by Susan Meier
Marnie glanced over at him. “And what about you?”
He shrugged. “Are you sure you want to hear this? We’d sort of made a pact not to be friends.”
“Making a pact doesn’t mean I stopped liking you, being interested in your life. I’m trying to get us to a normal place where we can talk as boss and employee and not be miserable all the time.”
“I don’t want you to be uncomfortable. But I haven’t stopped liking you either. You were the balance that I needed. Someone to care for Rex who was easy to talk to.”
And she’d loved that. Loved that he needed her as much as liked her. With him, she’d felt as if she’d found a place, a home. Not four walls and a bed, but a niche that warmed her, gave her a sense of self and independence she’d never had before. Particularly since he’d needed her and enjoyed her company as much as she’d needed a home, a space to be herself.
He shrugged. “Telling me I’m not allowed to like you is equivalent to telling the sun not to rise.”
She knew exactly what he meant. Her feelings were too easy, too genuine. She’d had to retreat to her room every night for the past few days to keep them from overwhelming her. Even now, just talking to him, had warmed her heart.
“So, to get back to the point... We’re going to Scotland with you as Rex’s nanny.”
Gobsmacked, she pressed her hand to her chest “I’m going to Scotland?”
“Rex is invited to every party and celebration, but he still has a bedtime, needs to be fed on a schedule...”
“I’m going to Scotland?”
He laughed. “Your enthusiasm reminds me of Charlotte’s.”
“I don’t care if I’m seeing the country with Rex on my hip, I still get to see Scotland!” She bounced from her stool. “I need to buy a few things.”
His head tilted. “Like what?”
“I’m not running around Scotland in yoga pants and T-shirts. Actually, I’ll need to Google the weather to make sure we pack appropriately for Rex too.” She tapped a finger on her lips. “So many things to do.” She glanced at Danny. “What day is this wedding?”
“Next Friday. But we’re leaving Tuesday.”
“Okay. Four days is good. Plenty of time to get everything together.”
* * *
With that, she raced back to her room, and Danny watched her go. Her delight at going to Scotland filled him with a pleasure that swelled his chest. It was almost as if her joy gave him permission to be excited. Charlotte wanted everyone to stop trying to figure things out and just be happy? Well, that’s what Marnie did for him. She grounded him. Maybe because they were raised in a similar way. But whatever the reason, he was so glad he could take her to Scotland, show her the country, enjoy the week of Charlotte’s wedding celebration.
He cleaned up their dishes and put away the leftover food, talking to Rex. “What about you? Do you want to see Scotland?”
He giggled.
But a reality he’d thought he understood hit him hard, harder than it ever had. His two-year-old son was about to become a world traveler. In a few years, he’d attend the finest private schools. Go to any university he wanted, anywhere in the world.
“You’ll grow up so different than how I did.”
Being wealthy had wiped out any financial worry Danny might ever have, but what no one realized was it added an even bigger worry.
How did one lead a normal life with access to anything and everything they wanted? Harder still, how could he possibly raise Rex to be a normal kid when his life would be anything but normal?
The kitchen cleared, he took Rex back to the nursery, read him two stories and put him to bed. When he came out, Marnie was nowhere around. But that didn’t surprise him. She had worked to level them off, re-create a normal employer/employee relationship. And now she’d retreat before they took it too far.
He respected that. But his big penthouse was empty and lonely once Rex was in bed. It hadn’t been before Marnie came. It had been a normal home to him. Then she’d entered his world and made everything fun. He wouldn’t lie to himself and pretend it wasn’t her loss that made him lonely. He wanted her. Her.
But she hated all the trappings of his new life. And he accepted that.
He went to the family room to play pool, hoping to entice her out of her suite for another game.
But she stayed in her room. Probably looking up the weather in Scotland. He almost knocked on her door to join her to share the fun of the preliminary research before a trip across the Atlantic. But he knew her fears.
And having her eat with him, albeit in a limited way, was better than nothing... Wasn’t it?
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
AS THEY APPROACHED SCOTLAND, Marnie pointed at the little islands in front of the mainland, then the mountains and green fields separated by trees.
“See, Rex? Isn’t it beautiful?”
He said, “Yeth,” but squirmed in her arms.
“Come on,” Danny said, gesturing for Marnie to hand him over. “Let me get him in his car seat and buckled in. We’ll be landing soon.”
Marnie helped secure Rex, then took the seat beside him. “Just in case,” she said, but Danny shook his head.
“He’s fine.”
“You never know.”
He sat across from them in a little conversation grouping that was both convenient and cozy. The plane landed and she hopped up to get Rex out of his seat.
“I know you’re excited, but the door won’t open for five or ten minutes. There are checks the pilots have to make.”
She said, “That’s okay.”
Danny took Rex from her. “Look over there,” he said, leaning down beside the window, pointing beyond the private airstrip to the countryside. “Uncle Jace’s family lives out there.”
Rex grinned.
Marnie slid the strap of her duffel bag up her arm. “It was gorgeous from the air.”
