. We all
