Daycare Mum to Wife / Accidental Father: Daycare Mum to Wife / Accidental Father

‘Ella.’ Jess filled in the blank for him with a smile that transformed her face.

Rather than focus on that transformation, Dan gestured to the child in his arms. ‘This is Annapolly. Her name’s Pollyanna, but we started saying it the other way around and it stuck.’

Dan would simply push the confusing thoughts about Jess Baker away. And how could he think about reacting with awareness to this young woman anyway, when he hadn’t done that about any woman at all for the last four years?

There’d been Rebecca for Dan since they were childhood sweethearts. They’d married, had the first four children. Partway through Rebecca’s pregnancy with Annapolly, the doctors had discovered Rebecca had cancer. Rebecca had died a month after Annapolly’s birth. Dan had just stopped with all that when he lost Rebecca.

‘Hello.’ Jess offered a uniform smile as her gaze shifted from one child to the next.

Rob responded with a curious, ‘Hullo.’

‘We saw you speaking with our father,’ Daisy observed.

Mary asked hopefully, ‘Are you gonna feed the ducks?’

‘Yes.’ Jess nodded. ‘I am.’

Jess Baker was young, and she would come with her baby in tow, but Dan’s instincts said Jess would be committed about the work. Those were the only instincts he needed to consider.

He pushed his thoughts into business mode. ‘We’ll have lunch at our new house. It’s a big farm-style home on a ten-acre allotment on the northern edge of town.’ To his children he added, ‘I’ll explain what’s happened with my work and how Jess has offered to help us on the way back to the house.’

Throw Jess into the middle. Let Dan see how she managed among the stacks of half-unpacked boxes and the children.

‘Straight after the ducks,’ Jess agreed, and handed out pieces of bread.

Dan’s younger children gathered around. Luke and Rob didn’t. They’d fallen into a whispered conversation. No doubt they had questions. Dan would answer them when he had everyone in the van, and hopefully there wouldn’t be too much of an explosion when he told them they’d be in childcare for a fair chunk of their holidays.

Maybe they’d accept Jess’s care easily. Maybe this would be all right. Maybe Dan’s sea change for the children wasn’t about to turn into a premature disaster before they even had a chance to give it a go.

Maybe?

And maybe Dan would be able to shove aside the way he’d reacted to Jess. He certainly wouldn’t let it happen again. Dan failed to notice that, in thinking that, he had admitted to himself there was a reaction in the first place.

‘Jess, I wonder if you’d mind sorting out lunch while I see to things with Roy, here?’

The Internet technician had arrived in his van as Jess Baker drove up in her small, older-model hatchback.

Dan spoke the words as he, the children, Jess, and the Internet technician trooped into the house. Dan had taken his moment to explain the childcare need to his children on the drive back here.

To allow them to moan and groan and then to make it clear there was no choice.

Now all Dan could do was see if Jess could manage. He’d made it clear he expected cooperation from the children with that.

‘Of course, Dan. That’s what I’m here for.’ Jess’s gaze darted this way and that. The kitchen was farther into the house, to the left through the open-plan living room. Jess spotted it and asked, ‘Do any of the children have food allergies?’

‘No.’ Dan was lucky in that respect.

‘Great.’ The bow atop Jess’s soft hair bobbed as she nodded her head.

Her clothes were bright and cheerful, and there were enough wooden bangles making their way up her arm that she could use them to start a small fire if she needed to.

Something about the combination of puckish face, bright clothing and the determined set of Jess’s chin told Dan she might have lived more life than her youthful age suggested.

Right now she stood straight as an arrow with her baby perched on her hip while she looked around at the chaos inside the house. At least she didn’t turn and walk right out again.

Dan didn’t want her to go. He wanted a chance to get to know her.

What you want is a chance for her to look after the family while you’re dealing with this work situation.

And if he tried to get to know her he might as well be getting to know an alien species. Jess Baker was a whole generation away.

‘If you’ll come this way with me.’ Dan gestured the technician forward.

As they walked away Dan heard Jess say to his two eldest, ‘How are your muscles? Do you think you could push those boxes into a line so they block that half of the kitchen? That way Ella will be safe while I make lunch.’

