Daffodils in March (2 page)

“No. Anyway, the reason I'm calling, I need the number of a nanny agency. Are you registered with one?”

“I wish.” She looked down at the paper, glancing down the list of advertisements. “Tinies is meant to be one of the best around.” She took a breath and tried to speak as nonchalantly as she could. “I'm actually planning to register with them later today, I can check them out if you'd like.”

“OK, thanks.” Hanna paused. “Wait a second. You're doing
what
with them?”

“Nothing. Hold on.” Eden sighed. “Rupert, no…” She grabbed a handful of serviettes and wiped the food a giggling Rupert had thrown at her.
Et tu, Brute?

“Don't give me that.” Hanna's tinny voice took on a reprimanding tone. “I can tell when you're upset.”

“You've known me too long.” Eden sat back in her seat, watching the twins.

“First day of school and ever since. So, talk to me.”

“The Fishers are moving on Friday. To Australia.”

“Oh.” Shock resonated down the phone. “Why didn't you tell me? We could have arranged a goodbye party or something for you.”

“I didn't know about it, OK?” Tears she'd been fighting since she found out spilled and fell. “As of Friday, I'm out of a job. So I'm sitting here, looking at the paper, trying to find a new job for Monday.”

Hanna squealed.

Hanna was…happy?

“That's perfect. I've just had the most brilliant idea.”

Eden rubbed her sleeve over her eyes. Shocked and trying to work out Hanna's meaning. There was nothing perfect about her being jobless. And in today's climate she'd stay that way for months. “What?”

“You're a nanny. I need a nanny—one starting on Monday as it happens.”

She did a double take. “You need a
what
?”

“The nursery isn't working out, so I want a nanny for Marc. And you'd be perfect.”

“Hector, don't throw things.” Eden bent down and picked up the sippy cup and set it on the table with a sigh. “Han, can I call you back once I've managed to get the twins asleep? I've been asked to stay out of the house today so they can pack.”

“Nope, I have a better plan.” Hanna, as always once she had an idea, was like a dog with a stick, refusing to let go. “Come over tonight after work, and we'll talk about it more. Call it an interview.”

“Interview? I haven't even applied for the job, yet.”

“Please, Eden. It'll solve all our problems in one go. We can discuss terms, money and so on. Come over about seven. Marc should be down by then.”

“OK, see you at seven.” Eden slid the phone back into her bag and turned to clear up the mess the twins had made.

Work for Hanna? It would be an answer to the constant prayers she'd been sending up for the past several hours.

****

Eden took the tea cup from Hanna. “Thank you.” She settled back into the couch. “So why change your mind about the day nursery? I thought he'd settled there now.”

“He has, but it's not working out time wise. I have this conference to go to the week after next in Manchester. I'll be away a whole week. So you being made redundant is providential. I need a nanny from Monday, which is the exact day you need a job for. God's timing is as perfect as ever.”

Eden shifted on her chair. “Why can't David take Marc to nursery and pick him up?”

“His hours are even more, um, erratic than mine at the moment—hence he's still not home. Sometimes he's underfoot, others he's out all the time or gone for days.”

Curiosity piqued. David had always been so reliable and his timekeeping impeccable. What could have changed? “What does he do?”

Hanna rolled her eyes. “All sorts of stuff. None of which he likes to talk about. He's gotten really secretive about work the last few months. Anyway, I thought a nanny would be easier in the long term. Especially as I have to work now. I'd love to be a ‘stay at home' mum. You know that was the original plan, but nothing ever works out the way we intend.”

“Tell me about it. I'd thought the Fisher's would need me for at least another five years. More if they had another baby. I still can't believe they didn't even mention the move in passing.”

Hanna nodded in consolation as Marc's cries echoed over the baby monitor. “Here we go again. That child is seriously allergic to bed time. Which, by the way, is still my favorite time of the day.”

“Can I go?” Eden put her cup down on the coffee table.

“Be my guest. He shares my room as he's still waking at night.”

