The Baby Shift: South Dakota
Shifter Babies Of America 20
Becca Fanning
Copyright © 2019 by Becca Fanning
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Also by Becca Fanning
Chapter 1
Karla Ashford knew from the bottom of her heart that the job market wasn’t exactly thriving in Coalbrook. After graduating at a state college, she’d returned home and moved into her own place. She landed a dream job with a local business. Now, that was all gone after six years of hard work.
“Embezzling money,” she muttered to herself. “That bastard!” Her ex-boss, Dave, turned out to be stealing from the company at every chance he got. The employees were told that at their meeting today. The small company employed twenty people, mostly citizens of Coalbrook, and they’d all be looking for jobs.
“Latte?” The barista at the end of the counter asked. Karla trotted up to fetch her drink. Her favorite coffee shop on the way home was the only place she could think of after packing all her office belongings into her car. She headed over to the small area with all the trappings for coffee: sugar, cream, spoons. Dumping two packets of sugar (forget the calories!), she stirred her drink and wandered over next to an open table near the shop’s bulletin board. A flyer for a free yoga class caught her eye. That might be useful, she considered seriously. She sipped her drink and tried to push all of her worries away. There was her rent, groceries, utilities ... Luckily, she’d always been good with saving and had a nest egg. But, it was small.
Above the yoga ad, there was a plain advert on fancy heavyweight paper. In black letters, it read: HELP WANTED. Seeking a caretaker for two children (eight years old and a twelve-month-old). Room & board is free along with fair compensation. Please call to give references. Would prefer to meet by the 28th. She glanced down at her phone. It was the 25th! Without realizing, she typed the number into her phone. It rang twice.
A husky voice answered. A voice that sent shivers down her spine in the middle of a warm coffee shop. “Malcolm Cross. Can I help you?”
“Mr. Cross,” she said and took a second to collect herself. “I just saw your ad in the cafe. Are you still looking for a caretaker?”
There was a small pause on the other line, and her heart sank. Had he already found one? Finally, he spoke, “Yes, I am. Actually, would you be able to come for an interview today? I haven’t had many responses yet. I’d prefer if you could come to my home. My daughters will be there, along with our housekeeper, another woman. Does that work?”
“Yes!” she fired back and then tried to calm her voice. “Shall I come over now?”
“If you can,” he said. She loved the richness of his tone. Commanding, yet soft. She tried to imagine what he looked like. Tall and blond? Maybe. “Do you have a pen?” She quickly got out her planner and pen while he read off the address. In twenty minutes, she was sitting outside a gated mansion in a luxurious neighborhood that she didn’t even know Coalbrook had.
She surveyed her look for the day. It wasn’t as if she knew she was going to be invited for a mysterious job interview. Or lose her job, for that matter. She tossed her long brown hair out and spritzed it with a fixing spray. Her work makeup was mostly intact, but she reapplied her cranberry lipstick. Against her beige skin, her mustard yellow blazer thrown over a white blouse and a pencil skirt looked almost too professional for a caretaker interview. She swapped her heels for flats in the car before getting out and buzzing the drive-up gate.
Nobody answered, but the gate began swinging open. She got back into her car and drove up the long driveway, flanked by manicured hedges. When she parked, a middle-aged woman was waiting and showed her inside.
“I’ll be taking you to see Mr. Cross,” the woman explained and led Karla into a pleasant sitting room. “Good luck!” The woman scampered off with a happy hum as Karla was left by herself to survey the immaculately decorated room. In a moment, a knock sounded from the doorway. She glanced over and her heart nearly stopped.
Tall, dark, and handsome was something her mother used to joke about the boyfriends that she dragged home from college. Malcolm was more than that. Way more. His lean frame was wrapped up tidily in a posh suit. Her heart skipped a beat when he ran a hand through his brown hair, tousling it as if aggravated by its existence. It was his eyes that she wasn’t prepared for.
Gleaming chocolate orbs with a sprinkling of burnt amber within the irises. She inhaled sharply as he stepped forward into the light. His smile seemed amused. Her breath caught fully in her throat now. He was one of the most — no, the most-handsome man that she’d ever seen in her life.
“Karla?” he asked. It was the same deliciously dark voice on the phone. She nodded numbly, entranced by his presence. The spell was broken when a whirl of olive green entered the room. A young girl with long black braided pigtails and a black hat blinked up at Karla.
“Hi,” she chirped. Karla smiled and offered her hand. The girl was dressed in an adorable olive-green dress. It was if she’d stepped out of an old postcard. “I’m Isabella, but you can call me Bella. My baby brother’s name is Charlie, but he’s sleeping.”
She shook Bella’s hand earning a beaming smile from the girl.
“Bella,” Malcolm said in a hesitant tone. “Don’t scare off the woman.”