‘Looks like you and the little lady have some chaos happening here.’ The technician flipped the comment Dan’s way as they walked into the den.

‘It’s to be expected.’ With another part of his mind Dan heard the first volley of questions from his curious younger offspring, and Jess’s calm answers and the open and shut of cupboard doors as she looked inside. She wouldn’t find much.

He had grossly overestimated how much unpacking one man and five excited children could get through in an evening and the following day. Dan had taken them into town to the park hoping to calm them down so he could come back and finish the work. Or at least get halfway there with it. ‘Things are under control. Let’s get this Internet connection sorted out.’

Roy set to work. A few minutes later he turned to Dan. ‘There you go. The problem was this component.’ Roy showed Dan the small box. ‘I’ve replaced it. You won’t be charged for this. I’ll just send this one back.’

With that issue sorted, and Dan therefore connected once again to his working world via his computer, he thanked the man and let him out of the side door. Dan quickly jumped on to check his emails. There was just enough room to sit with the boxes shoved aside and stacked up.

‘Lunch is ready, Dan. There’s enough for an extra person—’ Jess broke off as she glanced into the den.

She’d looked quite serious at first. Dan would even have said there were worried shadows in the backs of her eyes. Had those been there when they first met? Had he been too busy thinking about his own problems to notice? Were they related to caring for his brood?

Somehow he didn’t think so, though that could prove to be challenge enough for her.

As Dan asked himself these questions those shadows were overshadowed by a teasing grin.

‘Has the technician left,’ she quipped, ‘or did the boxes eat him?’

‘I’m fairly sure he left. You managed something for lunch for everyone already?’ Dan dragged his gaze from her smile. It was generous, open, and, yes, there were shadows in the backs of her eyes now that Dan took notice.

Dan cleared his throat. ‘Was it really that long?’

‘Ten minutes.’ Jess shrugged her shoulders. ‘The children pitched in.’

Utilise the troops. If Jess could settle them down a bit, even for a while, Dan would be grateful.

Since when do you need someone else to help? You spent the last two years turning your business into a work-from-home affair so you could do it all yourself. This shift is the final step, to give the kids the rural setting you talked about with Rebecca.

Dan had occasionally had to call on his sister Adele to help him out, but mostly he had his clients trained to understand that he worked from home and that was that. And his sister was travelling right now, taking time for her life.

Well, Dan wasn’t going to regret this move. It was for the children, but it was for Dan, too. Lately the city made him feel as if he couldn’t breathe. And his largest client undergoing an intensive pre-purchase examination wasn’t something Dan could have anticipated. He hadn’t even known they were thinking about a change of ownership!

He’d be fine, though. He shouldn’t need to ask Jess Baker for help for more than a month or so.

‘Thanks, Jess.’ Dan drew a breath that didn’t do a whole lot to ease the tight feeling that had formed in the centre of his chest as he started thinking ahead to leaving the children to get through most of their holidays without the fun and outings he’d planned for them. ‘I’m guessing the kids are all hungry. I admit I am, too.’

Did Jess Baker eat more than enough to keep a sparrow going? She was small, slender. As she turned about the bright black-and-orange skirt swirled against legs that were tanned and sturdy.

Slender, but strong, then.

Dan lifted his gaze from her legs, and rapidly lifted it past other parts of her that seemed to catch his eye. ‘I need to make those phone calls to your referees.’

More than that, he needed to stop noticing Jess in this way. He wanted Jess to work for him. And she was really young. And he…wasn’t. And he didn’t know a thing about her circumstances.

He had had his luck.

You haven’t got over losing Rebecca.

He had, though. It happened four years ago. They’d all grieved and moved on. There’d been no choice. It was just that Dan knew he’d had more than his share. It would be impossible to love like that twice.

Meanwhile, there was Jess Baker, and. Dan stepped into the kitchen.

There was Jess’s daughter playing with a set of plastic kitchen bowls in a makeshift playpen of packing boxes. There was Jess, handing out toasted cheese sandwiches and chocolate milkshakes.

Most of all there were five Frazier children seated around the dining table, looking…at least relatively cooperative.