“Charlotte said it’s the most beautiful place she’s ever seen. She called it enchanted. I can’t wait to see it.”
She frowned. “You’ve never been to Scotland?”
He pointed at his chest. “Middle class, remember?”
“Yeah.”
They spent the short trip to the MacDonald compound pointing out scenery to Rex. He really didn’t understand, but Danny enjoyed it. A sense of contentment blanketed him. He wasn’t working. He wasn’t at home with someone whose company he enjoyed, having her ignore him. They were in Scotland, about to celebrate his sister’s wedding and Marnie was being herself.
“What are you smiling at?”
“I’m think I’m tapping into what Charlotte feels. I’m happy for her.”
“I am too. She and Jace are a great couple and she obviously wants kids.”
“That she does.”
The limo pulled into the compound into a sea of limos.
“Wow. So, this is what it looks like when the rich get together.” She shook her head. “This is going to be a logistical nightmare for Jace’s people.”
He wondered if she realized how well she knew his family, how she fit. “His upper echelon staff is top-notch. They’ll have this area cleared in minutes.”
They exited the limo, leaving luggage duties to the driver and the staff Jace had on hand. The huge stone house welcomed them. A carriage house beside it was both quaint and homey. Trees dotted the property. Enough to provide shade and beauty, but not so many that there was no lawn. Green grass flourished between gardens filled with colorful flowers.
The wide-plank front door actually had a crest and a little plaid.
“Look at that,” Marnie said, reverently tracing the brass crest. “It must be fun to be Scottish.”
Having been given instructions to enter without knocking, they walked into the high-ceilinged foyer. The sound of conversation and laughter filled the air.
Carrying Rex, Danny headed to the kitchen. “We’re here!”
Charlotte pushed away from the counter and raced over to give him and Marnie a hug before she kissed Rex’s cheek and stole him from his father. “Here’s my little love.”
Mark was by her side in seconds. “You see him all the time. I’ve been in Paris buried in wedding details. I hold him first.”
They sounded so much like a normal family that a wave of belonging washed over Danny. His adoptive parents rose from the table and walked over too. His mom hugged him. His dad shook his hand, then did a shoulder bump.
“Do we have to take a number to get to hold our own grandson?”
Danny laughed. “I didn’t know you guys were coming.”
“Of course, they were coming,” Charlotte said, sounded affronted. “We have the biggest, weirdest family on the planet, but we are all family.”
The truth of that trickled through him. No one wanted him to desert his adoptive parents. He was the one who was having trouble adjusting.
He thought of Marnie’s plan for him to get a house in his hometown and he smiled.
Leni’s adoptive dad toasted. “To family.” A short, stocky construction worker, he’d gone through a surgery and was now project manager on Leni’s vision to totally modernize and refurbish her town. Her pretty brunette mom sat beside him.
At the counter, Leni poured champagne as Nick passed it around. Nick’s mom and dad were the first to take glasses from the tray.
“Nice to see you, Danny.”
“Nice to see you too, Mr. Kourakis.”
“Who’s your friend?”
Danny winced. “Sorry. This is Marnie Olsen. She’s Rex’s nanny.”
Marnie smiled sweetly, shyly. “Hi, everybody.”
“It’s lovely to have you here,” Nick’s mom said. The Kourakis family had had their share of troubles too. An automobile accident killed their younger son. Nick had been driving. His grief had been intense and protracted. There were times Danny had wondered if he’d ever be the same... Then Nick had met Leni.
He glanced at Marnie. Her pink cheeks. Her bright green eyes.
His chest tightened the way it always did when he looked at her in an unguarded moment. But Nick was suddenly in front of him with the tray of champagne. Charlotte made a joke about not being able to toast at her own wedding celebration because she couldn’t drink alcohol while pregnant. Her mom, Penny, beamed with pride. Jace looked rough and rugged in jeans and a plaid shirt. Danny’s adoptive parents, Terry and Gene Manelli, laughed with Jace’s mom and dad.
And Danny got a picture of the rest of his life. Especially when his mom picked up a plate of hors d’oeuvres and offered one to Marnie, who happily popped the stuffed mushroom into her mouth.
Danny shook his head. “You’re going to ruin your dinner. You’re all going to ruin your dinner.”
Someone threw a stuffed mushroom at him. “Who invited this party pooper?”
“I did.” Charlotte walked over and slid her arm beneath Danny’s. “We’re all so crazy. We need a stuffed shirt to keep us in line.”
Everybody laughed, but Danny frowned.
He wasn’t a stuffed shirt.
Was he?
Was that part of what Charlotte had meant when she’d told him that he worked to find the dark cloud in everything?
Rex began to fuss, and Marnie edged her way through the crowd in the country kitchen to find him. The toddler fell into her arms, rubbing his eyes.
“Nap time. He snoozed on the plane, but his body knows that every day at two he goes to his crib. It might be evening here, but it’s two at home.” She smiled at Jace’s mom. “Is there someone who can show us to the room he and Danny will be using?”
