Best Laid Plans (12 page)

Jake had to laugh. Matt and Jamie were on the same side of the commitment scale he was, but suddenly they were acting like he was out there all alone. “What’s your point?”

“There’s a saying — ‘everywhere you go, there you are.’ Maybe the thing you’re trying to escape from is inside of you.”

The Zen master had said similar things, although not with the bluntness of his brother. “Jamie Macintyre, philosopher. Maybe traveling and taking pictures is just what I do, the way you design buildings and Uncle Matt builds them.”

Jamie raised his hand to flag down the waitress. “Ignore me, little brother. You’ve got plenty of time to figure it out. But we need to decide what we’re going to do about Uncle Matt. He won’t admit it, but he needs help.”

• • •

After he and Jamie worked out an arrangement for checking on their uncle until they could hire someone to help, Jake retrieved his bag and headed for his new home. He had a key, but Violet had told him she’d feel more comfortable if he rang the bell before he used it. When she didn’t come to the door within a minute or two, he let himself in.

“Violet?” He’d told her he would respect her privacy, but if Rayburn’s car had been parked out front he would have barged right in.

“Back here.”

He followed her voice out to the deck off the kitchen, where she was stretched out on a chaise, holding Daisy against her chest.

“Enjoying the sunset?”

When the baby heard his voice, she raised her head and smiled at him. After a moment it crashed back down, slamming against her mother’s chin. “Ouch!” Violet laughed. “Everything was lovely until just now.”

“I’d forgotten how beautiful a Massachusetts sunset can be.” The day had been cloudy, and now the cloud layers were reflecting shades of pink, purple and red. He unzipped his duffle bag and pulled out a camera, made a few adjustments, and began to snap off shots.

After a few minutes he stopped, and saw Daisy smile at him again, this time with her head against Violet’s chest but held securely in place by her hand. When Violet also smiled in his direction, he lifted the camera, focused in tightly, and clicked the shutter.

Violet’s hand flew to her hair. “Will you be doing this a lot?”

He laughed. “Violet, I saw your face on a billboard yesterday. Your nose was ten feet long. You’re in front of cameras every day.”

“Yes,
after
people do my hair and make-up and even tell me what to wear. Candid shots are different. Scarier.”

“If you like the picture I just took, will you let me take more? They won’t be candids, but they won’t be studio shots, either.”

Daisy was falling asleep, and Violet swung her legs around so she could get out of the chair. Beautiful long legs with well-defined muscles. “Well, I haven’t had professional pictures done of Daisy since she was a few weeks old.”

He returned the camera to the bag. “I’ll take pictures of Daisy, but only if you let me take some of the two of you together.” As he’d discovered during his conversation with Millie, there was something magical in the mother-child connection for him. What better models to use to mine that theme?

She smiled. “If I like your work.”

• • •

Violet had always enjoyed Daisy’s early-morning feeding; the two of them nestled together in her bed as the sun rose and the rest of the world began to stir, beginning with the robins and house finches outside her window. She had not enjoyed handing her over to Carrie afterwards and going back to sleep, but it was the only way she could make it through the 11:00
P.M.
news and not drive her car off the road at midnight.

When she woke up on Monday morning to the sound of birds singing and realized Jake must have gotten Daisy up for her feeding, she felt a sharp twinge of disappointment. It had been bad enough to hear Daisy begin to fuss the last few mornings and not feel the familiar pressure of the milk in her breasts, but at least she’d been able to continue her morning ritual while substituting a bottle of formula.

She was still tying the sash of her robe when she walked into the nursery, where Jake was giving Daisy her bottle while standing next to the open window. Her first thought was that his method would upset Daisy, disrupting her routine and sense of security. But the baby’s expression was one of rapture as she gazed into his face; it was the same way she looked at Violet while she nursed.

“Do you hear that? A cardinal is calling to his mate. We’ll set up a bird feeder, and we’ll get lots of feathered visitors. But today, we’ll take a trip to the park and take some pictures. Not a lot of wildlife there, just squirrels and pigeons.”

“And who will feed the birds after you’re gone?”