‘I cut up the apple pieces.’ Daisy gestured to a bowl in the middle of the table. ‘Jess said if she watched me, it would be okay.’

Rob grinned with a chocolate milk moustache. ‘I made the milkshakes.’

‘And Annapolly and Mary worked together to put the plastic plates on the table.’ Jess smiled and ruffled both little girls’ hair before she passed Dan a plate of cheese sandwiches and sat with one of her own. ‘We thought maybe after lunch we could try to get the kitchen and bathrooms sorted out.’

Right.

Dan drew a breath. ‘I’m sorry, kids, that I’ve had to change our plans and that I’ll be travelling to Sydney a bit for the next while and working long hours.’

‘Yeah, well, some of us are way too old for a babysitter.’ Luke muttered the words half beneath his breath.

But Dan still heard them and frowned, because they’d been over this in the car.

As Dan opened his mouth to chide his son, Jess spoke.

‘You’re quite right, Luke. I’m hoping I’ll be able to rely on you and Rob to guide me with some of what’s needed for the younger ones.’

Luke raised his gaze and for a moment seemed to fight himself before he unbent enough to allow: ‘We can do that. There’ll be heaps of stuff you don’t know about them.’

Jess gave the boy a gentle smile. ‘And maybe if we all work hard to get along and help your father be able to focus on his work, he’ll manage a small outing with you all here and there?’

‘Exactly what I’m hoping.’ It was what Dan had been thinking.

There was a silence for a minute, and then Luke said, ‘It’s not your fault that you have to do this, Dad. You work hard to look after all of us. We’ll just have to do things around here until you can do some stuff with us.’

Jess searched Luke’s face for a moment before her gaze shifted to Dan. ‘You must have been run off your feet since you got here, Dan. Probably everyone’s feeling a bit out of sorts one way and another.’

Did she see the weariness that he’d been trying to hide from the kids for…Dan couldn’t even remember how long?

‘Yeah.’ Dan cleared his throat. It had been hard to pack up their lives, to put the family photos away. He hadn’t wanted to wrap up the pictures of Rebecca because he needed them in front of him and yet, since they arrived, that box had been the second last one Dan wanted to go anywhere near. The other held the urn of Rebecca’s ashes.

Jess drew a deep breath and for a moment uncertainty flashed in the backs of her soft grey eyes. ‘That is, if you’re happy for me to continue, then I thought, as I said, we could do some unpacking after lunch.’

‘I want to keep going.’

While the children finished their lunches, Jess showed Dan her written qualifications and gave him the phone numbers for her referees. ‘Two are the mothers of the children I mind on Tuesdays and Saturdays.’

Today was Wednesday, so Jess had a couple of days before she would be with the other children again. ‘The other referee is the woman who mentored me through training as a daycare mum.’

‘Thanks, Jess.’ Dan turned and headed for his den. ‘I’ll make sure I find time to make those calls this afternoon.’

The children pitched in to start sorting out rooms. Jess did her best to get everyone organised and help them all feel good about their achievements, and did well enough with the younger ones. Luke worked hard, but under his own steam and without a lot of communication. Jess would do what she could to draw the older boy out over time.

By mid-afternoon Jess’s daughter had just woken up from her nap, Annapolly was parked in front of a children’s programme on TV, and the rest of the children had gone outside with snacks to keep them going until dinner. Luke had placed himself in the role of supervisor out there.

‘I hope you’ll forgive me for disappearing and leaving you to it.’ Dan had checked in with the family at intervals throughout the afternoon, but had taken the opportunity to work from his den as well. This financial examination was going to make its demands on his time.

He faced Jess across the kitchen table now and they both knew he had to give her his decision.

‘I hope you were able to contact my referees.’ Jess had tried to stay calm throughout the afternoon, but it hadn’t been easy to beat back her worries about money.

‘Your referees checked out fine.’ Dan glanced about the now tidy kitchen. ‘You’ve done wonders this afternoon.’

‘Thank you. I welcome the chance to work hard.’ Jess paused as her daughter crawled to her side. She picked her up and blew a raspberry kiss onto her neck.

Ella crowed and giggled.

