“And you?”
Cassie smiled—not that golden grin, yet a smile, “I’m always game.”
BUT WHEN CASSIE SAW the restaurant, she reconsidered her remark. Expecting a burger or pizza joint, she was surprised when instead Blake drove them to a beautiful stucco building. A discreet sign told her that the restaurant was Moroccan. She hoped she wouldn’t act like a fool—or, even worse, a country hick—in the unfamiliar surroundings.
Tall, ornate brass doors opened into a fountained courtyard, which was the centerpiece of the lofty marble entrance. Swathed in palms and pastels, it seemed regal, elegant, and utterly foreign. Glimpsing ahead as they were led into a dimly lit room, Cassie began to feel the promise of the mysterious East.
David John leaned close to her. “This is cool, Mom. Just like out of a movie.”
Since it looked as though Peter Lorre might emerge from the shadows at any moment, Cassie could only nod in agreement. Was that why Blake had chosen this particular restaurant? To expose her to some of the world she’d told him she would never see?
“It beats the heck out of the Dairy Queen in Twin Corners,” Jimmy Ray commented as they neared their table.
A smile hovered over Blake’s lips. “So it does.”
They sat at their table, all sinking into deep lounging cushions. The waiter, who looked as though he’d stepped from the pages of “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves,” brought them all bowls of warm water, kneeling at the table.
As soon as he withdrew, David John wrinkled his face in distaste. “If this is the soup, we’re gonna starve.”
Kevin snorted. “You dope. It’s to wash your hands in.”
Blake intervened tactfully. “It’s a Moroccan custom. You’ll see there are several more that are different from ours.”
Once into the swing of things, the kids greeted each of the seven courses with enthusiasm, even the unfamiliar pigeon and rabbit dishes.
This restaurant was like a jaunt into another world. Gazing at the inlaid mother-of-pearl tables and the hand-painted tiles, listening to the gentle foreign music that surrounded them, she felt as though she’d been treated to a royal Arabian night. A glimpse into the world she’d declared she would never see.
Feeling much like her wide-eyed children, Cassie let herself be swept into this taste of another culture, relishing each moment. When the meal ended and they piled back into the van, she couldn’t help feeling a bit disappointed. It was hard to leave the magic.
As Blake pulled into the traffic, Kevin let out a yelp. “Dad, there’s the music store. Can we stop?”
“I don’t know....”
“Please, Dad,” the twins begged in unison.
With a resigned sigh, Blake changed lanes and pulled into the lot at the music store. “I can’t fight all of you.”
Contented after the unique dinner, Cassie smiled indulgently as Blake closed her door and locked the van. “How long can it take to stop at a music store?”
His dark brows rose. “I forgot. You don’t have one in Twin Corners. I should have brought sleeping bags and survival rations. Three teenagers and three preteens—we ought to be here the rest of the night.”
Cassie laughed as they walked inside, thinking he was teasing her. But nearly an hour later she saw that he was right.
“And you thought I was kidding, didn’t you?” Blake asked, delighted to see the smile back on her face. “We’ll be lucky if we can drag them out in another hour.”
“I never thought my kids would care that much. It’s not like they had any of this back home.”
“Which is probably why they’re so fascinated. The unknown’s usually more interesting than the familiar.”
Cassie gave a small shrug. “For children, perhaps.”
Blake met her eyes, enjoying the contentment in her expression, the slight flush of her skin. “And adults? Don’t they enjoy exploring the unknown? Discovering something or someone new?”
He was rewarded by a deepening flush, along with the disappearance of her contentment. She just shrugged and looked blindly at the next bin.
Blake purposely put his hands near hers, browsing the same section she did. When his hand grazed hers, he could feel a sudden jump in the pulse of her wrist. A change she was careful to try and disguise.
He glanced at the CDs she’d been examining. “The Beatles? Are you a fan, too?”
“Well...” Her voice wobbled, but then she firmed it. “Yes. Most everybody listened to country-western, but I was hooked on rock and roll—especially the Beatles.”
