“Mary says I can be a little angel sometimes.”
“Mary was their daytime nanny,” Lena explained to Graham.
“Can we go and have ice cream now?” Justin asked, leaping off the sofa. He ran over to his great-aunt.
“I thought you didn’t want ice cream,” she replied.
“I do! I want strawberry.”
“I want vanilla with chocolate syrup and sprinkles,” said Jennifer.
Graham suppressed a shudder at a vision of the two of them with cups of ice cream at their disposal.
“Have you behaved yourselves well enough to deserve a treat?” Lena asked them.
“Jennifer was badder than me,” Justin pointed out.
“No, I wasn’t!”
Lena took each of them by the hand. “Come over closer to this nice man Aunt Lena has been talking to. He’s someone very important.”
“Who is he?” asked Justin.
“He’s your daddy.”
“Our daddy?” Jennifer questioned skeptically. “We don’t have a daddy. We just have a mommy, but she’s in heaven now.”
Graham had gone as still as a statue. The sense of unreality was more pronounced than ever. Lena, flanked by the two children, approached him.
“Are you really our daddy?” Justin asked when they’d come to a standstill.
Words wouldn’t come out of Graham’s mouth. He had to swallow. “Yes, Justin, I believe I am.”
“We grew in our mommy’s stomach,” Jennifer informed him, obviously still not putting much stock in his paternity claim.
“I was borned first.” Justin stood very straight. “I’m taller than Jennifer.”
“And he has a penis. I don’t.”
“Maybe you children would like to give your daddy a hug or a kiss,” Lena suggested.
“I’m a total stranger to them,” Graham protested.
Jennifer and Justin gazed up into his face. From their expressions they were processing the idea.
“He’s too tall,” the little girl pointed out.
Graham felt like a robot as he lowered himself to a squatting position. Jennifer moved first and Justin followed her lead. They pressed their lips to his cheeks.
“Give them a hug, why don’t you?” Lena prompted, and he complied in a gingerly fashion. “That’s nice.” She sighed with satisfaction. “Now, why don’t the four of us go out for ice cream? Then I’ll be on my way back to Jackson.”
Graham stood up, alarm bells going off at her use of the singular pronoun. “You’re taking the twins back, too, aren’t you? I need some time to make arrangements. And you’ll need to pack up their clothing and toys.”
“I have several big suitcases in the trunk of my car. I’ll send the rest right away. Let’s go, kids.” She clapped her hands briskly. “Aunt Lena needs to be on the road in forty-five minutes.”
Graham accompanied them, leaving his outer office in total shambles. His mind and emotions were in a similar state of disruption. His life had just gone from sane and orderly to crazy and chaotic.
Chapter Two
“Holly, isn’t this a fabulous turnout!” gloated Ann Johnson, the president of the North Shore Businesswomen Club. “Everyone who bought a raffle ticket must have showed up for the cocktail party and drawing tonight.”
“Not quite everyone,” Holly replied. “I counted the invitation cards I collected at the door. A hundred and seventy-four, and we sold two hundred tickets.”
“At $250 each! That’s $50,000, less expenses, for our scholarship fund.” Ann toasted Holly with her champagne glass. “Here’s to you for coming up with the idea for this year’s fund-raiser. It was sheer genius to tap into our members’ expertise and hold a raffle with multiple prizes like Decorating Consultant for a Week, Girl Friday for a Week, Nanny for a Week. Our ticket buyers loved the novelty of taking a chance on free service by an expert. And at $250, our raffle winners will be getting real bargains.”
“The only glitch was that those who bought tickets from me all had their favorite prize they hoped to win.”
“Same here. A couple of bachelors pointed out they wouldn’t have any use whatever for a nanny. But they were good sports when I explained that we weren’t selling separate tickets. It would be luck of the draw as to who won what.” Ann glanced around, searching the crowd of well-dressed people sipping drinks and munching on canapés. “One of my bachelor ticket buyers was Graham Knight. I don’t see him, and he said he wouldn’t think of missing what he called our ‘annual bash.”’
“No, he’s not here.” Holly sipped her champagne.
“You’ve already noticed our handsome architect’s absence.” Ann pointed out the obvious, her smile teasing. “Do I detect disappointment?”
“If you do, I must be fond of rejection.” Holly’s tone was wry.
“You? Rejected by a red-blooded male? That’s hard to imagine, especially as gorgeous as you look tonight. I love your emerald-green outfit. Oh, Gina’s signaling us. It’s time to hold the raffle.” The club president hurried off.
Holly sighed glumly, touching the shimmering green silk of her dinner suit before she followed in Ann’s wake. The dinner suit was new. She’d bought it especially to wear tonight. Darn it, she’d wanted to look her most “gorgeous” because she expected Graham Knight to be at the fund-raiser party.
A week ago she’d encountered him in the supermarket, of all places, and they’d chatted briefly. The chemistry had sizzled between them, as usual. Holly had bitten her tongue to keep from asking, “Are you busy tonight?” A modern woman, she rejected the old rules that required a guy to ask a woman out and never vice versa. That was nonsense, in her opinion. But Graham had already refused her once before during the past year, when they were working together on a job for a builder. Graham had been the architect and Holly the interior decorator.
So she hadn’t tried to make a date with him in the supermarket. Neither had he tried to make a date with her. But in parting he had referred casually to seeing her at the fund-raiser party. Darn it, Holly was disappointed he hadn’t come.
Which meant she actually must be fond of rejection. Except that all her instincts as a woman told her Graham Knight was every bit as attracted to her as she was to him. What was his hang-up where she was concerned?
The next time I get the chance, I’m going to ask him, Holly promised herself.
The North Shore Businesswomen Club had booked a banquet room at a local hotel for tonight’s party and raffle. A station for the drawing had been set up in advance on a
