Evergreen, Alaska
Beth Thatcher sat down across from her boss, Abigail at Evergreen Childcare.
"Thank you for meeting with me, Ms. Thatcher. I have a placement for you."
Those words were what Beth had been wanting to hear for a long time. Up until this point, every placement has been temporary. She liked having something concrete. Sure.
"That's great. Tell me about the child."
"Children. Five year old Elle and two year old Maggie. Their father is a Police Detective for the Juneau PD."
"And their mother?"
"He's a widower. He has an apartment for you above the garage, but it's attached."
"I'd be living there?"
"Yes. He'd like you to be there tomorrow at 8am to meet the girls and check out the apartment. Then he wants you to start immediately if you agree to his terms."
"Terms?"
"Yes. He wants to discuss them with you tomorrow."
"Alright."
Abigail handed her a file. "Inside is his address and information about the girls. Congratulations Ms. Thatcher."
"Thank you."
Beth could not fathom what his terms were that he needed her to agree to but she needed the job. She wasn't wealthy by any means and she wasn't destitute but she had bills that needed to be paid.
"Thornton," she muttered. It couldn't be him. What were the chances? Thornton had to be a relatively common name.
So the next day at 7:45, she drove up to the gate at the address she was given. She pushed the button on the pad and waited.
"Can I help you?"
"I'm Elizabeth Thatcher. I have an 8:00 meeting with a Mr. Thornton."
The gate opened and she drove through and gasped. The house and surroundings were immaculate. The house was big but not overly. However, it was clear that Mr. Thornton had money.
She grabbed her purse and walked up to the door, ringing the bell. She expected a housekeeper or butler or something, but instead a very handsome, well-dressed blast from the past showed up.
"Jack?"
"Beth."
"Wow. It's been like ten years."
"Yes. Come in."
She stepped in and the foyer was equally impressive. "Nice house."
"Thank you." He kept walking so she followed him past a living area with a roaring fireplace to a large eat-in kitchen, perfect if she was a chef. "Have a seat," he told her, taking a seat across from her.
"Where are the children?"
"Asleep. We have about a half hour and they will be awake."
She remembered back in high school. He was a football quarterback. Had a different girlfriend every year, just never her, as much as she wanted it to be. He was happy then too. Always flashing his beautiful smile bookended by sexy dimples. Now, he was so serious. He didn't seem happy at all.
"Ms. Stanton mentioned you have terms that you wanted to discuss with me?"
"Yes. I believe that honesty is the best policy."
"I agree."
"My wife Larissa died about two years ago. Because of my job, I always thought I would be the one to go first. Her cancer had different plans however."
"I'm so sorry, Jack."
"Yes, well, this brings me to my terms. To be quite frank, I looked through the listing of nannies available at Evergreen Childcare and I found you. I know we knew each other back then and that is the reason I chose you. I know of your family and I trust you."
"I take my job seriously. I will take care of your girls as if they are my own."
"That's what I need. My girls need a mother. They need someone who will love them and be there for him if something were to happen to me."
"So you essentially need a wife."
"No…well...Is that weird?"
"A bit, yes. I mean this isn't the 1800s and I'm not a mail order bride." She let out a slightly uncomfortable laugh, trying to diffuse some of the awkwardness. "My job is to care for children. Not be someone's wife."
"Yeah." Jack ran his fingers through his hair. He looked completely overwhelmed. Almost hopeless.
"Look, yes, we knew each other in high school so I'll do this for you. I will care for them. But I'm not going to marry someone I don't love. So that can't be part of the terms."
"Fair enough."
A girl, the older of his two walked into the room carrying her little sister. "Hi there," Beth said with a smile.
"Hi," the older girl said, shifting her sister higher on her hip.
"I'm Beth. Are you Elle?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"So this must be Maggie?"
Maggie put her head on her sister's shoulder and hid her face. "Yes, ma'am," Elle confirmed.
Beth was surprised that neither girl made a move to see their Dad and he didn't greet them either. So Beth held out her hands to Maggie. "May I hold you, sweet girl?" Maggie looked at her for a moment and must have decided she trusted her because she leaned toward Beth. "Hi."
Jack watched for a bit. His heart hurt. They looked so much like their mother and just looking at them brought back memories that still grieved him.
"Dada," Maggie whispered, pointing at her father.
"I know. Why don't you go give him a big hug?"
Beth watched Maggie toddle over to Jack and lift her arms. Jack hesitated but picked her up and received her hug, his eyes filling with tears. Maggie laid her head on his shoulder and stayed that way for a bit.
"Will you show me the apartment where I will be staying?"
"I'll show her, Dad," Elle said, taking her hand.
"Thanks, Elle."
Beth followed Elle down a hall and up the stairs to another hall, stopping at an open doorway. "This is my room. Me and Maggie share."
That was a bit confusing considering there must be at least three other doors in the hallway. "Don't want your own room?"
She shrugged. "I need to be close in case Maggie gets scared."
"You could get your Dad if Maggie was scared."
"No. He works a lot and then sleeps. I can take care of Maggie."
She hoped that Elle only assumed she had to care for her sister and that Jack didn't expect that of her.
"What's in this room?" she asked.
"Bathroom."
"And this one?"
"That's where Uncle Tom sleeps when he comes to watch us."
"Does that happen a lot?"
"No. Just sometimes."
"And this door?"
"That's Daddy's room. We can't go in there."
"I won't."
She opened a door at the end of the hall. "This is where you are going to live until you leave."
"I'm staying, sweetie. If your Dad hires me."
"If you say so. No one ever stays."
"Are you sure you're only five?"
