An Unexpected Father

by Marie Ferrarella

  No doubt wanting to have Harper praise him too, Tyler raised his hand to get her attention. “’Cause they were magic beans, right? That’s why they didn’t squish, ’cause they were magic. Right?”

  Harper smiled at Tyler. “You’re absolutely right, Tyler. You boys are both very, very smart. I see that I’m going to have to work super hard to keep up with you two guys.”

  Tyler immediately took her words to heart. “Don’t worry, I’ll slow down for you,” he promised.

  Not to be outdone, Toby joined in. “Yeah, me, too. I’ll go slow. Real slow,” he emphasized.

  Harper looked from one twin to the other, her hand on her chest in a show of how touched she was by their “sacrifice.”

  “You would do that for me?” she asked.

  “Uh-huh!” Toby told her, nodding his shaggy head up and down.

  “We sure would!” Tyler told her. Then, seeing Brady in the mirror over their bureau, Tyler swung around to look at his guardian standing in the doorway. “Can she be our nanny, Unca Brady?”

  “Yeah, can she? We like this one,” Toby added. “She’s nice.”

  Harper had already agreed to be their nanny, but obviously the twins wanted to verbalize their approval. Brady laughed as his eyes met Harper’s. “You have no idea how high that praise really is,” he told the woman. “These two ‘angelic’ looking boys have sent so many nannies running for the hills that I’ve completely lost count. I can’t tell you how happy I am that you decided to take this job.”

  “Me, too,” Tyler told her, beaming up at Harper.

  “Me, three,” Toby cried, not to be outdone.

  “Well, I do love a challenge.” Harper affectionately tousled each boys’ hair. “Have you boys eaten yet?” she asked them.

  “Uh-uh,” Tyler answered, shaking his head, sending soft brown hair flying back and forth around his sweet cheeks.

  “Nope,” Toby said with emphasis.

  “Why don’t you boys show me to the kitchen so I can look in the refrigerator and see what we can whip up together for dinner?” Harper suggested.

  “You’re beating up food?” Toby asked excitedly.

  Harper struggled not to laugh. She didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. “Whip up in this case means cook,” she explained.

  Toby cocked his head, as if that would help him understand things better. “We’re going to cook dinner?” he asked skeptically.

  “Yes, we are. It’s never too early to learn,” Harper assured the boy.

  “I wanna learn,” Tyler told her, hoping not to be left behind.

  “That’s good because I’m going to need your help. Both of you,” she said to the twins.

  As she spoke, Harper was keenly aware that Brady was slowly circling around her, giving her an elaborate once-over. One she knew she wasn’t meant to ignore. “Can I help you with something, Mr. Fortune?” she asked, turning to face him.

  “No. I’m fine,” he told her. “I’m just looking for wings.”

  Harper blinked. “Wings?”

  “She’s not a bird, Unca Brady,” Tyler told him. “She’s our nanny.”

  “I know she’s not a bird,” Brady said, not looking away from Harper. “But angels have wings, too. I was just looking for Ms. Radcliffe’s wings.”

  “Who’s Ms. Radcl—radcl—Ms. Rad?” Toby finally asked, settling on the only part of the name he could manage.

  “She is,” Brady told the twin, nodding toward Harper.

  “No, she’s not. She’s Harper,” Toby said. “She said so.” Big blue eyes turned toward the woman for confirmation. “Right?”

  “You can’t call her by her first name, Toby,” Brady told the boy.

  “I can’t?” Toby asked, surprised and confused. “Why not?”

  “No, it’s okay, really,” Harper assured her new employer. “Radcliffe is just too much of a mouthful for a four-year-old.”

  Toby drew himself up to look taller. “I’m almost five,” he told her.

  “Oh, my mistake,” Harper apologized. “For an ‘almost’ five-year-old,” she told Brady, restating her comment. “So unless it really makes you uncomfortable,” she told Brady, “the boys can call me Harper. I’m fine with that.”

