The Nanny

“It’s pretty here,” she said.

Josh grunted. “You’re not much of a farm girl if what you see here is ‘pretty.”’

“I’ve never lived on a farm before, except for these last weeks with my cousin,” Annie admitted. “If you don’t see ‘pretty,’ what do you see?”

He walked over and stood beside her. “Money. Money and hard work.”

“Money from the crops, I guess?”

“Wheat, mostly. We’ll be planting soon.”

“At the end of summer?”

“Winter wheat,” Josh explained. “It develops its root system before the onset of cold weather, and becomes dormant. The plants make vigorous growth in the spring before they’re harvested in early summer. Winter wheat usually gives greater yield than spring wheat.”

“And, therefore, more money?”

He looked at her. “Exactly.”

“And plenty of hard work?”

He nodded. “Always plenty of that.”

“The work seems to suit you.”

Josh looked out over his fields again, then dropped to the ground beside her. “I love this place. I bought the land with money I’d won from a lucky streak of poker, and started farming.”

Annie wanted to ask him how many acres he owned, but didn’t. She didn’t want Josh to think she was interested in his wealth, as so many of the other nannies had been.

“My cousin Angus has lived here a while, I understand. He loves the land, too,” Annie said. “It’s been difficult for my mother to adjust to this place.”

Josh turned to her. “Why’s that?”

Annie stifled a gasp. Why had she mentioned her family? She hadn’t meant to. In fact, the very last thing she wanted to discuss with Josh was her family. She was lucky that he didn’t already know about them…about the scandal.

“She was worried about moving out here, so far from a large town,” Annie explained. “Worried about the Indians.”

Josh shrugged. “We’ve had no trouble with Indians in years. After the war with the Sauks back in ’32, most of them headed west to Washington. A few stayed behind. One of them is my friend, Night Hawk. Besides, there’s a large contingency of soldiers at Fort Tye.”

“My cousin Angus said there was no need to worry,” Annie said. “But my mother, well, she worried anyway. It’s been difficult for her since my father died.”

“They were in love, your mother and father?”

She was a little surprised by his question. “Well, yes, I suppose they were. I mean, they were married for years. Wouldn’t they have been in love?”

Josh grunted and turned away.

“Isn’t that what marriage is all about?” Annie pushed her straw hat off her head and stretched her legs out in front of her. “When I marry it will be for love. Love and passion. Enough to last two lifetimes.”

Josh fell silent for a few moments, so long, in fact, that Annie turned to him. A vacant look had come over his face and she realized how thoughtless her comments were.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything about marriage, with your wife gone.”

Josh shook his head but still wouldn’t look at her. “No, it’s all right.”

“I won’t speak of her again.”

Josh turned to her then. “I don’t mind. Really. I don’t want the children to think they can’t talk about their mother.”

For a man who seemed determined to spend as little time with his children as possible, Annie was surprised to hear Josh say those things.

“Mrs. Flanders speaks highly of your wife,” Annie said.

“Lydia brought Mrs. Flanders with her from Philadelphia when we married.”

“Your wife wasn’t from here?”

Josh glanced down at his hands. “No,” he said softly. “We met when I traveled East on business. Hers was a very fine, well-established family. I was…fortunate…she agreed to the marriage.”

Josh sank into his own thoughts, making Annie feel like an intruder. Yet she couldn’t take her eyes off of him.

Was this the face of a man still in love with his dead wife? Is that what his expression meant?

A little knot squeezed her chest tight, and for some reason, Annie couldn’t bear to sit here beside him another moment.

“I’m heading back,” she said, and got to her feet.

He came out of his reverie and rose beside her. “I’ll give you a ride.”

“Not necessary,” Annie insisted. “I’m sure you have more important matters to attend to.”

“Believe it or not, Miss Martin, insuring that my children’s nanny doesn’t succumb to heatstroke is an important matter to me.”

Putting it that way made Annie’s refusal sound a bit silly. Still, she didn’t want to ride with him, didn’t want him—or anyone who might see them—to get the idea she was interested in anything more than his children.

Because she wasn’t. Was she?

Annie backed away. “No, really, Mr. Ingalls, I’d rather walk.”

He followed as she backed away. “It’s too far and too hot.”

“No, it isn’t. I’ll be fine. Really.”

Josh stopped a pace in front of her. “Is there some…other reason you don’t want to ride with me?”

The breath went out of Annie as Josh gazed down at her. What was it about this man? Sometimes when he looked at her—simply looked—he caused the most peculiar reaction.

“Well?” he asked, inching closer.