"And three quarters."
Jack walked in then, Maggie asleep in his arms. "What do you think?"
He looked entirely uncomfortable holding her but Beth felt like it was probably good for both of them so she didn't make a move to take her.
"It's very nice."
"Can you start today?"
"I can. But can we talk schedules and expectations?"
He laid Maggie down on the couch and asked Elle to stay with her while he talked to Beth.
They sat down at the table a few feet away. "I need you six days a week. My brother said he will come watch the girls on Sundays."
"You work seven days a week?"
"No. I work six as well."
"So why do you need your brother…." She stopped talking when she saw the look on his face. "I'm not judging the way you take care of your daughters."
"Except that is exactly what you are doing."
"Your girls need their father."
"I need you to take care of them. What I do with the rest of my time is frankly none of your concern."
"Fine." She crossed her arms and stared at him. "Who makes your meals?"
"I eat at the office."
"So I am not expected to cook for you. Only the girls and myself?"
"Correct."
"Very well. Is Elle in kindergarten?"
"Yes. She's on break until the 8th. She needs to be to school by 7:45 and picked up at 2:30."
Beth took out her phone and made notes. "The address for the school?"
He told her and gave her a credit card. "This is for expenses. Gas, food, medical. Just charge everything and give me receipts and I will pay the bill."
"I need time to pack my things and move them here. Can I get maybe half a day to do that?"
"Tell me your address and I will get someone on that."
"I'd like to do it on my own. Thank you though."
"I'll help," Elle told her, a very grown up sound in her young voice.
"I'll take the girls with me."
"Okay. Well, I need to get to work. See you tomorrow."
"You aren't coming home tonight?"
"Yes, but you will be asleep by then." She stared at him again. "You're judging me again, Beth. I really just need you to stick to the terms and conditions of our agreement and leave the rest to me."
She nodded and walked back over to the girls. "So, let's go make some breakfast. What do you like to eat?"
After breakfast, Beth took Elle and Maggie to her car where a booster seat and a carseat had mysteriously appeared while they were in the house. "Like magic," she muttered. "Let's have an adventure, girls," she said as she got in the front seat.
"What's that mean?"
"It means, we are going to do something we have never done before, or at least it's been a long time. And we are going to make it fun."
"How?"
"You'll see."
She didn't really have a plan but over the last couple years, she had learned to think on her feet so that was what she would do.
She drove to her sister Vi's house and walked in the door. "Vi?"
"Hey, Beth. In the kitchen."
"Hey."
"Who do we have here?" Vi asked, kneeling down and smiling at the girls.
"This is Elle and Maggie," Beth told her.
"Nice to meet you Elle and Maggie."
"Do you have any boxes I can use? I'm moving to their house."
"You are?"
"Yep."
"I think there are some boxes on the back porch."
"Thanks."
As they packed a little bit later, Beth turned some music on and they had a dance party and sang at the top of their lungs. The girls were giggling and "helping" her pack. It was a good time.
A few hours later, she made a couple trips from the apartment to her car and then decided she would take those home and make another trip. As she got in her car though, a large black SUV pulled in the driveway behind her, making her heart pound.
"Beth Thatcher?" the man said as he walked up to her car.
"Who are you?"
"Nathan Grant. Jack sent me. I'm here to help you move your things."
"He hired a mover? I told him that I would do this on my own. I don't need him to hire a mover."
"He told me you were stubborn."
"I'm not stubborn." Nathan crossed his arms, mimicking her stance. "Fine, I am but I am not a helpless woman. I can handle moving things on my own."
"I'm not saying you are a helpless woman, but what's the harm in letting someone assist you so that something gets done quicker and you don't have to make multiple trips?"
She looked at the girls in the back seat. She really didn't want to make more trips and leave them in the apartment while she went back and forth. "Fine."
She unbuckled the girls and they followed Nathan and another man named Lee into her apartment so she could tell them which things to take.
"So which company do you guys work for?" she asked them.
"We work for Jack."
"You work for Jack?"
"Yes. And you do too now, right?"
"Yes. So you just move things for him?"
"Do you always ask so many questions?" Nathan asked her, a sly grin on his face.
"How else will I learn what I need to know?"
"Good point."
That night, Jack was home around 9:00. He walked in the door, locked it, set the alarm, and walked over to the refrigerator. A snack sounded good to him. When he opened the fridge, he saw a container with a label that said Jack.
He opened the container and smelled it. Pot roast. With onions and carrots. Elle loved carrots. Always had.
His mind went back about five years.
Five years before
"Open your mouth, baby," Larissa said, opening her own mouth to show six month old Elle how to do it.
Elle smiled and kicked her legs. Then she opened her mouth and took in the spoonful of mashed carrots.
"That's my girl."
"Our girl," Jack said, kissing his wife. "She's perfect."
"She sure likes carrots."
"Probably because they are sweet. Like you."
Present time
He wiped his eyes and shook his head at himself.
"You found the pot roast," Beth said, scaring him.
"I told you not to make me dinner."
"Actually, you said I'm not expected to."
"And yet you still did."
"I told you I could handle moving by myself and I was handling it. Instead, a big, black, scary SUV pulls up behind me and your children and two men that I don't know insisted you hired them to move my stuff."
"I just wanted to help."
"I appreciate that but one thing you need to know about me is when I say I can handle something, I can. I am capable and independent. I am being trusted to take care of two lovely children and make sure they are fed and clothed and happy and loved. All I ask is that you trust that if I need your assistance with something, I will ask."
"Okay."
She nodded and turned to leave. "Enjoy the pot roast. I make a really good lasagna, just so you know."