Dan’s gaze lingered on Jess’s mouth before he quickly looked away, and Jess’s heart skipped a beat. So much for controlling that. Apparently Dan could put paid to her efforts with a single glance.

Oh, why did she have to react to him like this? Be so conscious of him as a man when Jess had sworn off men and she’d meant it? Well, Dan didn’t appear to want the attraction anyway so it would rapidly become moot, and that was if Dan kept Jess working for him.

‘You’re a natural mother, Jess. That much is very clear.’ Dan hesitated, and then cleared his throat. ‘Do you mind if I ask about other commitments? Will caring for my children interfere with other parts of your life?’

‘There’s just me and Ella, so there won’t be interference from home with my work hours.’ Jess drew a breath and slowly blew it out. Would he judge her for being a single mother?

‘That’s one less worry. I really need the help.’ Dan straightened in his chair. ‘Anything you can do towards housekeeping will also be appreciated.’ He hesitated. ‘I may be a little overprotective about checking in.’

Seeing that care in Dan touched a tender place down inside Jess because Ella’s father had proved so different.

‘I’d want a contact number for you at all times, too.’ She made sure her expression—a professional one—reassured Dan that all of his concerns were acknowledged. ‘Also a complete list of medical conditions or special needs of the children. And I’d want to be paid weekly either by cash or bank cheque.’

If Dan assumed Jess would need to access her pay without a waiting period, he’d only be assuming the truth.

They sat there for a minute, sizing each other up. Jess looked over his ruffled dark hair and the hint of beard on his jaw, the shadows under his eyes that suggested he hadn’t got a lot of sleep just lately.

And she said softly around her consciousness of him, ‘I’d like to help you, Dan, if you feel I’ve passed the tests.’

‘I don’t mean to make it seem like that.’

Jess shook her head. ‘If you hadn’t grilled me, I’d have worried whether you were taking enough care of your children.’

‘You’re young.’ The words were low.

‘You don’t look that old, yourself, you know.’ He looked seasoned and appealing. Jess shook her head to try to drive the thoughts out.

Dan glanced from his daughter watching the TV, to the children outside, to Ella in Jess’s lap, to Jess. ‘Will you stick around for the rest of the day? And then I’ll need you here first thing tomorrow morning so I can get on the road to Sydney.’ He threw his shoulders back as though to say now the decision was made he’d stick by it and make it work.

Relief flowed through Jess. ‘Thank you for giving me this opportunity.’ She got to her feet and bent her head over Ella’s so Dan wouldn’t see the depth of that relief in her eyes. ‘Just let me pop home and get Ella’s playpen, monitor and walker and a few other things.’

They’d be fine working together. And this consciousness of him would be extremely transitory.

Of course it would!

CHAPTER THREE

‘WHY IS IT THAT PARENTS make up stories about where babies come from?’ The question was earnest, as were all of Daisy Frazier’s questions. Daisy went on. ‘And why would anyone believe those stories?’

It was early evening, the following day. Jess and the children were outside on the veranda that swept around three sides of the rambling home. Dan had unpacked like an automaton all yesterday afternoon and probably well into the night after Jess left that evening. Jess and the children had helped, too, of course.

The house was halfway habitable now, thanks to those efforts, but it was still nice to get outside. Jess had sliced up wedges of watermelon and brought everyone out here. The boys were having a seed-spitting contest.

Ella and Annapolly were playing with dolls. Mary, Dan’s quiet six-year-old, was sitting on the edge of the veranda watching her brothers and swinging her legs.

That left Jess and ten-year-old Daisy, who was gifted with an inquisitive mind.

‘Do you see Annapolly and Ella, Daisy?’

Annapolly was explaining to Ella in her childish way all about how the dolls were going on a road trip to get to a new house where they’d live happily ever after with a frog that laid golden eggs. Ella listened with awed attention, even though she didn’t understand.

‘Yes.’ Daisy’s brow wrinkled and she pushed her glasses up her freckled nose. She had dark hair like her father. They all did. Daisy had the same considering expression, too. ‘What about them?’

‘They’re happy in their make-believe world. They can enjoy their imaginations and make up whatever stories they want.’

