Perfectly Good Nanny

by Paty Jager

  “Hello.” His voice was gruff, but his eyebrows arched and he shot a glance her way. “Yes, she’s here. Just a minute.” He held his hand over the mouthpiece. “There’s a guy on the phone says it’s urgent he talks to you.”

  Carina shook her head. She couldn’t think of any man that would call her here. Her employer at the nanny agency was female. Besides that woman, her mother and Georgie were the only people with this phone number.

  Shrugging she moved across the room to take the phone. She held the phone to her ear and felt her guts squeeze, she knew that background noise.

  “How did you get this number?” She wasn’t about to be cordial to a man who took away nearly everything in the divorce.

  “Easy, honey.”

  “I’m not your honey. I asked you how you got this number?”

  “From your mom. You know she and I still talk.” His condescending attitude had her gritting her teeth.

  “Bully for you.” In her peripheral vision, Brock sent Maddie out of the room. He poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down at the table. She glared at him and turned her back.

  “Hey, you’re the one who left.”

  “Because you were boffing the CEO’s ugly daughter when I needed you.” She heard Brock snort. Why wasn’t he giving her any privacy?

  “You just used that as an excuse. We know why you wanted a divorce. Because you couldn’t tell me—”

  “Why did you call?” Carina’s hand ached from squeezing the phone. He’d badgered her after the miscarriage, saying she should have done this or that, when it all came down to he wasn’t there when she needed him, and he wasn’t big enough to admit it.

  “That certificate of deposit we have jointly?”

  “Yeah?” She didn’t like where this was going.

  “I need you to sign off so I can use that as collateral against a deal that will double—”

  “No! We agreed to keep it until the maturity date. If it comes out sooner we get penalized. I worked hard for my share and I’m not going to let you lose it.” He hadn’t changed a bit. Always trying to double his money on “get rich quick” schemes. And always losing her money.

  “Honey, it’s a sure thing. I can double your half too.”

  “No! You can’t touch it without my signature, and I’m not going to sign.” She heard Brock get up and walk to the sink. Was he finally going to leave?

  “I’ll get that money with or without your signature. I thought you’d be willing to help me out, but I see you’re just a bitter woman.” The phone thunked in her ear and went silent.

  “Damn!” She slammed the phone down and whirled around. Brock had his head in the refrigerator.

  “I have to leave,” she said, still trying to figure out how Perry could get the money without her signature. Unless… she wouldn’t put it passed him to have someone pretend to be her to get the money. When it came to money he would stop at nothing to gamble it on a risky venture.

  “Just like that?” Brock turned to her, a carton of eggs in his hand. “You get off the phone and say, I have to leave.” He put the carton down so hard, she winced hoping the eggs didn’t break. “I thought you were going to give this more time?”

  “I’ll come back. I have to make sure Perry doesn’t take my money from the one joint account we have left.” She had to make him see she wasn’t leaving because of him or the kids.

  “Sure you will. You’ll get back there in the city and decide that life’s better than what we can give you here. I’ve seen it before.” He stomped out of the kitchen.

  Carina followed him into the mudroom. She grabbed his arm and pulled, trying to make him look at her.

  “I have to do this.”

  “Why? Is money more important than this family?”

  Jamming her fists on her hips she glared at him. “When hasn’t money motivated everything you do for this family? And for your information, that money is my retirement fund. I don’t plan to live my whole life working like you’ll be on this ranch.”

  The tick in his jaw and the way he crammed his hat on his head, she knew she’d spoke out of line. Before she could retract the words, he was out the door.

  “Brock! Come back. I didn’t…” The truck roared to life and revved down the road.

  He thought she was using the money as an excuse to leave. But she wasn’t. That money was her retirement. And she’d be damned if she was going to let Perry lose it.

  Carina spotted Maddie running to the barn from the kitchen window. The girl had tennis shoes, a sweatshirt, and nothing on her head. What was wrong with these people? You can’t go running around in this weather half-dressed.

