First of all, even though she had assured me that we had never met, I had this nagging voice in the back of my head telling me that we had, that I should remember her. I just couldn't place where. Besides, what reason would she have to tell me we hadn't met if we had? Unless she didn't remember me either.
Then there was the fact that she was completely beautiful. I had never seen a woman like Kayla before. The combination of her dark skin and her flashing blue eyes was alarmingly attractive, the easy curves of her body difficult to ignore.
Especially when she was living on my property, taking care of Sophie so that she seemed happier and more well-adjusted than she had in the entire two years of me attempting to care for her myself. I had to remind myself that she was not here for me. The last thing I wanted to do was scare her away from Sophie, no matter how attracted I was to her.
"Definitely no good. I've heard it can hurt you in all sorts of different ways. Which is why I hate to bring this up."
She gave me a sheepish little smile and I raised my eyebrows at her expectantly. Shit. What new bad news did she have to deliver? I wasn't sure I was in the mood to shoulder anything else at this particular moment in time.
"It's just that your mother called. She said she's going to be early for dinner. Which means that she's going to be here in just under an hour."
"Oh come on!" I groaned, closing my eyes briefly in frustration.
"I know, I had a feeling you weren't going to be thrilled with the information. But who knows? Maybe things will go better than you're expecting them to. Stranger things have happened."
"You're right. Stranger things have."
"I'll get Sophie ready, okay? You just get changed and relax. Everything is going to be alright. I promise."
I smiled and watched her hurry off to find my brother's little girl. Somehow when she made that promise it was hard for me not to believe her. I wanted to believe her, I really did. The only thing was, she hadn't met my mother yet. It would be interesting to see how positive she would stay then.
"David, darling. Whatever took you so long to come to the door? I feel as if I've been standing out on that stoop for a century. You really should get a butler, you know. It isn't like you can't afford one."
"Hello, Mother. Sorry about the wait."
This sounded about right, the typical kind of greeting from my mom. God knew I loved her, but she was not the easiest woman to take. Especially after my father died. She had always been high strung, but my father had a little more of a whimsical side to him, just like Mikey did.
He balanced her out. After he died she got a lot harder to reign in. After the car crash, after Mikey and Anna both passed away, she had become almost impossible. The only ones left in our family were the super serious ones, aside from Sophie, and we didn't always do so well without the buffer.
"No need to be sorry, David, that's not what I want to hear. What's the use in being sorry anyway?"
"I know, you think sorry doesn't get you anywhere."
She gave me a sharp, stern look of disapproval. The tone of my voice. Had to be. She always seemed to think I had a disrespectful tone, even when that was the last thing I was trying to do. She had been that way since I was a kid. She had been a little more forgiving with Mikey.
"Well, it doesn't. You should know that just as well as I do. The answer is simple. Either get a butler or get to the door more quickly. God forbid you have someone really important waiting at your door."
"Alright, Mother, I'll look into it."
She breezed past me and into the home just as if she owned it. She had a tendency to do that, to walk into a place and make it her own. She was used to being in charge. I had to give it to her, there were obvious reasons for that. When you were the head of cardiology you got used to people doing what you said. It had to be hard to just turn that general-like personality off and on with the flip of an internal switch.
"Good, that's good. And what of my granddaughter? How has Sophie been?"
"Good! Better, I think. She seems to be finally adjusting to things. Sometimes I wonder how much she really knows."
This comment got me another look, a much more formidable one than the last. That one had gotten dangerously close to crossing the line my mom had drawn in the sand after Mikey's death, the line that was never, never to be crossed.
All four of us had been in that car crash, Mikey, his beautiful family, and myself. Sophie had, miraculously, come out of it without so much as a scratch. I shattered the bones in my left leg, something that still routinely caused me pain, but I walked away from the crash.
Mikey and Anna died that day and almost immediately my mom made a rule that he wasn't to be spoken of. That was her bottom line. Nobody was allowed to talk about him, which meant we pretty much had to pretend that Sophie was mine. Any mention of a need to adjust was like mentioning Mikey to mom.
"Well, where is she? Will she be joining us for dinner?"
Just like Mom, pretend nothing out of the ordinary was said and push forward. That was the creed she lived by. Push forward, no matter what. I had never even seen her cry, not once. Not after my dad passed away and not after the whole horrible mess with Mikey.
"Sure, sure she is. She's excited to see you. She'll be joining us, as will Kayla."
"Kayla? Who, may I ask, is Kayla?"
"She's the woman I've hired to care for Sophie when I'm away. She was a school teacher and she's very good at working with Sophie, despite her ADHD."
"She doesn't have any such thing," my mother fired back quickly, "she's just spirited. And how do you know this woman is actually qualified to work with my granddaughter?"
"Relax, Mom. I've watched the two of them together. She's great with her. She seems to make Sophie really happy. They're actually in the dining room already. Perhaps we should join them?"
"I suppose so."
Even her walk seemed disapproving as she made her way deeper into my home. I took a deep breath, wishing this whole thing was already over and done with. Reduce my stress? That didn't seem likely with a dinner like this to get through.
Chapter Five
Kayla
"And who are you? The new nanny, I suppose?"
"Yes, hello, you must be David's mother. I'm Kayla. It's lovely to meet you."
I left Sophie sitting uncertainty on the thick dining room rug amidst a sea of blocks and toys and hurried towards David's mother to shake her hand. She took my hand, but by the tips of my fingers, like she wanted to touch me as little as possible. David was right, his mom was kind of a trip, and I was definitely nervous about her being here. But it was for more than he realized.
As soon as I saw her, I realized I knew David's mother. Not well, not like we had had a bunch of conversations or anything like that, but I did know her. I recognized her from the hospital, from Nikki's last stay there before she passed away.
This wasn't just any mother. This was Dr. Elizabeth Carr-Wyatt. She was the head of the cardiology department in the hospital where David worked. She was the one who sat down with my family and explained how sorry the hospital was for our loss.
Even then she had seemed a little cold. Now, standing there with a look of obvious distaste, she seemed pretty close to terrifying. It didn't matter. I wasn't going to let myself be intimidated, not even by her. Not even by the narrowed, scrutinizing look she was giving me.
"Do I know you from somewhere?"
"I doubt it. Not unless you had a kindergartner at Mt. Harvey last year." I laughed with a breeziness I didn't feel.
She wrinkled her nose in distaste, something that didn't surprise me all that much. Mt. Harvey wasn't the kind of school women like this went anywhere near, let alone sent their children to. It was an inner city school, one full of people with stretched and troubled lives instead of massive amounts of wealth. It didn't seem much like Elizabeth Wyatt's scene.
"No, no, I certainly did not. Nevertheless, you seem quite familiar. Where else might I know you from? I'm almost sure I recognize you."
"I felt the same way, Mom. I think she's just that person everyone feels is familiar. Maybe she's just too nice, so everyone feels comfortable with her."
Dr. Wyatt gave David an unhappy look but seemed to be willing to let the matter go. Thank god. I still wasn't entirely sure where I stood on the matter of David Wyatt, but at that moment I could have kissed him, I was so thankful.