A Celebration Christmas

Still, Lily did her best to engage the kids in conversation, taking care to steer clear of sensitive topics that might upset them. It was more difficult than she’d imagined. That was why she was a bit relieved when George bounded back into the room holding a box of candy. It was one of those big yellow sampler types available in drugstores.

Megan shot him another of her stern glares. Maybe she didn’t want to share the chocolate. That was fine. Split among four siblings, even the big box wouldn’t go far. Lily didn’t want to take the kids’ candy.

“Since Ms. Palmer is going to be our babysitter,” George said, “we should give her something special.”

As he held out the box to Lily, Megan crossed her arms and rolled her eyes.

“That’s so nice of you, George, but I don’t want to take your candy. Save it to share with your sisters.”

The boy jumped up and down on one foot. “No! I want to share with you. Here!”

He thrust the box at Lily. She took it, fearing he might drop it hopping around like that.

“Okay, just one piece. Thank you—”

When she lifted the lid, something long and black and jumpy sprang out at her. Before Lily could stop herself, she screamed and threw the box into the air.

Chapter Two (#ulink_b14f0d17-03a0-5832-94a3-fc2709bcacb0)

An ear-piercing scream eclipsed Max Cabot’s explanation of the documents he was dropping off. This time the scream wasn’t from one of the girls; it was Lily.

Hell. What had the kids done now? Lily was his only option for a nanny. If they drove her away... He didn’t want to put them in day care.

He’d just have to make sure they hadn’t scared her off.

“I have to go, Max. I need to go see what’s going on in there. I’ll look at these and call you later.”

When Cullen walked into the kitchen, Lily was on her knees scrambling to pick up what looked like a spilled box of chocolates, shooing the dog away before he could eat them. It looked as though the dog was ahead in the race. The kids stood and watched with guilty-looking faces.

Where had the chocolates come from?

“Everything all right in here?” he asked.

Lily stood up and smoothed her skirt. “Yes. Fine. Everything is fine. Sorry to interrupt you. I dropped the candy that the kids so generously offered to share with me. I shouldn’t have screamed. I’m embarrassed.”

She screamed over dropping a box of candy?

Cullen squinted at her. He didn’t know her well, but she didn’t seem like the type to overreact. And when he saw the way the kids were standing there with certain looks on their faces and the way Hannah was looking in from the threshold between the living room and the kitchen, he had a feeling he wasn’t hearing the entire story.

“I’m just worried about...the dog,” Lily said. “I’m afraid he will get sick from the chocolate. Wouldn’t want that to happen. Would we, kids?”

As if on cue, the big, mangy mutt jumped up and put its paws on Lily’s stomach and licked her. When Lily stepped back, Cullen saw the dark streak the mutt left on Lily’s white blouse. This stain was even worse than the one that had ruined Angie’s pants.

Great. Now Lily was going to walk out, and Cullen was out of options except for day care.

“Kids—George, Megan—” He drew a deep breath to take the edge off his voice. “Put the dog on a leash. He has to stop jumping on people. He just got chocolate all over Ms. Palmer.”

George took Franklin by the collar and held him while Bridget left the room. Presumably to get the leash.

Lily was brushing at the stain on her blouse.

“I’m sorry about that,” he said. “Send me the bill for the dry cleaning, or if your blouse is ruined, I’ll replace it. Sometimes chocolate is hard to remove.”

Lily waved him off. “All I have to do is pretreat it and throw it in the washer. It’ll be fine. I’m just worried about the dog ingesting all that candy. Isn’t chocolate supposed to be bad for them? Should we take him to the vet?”

Ah, hell. She was right.

He pulled out his smartphone. “I have no idea where the closest vet is—”

“It’s not chocolate,” George murmured as he strained to hold Franklin back. The dog whined in protest. “He doesn’t need to go to the vet.”

“What was in the box?” Cullen asked.

George looked sheepish. “Mud balls that look like chocolate. They won’t make Franklin sick. He eats mud all the time.”

There was a beat of silence, during which Megan and Hannah turned and left the room, murmuring something about helping Bridget find the dog’s leash.

Cullen counted to ten before he spoke. These pranks were just not acceptable. Sure, the kids were bored and hurting over the loss of their mother. But driving away every single potential caregiver had to stop.

Still, Cullen took extra care to check his tone.

“So, buddy, if they’re mud balls, why were you offering them to Ms. Palmer? That’s not cool. They could’ve made her sick.”

There was another beat of silence, during which the boy’s eyes flashed defiantly before they began to fill with tears, belying his stony expression.

“Oh, no,” said Lily. “He wasn’t trying to trick me into eating them. He was just showing me how realistic his candy sculptures were.”

She nodded a little too adamantly.

“Candy sculptures?” Cullen asked.

“Yes,” Lily said. “As you can see, they’re quite true to life.”

“Mmm,” Cullen answered.

Out of the corner of his eye, he spied another of the mud bombs that had rolled under the table. When he bent to retrieve it, he saw a coiled rubber cobra lying about three feet behind it.

Okay. Now he was starting to piece together the chain of events: the boy handed the lady a candy box; the lady opened said candy box, saw the realistic-looking rubber snake inside, screamed and threw the box.

Obviously it had startled her, but now she was covering for the boy.

Hmm...

Cullen walked around the table and picked up the snake by the tail. It uncoiled and bounded as he held it up. It was so realistic looking that it made Cullen want to wince, but he didn’t.

“George, I think this belongs to you,” Cullen said. “Did you scare Ms. Palmer with it?”

“Oh, no, he’s fine,” Lily interjected. “We were just getting to know each other. No harm done. Right, George?”