The Doctor's Fake Nanny(8)

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.