Eden stood and took the stairs two at a time. She pushed open the door. The room hadn't changed much since they were kids and played up here. It was still pink. She crossed to the crib and picked up the baby. “Hey, what's up little man?”

She held him gently, rocking him, stroking his face. “Why so much noise from one little person, Marc? Do you need changing? No?” She moved him to her shoulder and smiled as he burped. “So, that's the problem.”

Eden sang quietly, and Marc drifted back to sleep. Maybe looking after him wouldn't be so bad. Just for a couple of weeks until Hanna's work thing was done. Then she'd review things. After she laid Marc on his side and covered him, she tiptoed from the room, and quietly closed the door.

Eden made her way downstairs, and paused as hushed voices drifted up from the kitchen to meet her.

“Hanna, I can't have someone else, another woman, in the house. How many times do I have to say this?”

“Am I one woman too many?”

“That's not what I meant—” David's voice rose. “—and you know it.”

Eden reached the foot of the stairs. She didn't want to listen, yet fancied interrupting them even less. Caught between the metaphorical devil and the deep blue sea, she stood in the hallway, the conversation ringing in her ears and burning in her stomach.

“Well, it's tough, David. Eden's my friend as well as being Marc's aunt. Therefore she's not only a qualified nanny; she's family and the ideal solution. I don't see what your problem with her is. You two got on well enough once.”

“Not anymore, Han.”

“What went wrong between the two of you?”

“That is between me and Eden and no one else.” There was a long pause; presumably, he was pacing the room like he always did when he was angry or irritated. Then, he started speaking again, his voice too low to hear.

Really?
He hadn't even given Eden a good reason for them breaking up. One minute things were fine and the next he wanted nothing to do with her. Problem was her emotions didn't just switch off as easily as his. Part of her still loved him and probably always would.

Eden pulled her jacket off the peg in the hallway and shoved her arms into it. She put her bag on her shoulder. Twice, as the strap immediately fell down to her elbow. Best she left rather than be the cause of any more strife for Hanna. There was no way she'd take this job. No matter how much she wanted and needed it. It wasn't worth tearing apart what little family her best friend had left.

“David, please be reasonable,” Hanna's voice rose as Eden reached the front door.

“I am being reasonable. Marc is fine at the nursery—I can work around him while you're away. This is exactly why I didn't want you here in the first place.”

“And you've made that perfectly clear. However, my husband died and the military housing went with his job, you know that. And this place is half mine. I will do what I want with my half and having Eden here looking after Marc
is
what I want.”

Eden opened the front door and slipped out into the dark. Her cheeks burned as she trudged down the path. Reaching the bottom, she sent Hanna a text. B
ye Han. Thanks for the job offer but I can't accept it.
Then, Eden headed to the bus stop, her heart well and truly in her boots.

Working for Hanna and caring for Marc would have been great. He looked so much like his dad. Her brother marrying her best friend had been a dream come true. But it turned into a nightmare when Eric died.

At the bus stop Eden turned her collar up against the chill wind. Spring weather was neither one temperature nor the other for long. Or was March still part of winter? She had no idea. It had certainly come in like a lion, and the weather was doing its best to say winter wasn't going to leave lightly.

Her eyes stung. She tried to convince herself it was the wind as she rubbed a hand across them. That wasn't true. She just wasn't sure how much rejection she could handle.

Running footsteps thudded behind her as the bus approached and slowed. Eden pulled her ticket from her pocket, clutching it tightly.

“Eden, wait.”

Eden took a step towards the bus. She held out an arm indicating she wanted the bus to pull over and stop for her. “I'll call you, Hanna.”

“Eden, please. I'm sorry about David. He's just got a lot on at work and deadlines and so on.”

Deadlines. Right.
She'd heard a great deal of talk recently about David and none of it involved journalism. While she never took stock in gossip, particularly in unsavory or unkind talk, her father had been concerned about the rumors. He didn't want his grandson being raised in such an environment.

The bus pulled over and the brakes hissed to a stop. The doors opened.