“I’m eight years old,” Bella announced, ignoring her father. Karla caught the girl’s eyes in the light. One of them was golden like her father’s, but the other was brown. Malcolm stepped forward and placed his hand on Bella’s shoulder.
“Bella gets excited when we have visitors,” he explained coolly. Karla cocked her head to the side but smiled. He’d already built up a wall. She could feel it.
She needed a job. “I’d love to interview for the position, Mr. Cross.”
“Please call me Malcolm. I’ll have Miss Ginger, our housekeeper, take Bella upstairs.” Bella pouted at this news but marched obediently out the door. He pointed Karla over to the plush couches in the center of the room. A tray of water and coffee was waiting for them.
“What’s your work experience like?” he asked when they’d sat down.
“Actually,” she began with an uncertain voice. “I was working for a small company in here for the past four years. I helped coordinate a private test preparation company. Unfortunately, we were told today that the company was shutting down.” In a rush, she added, “Although for childcare, specifically, I raised my two brothers basically on my own since my parents worked.”
He nodded his head, although his eyes looked far away. She nearly recoiled when his gaze met her.
She couldn’t help herself and said, “You seem stressed, Mr. Cross.”
The corner of his handsome mouth twitched upwards. “Do I?” he mused and then let out a dark chuckle that sent a rush through her whole body. She shivered as the interview continued, unable to stop imagining how his strong arms might feel. After a few questions, he stopped and let a lazy smile play across his lips.
“Karla, would you like to work for me?”
How could she say no?
Chapter 2
It was her eyes, Malcolm considered. It was her eyes that sent his heart reeling against his rib cage
and nothing else, he told himself. He smoothed his hair down and sighed.
* * *
“Coffee?” Ginger asked as she peeked her head in. The loyal middle-aged woman had agreed to travel with the Cross family when they moved away from their last home. “Although you shouldn’t be drinking coffee this late.” The housekeeper had never approved of his habit of taking a coffee at night.
* * *
“Thank you, Ginger.” He said and accepted the silver tray that she’d prepared. He took his espresso black with half a cube of sugar.
* * *
“The new girl looks feisty,” Ginger said with a grin. “It’ll be nice to have some new energy in this old house.”
* * *
He laughed. “Let’s hope Bella doesn’t scare her off.”
* * *
“Oh, she just has a lot of energy for a young girl...of her status,” she said with a little chuckle at the end. He grinned because he knew her meaning. Not every human would be keen to work for a Shifter family, but Ginger had gladly accepted the condition on the basis of good pay along with free weeknights and weekends. She exited and left him alone with his thoughts in his study.
* * *
He rested his chin in his hand, considering the day’s events. It’d been lucky that Karla had called... but those eyes. He worried about them. A painful throb began in his chest. He cursed beneath his breath and pressed his hand against the pain. It’d been a year. A year since she’d passed away.
You’re going to find someone after me. Don’t fret, darling.
* * *
How could she have said something like that? He closed his eyes and pressed down a shudder. It’d been a year since Elizabeth had passed, and still, her words would come haunting back. Her English accent tinged with sadness, but hope. How could she have been so hopeful even in the end? And worse, Karla’s eyes reminded him of Elizabeth’s passion. What would it be like to see the fury in Karla’s eyes? Annoyance? Love? He pressed down the thought and began with the stack of paperwork in front of him. There were business accounts to take care of.
* * *
Karla would be moving into the West side of the house, next to the children’s rooms, and not far from his own room. In two days, her scent would be everywhere. Bella had been babbling on excitedly, making faces at Charlie in his crib, as he watched on with confusion. “We’re getting a new friend!” she’d told the baby excitedly.
* * *
Malcolm smiled to himself, remembering the moment from a few hours ago. Now, the children were safely tucked away in their rooms. Ginger had agreed to watch them until they’d found a proper caretaker. At that moment, he sat alone in his study as the moonlight peeked through the window. His paperwork stared at him, but he didn’t notice, distracted by his mental review of the day. It was unlike him to be this distracted.
* * *
His phone buzzed. It was a text message from Karla: Thank you again, Mr. Cross! I negotiated the end of my lease with my landlord, and I’m set to move in on our agreed schedule.
* * *
Kind and polite. He stopped himself from texting back, thinking he would respond in the morning. Did he not want to seem too desperate? He frowned, unsure, and then groaned. It was like being a teenager again. He leaned back in the plush office chair and dragged a hand over his face, feeling exhaustion overtake him. Ginger would kill him if he fell asleep in his office again.
* * *
His fingers felt for the center drawer of his desk. A single picture sat next to his collection of fountain pens. A beautiful brunette with a high-piled bun and a strand of pearls around her neck. Elizabeth. He ran a finger over the image. Bella sometimes cried about her mother, but it seemed like every day let her forget more and more. Charlie would probably not even remember his mother, except for her human scent.