  Tate wailed in the living room. She’d layer Tate and herself up and take a coat out to Maddie. Why the girl would do such a thing was beyond her. She was the one who taught Carina how to dress for this climate.

  When they were both bundled up in hats, scarves, warm coats and boots Carina headed to the barn. The sound of running hooves echoed in the snowy air. She glanced toward the hill behind the barn and saw Maddie and Cookie hurrying in the opposite direction Brock had gone.

  “Maddie! Come back! Maddie!” The horse and rider continued over the rise. “I have to stop her.” Carina looked at the squirming boy in her arms. She couldn’t drive the sports car across the country Maddie and the horse were traversing. She’d have to take a horse.

  She couldn’t take Tate with her on the horse. But she couldn’t leave him home alone. Willie T. She’d call Willie T. But it would take him too long to get there and Maddie’s tracks could be filled in with the snow that powdered Tate’s hat and shoulders.

  Her feet shifted in the snow as indecision weighed on her heart. She had to go after Maddie. Who knew what could happen to her, not to mention, she could get hypothermia the way she was dressed.

  But that would mean leaving Tate home alone. She couldn’t risk taking him with her on a horse. Not when she was so inexperienced. But leaving him home- alone? Her heart thudded in her chest. She couldn’t risk either of them!

  Think Carina, Think ! She chewed on her bottom lip and knew she wasted valuable time. Making the decision, she headed to the house. In the living room, she pulled Tate’s play pen to the middle of the room where he couldn’t get a hold of anything. She placed several of his safest toys in the pen and turned on the radio.

  She scribbled a quick note and grabbed Maddie’s warmest coat. At the barn, she caught the easiest horse and saddled it as fast as her inexperienced hands could. She heaved on the cinch strap, hoping the cinch pulled tight enough. Brock had always checked this and usually tightened it more before she got on.

  The back of her mind cursed her for leaving Tate alone. But he was warm and in his playpen, nothing could happen to him, unlike his sister racing through the snow storm in nothing but a sweatshirt and tennis shoes.

  Carina tied Maddie’s coat to the leather strings on the back of the saddle and led the horse out of the barn. She could barely make out Cookie’s tracks in the snow. Mounting, she kneed the horse into a bumpy trot. Looking over the horse’s shoulder, she followed the vanishing tracks over the hill and out of sight of the house and Tate.

  Twenty-One

  Brock only drove a couple miles down the county road before turning around and heading back to the house. The more he thought about it, the more he realized, he should have heard Carina out. He’d made his assumptions based on two other women. And so far Carina had proven to be completely different from both of them.

  At the house, he stomped the snow from his boots and entered the backdoor expecting to be mauled by Maddie. “Maddie? Carina?” he called, hanging up his coat and hat. A country western song drifted down the hall from the living room. Brock peeked his head around the kitchen door. No one. Tate let out a happy shriek. Brock smiled and hurried to the living room. His son sat in the playpen, dressed in his coat, his hat on the playpen floor, and happily spinning a ball on the toy in the corner of his pen.

  “Where is everyone, Ta
ter? And why are you in your coat?” Brock picked his son up and scanned the room. Where were Maddie and Carina?

  He carried Tate into the kitchen. Propped in the middle of the table he found a note.

  Maddie took off without a coat. I went after her.

  Carina.

  Took off? Where? And when? The back of his neck tensed, and a slight pain throbbed behind his eyes. Where were they and how long ago did they leave? He went back in the living room, plucking Tate’s hat from the playpen and pulling the boy’s mittens on. After Tate was bundled up, Brock pulled on dry boots, coat, and gloves.

  “C’mon, we need to find your sister and Carina.” Brock scooped Tate up in one arm and headed to the corrals. “Damn!” Two horses were missing. His heart lodged in his throat. Not again. He wouldn’t lose someone he loved to another horse accident.

  Running to the front of the barn, he studied the snow. He barely made out round indentions far enough apart to be horse prints.