“They were the best,” he stated, leaving no room for argument.
Her laugh bounced between them. “As long as you’re open to discussion.”
“You don’t like them?”
“No. I really do. I especially admired John Lennon.”
“My favorite, too. Couldn’t believe it when he was shot. That’s something I’ve never forgotten—what I was doing when I heard he’d been killed. I was knee-deep in my fraternity initiation. I thought it was a fake report—part of my maddening initiation.” He shook his head at the flashback, “Do you remember that day? What you were doing when Lennon was shot?”
She started to open her mouth, but then a wave of something grim passed over her face. Her voice was flat. “No, I don’t.”
“That’s odd, most everybody—”
“I said I don’t remember. Are you going to stand there all night cross-examining me?”
Blake sucked in a deep breath. He’d somehow stumbled on a nerve, and judging from her reaction, he’d touched a live wire to that nerve. What was it that she didn’t want to discuss? Along with being defensive, she was also evasive. She must have been in high school when Lennon was assassinated. What could she possibly have to hide about her high school years?
Before he formed a reply, she pulled back from the stack of CDs. “I think we ought to round up the kids. Tomorrow’s a school day. The kids don’t need to waste time here and wind up falling asleep in school.”
Definitely a throbbing nerve. “You’re right, Cassie. Guess I forgot what time it was.” But he couldn’t resist one more probe. “You know how dangerous school days can be.”
She lifted her head, a blaze lighting her eyes before she turned to gather her children.
He’d hit a nerve, all right. Cassie Hawkins was showing more sides than the city. And each one was proving more intriguing than the last.
AS THEY PULLED into the driveway, Blake groaned aloud, and Cassie stared first at him, then at the unfamiliar car parked in a sprawling fashion across the drive. A black Porsche carelessly blocked a good portion of the driveway, and Cassie had a sinking sensation that she knew who the car belonged to.
As the kids piled out, Blake caught her eye. “Looks like another visit from my sister-in-law.”
Kevin and the twins groaned in response. “We don’t hafta see her, do we, Dad?” Todd questioned.
“You can say hello,” Blake responded, looking none too pleased himself.
“I hope that’s all,” Kevin muttered.
Blake rolled his eyes. “She’s different...but she is your aunt.”
“That’s not our fault,” Mark mumbled.
“It won’t kill you,” Blake responded.
“I’ll make a fresh pot of coffee,” Cassie offered.
“Daphne’s more the champagne-and-caviar type,” he replied with an amused laugh. “Coffee would only dampen her buzz. I’ll park the van—” he glanced at the insufficient space remaining in the driveway “—somewhere. Why don’t you go ahead and take the kids inside?”
Cassie was tempted to reply that her job didn’t include dealing with difficult relatives. Instead, she gritted her teeth, wishing the woman hadn’t chosen tonight to drop in. Once at the back door, she made herself smile as they all trooped inside.
“My, my, what an absolute horde of children,” Daphne said by way of a greeting, her lips curling in barely concealed disapproval.
Kevin and the twins offere
d halfhearted hellos and gave her the expected perfunctory kisses on the cheek before disappearing. Taking their cue, Cassie’s children went upstairs after politely saying hello.
“How do you do it?” Daphne asked, watching the last of the kids sprint upstairs. “I’d have a constant migraine with that many little bodies in the house.”
“That wouldn’t be too good for my job, since I’m the nanny.”
“True. I can’t imagine why anyone would want a job like that. But then, I guess somebody has to do it, don’t they?”
Cassie ignored the claw poking through Daphne’s purring voice. “I’m afraid so. Otherwise the boys would have to depend on their extended family for care.”
Daphne’s head shot up sharply as she caught the implication in Cassie’s words. Her eyes narrowed. “It’s hardly your place to question my devotion to the family.”
Cassie clung to her dignity. “No. I don’t suppose it is. Nor yours to question mine.”
