The Nanny's Secret Baby

“You’re as welcome as can be,” her aunt said. “I just wish the place were in better shape for visitors.” She looked toward the hallway that led back to the bedrooms. “He won’t let me throw anything away, and his stuff is filling up the whole house.”

“I know how hard you try.” Arianna submerged the dishes in soapy water and started to scrub. “I’m either going to find a job and a place to stay within the week, or I’ll have to move back to Chicago.”

“Don’t do that!” Aunt Justine sounded horrified. “You should have settled down here like your sister did, not in that soulless city, when your parents moved overseas. I never could figure out why you chose to live there. I thought you loved it here, especially when you spent that one whole summer here during college.”

Arianna rinsed the dishes and dunked a couple of dirty pans from the counter into the soapy water. It was good that Aunt Justine had never figured out the reason for Arianna’s abrupt departure. Almost no one had known about the mistakes that had led to a surprise pregnancy. That was what had allowed Chloe to adopt Arianna’s baby with no one the wiser.

Including Jack. Arianna sighed. She’d been adamantly opposed to Chloe keeping the truth from her husband. But Chloe had been as embarrassed about her infertility as Arianna was about her out-of-wedlock pregnancy. Somehow, adopting her sister’s baby, and having people know it, made everything worse for Chloe.

And given how sensitive Chloe was, Arianna had given in. It was what she’d been raised to do. Take care of your sister. She’s not strong like you. Don’t upset her.

She pushed thoughts of her younger days out of her mind and asked Aunt Justine about her vegetable garden and the cat that had shown up on the doorstep yesterday. They had a nice chat while Arianna finished the washing up.

“There. That’s better, at least.” Arianna surveyed the empty sink and two feet of clear counter space with satisfaction. “Now, I’m going to go out and sell myself as an art therapist.”

“Thank you for cleaning up, hon. I’ll keep praying for a wonderful job for you.”

Arianna strolled through the town of Esperanza Springs, inhaling the fresh scents of pine and sage that blew down from the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, watching a black-and-white magpie land on someone’s fence post to scold the pedestrians walking by. From the Mountain High Bakery, the cinnamon scent was so powerful that Arianna was sorely tempted to pop in for a scone, even though she’d just had breakfast. But she didn’t need to outgrow her summer clothes, so she walked resolutely past the bakery. She waved at the woman washing the windows of La Boca Feliz Mexican restaurant, and peeked in the hardware store window, then focused on her destination: the children’s summer program housed in a local church. She was hoping they’d jump at the chance to have a real art therapist visit with the kids each week for the rest of the summer.

It had been a long shot, and she’d known it, but she was still disappointed at the firm no she got. Disappointed enough that she stopped in the town park to look out at the mountains, breathe in the fresh air and regroup.

She hadn’t expected to land in a bed of roses when she’d come back to Esperanza Springs. She’d known the market for art therapists would be tiny; this town was about the basics, not the luxuries, and art therapy was considered a luxury by most of the folks around here.

The exception was up at Redemption Ranch. Penny and her staff were forward thinking; they knew that it took various types of therapy to reach veterans, to help them work through PTSD and other mental health issues related to their wartime service.

Maybe she could talk Penny into giving her more work than just the single class per week that she’d offered. And maybe one of the cabins was empty. If she could live rent-free...

It was another long shot, but at least it was worth trying. For the chance to live near her son, it was definitely worth a try. None of her attempts to put the past behind her and get on with her life had worked, so she hoped being near Sammy would help to settle her soul. That was the real reason she’d come back to Colorado.

Although, if Jack found out the truth, he’d be furious. Understandably so. She and Chloe should never have kept something so important from him.

What if he got angry enough to keep her away from Sammy? Could he do that? Would he?

And what about Sammy, when he got old enough to wonder about his adoption and his birth parents?

She shook her head to try to shake off the circling thoughts and tuned back in to the world around her.

“That poor little thing,” a woman was saying. She was on a bench behind Arianna, facing the playground. “They have no idea where he came from.”