* * *
He’d been excommunicated from his upper-class shifter clan for his marriage to a human woman. And what did he have to show for it? Two beautiful half-shifter children with no mother. He pinched the bridge of his nose. No, he couldn’t have these dark thoughts now. This was all in the past. All that mattered was how he marched forward into the future. For his children, for himself, for their happiness. He shut the drawer and Elizabeth’s smile disappeared.
* * *
Ginger frowned when he’d removed all the pictures of Elizabeth from the home. “Are you sure, sir?” she’d asked with hesitance, wringing her hands.
* * *
“It may make Bella sad,” he muttered in response. He saw the doubtful look in Ginger’s eyes, but she helped him, nonetheless. An unspoken question had hovered above them as they went through the old house that day: is this for Bella’s sake... or for your own, Malcolm? It hadn’t been enough with just the pictures. He proposed moving to Coalbrook after already purchasing the house. There wasn’t much argument. Bella had private tutors that could be replaced or reached online. Charlie wasn’t ready for lessons yet.
* * *
And it would be better to be somewhere new with new people. Not that he planned on leaving the house much. It was too difficult to walk around in his nice suit and golden eyes, flashing and sparking and catching the eye of every human in a half-mile radius. He tried to recall Karla’s look when she’d seen his eyes, but he’d been wearing colored contacts... although Bella hadn’t been. She’d surely seen Bella’s left eye.
* * *
He pushed these doubts down again and told himself that he needed to do work. So, he did. For the next two hours as the stars winked in the sky outside, he made his way through the pile of paperwork on his desk.
* * *
He ended up sending a message back to her in the morning: We look forward to having you here. And please, call me Malcolm.
Chapter 3
When all her things had been packed and loaded into the truck, Karla took one last look at her apartment. She’d moved here after graduating from college and had been there for years. She would miss the bright sunny living room, but not the rent. The movers, hired kindly and paid for by Mr. Cross, told her that they would meet her at the mansion.
* * *
“Bit creepy that place,” one of the burly men told her. She smiled.
* * *
“The family’s nice; I just think they’re a bit shy.”
* * *
“Heard a rumor that they were Shifters, but whatever you say,” he said, and the three men were on their way, carting off all her belongings to her new home. She brushed off his remark about the rumor before taking one final glance around the empty apartment. She smiled to herself. A new adventure awaited. How lucky she’d been to see that advertisement in the coffee shop. She climbed into her car and headed towards the Cross home. The movers seemed utterly dazzled when she drove up and parked behind them. They had their necks craned backward to admire the three-story mansion with wide eyes.
* * *
“I didn’t think a home like this existed in Coalbrook,” one of them muttered as Ginger came out to greet them.
* * *
“I’ve got fresh lemonade and ice water for your break after,” she told them and led them to where they’d be hauling her belongings. The children, Karla, and Mr. Cross were all on the ground floor. Ginger went to help Karla with the suitcases in her car.
* * *
“You’re allowed free reign to every room in the house,” she explained as they dragged the suitcases in. “Except for the western side of the second floor. Mr. Cross has his study there, and he prefers nobody in it. I only bring drinks there for him.”
* * *
Karla nodded, allowing this information to sink in. “Is he in there now?”
Ginger laughed heartily. “Oh, I’m sure! He’s always working away at all hours. You know he’s done great with investments. Terribly good for someone like him.” She blushed as if she’d said too much and then cleared her throat. “Anyhow, let’s get you all unpacked. I’ll take care of the children for today, so you c
an get settled, but you’ll be on the clock starting tomorrow. I can’t wait to have my weeknights and weekends back, after all.” She winked at Karla and then began wiping down the drawers in the room for the clothes to go into.
* * *
“Don’t worry, Ms. Ginger,” Karla said with a laugh. “You’ve done too much already.”
* * *
Ginger shook her head and finished wiping down the drawers. The movers came in with Karla’s desk and small armchair. Next, would be the bookshelf and her small, but much-loved reading collection. Ginger smiled. “You should see our library here; it’s quite impressive. Second floor in the Eastern wing. It’s a right when you go up the big staircase.”
* * *
“I’m just glad you’re not upstairs,” said one of the movers, and his coworkers laughed. Ginger saw that they were finishing up and invited them into the kitchen for drinks. Karla was left alone in her new room. She surveyed the area. It was huge, twice as big as her old bedroom. It had an attached full bathroom. The curtains were a bit dark for her taste, but Ginger said she could change them if she wanted. Karla pulled them open and saw that her window overlooked the garden, which was positioned a bit lower than the house in the back. Malcolm certainly had gardeners taking care of it. She admired the different blossoms and grass from her window and then began to unpack.
The Baby Shift- South Dakota Page 1