A Match for the Doctor / What the Single Dad Wants…: A Match for the Doctor

“You wash dishes? By yourself?” Madelyn questioned, looking at up her uncertainly. “We’ve got a dishwasher that does that.”

“Don’t you have a dishwasher?” Meghan asked her, pity in her young voice.

Kennon laughed and put her arm around the younger girl’s shoulders, pulling her in for a quick hug. “Yes, I do, but I never like to have things pile up in the sink so I wash them before there’re too many. Besides, running the dishwasher for one person just seems sort of wasteful to me. Don’t you agree?” she asked Meghan.

Thrilled to be asked for her opinion, Meghan nodded her head vigorously. Kennon had a feeling that the little girl would have easily agreed to anything that she suggested.

“You really have a way with them,” Edna told her with genuine sincerity. She looked from one little girl to the other. There was approval in her voice as she said, “You seem to bring out the best in them. Do you have any children of your own?” the older woman asked, curious about this new person in their lives.

Kennon shook her head. “No.”

Not that she wouldn’t have wanted to have children. Several children. But before there were children, there had to be someone who could be a good husband, a good father. And if he could actually make her heart skip a beat or two, well, so much the better. If she was going to dream, she might as well go all the way.

“I never met the right man,” she told Edna. And with that, she closed the subject.

“Were you the oldest in your family, then?” Edna asked. “The one your mother depended on to look out for the others?”

There were no others. Her parents were divorced before she could get any siblings. She had always regretted that. A lot of her time as a child had been spent imagining what having a brother or sister would have been like. Even inventing an imaginary one when she was very young.

“Sorry to disappoint you, Edna,” she said with a smile, “but I’m an only child.”

“Then it’s a true gift you have,” Edna pronounced. “You’ve been blessed.”

She didn’t know about being “blessed”—it was just something that came rather naturally to her. Maybe it was even born out of that desire for a sibling. But before she could say anything to the contrary, Madelyn had caught her by one hand while, not to be left out, Meghan took hold of the other.

“Then we’ll help you do the dishes,” Madelyn declared.

Amused, Edna laughed. “Like I said, Miss Cassidy, you’ve got a gift. You’re not all that bad at healing, either.”

Kennon looked at her quizzically over her shoulder as she was about to be pulled away.

“I’m feeling much better, thanks to you and your chicken soup,” Edna told her.

“If that’s the case, that would be more due to the chicken than to me,” Kennon told her. She wasn’t one to take praise unless she believed she really deserved it. All she’d done in this case was try to make the woman feel a little better—and comfort food had always accomplished that for her.

The next moment, Kennon found herself being taken off to the kitchen again by her pint-size helpers. It was time to address the dishes in the sink.

“And modest, too,” Edna said to herself with an approving nod. “I think you’d like her, Nancy,” she said softly under her breath.

When Simon came down from his study an hour later, he expected to find the kitchen in darkness and his daughters either in their room for the night or in the family room, taking advantage of the fact that he wasn’t around. He was rather strict about the amount of time they could spend watching television.

He was rather strict about most things when it came to his children.

Instead, he found the kitchen ablaze with light. Not only that, but he heard the sound of laughter coming from there, as well.

Curious, he went to the source. And discovered that the woman he’d just hired as his decorator was there, sitting at the head of the table, with his daughters flanking her on either side.

Schoolbooks were spread out on the surface of the table and, from what he could discern as he drew closer, the girls were doing homework—with a little help from the overly effervescent blonde.

Laughter, he realized as he listened and allowed it to warm him, was a sound that had been missing from their lives for much too long.

He’d been right in his earlier assessment. Apparently he’d not only hired a decorator but a sorceress, as well.

Chapter Seven

Out of the corner of her eye, Kennon saw Simon walking into the kitchen.

