She wrapped her arms around Sasha and kissed the top of the girl’s head. “This pretty girl looks small on the outside, but she’s going to be one of your biggest.”
He didn’t want to think about that. A child. “I’m not parent material,” he said. “I don’t know what John was thinking.”
“You’re family,” Cassie reminded him, as if that explained everything. “Who else would he trust with his only daughter?”
“Someone who knew what he was doing. Someone in a position to take care of his child.” Anyone but him. He didn’t want the responsibility. Worse, he didn’t know how to handle it. Work was his life and he preferred it that way. If only John had left a dog instead of a kid, things would have been a whole lot easier.
“You’ll struggle at first,” Cassie said, “but that won’t last long. They look really breakable, but actually children are tough. All they need are attention and love.” Her mouth curved up in a smile. “The occasional meal helps, too.”
“What this child needs is a nanny.” He looked at her. “Would your aunt be interested in taking on the job for a couple of months? I’ll be in Bradley about that long. I have to straighten out John and Helen’s affairs while I’m figuring out what to do with her.” He nodded at Sasha, who was happily playing with a spoon she’d discovered on the table.
“Aunt Charity isn’t the nanny type.” Cassie studied him for several seconds. “If you’re only talking about a couple of months, I could do it.”
His luck wasn’t usually that good, he thought. A young woman who worked in a preschool and was familiar with Sasha. What could be better? “You already have a job,” he reminded her.
“I know, but because the school year has just started, my boss won’t have any trouble getting replacements for me.” She smiled at what he guessed was his look of confusion. “The university has a large child development department, and all the students are required to work several hours a week with young children. The preschool always gets many more applicants than we have openings. The students work part-time so it takes two or three of them to make up for one full-time employee, but with the semester just beginning, that isn’t a problem.”
Perfect, he thought. “When can you start?”
She raised her eyebrows. “You’ll want to check my references, first. I don’t have a formal résumé with me, but I can leave names and phone numbers with you.”
“Yes, of course.”
Ryan knew he was going about this all wrong. He knew he had to check on Cassie Wright and make sure she would take good care of Sasha. He just didn’t have any experience in this sort of thing. “Assuming everything checks out, can you begin in the morning?”
She thought for a moment. “I’ll have to make some arrangements with the preschool, but I believe that would be fine. Do you want me to live in, or just work days?”
“Live in. The house is huge and there are several guest rooms. You can have your pick and—”
Sasha threw back her hands and released her spoon. The piece of flatware sailed straight into the air. Cassie reached up and grabbed it. As she did so, he caught a glint of light from her left hand. A ring. He should have known. Of course it wasn’t going to be this easy to solve his child-care problems.
“I doubt your husband will appreciate you staying in the house,” he said, trying not to sound like a kid who just had his bike stolen. “Perhaps you can fill in during the day until I can find someone to live in.”
Sasha wiggled to get down and Cassie helped her to her feet, then smoothed her skirt back in place. She frowned. “I’m not married.”
He pointed to her left hand. “You’re wearing a ring.”
She glanced down, then extended her fingers toward him. “It’s not a wedding band, it’s a promise ring. I’m engaged to be engaged. Joel and I have been dating for years.”
As she looked to be in her early twenties, he doubted it had really been years. A promise ring. He’d never heard of that. He leaned forward to study the slender band. There was a mark in the gold. “It’s scratched,” he said, pointing to the indentation. “Did you hit it?”
“It’s not a scratch, it’s a diamond.” She sighed. “Well, a diamond chip, rather than a real stone.”
He leaned a little closer, then took her hand in his so he could study the diamond chip. It looked like a speck of lint, but if he turned her hand back and forth it almost caught the light. Looked like Joel was not much of a spender.