  No, he wasn’t uncomfortable with it, but he wasn’t the one who mattered here. This was between Harper and the twins. A soldier knew when to retreat—and Brady considered himself a good soldier.

  “If it’s okay with you, it’s fine with me,” Brady told her.

  “Okay, now that that’s settled,” Harper said, turning back to the twins, “why don’t we go see about making dinner?”

  Tyler’s eyes were shining in anticipation of what lay ahead. “Yeah, why don’t we go see about making dinner!” he cried, echoing Harper’s words.

  Feeling like she was almost surrounded by the twins who were shifting around her and moving from side to side, Harper went to the kitchen.

  Crossing to the refrigerator, she opened both doors at the same time. Considering its size, it had very little to offer on the inside.

  She found a small block of sharp cheddar cheese, less than half a package of sliced ham, a few eggs and two peppers, one red, one green. Both were one day away from being on their way out.

  Harper was studying the contents a moment too long, causing Toby to make a suggestion. “Maybe we can call ‘takes out.’”

  Still holding the doors open, she glanced down at the pint-sized assistant who had spoken last. “Takes out?” she questioned.

  “Yeah,” Toby told her, happy to be able to offer his help. “Unca Brady calls a place and then he takes it out when they come here with it. Takes out,” he repeated for emphasis.

  Harper pressed her lips together to keep from laughing. She had the feeling she was going to be doing that a lot.

  She glanced over toward Brady, who spread his hands wide for her benefit, indicating that the process Toby had just told her about was a pretty frequent one for them.

  “I see,” she told the boys. “Well, I don’t think we need to call for ‘takes out’ yet.”

  “We’re going to eat that?” Tyler asked doubtfully, scowling into the refrigerator.

  “You’re going to eat frittatas,” Harper informed the twins.

  “Fer-what-as?” Toby wanted to know, his tone indicating that he didn’t like the sound of that.

  “I think I can show you better than I can explain it,” Harper said, “But the idea behind it is to take a bunch of things you find in the refrigerator, put them all together and mix them up with eggs to make one big tasty meal,” she concluded, simplifying the process for the twins as much as possible.

  Toby still made a face. “Doesn’t sound very good,” he complained.

  “It tastes better than it sounds,” Harper assured the boy.

  Toby continued to show his disapproval. “It’ll have to,” he said.

  “Toby.” There was a warning note in Brady’s voice.

  “No, no, that’s okay,” Harper told Brady, coming to Toby’s defense. “He’s entitled to his opinion. Just as I’m entitled to try to get him to change his opinion. And tomorrow,” she informed Brady, “while the boys are in preschool, I’m going to go shopping to get this to look like an actual refrigerator instead of a holding zone for things about to go bad. And you boys are going to help me make this—” she gestured into the refrigerator “—into a good meal.”

  While Toby and Tyler vied for position so each one could exclusively offer his willing hands to the new nanny, the look on Brady’s face told her that she was going to live to regret what she had just said.

  In fact, she had two challenges, Harper thought. The first was getting the twins involved without becoming a danger to themselves, and the second challenge came in the form of getting Brady to retract that smug, sexy smile of his.

  Harper
was fairly certain that she was up to both challenges.

  “Okay, boys, let’s get to this,” she said in a voice that all but declared, Let the games begin.

  Chapter Nine

  The moment Harper set out all the ingredients she intended to use to make this very first family meal, she could see Toby eyeing the knife lying on the table beside the scarred cutting board. She had been a nanny long enough to know an accident that was waiting to happen.

  Moving quickly, her hand covered the knife handle before Toby could grab it.

  Looking at him, she judged that his small face must have fallen at least half a foot. But it was also obvious to Harper that the more active twin didn’t intend to give up easily.

  “You said you wanted me to help,” Toby whined, pouting.