If he was surprised Violet was standing behind him, he didn’t show it. “If it’s too difficult for you to throw a cup of seeds in the feeder every morning, I won’t do it. I was planning to ask you first.” His grin implied he thought she was being unreasonable and grumpy, and it infuriated her. Probably because it was true.

It wasn’t the idea of stocking bird seed that upset her; it was his mention of an outing to the park, something Carrie had done with Daisy almost every day. Carrie did it so she and the baby could get some fresh air and see other people, or at least that’s what Violet had thought at the time. Now she wasn’t sure
what
the nanny had been up to. But Jake called it “a trip,” which made her feel like he was seducing Daisy into his world.

Half her child’s DNA had come from him, after all, and soon it might be her daughter who was abandoning her for months at a time. Right now nine hours apart was too long. Realizing how foolish it would sound if she said that to Jake, she forced herself to focus on the original issue that had brought her flying into the nursery without even pulling a brush through her hair first.

“She’s getting formula now, so it isn’t strictly necessary, but I’d prefer to give Daisy her morning feeding. It’s a routine we’re both used to.”

“It just seemed more efficient for me to do it. Then when you get up, you’re up for the day. The quality of your sleep will be better.” Daisy had finished the bottle, and he pulled it from her mouth with a pop as the suction broke. When she saw her mother, she smiled and strained her body toward her, waving her plump arms and legs.

“I’m a mother. My sleep is not supposed to be high quality.” Even as she took the baby from Jake, she noticed the fullness of her bladder. She watched him sip from a cup of coffee, and felt herself craving it with all her being. Daisy’s sudden frown of concentration told her she’d soon need a diaper change.

“Hello, sweetheart,” she crooned to her smiling baby. “Umm, Jake, I need to do some things. Would you mind taking her back for just a couple minutes?”

He laughed, wrinkling his nose as the odor hit him. “Sure, you’ll do the feeding, and I’ll do the dirty work. Get yourself a cup of coffee after you do those … things, and we’ll meet you downstairs.”

In the bathroom, Violet bent over and ran a brush through her hair, trying to instill some life into it. She rubbed tinted moisturizer on her face, but forced herself to stop short of mascara. Having Jake here is no different from having a nanny, she told herself, tossing the tube back in the drawer. Except it sure felt different.

She threw on some exercise clothes and got to the kitchen before Jake did. It was nice to have hot coffee waiting for her, she had to admit, a luxury that had not been provided by the nanny, who was a tea drinker. As she reached for the sugar, she realized the bowl was anchoring a photograph. She slid it out, and saw it was the picture Jake had taken the night before, of her and Daisy relaxing out on the deck, surrounded by the rosy glow of the sunset. It was so unlike her studio shots she hardly recognized herself. For one thing, her smile in this picture was genuine.

“You like it, right?” he asked from behind her. “So you’ll pose for me?”

Although she knew what he meant, something about his use of the word “pose” made her blush to the roots of her hair. She was glad she still had her back to him, and took a deep breath in an attempt to regain her composure.

“I’d say you have a real talent for this photography stuff.” The research she’d done after their night together last summer had revealed there were quite a lot of experts and book-buyers who agreed. “How can I turn down the opportunity to get the best for free?”

In truth, something about it made her uncomfortable, but it wasn’t anything she could articulate. Jake seemed to
see
her through the lens of his camera, in a way she didn’t usually allow.

She turned toward him, finally. He was holding Daisy against his chest, and she had a fistful of his shirt in her hand. His grin lit up his face but he didn’t say anything.

“They
will
be free, right?”

He came out of his trance. “That depends on your framing choices, ma’am. And of course wallets are extra.”

The phone rang, and she was still laughing when she picked up and said hello.

There was a brief silence on the other end, then Richard said, “You’re in a good mood this morning. You must have found a new nanny.”

“Oh, Richard!” For Jake’s benefit, she sounded more enthusiastic than she felt. “I do have the nanny situation taken care of, yes. But I don’t have time to explain it to you right now.”

“Well, why don’t you explain it to me on Saturday night, over dinner? Now that you have someone to stay with Daisy.”

“Sounds wonderful, but I’ll have to check with … the nanny first. Why don’t I call you back?”