Eden glanced at her friend. Had she been crying? “You don't need me making things harder, Han, and you don't need to apologize for David being a jerk.”

“You're my sister-in-law. Marc's aunt. And my best friend in the world. I want you looking after him. Please?”

“I don't…”

The bus driver looked at her. “Are you getting on or not, love?”

“Yes, just give me one minute.”

He shook his head. “I have a schedule to keep.”

Hanna grabbed Eden's arm. “She's staying,” she said.

The bus driver nodded. “Very well.” He shut the door and the bus pulled away.

Eden groaned. “That was the last bus. How do I get home now?”

“David will take you.”

“David doesn't even
like
me.” Eden shoved her bag back onto her shoulder. “I'll walk home. It won't take long.”

“You'll do no such thing.” Hanna held her arm tightly. “And he does like you. He's just grumpy right now. I'd hoped you and he would, you know…”

“Like you and Eric did.”

Hanna smiled. “Double wedding, double honeymoon, double first babies and so on.”

“Someone forgot to tell David that part of the plan. I should go. It's a long walk.”

Hanna shook her head. “David will take you. Or I'll borrow his car keys and take you myself. And I'm not taking a ‘no' on the job front, either. You start Monday.
Please.
I need you, Eden. Especially with David…” She rolled her eyes. “Actually, David said to ask your parents, and I know they'd have him, I just want a permanent solution, not a temporary one.”

Eden nodded. “Dad's really worried about you and Marc living in the same house as David. He's heard all the rumors and isn't happy at all.”

“Well, if you're looking after Marc, then that might ease his worries. Not to mention taking a load of my mind. I know he'll be safe with you.”

“Han…” Eden broke off. Put like that, what else could she do? If there was something going on, at least with her in the house, she'd keep Marc safe. And she'd promised Eric that she'd look out for Hanna when he was away on deployment. Not that the situation ever arose—unless you looked upon going to be with the Lord as one long deployment.

All that mattered was the fact that Hanna needed her and so did Marc. Maybe God's timing wasn't as off as she'd thought first thing this morning. If she were still working for the Fishers she wouldn't have been able to take care of Marc.

Eden nodded. “OK, fine. I'll do it. Thank you.” She began walking with Hanna back toward the two-story house.

Hanna slid an arm through Eden's as they walked. “Good. That's settled. And it's a live-in position.”

“No. I can come in every day.” She replied a little too quickly.

“I have to go away in a week or so. This is easier. Besides, just think of all the fun we can have in the evenings.”

“I guess so.” It was hard to resist Hanna's pleas especially when they were tinged with more than a little desperation.

Besides, if she were living there, perhaps she could set Dad's mind at ease about David's odd behavior. Scotch the rumors once and for all. She didn't want to believe that the man she once loved, still felt something for, could have so completely gone off the rails as everyone seemed to think.

When they reached the house, Eden waited in the garden while Hanna went in for David's keys.

Instead of her friend, David stormed from the house, his face set and eyes glittering.

“Come on then, if I'm taking you home.” He stomped down the path, aiming the key at the parked older model Porsche on the drive. The indicator lights flashed once, and the car alarm went off. David muttered under his breath, as he deactivated it

Eden got in and pulled the seatbelt across. But try as she might, she couldn't get it into the slot.

David took it from her, and as if teaching a child something new, demonstrated connecting the belt to the latch. He started the engine and reversed off the drive too quickly for her comfort.

Did he just spin the tires?

As he drove, an uneasy, almost palpable silence filled the car.

Eden rubbed her hand, still able to feel his touch, and studied his profile as he drove. What had happened to him in the two years since they had broken up?

With his slicked back, black hair, dark brown eyes, and stiff bearing, he was more handsome than he'd ever been; even in those old, baggy jeans and sweatshirt with a skull and what she assumed was the name of a heavy metal rock bank emblazoned on the front. As he cruised through the gears, she couldn't help but notice the presence of tattoos on his knuckles and even more ink peeking from under his sleeve. The carefree spirit of his youth had been replaced with a dark, almost sinister core.