Daisy pondered for a second. ‘If that’s why kids want to believe that babies come from under a cabbage, or the stork drops them, I suppose it’s okay.’ She sniffed. ‘But it would make more sense if they had a pelican drop them. Then they could tell themselves that the baby could be kept warm and safe in the pouch in the pelican’s beak until it got dropped off.’

‘They could.’ Jess stifled a smile over Daisy’s pragmatic logic, and made a mental note to tell Dan this discussion with his daughter was coming, if it hadn’t happened already.

Dan…

Despite his absence today, Jess had thought of him often. She’d asked herself how he was getting on in Sydney, had tried to remember whether he truly looked as handsome as she had thought on first meeting and again this morning when all of her awareness of him hadn’t exactly been evaporated into oblivion.

Dan had phoned twice. Jess had assured him things were going well, and let whichever children had been hovering at the time have a quick chat to him. She’d at least attempted an attitude of professionalism on the surface.

After that second phone call Luke had tried to grill her almost aggressively about her personal life, why she was by herself and a few other questions that could have become a problem if Jess had let them. Instead, she’d stated only that being the mother of Ella was the greatest joy of her life and firmly turned the conversation elsewhere.

‘Time to go in, I think.’

Ella was getting sleepy. Annapolly and Mary were rubbing their eyes. Even the boys had lain back on the veranda floor after finishing their watermelon. And Jess had let her thoughts wander far enough. ‘It’s been a big day. Thanks for all trying hard today.’

There was the expected chorus from the younger ones of not wanting to go to bed but an hour later they were all in their rooms. It would be a while before some of them slept, Jess suspected, but she wouldn’t be helping that if she hovered. She spent time doing chores and by then it was quite late and all the children were asleep. Well, she didn’t know about Luke. His door was shut and she didn’t feel she could intrude to check.

Jess curled up on the couch in the living room to rest until Dan got home.

She had five children and a baby to take care of tomorrow. The day after was Saturday and she had other children while their mothers worked at their Devonshire teas business.

Jess was an excellent daycare mum and trained to care for older children too. She would give that service to the very best of her ability; she would find her way forward with Dan Frazier’s children. And when she got her first pay cheque she would go to the council and pay some money onto the overdue account there and talk to them about a more realistic payment plan. She didn’t need to panic.

Things would be all right. And Dan would be back soon, and Jess was looking forward to seeing him. Just a little, and there was nothing wrong with that, provided she stuck to professional anticipation…

‘Dan.’ Jess spoke his name and sat up on the couch.

She’d been dozing when Dan unlocked the front door and stepped into the house.

‘Hi. It’s late. Sorry.’ Dan’s words were pitched low. He couldn’t explain why they also emerged in a soft, deep tone. But coming home to find a woman sleeping, waiting for him, was something Dan hadn’t done for years. Maybe the memory of that was what made him stop and take Jess in from the top of her head, with its messy cap of hair, to her bare feet with their high arches and purple painted toenails. It had to be memories, didn’t it, even though Jess was nothing like Rebecca? He couldn’t actually be truly attracted to Jess Baker.

‘Was it very tiring, the trip into the city and the workload?’ Jess’s voice was soft and scratchy. Her cheeks had turned a gentle rose-pink as she met his gaze.

Because she was aware of him?

Rather arrogant to think such an appealing young woman would even notice you, Dan!

He took a step towards her. And then veered to the right to dump his briefcase on the couch because what would Dan do once he stood in front of Jess? Want to run his fingers through that fine, silky hair? Ask her to sit with him while he talked about his day? ‘The financial examination process is very thorough. I won’t mind not having to think about numbers until tomorrow.’

Dan needed to ask her about her work. How the children had fared today. He’d phoned in, but he wanted to hear more than those brief words. ‘You’d ring me if there was a problem, not wait until I checked in?’

‘Immediately.’

‘I’ll just look in on them. You don’t mind? Then you can tell me how things went today overall. I don’t want to hold you up from getting home.’ He had to be businesslike about this.

‘See them first, then I can give you a progress report.’ Jess nodded. ‘Ella’s fast asleep in her travel cot. I can wait.’

Dan disappeared to the upper reaches of the house to check on his children.

In the living room, Jess watched his receding back until he disappeared from sight.