The Nanny Solution

Just like in the movies, the entire patio became quiet. Though Jake’s first instinct was stunned surprise, he knew he could handle her. He always did.

“Felicity, it’s very nice to see you.”

She stomped her foot. “Don’t you say it’s nice to see me! You made a promise. Now you have to keep it.”

“Okay,” Jake said soothingly. “Honey,” he added, slathering more balm on her bad mood. “Why don’t you let poor Dixon out of the blanket so he can breathe? Better yet, give Dixon to me.”

Felicity shoved Jake’s son at him. Jake sighed with relief when he realized the baby was in a deep sleep. He cuddled Dixon against his chest before he faced his former girlfriend. “Where’s Amanda?” he asked, referring to the nanny for which he paid through the nose.

“She’s in L.A.,” Felicity said quietly, as if she were calming down.

“And why would she be in L.A. when Dixon is in P.A.?”

“Because you promised me that if and when this day ever came we would not desert the baby to a nanny!”

Jake’s eyes narrowed. “What day?”

She flailed her arms as if exasperated. “I am on my way to do the biggest movie of my life!”

“You got a job?” he asked incredulously, and realized too late that was the absolute wrong thing to do. Her blazing eyes heated two notches and her chin raised defiantly. It was the same expression she’d worn the whole time they’d argued about getting married. He didn’t love her and she didn’t love him, but he had been raised without his father and he wanted his son to know both parents.

“It isn’t that I don’t think you have talent,” he quickly said. “Since Dixon was born, you just haven’t really seemed all that focused on your career.”

Luckily, his mother scampered over. Tall and regal in her gray-sequined gown, with dark hair and dark eyes, Georgiann Malloy reached for the baby. “Hi, Felicity!” she greeted in an overly cherry voice. Like Jake, his mother was a student of human nature and she knew how to handle people. “Why don’t you give me the baby, and you two can go inside and talk about this privately.”

“There is nothing to talk about!” Felicity shouted. “He promised and I am going.” With that she turned and stomped her way off the patio and through the French doors into the house.

Jake’s mother made a move to run after her, but Jake put his hand out to stop her. “Let her go.”

“But…”

“Mom, I did tell her that I would take care of Dixon if she got a movie role and had to go on location.”

“Yeah, but none of us ever thought she would actually get a movie.”

“Well, she did and now I have a baby.”

Hannah rocked back on her chair, her eyes wide with surprise, her brain shocked into numbness. Jake Malloy was a daddy?

“He’s so cute,” Sadie cooed, rising from her seat to rush over and fuss over the baby. “Jake, I’m so glad we finally get to see your son!”

“So am I!” Troy said. He also rose to look at the little boy Jake held.

Jake smiled sheepishly. “Yeah, well, even I hardly get to see him since he lives in L.A.”

“Yeah,” Hannah said, more to herself than to anyone else. Jake hadn’t really kept his son a secret. Troy knew about him. Sadie obviously knew about him. Yet, Jake hadn’t exactly made a public announcement, either. Could it be that perfect Jake Malloy wasn’t so perfect, after all?

She smiled stupidly, feeling a relief of sorts that he was human. “This certainly puts Jake in a whole different light.”

Hannah’s sister Caro laughed. “Stop that,” she said, patting Hannah’s hand in reprimand. Not quite as tall as Hannah, but sharing her blond hair, Caro was the sibling Hannah most resembled.

“I didn’t mean that to be rude,” Hannah said. “It just came out wrong.”

“I hope so,” Max Riley, Caro’s fiancé, agreed, catching Hannah’s gaze with his striking blue eyes. “I would hate to have to break the news to people that you aren’t the ‘nice’ Evans sister everyone believes you to be.”

“The ‘nice’ Evans sister?” Caro and Hannah asked simultaneously.

“Yeah,” Max said with a chuckle, as if it were common knowledge. “Maria is the mom. Sadie is the hottie. Caro’s the smart…yet, gorgeous one,” he said, sliding a meaningful glance in his fiancée’s direction. “And Hannah’s the nice one.”

Hannah gaped at him. “Really?”

“Yeah,” Max said.

Hannah had a little trouble digesting the fact that she had been so neatly compartmentalized by her community, until she thought about her life. She was an elementary schoolteacher who had never left home. Not even for college. Her oldest brother, Dakota, had packed up for Massachusetts Institute of Technology and never returned, and she didn’t want to risk hurting her parents like that. So even though her other brother, Luke, and her three sisters had at least left Wilburn to go to college, she had commuted so she could continue to help her aunt Sadie with her day care, so she could go to every family gathering, so she could attend Wil-burn High football games.

Maybe she was “nice”? Maybe she was too nice? Maybe she was so stupidly nice and naive that she would trip over her tongue every time she danced with a handsome, sophisticated man like Jake Malloy!

“Maybe that’s my problem. Maybe I’ve been nice too long.”

Caro said only “Hmm” as she glanced over her shoulder.

Following the direction of Caro’s gaze, Hannah saw that the baby had awakened and had nestled his face into Jake’s neck.

Max said, “Looks like that little boy is very happy to be with his daddy.”

“Yes, it does,” Caro agreed. “And it looks like his daddy is also very happy to be with him.”

Hannah frowned, wondering if the universe hadn’t hiccuped or something. First, she realized the “niceness” she thought her best trait had probably been what was keeping her from becoming more sophisticated, then playboy Jake Malloy actually looked as though he loved being a father. From the way he walked around the patio showing off his baby to his guests, it was clear he loved the little boy and was proud of him.

Troy returned to the table and said, “That’s one cute little boy.”

“He is beautiful,” Sadie said, joining her husband. “And he loves his daddy. The only problem is that Jake travels a lot for Troy.”

Max shrugged. “So?”

“So, he’s got a trip planned this week.” Sadie leaned forward. “He’s going to Paris, then Belgium.”

“Oh!” Caro gasped. “He’s so lucky.”

“He won’t be so lucky if he doesn’t find a nanny,” Jake’s mother said as she and Jake’s new stepfather, broad-shouldered investment counselor, Larry Simmons, walked to the table.

“Maybe we can help at the day care,” Caro said at the same time that Jake, holding his adorable little boy, approached the gathering group.

Hannah had to admit the infant was sweet. Chubby-cheeked, with red hair, he didn’t look a thing like his father, but apparently Jake didn’t care. He held him as if he were his most prized possession.

“Jake,” Caro continued, “I’m glad you’re here. Your mother mentioned that you have to go out of town, and I suggested that maybe the day care could help out with Dixon. Aunt Sadie is back now. Her chemotherapy is over and she’s nearly healthy as a horse. I’m working with her for backup.”

“Thank you,” Jake said, “but I think I need a nanny. My mother could easily watch the baby during the day like the day care, but won’t be able to stay overnight,” he added, casting a meaningful glance at his mother and her new husband. “So, it’s overnight care I need. Somebody who can get up in the middle of the night with him, that kind of thing.”