Daphne shed her civilized mask. “You have a job now, Mary Poppins, but mess with me and you’ll be out so fast you’ll be breathing Texas dust again before you know what hits you.”
Sucking in a gulp of reinforcing air, Cassie held on to her temper. “I don’t want to argue with you, but Mr. Matthews is my employer, not you.”
“And don’t think I haven’t seen how you’re trying to make more of that relationship, either.” Daphne shook back her impressive mane of hair. “But you can give up that fairy tale. Blake isn’t going to get involved with a servant.” Daphne’s dark eyes flashed. “Especially since he’s going to spend the rest of his life with me.”
Chapter Eight
Cassie called a Hawkins family meeting with trepidation, the letter from her mother resting heavily in her pocket. Martha Sanders had hated to tell her, but Cassie’s “perfect” tenants had abandoned the house. The rent money she’d counted on to pay the mortgage was now gone. And although her mother had put out feelers, no one had shown an interest in renting the house. As she faced her children, Cassie’s heart weighed as heavily as the letter in her pocket.
“I had a letter from your grandmother,” Cassie began.
“Is she okay?” Jimmy Ray asked immediately. As the oldest grandchild, he had a special connection to his grandmother. At times he felt guilty about enjoying L.A. and his computer so much, knowing they’d left their home and family behind.
“Granna’s fine, but she did have some bad news. The renters moved out of our house. It’s sitting empty, and the rent I planned to use to pay the mortgage won’t be coming.”
“Will it take most of your salary to pay the bank now?” Katherine Ann asked.
“It will take quite a bit, but I’m not sure that’s what we should do.” Cassie took a deep breath. “If we let the house sit empty for a year, it might take more money than we’ll have to fix it up once my contract here is up.”
“Don’t you think Mr. Matthews will renew your contract?” Jimmy Ray asked, his young brow furrowed in concentration.
Cassie remembered Daphne’s threat the week before and wondered. If the woman did snag Blake, Cassie suspected she’d be out of a job in an instant. “I don’t know. But I do know that I can’t count on it. It will take a good chunk of my salary to pay the house notes, and maybe we should consider going back home while our house is still in good shape.”
“No, Mama!” they all chorused, surprising and deafening her in one swift action.
Cassie tried to soothe them. “I haven’t decided anything yet.”
“We like it here,” D.J. announced.
“We really do, Mama,” Katherine Ann agreed.
“And we’d still have money problems back in Twin Corners, wouldn’t we, Mama?” Jimmy Ray asked.
“Yes, we probably would, but your grandmother wants to help pay our house note, and she simply can’t afford it.” Their grandmother’s financial situation wasn’t news to the children, and the mention of it quieted them immediately. “She wants you all to be happy here. But I think we’d all have a hard time being happy, knowing she’s the one making the sacrifices.”
“Could you talk to Mr. Matthews?” Katherine Ann questioned. “And see if he could give you a raise?”
“That’s quite a jump in logic, considering I’m not even sure I’ll have a contract after this year.”
“Yeah,” D.J. agreed. “But we could all get jobs again, like we did back home, and help out.”
“Or we may just have to move back,” she suggested gently.
Jimmy Ray met her gaze evenly, his always toogrown-up, too-serious teenage face earnest. “We’ll do what we have to, Mama.”
Looking around the circle of cherished faces, Cassie again thanked her lucky stars for such wonderful children. Then she glanced down the hallway at Blake’s study, knowing that facing him would be as difficult as facing her trio of children had been.
CASSIE PUT IT OFF as long as possible, but she ran out of excuses. Feeling much like a kid facing the school principal, she knocked on the door of Blake’s study.
She interpreted the mutter she heard as assent. Cautiously she opened the door and poked her head inside, but Blake’s attention was still fastened on his work. Realizing her subtle entrance would go unnoticed, Cassie braved the distance to his desk. But he still didn’t look up. It occurred to her that she might need to set off a bomb to get his attention.
