Daycare Mum to Wife / Accidental Father. Nancy Robards Thompson

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