Idly, Arianna turned to see who the ladies were talking about.

And then she sucked in a breath. There was Sammy on the playground, just a few feet away from the women, toddling from the slide to the climbing structure, where a set of chimes was available for the kids to bang on.

“Turns out he has autism,” the same woman said to a younger mom seated beside her, who was nursing a baby. “And now that I think about it, look how he just stands there banging on one thing over and over. I should have guessed.”

“What’s Dr. Jack gonna do? He’s a widower, right?”

“I don’t know, but I’m not as young as I used to be. And I didn’t bargain for babysitting an autistic kid.”

Arianna didn’t know how she got to Sammy, but she found herself beside him, facing the two women on the bench. “Look,” she said to the white-haired one, who’d been talking, “he’s a child first. And he might not like to have his condition broadcast to everyone in the park.”

“Who are you?” the white-haired woman asked.

That made Arianna pause, because she couldn’t tell the whole truth, obviously. “I’m his aunt.”

The woman pursed her lips. “I wasn’t expecting to be eavesdropped on and criticized when I took this job,” she said. “I’ve been planning to tell Dr. Jack I’m through. Maybe I’ll just do it today. I don’t need this.”

Arianna studied her and saw tears behind the angry expression. “Look, maybe I spoke too harshly. I just feel like a child’s medical condition is private.”

“No, you’re right, I’m a terrible babysitter.” She sighed and held out a hand toward Sammy, who looked at her and then turned back to the chimes. “I talk too much, don’t I, sugar? And you don’t talk at all.”

The other woman finished nursing her baby, packed up and hurried away with her little one.

“I shouldn’t have said anything, maybe,” Arianna said to Sammy’s babysitter. “I just... Well, I was thinking, it’s not other people’s business what condition little Sammy has. Strangers, I mean. Like her.” She gestured toward the rapidly departing young mother.

“I suppose,” the woman said. “But honestly, I have to talk to someone. I can’t deal with all the things this child is going to need. Dr. Jack is lovely, but he brought up supervising therapists and having people come to the home to work with him each day... I didn’t sign up for that. I’m retired. We didn’t even have autism when I was growing up.”

Well, they’d had it, they just hadn’t diagnosed it, but whatever. “I’m sure it can all be worked out. Jack and Sammy really need the help.”

“I’m overwhelmed,” the woman admitted. “I’m also a grandma, and I’m not sure whether my grandkids should be around him. Oh, not that he’ll hurt them or anything, but they might be too rough or tease him. It’s just all so complicated.”

“I’m sure Jack will help,” she said soothingly, watching Sammy. Did he really act autistic? Was he banging for an unusually long time on those chimes?

Maybe he was exhibiting musical talent. How could you even tell the difference?

Just then Sammy saw them watching and toddled over, arms extended toward Arianna.

“See, and he never comes to me. And he doesn’t speak. He’s a difficult child to work with.”

Arianna picked Sammy up and held him loosely against her. “Do you have one of his toys?”

The woman fumbled through her bag, but she was obviously more intent on venting her feelings as she absentmindedly handed Arianna a cloth block that jingled when shaken. “I don’t think he likes me,” she said.

“He might just not be very expressive,” Arianna said, feeling defensive for Sammy. “Kids with autism don’t always smile a lot.” How had this turned into a coaching session for a woman more than twice her age?

And what if the coaching didn’t work and the woman decided to quit?

“To think, I’m sitting here in the park and getting in trouble for a chat I have with an acquaintance.” The woman waved off in the direction of the woman who’d left with her baby. “You know what? I’ve had enough. You’re his aunt, you say?”

Arianna nodded. She was getting a very bad feeling.

“He obviously knows and likes you. Better than he likes me.” The woman stood and plunked the diaper bag into Arianna’s lap. “Here,” she said. “You take care of him. His father will be here in half an hour. Tell him he can mail me my last paycheck.”

“But...but...”

It was no use. The woman left, and there was Arianna, literally left holding the bag.

The bag, and her secret son.