Susan Crosby - The Single Dad's Virgin Wife

He angled away from her. “I’m going to talk to Jessica, then call David. Please come to my office when you’re done reading to the children. Do you know where it is?”

“Jessica gave me a tour.” Seven bedrooms, seven bathrooms, three stories. The tour lasted half an hour.

“Good.” He started to walk away.

“I’m sorry. I must have interrupted your saying good-night to your children,” she said cheerfully.

He gave her a long look then sidestepped around her and went back into the room. She followed, wanting to watch them interact.

No pillow fight going on, but that wasn’t a surprise.

“So. Another change,” Noah said, standing in the middle of the room between the boys and girls. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Ashley said with a smile.

“No, it’s not okay,” Noah said after a long moment. “I’ll fix it.”

The girls were sitting cross-legged on the bed. He ruffled their long, strawberry-blond hair and said good-night, then did the same with the boys, who were so similar in coloring to their father, dark hair and eyes. They each said, “Good night, Father,” in return. He nodded at Tricia as he left the room.

She picked up the book again. She only had three pages remaining to finish the story and figured he would need some time to take care of his business. She started reading, noted that the children got caught up in the story again instantly, their expressions rapt.

Ashley applauded at the end. She was easy to distinguish from her twin, Zoe, because Ashley almost always smiled, while Zoe rarely did.

“I guess it’s time for bed?” Tricia asked them, thinking it was early for twelve-year-olds, but they didn’t complain.

The boys grabbed their beanbag chairs and headed for the door.

“I’ll come say good-night,” she said to them.

They looked at each other. “Why?” Adam asked. Tricia had noticed that Adam often spoke for Zachary, too, after exchanging a look. But Adam and his sister Zoe were also similar in that they were constantly moving. Even if they were sitting, their feet were rarely still.

“Because I like to,” Tricia said to Adam. “I think it’s a nice way to end the day.”

Again the boys looked at each other. The overly quiet Zachary shrugged and left. Adam followed.

“You’ll be here on Monday, right?” Ashley asked as she climbed under her blankets.

“Your dad will make the final decision, but I sure hope so. I’m looking forward to it.”

“Why?” Zoe asked from her side of the room.

Zoe was easily the most intense of the four, the one to question why.

“Because I like you,” Tricia answered.

“You don’t even know us,” Zoe scoffed.

Ah, yes. Definitely not one to just go along. “That’s true, Zoe. And you don’t know me yet, either, but I really like what I’ve seen already.” She tucked Ashley’s blankets around her. “Good night. Sleep tight.”

Ashley clung to Tricia’s arms for a moment, smiling sweetly. Zoe was resistant to being tucked in, so Tricia didn’t try.

“Do you leave your door open or closed?” she asked. She’d already noted a nightlight on in their adjoining bathroom.

“Closed,” Ashley said, quickly adding, “but not the bathroom door.”

The slight tremor in her voice told Tricia all she needed to know. “Okay. Good night.”

She went down the hall to the boys’ room. The door was already shut, no slit of light under it. She smiled. They had a lot to learn about Tricia McBride.

She knocked. No answer. She opened the door wide, letting the hall light guide her way. Neither boy spoke. The lumps in their beds remained motionless. In the dark she couldn’t differentiate between the boys and didn’t know which one slept in which bed, either. She took her cue from what surrounded them. One side of the room was military neat. The other was a maze of sports equipment. She headed there first, tripping over a basketball.

“Good night, Adam,” she said, rubbing his shoulder for a second. He lifted his head in a hurry.

“How’d you know it was me?”

“You are one of a kind, young man.”

A moment of silence, then, “I am?”

“You sure are. Sleep tight.”

“Will you be coming back?”

“I hope so.”

She moved to Zachary’s bed and repeated her good-night and quick touch to his shoulder. He didn’t say anything until she’d reached the door.

“I don’t remember your name,” he said in the darkness.

“Tricia McBride. ’Night.”

After shutting the door, she leaned against it for a moment, grateful she’d been able to tell them apart, hoping that impressed them in some way.

Then she headed downstairs to beard the lion in his den.

Noah drummed his fingers on his desktop, phone to his ear, as he listened to his brother defend his decision to do the hiring this time around.

“Doesn’t hurt that she’s easy on the eyes, either,” David said, a wink in his voice.

“That’s about the dumbest thing you’ve said. I’ve never gotten involved with an employee, nor do I intend to start.”

“You should take a page out of my book. Worked for me.”

“You took a huge risk by getting involved with your housekeeper. She could’ve quit, or filed a lawsuit, or—”

“Get engaged to me,” David interrupted. “Turned out great.”

“You were lucky.”

“Damn straight.”

“I didn’t mean it in a good way, David.”

David laughed. Noah settled into his chair. Actually, he was glad not to have to deal with interviewing and hiring yet another nanny, but he didn’t want David to think he had free rein to interfere.

“The kids seem to like her,” Noah said. “They’ve had to adapt way too many times. I hope this one sticks.”

David was quiet for a few seconds, then, “That’s my hope, as well.”

Noah heard someone coming down the stairs and assumed it was Tricia. “I have to go. We’ll talk more at the office on Monday.”

“I guess I can wait until then for my thank-you gift.”

Noah shook his head as he hung up. David wanted everyone to be as happy as he was, now that he’d found the right woman. Noah had already found and married the right woman, once upon a time.

A knock came at his door. “It’s Tricia,” she announced.

“Come in.” He tried to take in her tall, curvy body again without her noticing his interest. Easy on the eyes, indeed, he thought, remembering David’s comment. He indicated the chair across from his desk.

“They’re all tucked in,” she said, crossing her legs, her foot bouncing. “They are sweethearts.”

He leaned back. “Thanks. It’s been hard on them since losing their mother.”

“I’m sure it has. That was three years ago, right?”

“Right, but don’t give me any pop psychology about how they should be over it by now.” He was so damn tired of hearing that.

Her foot stopped bouncing. “In some ways it gets even tougher as time goes by. They’re probably not able to bring up her face so easily now, and I imagine that bothers them a lot. It’s scary when the images fade, and you want so much to keep them near.”

Her observation struck home hard with him. He was going through the same thing, even with pictures as reminders. He couldn’t hear Margie’s voice anymore, except that Ashley and Zoe laughed like her. “You sound like you’ve had experience with it yourself.”

“My father died when I was eleven, so I do understand their loss.”

He appreciated that she had that in common with the children. It could only help.

“Shall we discuss the job?” she asked. “Did David fill you in on me?”

“He said you want weekends off and would live in during the week. Cora, the woman who cooks and cleans for us, also only works Monday through Friday. That leaves me without anyone on the weekend.”