  “And you will,” Harper assured him. Her eyes swept over the little people on either side of her. “Both of you,” she stressed, then looked down at the boys’ hands. “But I think you and your brother are pretty set on keeping all your fingers just the way they are and that’s a really sharp knife.” Harper lowered her voice and added conspiratorially, “I’m cautious about using that knife myself.”

  “What’s caw-caw—that word?” Stymied, Toby surrendered his efforts to pronounce the word he had heard her use correctly.

  “It means being super careful,” Harper told the twin. “See this?” She held up her left hand and pointed out what looked like an old, curved scar right at the base of her thumb.

  “Yeah?” Toby answered as Tyler all but moved into his shadow to take his own look at the scar. Both boys appeared fascinated.

  “I did that when I was ten years old,” Harper told them. “I was trying to cut a small piece of ham for a snack when the knife slipped and I wound up cutting my thumb.”

  “Did it hurt?” Tyler asked her. The look on his small face was the very picture of sympathy.

  “Oh, it hurt like crazy,” Harper told the more sensitive of the twins.

  “And did you bleed?” Toby wanted to know, his eyes wide with anticipation.

  The truth was that there had been a lot of blood. She still remembered being queasy, but that wasn’t something she felt she should go into for a number of reasons. So all she said was, “Uh-huh,” then changed direction. “Now, if we’re going to make this dinner” she continued, “this is going to be a team effort—but I head the team.” She let her words sink in. “Agreed?”

  Two shaggy heads bobbed up and down, slightly out of sync.

  “Agreed,” the boys all but eagerly proclaimed in unison.

  While this minidrama was unfolding, Brady was standing off to the side in the doorway, observing everything as it happened. He found himself in awe at how deftly Harper handled all this.

  Harper Radcliffe, where have you been all my life? he silently asked in unadulterated admiration.

  Feeling that this nanny-miracle worker might want her space to continue to weave her magic in peace, Brady withdrew from the kitchen entrance altogether. He crossed his fingers that whatever was happening at the moment would continue to go on happening.

  * * *

  “Can I get you anything?” Brady asked the twins’ new nanny much later that evening, after Toby and Tyler had finally settled down and gone to sleep. Dinner had been a huge success and far tastier than he had anticipated. Harper had just now finished cleaning up the mess left over from preparing dinner. Brady looked around the kitchen, clearly impressed with how neat everything appeared.

  The woman was a wizard, he decided. She was definitely a pleasant change from some of the nannies who had been there before her. “Coffee? Tea? A life-long contract?”

  Harper laughed, taking one last look around the kitchen to make sure she hadn’t overlooked anything. “No, I’m good,” she told Brady.

  “You certainly are,” he agreed with no small enthusiasm. He said it with such feeling that Harper looked at him in surprise. He realized that he needed to clarify himself before she misunderstood. “You have no idea what a breath of fresh air you are after the army of less-than-satisfying babysitters and nannies who have trooped through the twins’ lives.”

  Not wanting to say anything negative about the women her employer had previously hired—especially without being privy to more information—Harper speculated, “They probably just had their own take on how things should be managed.”

  Recalling certain incidents, Brady frowned, but decided it was best not to rehash bad times. Moving forward was far more advisable.

  “To be honest, I didn’t know what to expect. I just knew what didn’t work. Until I witnessed you in action. Just so you know, you have a position here for as long as you want it.” He laughed softly to himself, thinking of the twins. “For life if it comes to that.”

  It was Harper’s turn to laugh. “I doubt very much that those boys are going to want a nanny hanging around when they turn eighteen, but it’s nice to know that I’ve found steady employment—at least for the time being.”

  Brady nodded, although he couldn’t help wondering why this petite miracle worker was being so cautious in her response.

  He nodded toward the sofa. “You know, given the day you just put in, you’re welcomed to put your feet up and unwind,” Brady told her. He wanted her to feel comfortable here.

  “If you don’t mind, I’ll take a rain check,” she told her new employer. Hoping he wouldn’t take offense, she explained, “It’s been a long day. I’d just like to go home and get some sleep.”

