Renee Andrews - Mommy Wanted

Definitely an image worthy of a painting.

He swallowed. She was pretty. Very pretty. Unnervingly pretty. But he wasn’t certain whether it was the fact that he noticed her attractiveness that bothered him or the fact that he found himself appreciating scenes like this, where she sat comfortably on the top porch step, her dress sweeping the stairs and her back leaning against the wood column as she worked and occasionally smiled at his sleeping baby.

She looked like a sweet young mother.

A sharp stab of guilt slammed him. Jana should be here, on this porch, smiling at her daughter and being the center of Mitch’s world. Then this scene might actually be real, a part of his life, instead of an instance where an employee worked at his home to help him through a difficult situation.

Maybe he should have pushed harder to have Jana take the chemo treatments during the pregnancy. Maybe then she’d be here now, and he wouldn’t be thinking about how things would be if he had a woman in his life.

He shook his head. He’d been doing fine raising the girls on his own, and just because this scene with Kate seemed picture-perfect, that didn’t mean he needed someone else, not to be a mother to his girls or to be a—

He didn’t finish the thought. Several friends had asked about his plans for the future over the past couple of months, specifically whether he saw himself dating again, marrying again. Each time, he’d said no. And he’d meant it. He still loved Jana, would always love Jana. This awkward feeling around Kate didn’t mean anything. He simply hadn’t been around a female for an extended period of time since Jana passed away. Plus all of the ladies from Claremont still thought of him as “Jana’s Mitch.” Mitch liked that. Really. And thankfully, Kate hadn’t seemed to show any interest in him beyond a working relationship. He liked that, too.

Really.

Emmie made a smacking noise as she pulled her thumb from her mouth, stretched and rolled over. Mitch stepped toward the screen door so he could pick her up when she woke, but before he got there, Kate finished her call and smiled at the little girl reaching both arms toward the woman on the porch.

“Kay-Kay,” Emmie said, her eyes still heavy with sleep and her soft strawberry curls standing on end.

Kate closed her laptop and placed it to the side then eased toward the edge of the playpen. “Hey, there, sweetie. Did you have a good rest?”

Mitch held his breath as she picked up Emmie, and his little girl contentedly rested her head against Kate’s slender shoulder.

She gently patted Emmie’s back. “I’ll hold you now,” she said, “and Daddy will be back in a second. He went to check on your sister.”

“Kay-Kay,” Emmie repeated as she snuggled in Kate’s arms. Mitch couldn’t help but notice it was the same tone she used when he picked her up from her nap and she said, “Daddy.”

He cleared his throat and prepared to take over, but then he heard tiny feet approaching from behind him.

“I woked up,” Dee said.

Mitch turned as she reached him, her blue eyes blinking as they adjusted to the sunlight filtering into the hallway from the screen door. Picking her up, he kissed her cheek, no longer warm from fever. “Yes, you did,” he said. “Did you sleep well?”

She nodded. “I feel better,” she said, then with a yawn asked, “Can we play?”

His laugh surprised him. He’d felt ill at ease watching Kate interact with Emmie, but Dee’s arrival had squelched his unease and brought him back to what was important, the fact that both of his little girls were starting to feel better. And the fact that he had a capable new employee who’d been willing to help him out when he was in a bind.

Lord, help me continue to see the good in all of this instead of feeling guilty over something that I can’t change.

“Daddy.” Emmie spied Mitch and Dee as they neared the screen door. She didn’t make any effort to reach for him, probably because he was already holding Dee, or maybe because she seemed quite content in Kate’s arms.

“Hey, sweetie,” Mitch answered. He pushed the door open and stepped onto the porch. The breeze carried the faint scent of peaches, which Mitch had determined over the past two days as the fragrance of Kate’s perfume. The smell suited the woman holding Emmie. Sweet and tender. A good-hearted woman and a diligent employee. He needed to stop seeing the way she fit in with his girls as a bad thing and realize that God had given him exactly what he’d asked for.

Thank You, Lord.

“I feel better now,” Dee pronounced.

Mitch smiled. He felt better now, too.

“I think I can play now,” she continued. She seemed to direct the statement toward Kate, which made sense, since Kate had played several games with her before she’d gotten sick.

Kate grinned. “Nothing overly exertive, I’d think, but maybe something low-key.”

“What’s ‘over zertive’?” she asked.

Mitch grinned. “That’s a little much for a three-year-old’s vocabulary,” he said quietly to Kate. Then to Dee, he said, “Miss Kate just means that you should take it easy, since your tummy hasn’t felt too good the past couple of days. Maybe not play anything that causes you to run around, like hide-and-seek. That’s what ‘overly exertive’ means.”

“Oh,” Dee said with a shrug. “Okay.” Then she peered down the street toward the square. “I’m hungry, too. Can we go get ice cream?”

At the mention of her favorite treat, Emmie’s head lifted from Kate’s shoulder. “Ice cweam?”

“Please, Daddy?” Dee asked.

He was a sucker for the way she said please and he was pretty sure she knew it. Even so, he grinned. They’d had a rough couple of days and deserved a treat. “You know, we are pretty much finished with the accounts for today, aren’t we, Kate?” he asked.

“I actually finished the last one thirty minutes ago,” she said. “But then Mrs. Tolleson called, and I wanted to get her the policy information she asked for. She seemed like a really sweet lady on the phone.”

“She is. She and her husband own the variety store on the square. Maybe we will see them when we go for ice cream. So, are you at a good stopping point?” Mitch asked.

“You could go get ice cream with us?” Dee asked. “Please?”

“You want me to go, too?” Her surprise at his question was evident. For the past two days, she’d worked with him here, but she’d always walked across the street and had her meals at the B and B with the Tingles and the other guests. Asking her to eat with them at their home had seemed too personal, and Mitch had wanted to keep their relationship as professional as possible.

But this was different. His girls were feeling better, and he wanted to celebrate. It only made sense to invite the woman who’d helped them through their sickness.

“Of course I want you to go,” he said. “Unless, say, you don’t like ice cream?”

“You don’t like ice cream?” Dee’s eyes widened in shock. “Why?”

Kate laughed, causing Emmie to lift her head and smile, and then she put her hand to Kate’s cheek. “Kay-Kay.”

A ripple of something passed over Mitch, but he swallowed past the feeling.

“I do like ice cream,” she said to Dee. “I like it very much, in fact, and I’d love to get some with all of you.” She glanced at Mitch again. “If you’re sure it’s okay for me to go.”

“Of course.” He forced a laugh and hoped she saw it as a casual invitation, which was exactly what it was, nothing like a date or anything.

“Yay, Miss Kate is going, too!” Dee’s high-pitched cheer delivered near Mitch’s right ear caused him to flinch.

“I guess I am,” Kate said, squeezing Emmie in a hug. “Let’s go get some ice cream, Emmie.” From the smile claiming Kate’s face, he thought she might actually be more excited about the treat than his girls.