Jace came out of the crowd. “Actually, you’re not in the house. You’re in the suite above the carriage house. There’s a room for you and one for Danny large enough to put the crib in. It’s the biggest, quietest space we have to make sure Rex isn’t disturbed.” He winced. “Unfortunately, you have to share a bathroom.”
Danny said, “That’s fine.”
* * *
But Marnie’s heart skipped a beat. She’d never been in a house packed with so many people before, all of whom thought they were funny. In fairness, most were. Still, her overriding impression was of three unique families, blending into one big family with Mark Hinton as patriarch.
She tried to imagine her dad doing something like this, and when she couldn’t she suddenly liked Mark Hinton. What he’d done to bring his family together, including adoptive parents and in-laws was remarkable.
Jace’s dad walked to the kitchen door with her, having said he’d show her to the carriage house, but Danny unexpectedly joined them.
“I’m fine. I can get Rex to sleep. You go. Enjoy your family.”
He gave her a strange look. Something she hadn’t ever seen from him. She thought that he might not want to be with his family, but as they walked out the door he said, “I’ll be back in ten minutes.”
The enthusiasm in his voice told her he meant it.
Jace’s dad, a big lumberjack of a guy, happily chatted as they walked along a stone path to the carriage house. Inside the spotless garage that housed two cars, one sensible sedan and another that looked like a race car, he led them up a set of steps and into a sitting room with a small kitchenette in the back.
“It’s lovely,” Marnie said, knowing from the expression on his face that he awaited approval.
An open door on the right led to a bedroom, as did an open door on the left. Their luggage had been neatly piled in the sitting room at the center of it all.
“Bathroom’s back there.” Jace’s dad pointed to a closed door, equidistant from each of the bedrooms. “If you need anything, just tell me or my wife. We have anything you might have forgotten.” He pointed at the bedroom to the right. “Crib’s in that room.”
His laugh was big and jolly as they thanked him, and he headed back to the party in the main house.
She glanced around. “This place is fabulous.”
Danny frowned as he took off his suit coat, then his tie. “The suite?”
“No. The whole place. I’ll bet they own acres and acres of that green grass out there.”
“No, doubt,” Danny agreed. “Here.” He reached for Rex. “Let me get him settled.”
For once she didn’t argue. She grabbed her luggage and headed for the bedroom on the left. Tossing her biggest case on the bed, she glanced at the pretty blue bedspread and the lace curtains. Old-fashioned, but so comfortable and cozy, like stepping back in time.
She wondered what it would be like to have a family history. To have customs and traditions—and a crest and plaid. But before she could think it through, Danny appeared at her door.
“Everything okay?”
“Everything’s great.”
He strolled into the bedroom. “Rex went out before his head hit the blanket.”
“Travel makes some kids antsy and others sleepy.” She slipped to the right, away from him, because it seemed so natural, so normal that he’d be in her room. And it shouldn’t.
“Rex must be one of the kids that travel makes sleepy.”
She nodded. “You go on back to your family. I’ll sit here while he sleeps. That way I’ll be only a few feet away if he stirs.”
He nodded and headed for the sitting room door to leave, but as his hand reached the knob, he stopped, looked over at her.
“What?”
“I don’t know. Everything just feels different here.”
“Charlotte said it’s enchanted.”
He sniffed a laugh. “Yeah, she always says that as if there are fairies who grant wishes.”
“So maybe you should wish not to be the family stuffed shirt? Maybe a passing fairy will hear, snatch your wish from
the air and grant it?”
He laughed. “Really? You think I’m a stuffed shirt too?”
“I think you are practical and pragmatic, and I think the world needs that.”
He shook his head. “Practical and pragmatic?”
“You think things through. You don’t jump on bandwagons.”
He groaned. “I am a stuffed shirt.”
She laughed. “Go have fun with your family.”
“I’ll go but when I get there, I’m telling jokes and breaking out the good whiskey. I’m not a stuffed shirt.”
* * *
Danny left the suite, bounded down the stairs and outside. Clean air filled his lungs, along with that sense that Charlotte talked about. He wouldn’t call it magic. He would call it serenity.
He entered the kitchen to the sounds of laughter. He didn’t have to ask about the good whiskey; apparently Jace’s dad liked that a lot better than champagne. Some of the guests had drifted outside to enjoy the pleasantly warm evening. Some had retired to their rooms. Toddlers weren’t the only ones who got tired from a long flight.
He took two fingers of whiskey and splintered off from the small bundle of people still chatting in the kitchen. He found a chair and settled in to enjoy the scent of the pond, the trees, the gardens all around.
“Mind if I sit?”
He glanced up at Mark. He wasn’t Danny’s favorite person in the world, but he refused to be considered the wet blanket anymore. If he had to talk to Mark, so be it. “No. Sure.” He motioned to the other chair. “Sit.”
“Penny’s been riding my back about giving you a penthouse to live in, then keeping the elevator codes and showing up when I want to.”
“She’s not wrong.”
He winced. “So, I’m apologizing and also promising it will never happen again.”
Mark’s unexpected apology and promise surprised Danny so much, he looked over again. “Thank you.”