  Brock ran to the pickup. He strapped Tate into the carseat, started up the vehicle, and groped under the seat to reassure himself the first aid kit was still there. Slamming the pickup into gear, he headed out following the tracks. Each gulley he came to brought bile up his throat. It was a gulley where he found Beth near death. She’d lain there so long there had been nothing anyone could do. Nothing he could do. She’d gone on a ride like any other day. When he’d returned from fixing fence with Maddie, he’d gone looking for her. And found his wife beyond help. He’d known from his stint in the Gulf, she wasn’t going to make it. When Johnson turned his accusing eyes on Brock, he’d let the man make him think it was his fault. When in reality, just like Carina’s miscarriage, it was fate.

  Fate wasn’t going to take away someone he loved again.

  Riding horses in these conditions, he should catch up to them in no time. He pushed the pickup through two foot snow drifts following the trail of the two females he held in his heart

  ****

  Carina’s face and fingers felt like she’d slept on a pillow full of needles. She didn’t want to think how cold Maddie must be with as little clothing as the child wore when she left. Carina worried that leaving Tate hadn’t been the right thing to do. How could she have left a child so young alone? Please don’t let my negligence harm another child.

  Topping the rise, she spotted a rider-less horse. Fear spiraled in her belly. She urged her horse faster, but the animal breathed hard, and she could feel its body quiver from fatigue. Just when she spotted a body in the snow, her horse stumbled, and she flew through the air. Her leg caught in the stirrup and something snapped. She landed in the snow and everything went black.

  ****

  Brock shot over a rise and spotted the shape of two riderless horses through the flurry of snowflakes. “No!” he screamed, sliding the pickup sideways. He checked to make sure Tate was secure and jumped out of the vehicle, scanning the area beyond the horses. He spotted Carina. Running to her, he dropped to his knees. “No, not again.” His stomach twisted with dread. He reached out to stroke her wind chapped cheek.

  Her eyes fluttered open and he gently rested her head on his leg. Relief whooshed out of him like a tire without a valve stem.

  “No, forget me. Maddie,” Carina whispered. “Find Maddie, she doesn’t have a coat.”

  “I’ll put you in the pickup first,” Brock started to scoop her into his arms.

  “No! Leave me, find Maddie!” she said vehemently. “She needs you.”

  Carina’s leg lay at an odd angle, but if that was her only injury, she was right; Maddie would be freezing if she sprawled in the snow.

  “I’ll be back as soon as I find Maddie.”

  Carina gave him a weak smile and closed her eyes. The pale skin and grimace revealed her pain.

  He gently placed her hooded head on the snow and scanned the white vastness. The snow had been disrupted in a spot twenty-five yards away. He plodded through the knee high snow and found a small, dark lump partially covered in snow.

  “Maddie? Maddie, it’s Dad.” She wore only jeans and a sweatshirt. Why had she ridden out in so few clothes? She knew better than that. “Why?” he asked as he slowly assessed her body for injuries. Again, he used his military training. He didn’t want to think about the last instance. This time would have a different ending. It must or he wouldn’t be able to live.

  He evaluated the situation and didn’t find any bones broken. Brock scooped Maddie’s limp body into his arms and carried her back to the pickup. He noticed on his way by, Carina had sat up against a snow bank. That was a good sign.

  Tate let out a squeal when Brock set Maddie on the pickup seat and covered her with a blanket. The sound didn’t cause her cold body to show any indication of hearing the screech. Brock twisted the knob on the heater to high and closed the door, heading back for Carina.

  “I think it’s just my leg,” she said when he knelt beside her.

  “Maddie?”

  “She’s unconscious. Don’t know if it’s from a blow to the head or cold.” He slid his arm under Carina’s legs and scooped her up into his arms. His heart fluttered with fragile happiness. She only had minor injuries, now to get Maddie home and assess her injuries and get to the bottom of her reckless ride.

  “I-is Tate okay? I didn’t want to leave him alone, but I knew I couldn’t bring him out in this.” The worry on her face and in her voice showed her love for the child.