Even if she hadn’t, she could tell he’d entered the room because of the way Madelyn and Meghan reacted. They became a little more subdued, a tiny bit less relaxed. A little more anxious to please. It was obvious to her that they loved their father, but were hemmed in by not quite knowing how to behave around him. As for the good doctor, he wasn’t exactly cold—she could sense that he did care about his daughters—but he was reserved, as if he was following some sort of a strict code that only he was aware of.

Meghan saw him first. “Daddy, Kennon’s teaching me to write,” she declared proudly.

Simon was paying a none-too-shabby tuition so that Meghan and Madelyn would receive the best parochial education possible. Even so, he’d been debating getting a tutor for the younger one because Meghan was having a harder time learning than her sister ever had. Apparently all he’d had to do to insure her improvement was get his house decorated.

He looked at the woman who had burst into his life like an unforecast hurricane. “Master chef, gifted teacher, instant nanny and, oh, yes, a top-flight decorator.” There was a touch of sarcasm in his voice as he ticked off the talents she’d displayed today. “Anything you can’t do, Miss Cassidy?”

Yes, fathom why I seem to annoy you so much, Kennon thought. She wasn’t about to say this out loud and merely rose to her feet. “I’ll let you know if and when it comes up.” Aware that she had stayed far longer than she’d intended, and most likely in the doctor’s opinion had more than overstayed her welcome, Kennon looked at her self-appointed assistants and said, “I’ve got to be going now.”

The girls both looked disappointed that she was leaving. “Oh, do you have to?” Meghan pouted. “I want to write some more.”

“Practice for me,” Kennon encouraged. “And yes, I really do have to go now. But I’ll be back tomorrow,” she promised the sisters. When she saw the uncertain look in their eyes, she sensed that they’d had promises made that had been broken. It wasn’t much of a leap for her to guess who had broken them. She tried to reassure the girls. “We have work to do, remember?”

Clearly surprised at how quickly his daughters had taken to this almost total stranger, Simon asked, “What kind of work?”

Kennon gathered her things together and deposited them in her purse. She snapped the lock. “The girls and I are going to look over a few catalogues I’m bringing over for them so we can get some ideas on how to decorate their rooms.”

He hadn’t planned on seeing the woman again so soon. They hadn’t even worked out the terms of her fee yet. Not that money was a problem. That was definitely at the bottom of his list of concerns. “I suppose I’ll have to pay you extra for that.”

“Maybe I should pay you,” she countered. When he looked at her quizzically, she said by way of an explanation, “Your daughters are charming, Dr. Sheffield, and a lot of fun to be around.”

And I have an idea that you would be, too, if you gave yourself half a chance.

She raised her voice so that it would carry to the living room. “Good night, Edna. I’m glad you’re feeling better.” Turning to her younger pupil, she said, “Remember, Meghan, practice your F’s. They need just a tiny little bit of work before they’re perfect.”

Meghan clearly lapped up the praise. The spark in her eyes showed a determination to follow the instructions to the letter. “Yes, ma’am,” she agreed cheerfully.

“See you tomorrow, Madelyn,” Kennon said warmly. “Good night, Doctor,” she murmured with a nod toward him, then, picking up her purse, she headed toward the front door.

For a moment, Simon stared after her, feeling a little disoriented and bemused, like someone who had survived a sudden, unexpected attack of unseasonable weather. He supposed, in the final analysis, it was a lucky thing that the woman had just happened by here this morning instead of, say, next week. It had made things a lot easier for him.

He thought of Edna. It was doubtful that the nanny would be completely well by morning. And he would have to get down to the hospital early. Tomorrow was the day he would meet with the other members of the Newport Cardiovascular Group.

He needed someone to take care of Madelyn and Meghan. Again.

Coming to life, Simon hurried after Kennon. “Miss Cassidy—”

Surprised to hear him calling her, Kennon turned at the front door and looked behind her. The doctor crossed to her with some alacrity. She waited until he was almost next to her, then said, “It’s Kennon.”

Why was she telling him that? “I know your first name.”