Jake agreed to stay with Daisy on Saturday night, on one condition. “We’ll do a photo session on Saturday, whatever time works best for Daisy. And I’ll need to leave here early on Sunday to go see my uncle in Wickham, so don’t stay out all night with your boyfriend.”

“Richard isn’t … expecting me to stay overnight,” she finished, narrowly avoiding a slip. “But it will be wonderful to go out on a real date. Thanks for helping out.”

His only response was a scowl that made Daisy burst into tears.

Violet had no idea how she would continue to fend Richard off while also leading him on, but with Jake living in her house, she felt it was crucial to keep a buffer between them. Or, as Jake had referred to Richard, a
buffoon
.

• • •

After Violet left for a session with her personal trainer, Jake packed up the baby’s supplies and wheeled her off to the park in her deluxe baby stroller. The expensive conveyance made him shake his head and wonder what the mothers in some of the villages he’d visited would make of it. They would probably think Daisy was royalty, bow down to her and bring her gifts of root vegetables and small game.

“Your mom says you’re ready to try some rice cereal, little princess, but I think we’ll draw the line at small game.” He lifted the eager baby out of the stroller and settled in the shade on a bench where they could watch the activity around them.

When a young woman asked him a few minutes later if she could share the bench, he agreed. She pulled a book out of her purse, but he noticed she never turned the page. Instead of reading, she kept taking sidelong glances at him and Daisy. Probably noticed his lack of a wedding ring. He’d heard the presence of babies or dogs made a man more attractive to women, and smiled to himself. She was attractive, but he didn’t need any more entanglements. After a couple quick glances of his own, however, he began to think there was something familiar about her.

Daisy jerked her arm and the teething ring she’d been gripping in her fist hit the ground near the stranger. The woman lunged for it, then held it out to Jake. “Sorry, Daisy,” she said. “You can’t have it back now. It’s dirty.”

Jake gripped the baby hard enough to make her whimper.

“How do you know my baby’s name?” But he figured it out before she could answer. The bruises on her upper arm had obviously been made by the tight grip of a man’s hand.

“You’re Carrie!”

The former nanny seemed to shrink into the corner of the bench, but she made no move to leave. Her voice was so soft Jake had to strain to hear her.

“I came here on purpose hoping to talk to you. I knew I wouldn’t get anywhere with Miss Gallagher.”

“Well, you won’t get anywhere with me, either. You were hired to care for her child, not bring your personal problems into her home.”

“Your child, too. I know you’re her daddy, and you seem like a good man. But all men aren’t like you.”

A memory of George Ellsworth hitting his mother with an open palm flashed into Jake’s head. But whatever this young woman wanted, he didn’t see how he could help her. “Yes, I’m Daisy’s father. And she’s getting sleepy and needs a nap, so you should make your point.”

“I got involved with a bad man.” She shuddered, and tears leaked from her eyes, one of which was still swollen and sporting a colorful bruise. “He beat me up real bad when he found out I got fired, and without a job I can’t afford to leave him. He’s talking about making me do things for money, things I can’t do.”

Jake was a sucker for a crying female. “Carrie, I can’t give you your job back. You need to go to a shelter …”

She shook her head. “He’d find me. I need to go far away. The trouble is, I don’t have any references to get another job.”

Daisy was falling asleep on his shoulder, and he felt like a bad father. He knew he should get her home and in her crib before Violet returned from the gym. He stood and eased her into her stroller, then pulled a business card out of his wallet. Carrie didn’t move, but her tears flowed faster.

“I would never have hurt your baby, she’s the sweetest little thing. But he just wouldn’t leave me alone to do my job.”

He handed her the card. “I believe you. I’ll try to help you, although you shouldn’t count on it.” An idea had just come to him, a live-in position out of town, caring for someone far less vulnerable than Daisy. But first he’d have to convince Uncle Matt he needed someone to help him. “Is there a number where I can call you? Your cell?”

Her good eye opened wide. “No! He checks it.”

Jake sighed. “Okay, then you’ll have to call me. Use my cell number and try to call tomorrow night.” If Violet found out he was helping the woman, she’d be furious. He knew he was endangering his own position, but he’d vowed as a young boy that when he got to be a man he’d never let anyone hurt a woman the way Ellsworth had hurt his mother.