  Brady felt an unexpected twinge of disappointment, which surprised him. But he managed to respond well. “Whatever you say,” he told her. “You’re the boss,” he added with a smile.

  Looking at him, Harper could literally feel her heart skip a beat. Get a grip, Harper. Remember Justine Wheeler’s husband...

  Stop it, she chided herself. Brady’s nothing like that man, Harper silently insisted, remembering the man who had caused her all that grief. But comparing the new with the old, she reminded herself, did a disservice to both Brady and the new job she had taken on.

  A job she knew she was lucky to find after the depressing spate of time she had just gone through, searching for employment in both her field—and then out of it.

  Don’t blow this just because you’re afraid of history repeating itself, Harper warned herself. Yes, Brady Fortune is good-looking and charming. That doesn’t mean that he’s a reptile, eager to jump your bones the first chance he gets. You can’t allow Wheeler to spook you that way, Harper reprimanded herself.

  She knew she was being logical and making sense, but that didn’t make this any easier for her. Harper still couldn’t help feeling nervous and uneasy being around Brady. She was hoping that once she got into some sort of a daily routine with the twins, this uneasiness would eventually fade away.

  At least she could hope for the best, Harper thought as she left his house and drove to her very small studio apartment.

  It took her an incredible amount of time to wind down. Every time she finally managed to doze off, visions of her new employer’s sexy smile would make her eyes fly open as her heart pounded wildly.

  She barely managed to get any rest at all.

  * * *

  “Did you sleep well?” Brady asked the following morning. He was coming into the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee before he got started with his day. He was surprised to find Harper was already there, preparing breakfast.

  Harper looked over her shoulder. She noticed that instead of casual clothes, Brady was wearing a suit. He looked very dashing, as if he was ready to take off somewhere. She bit her tongue not to say anything about his appearance. She didn’t want to do anything to create the wrong impression.

  Which also meant not mentioning what had turned out to be a relatively sleepless night, a detail best kept to herself rather than risking having Brady read something into that, too.

&nbs
p; “Yes, thank you,” Harper responded cheerfully to his inquiry. Nodding at the frying pan, she said, “I’m making breakfast.”

  “I can tell,” Brady teased. Assuming she was making it for the twins, he told her, “The boys’ll be hungry when they get up.”

  “And you?” she asked pointedly. “What can I make for you?”

  He indicating the coffee machine and the full pot. “Coffee’ll do fine.”

  She gave him a reproving look. “Can’t start a day on just coffee.”

  Brady responded with a laugh. “Well, with these guys, I haven’t had the time to think of extra things like making myself breakfast. Getting Toby and Tyler fed was enough of a challenge for me to face first thing in the morning.”

  She couldn’t help thinking that he cut an impressive figure in that suit he was wearing. “So, now that I’m here, you thought you’d go formal?” she asked, doing her best to sound serious.

  “Oh, this?” he said, looking down at his attire. He’d forgotten all about the suit he’d put on. “Since you’re here, I don’t have to look for a sitter for the kids and I can finally go and get up to speed at the hotel,” he explained, then added a footnote for her edification. “The Hotel Fortune is run by my cousins and they’re putting me to work at the concierge desk.”

  “Not on an empty stomach they’re not,” she informed him decisively.

  Harper’s response surprised him. “You sound like my mother,” Brady told her.

  “I’ll take that as a compliment,” she said, adding, “Call it a by-product of being a nanny all these years. Now sit.” Harper pointed to the chair at the head of the table. “Since I started making breakfast before you came down, it’s ready,” she told him, anticipating what he was about to say. “You can’t complain that you don’t have time to wait because you don’t have to wait. Voilà,” Harper declared, placing the plate of scrambled eggs, toast and bacon in front of him. “And yes, the coffee is ready, too,” Harper told him, quickly pouring a cup for him and placing that next to the plate.