She had started to clear her throat when Blake surprised her by lifting his head and throwing down his pen. “Something up?”
Startled by his sudden attention, she was unnerved for a moment. “Yes, I need to talk to you.”
His gaze settled on hers. “Serious?”
“I’m afraid so.”
He waved her into the chair across from his desk. “Spill it.”
She relaxed a fraction at his casual tone, but her mission still stuck in her gut. “I have some news....”
“I take it not good news,” Blake guessed, still intently watching her.
Cassie took a deep breath. “The people who were renting my house moved out.”
“And?”
“And they’ve abandoned the house.” When he didn’t comment, she continued, “And, the rent money I counted on to pay the mortgage won’t be coming in. So...I’ve come to ask you to release me from my employment contract.”
“No.”
No hesitation, no discussion. Just no.
Cassie felt a trace of panic. “My mother’s trying to help pay the bank note, and I can’t let her do that—she can barely afford her own home. I didn’t expect my house to be abandoned when I signed the contract, and—”
“Agreed. I’ll extend the terms of your contract to cover the mortgage payments on your house.”
“Extend the terms?” She paused as that sank in. “Do you mean pay my mortgage?”
“Precisely.” Blake picked up his pen, obviously ready to return to the stack of papers on his desk. “That and take care of any repairs and expenses you run into because the house is sitting empty.”
She stuttered. “You can’t do that!”
“Why not?”
“Well, because... You just can’t, that’s all.”
Blake lifted one brow. “How can I argue with such precise logic?” Since she was too flabbergasted to answer, he provided his own reply. “Your employment contract’s like any business agreement—there are built-in parameters, should circumstances change.” He shrugged. “Which they have. There’s no need to cancel your contract—a simple amendment will take care of the problem.”
Cassie remembered to shut her mouth, knowing it must resemble an airplane hangar, but it was open again in seconds. “You call that simple?”
“Why make it complicated?”
“I can’t accept such generosity.”
“You just told me that you didn’t calculate the renters leaving when we made our agreement. And in offering you the job, the status of your house was an important factor. So, I agree that it’s part of my contractual obligati
on.”
“Just like that?”
“I wouldn’t be an effective businessman if I couldn’t make quick decisions.”
“The children do want to stay....”
“And you, Cassie? What do you want?”
What did she want? She felt like a butterfly reluctant to release the cocoon. On one hand, she wanted to stay and explore L.A. and everything it had to offer. On the other, she was tempted to return to the familiar...the safe. Meeting his relentless gaze, Cassie tried to dodge the question. “I want my family to be happy.”
Cassie could see that he wasn’t fooled by her evasive tactic. He turned her statement around. “Then you’ll be staying.”
“I didn’t say—”
“You want your family’s happiness. They want to stay in L.A. Am I missing something?”
No, he never missed a beat. “One thing. Why are you doing this?” Cassie thought she saw a twitch, a quick tightening of his jaw, but his next words dispelled the notion.
“You’re an excellent nanny. You’ve already made headway with the boys. It’s in my best interests to keep you here.”
His best interests. Hardly anything personal. You’re the help, Cassie. Don’t forget it. “Of course. Still, I appreciate what you’re doing—and I don’t say that lightly.”
One of Blake’s lips curved upward. “For all your talking, I don’t think you say anything lightly.”
“No, I’m still small-town. From talking too much to worrying about my big old house and my kids. But you’re right, my family’s happiness is most important, so we’ll be staying.” Even though, in doing so, she was putting more of her emotions on the line. Emotions that apparently were not reciprocated. Not giving him time to reply, she rushed out of the study, ignoring his startled, confused expression.
Chapter Nine
Cassie looked at her bathtub’s gleaming faucet in disgust, preferring to concentrate on the mundane, rather than on her tangle of emotions. Despite its architectural perfection, the stupid thing was broken. Even though Pedro performed general handyman jobs around the house, he’d scratched his head when faced with this one and repeated Blake’s solution: Call the plumber.
His-And-Hers Family Page 10