  Brock kissed her. “He’s fine. You were brave and stupid to head out in this” He pulled the door open and set her on the seat. She winced when her leg had to be turned to get it in the cab.

  He fussed to make her comfortable.

  “Forget about me. Get us home so we can take care of Maddie.” Carina pushed him away and closed the door. He saw her face scrunch at the pain of twisting her injured leg.

  Brock hurried to the driver’s side and climbed in. He turned the pickup around to find the horses standing in their way.

  “Oh! What about the horses?” Carina asked, watching them huddle together.

  “If I can catch them, I’ll throw the tack in the back and they can survive until we get them rounded up again.” He put the vehicle in neutral and went back out into the cold. His luck held. Neither horse appeared spooked and both stood still while Brock removed their saddles and bridles. Once they were free of the tack, the animals took off in the direction of the ranch house.

  “They’ll probably beat us home,” Brock said, sliding back in the driver’s seat and following the horses. He tried to go fast, yet, not jar Carina or Maddie too much. Before long the house came into sight. He looked over at Carina. Her hand rested on Maddie’s cheek.

  “She’ll be fine. She’s young and resilient,” he said to reassure her and himself.

  “I don’t understand why she took off like that.” Carina looked at him. “She always scolded me for not dressing warm enough.”

  Brock shook his head. “I’m not sure either. We’ll have to wait until she comes around to ask.”

  He drove the pickup onto the yard, close to the back door. Carina started to open the door. He leaned across, taking her hand, “I’m going to put Tate in his playpen and come back for Maddie. Then I’ll get you.” He squeezed her hand. “Don’t move.” She nodded and dropped her hand in her lap.

  Tate squirmed all the way into the house. Brock plopped him into his playpen with all his warm clothes on. They could worry about unbundling him later. He returned for Maddie. Cradling his daughter in his arms, he swore as a familiar vehicle pulled up the drive. Brock hurried into the house and propped Maddie up on the couch, tucking all the afghans and blankets he could find in close proximity around her motionless body.

  He stepped out the back door and was confronted by Johnson.

  “What the hell are you doing to my granddaughter?” the old man bellowed and tried to push Brock to the side.

  The accusation in the man’s voice set Brock’s anger up a notch. “If you don’t get out of my way I can�
��t do anything to help her.” He pushed the man aside as Carina opened the pickup door. “I told you to stay.” Brock hurried to her side.

  “I only opened the door. My hand isn’t broken.” Carina nodded her head toward the man entering the house. “And I don’t want you two arguing right now. It won’t help Maddie.” She slid an arm around his neck and he picked her up. She didn’t weigh any more than Maddie.

  Brock wanted to charge into the living room and demand the cancerous man leave, but he had to take care of the woman he loved—the thought hit him in the gut. Yes, loved. He’d realized it when he feared the worst for her and Maddie. Forgetting his father-in-law and concentrating on the woman, Brock took a seat on the mudroom bench and held Carina on his lap as he unlaced his boots. Kicking off the wet footwear, his cold feet started to tingle. He sat a moment enjoying the feel of the woman he held. She’d pushed the hood of the coat off her head and the dark strands of hair danced with electricity.

  He kissed her firmly on the lips. She melt into his embrace. This was something he wanted from now until he died.

  “Quit diddling that woman and get in here and look after your daughter,” called their unwanted visitor.

  When Brock started to voice a retort, Carina placed a hand over his mouth. “Think of Maddie.”

  He unzipped her coat and pulled her arms out. “As soon as I get you settled on the couch next to Maddie, I’m sending that thorn in my side packing then calling Willie T .” He dropped Carina’s coat next to his boots and stood in one motion, hugging her to his chest as he carried her to the couch.

  “Her color looks better,” Carina said when Brock settled her on the couch, being careful of her broken leg. If he wasn’t remaining so calm, she would have panicked by now. Where was this man when she needed someone a year ago? Why couldn’t Perry have been this calm? Maybe then she would have realized the miscarriage wasn’t her fault. If her husband had helped her see the truth, rather than blame her.