Читать книгу Daddy and Daughters - Barbara McMahon - Страница 7

CHAPTER TWO

“I HAVE to compliment you on your restraint and tact,” Jared said to Cassandra when they were seated in the back of the limousine heading for Manhattan.

“About what?” she asked warily.

After entering the limousine, Cassandra had moved as close to the far door as possible. Jared almost smiled at the distance she placed between them. Was she uncomfortable around him? Interesting. For a moment he considered testing the theory.

“Another woman would have bombarded me with questions about my marriage, my wife and why I apparently have two-year-old daughters I know nothing about,” he said instead.

“Of course I’m curious, but I do respect your right to privacy.” She tilted her head and smiled mischievously. “And I picked up quite a bit from around the office. The scuttlebutt is that you two married to pool resources so you could build Hunter Associates. She moved to New York a few years ago to open a second office and to try to crack the European market. She had two little girls you knew nothing about. If there’s more you want to volunteer, I wouldn’t interrupt.”

Startled, Jared almost laughed aloud at the unexpected glimpse of minx in his companion. He knew what she had told him was no secret—except for the babies. He was more intrigued that she had apparently picked up quite a bit. Any special reason?

“Ours was not an ordinary marriage. We married for expediency. Starting up a new company calls for a lot of hard work, long hours and money. It was easier to minimize expenses and to work long hours by sharing a home.” He wasn’t trying to justify the relationship, just explain it. Why that was important, he wasn’t sure.

“Sounds like a business arrangement.”

“Essentially.” He had almost forgotten how it started. For the last three years they had shared nothing beyond a meal in Washington. “MaryEllen wanted Hunter Associates to succeed even more than I did. She found the business environment challenging and exciting.”

“It can be exhilarating,” Cassandra murmured, watching ing him closely.

“I know. Now I understand her sudden determination to move to New York and open an East Coast office. She never came back to San Francisco because she feared she’d be stuck with the babies rather than in the trenches of high-tech business, I think.”

“Not every woman wants to stay home and raise children.”

“You don’t,” he stated with certainty. Her outburst yesterday in his office confirmed that.

“What I want right now is a chance to build a life of my own. Maybe down the road I’ll marry and have children. Then I’ll have to see what I want to do. Children are fine as long as they are wanted and loved.”

“I hear a but.”

“But I don’t want the choice taken from me.”

“As I did with this assignment?”

She nodded, looking out the window as the tall skyscrapers of Manhattan came into view. Puffy white clouds drifted in azure blue skies. Traffic was heavy, but moving steadily on the congested highway. Jared wondered if her attention was truly taken with the approaching city or if she was trying to distance herself to rebuild her anger. It had blown over quickly. He was glad she wasn’t the type to sulk.

“Be honest, Cassandra. I didn’t ask for much. A day to help get them home. Helen is working on finding a nanny. You have experience I lack. Wouldn’t you take advantage of any needed expertise?”

“Probably,” she admitted grudgingly.

“Where does that expertise come from? Lots of brothers and sisters?” He knew he was probing where she didn’t want him to, but his curiosity rose. Solemn and serious, Cassandra Bowles never gave the impression she was anything but a well-trained employee. Yet she had to have a private life—he didn’t demand his employees dedicate their entire waking hours to the job. Suddenly he wanted to know more.

“None, actually.”

“We have about thirty minutes before we arrive at the attorneys’ office. Why don’t you tell me about your experience with children.” If she wouldn’t open up voluntarily, he’d ask specific questions. For a moment he wondered why he pushed. Was it only curiosity, or was he trying to stop thinking about two toddlers waiting to meet him? He’d negotiated multimillion-dollar deals. Why was he growing more and more nervous at the thought of facing two small girls?

The silence stretched. Cassandra slowly turned and looked at him assessingly. She didn’t like to talk about her past. All her life she’d wished for a fairy-tale family, something like the Brady Bunch—a dream far from her reality. She guessed it wouldn’t hurt to explain why she hadn’t wanted to come on this trip.

“My mother died when I was seven. I had no other family, so I ended up in foster care. The home I was assigned when I was ten had lots of young children, mostly other foster kids. I baby-sat constantly over the next eight years. Once I turned eighteen, I split. No more kids for me, I vowed.”

“Until today.”

“I wish. When I got to college, I needed money. Only job I was qualified for was watching children. So I was a prime candidate for professors’ families looking for baby-sitters. Another four years of watching other people’s kids.”

“Now mine.”

“Right.” She frowned. “It’s not what I expected when I hired on with the firm. I have a degree in marketing, not child care. I want to use my mind, not be a baby-sitter.”

“Nor did I ever think I’d need a baby-sitter. But then I had no idea MaryEllen had delivered twins.” Jared lapsed into silence, again wondering how MaryEllen could have kept such an event from him. After all, he couldn’t have made her return to San Francisco to live. He should have known about his daughters.

The law offices of Sattler, Randall and Peabody were located on the thirty-third floor of a skyscraper on East Fortieth Street. A high-speed elevator whisked them quickly to their destination. Jared located the door to the offices, pushed it open and stood aside to allow Cassandra to enter. Stepping inside, he immediately stopped, his eyes on the two toddlers playing by a maroon-colored crushed velvet sofa. Dark hair caught up in wispy ponytails, matching overalls, a pink shirt and a yellow shirt on the two little girls—other than those shirts, they were identical. Both stopped playing when Jared entered, turning toward him and Cassandra, bright blue eyes staring.

Jared stood more than six feet tall. Did he seem like a giant to these little creatures? They were so tiny. For an instant he stared in fascination, wondering what they thought. Neither said a word, just stared.

“Hello, there.” Cassandra greeted the little girls and moved closer. They were precious. Her heart went out to them. Things must be so scary. Cassandra remembered how scared she’d been when her mother died and she had gone to live with strangers. Nothing had been familiar, nothing comforting. And she’d missed her mother so much.

Smiling, she knelt before the girls and slowly reached out to touch each one on her hand. “Hi, I’m Cassie. What are your names?”

Jared heard the warmth and softness in her voice. It broke the spell. The twins smiled and shifted their gaze to Cassandra. When she knelt before them, they launched into babbling that had Jared’s head spinning. Would she understand anything they were saying? He’d forgotten how small two-year-olds were. They didn’t even talk well.

“Mr. Hunter?” The woman behind the reception desk greeted him. Her smile was friendly.

“That’s right.”

“Cute kids you have,” she said with a glance at the twins. “I’ve been watching them for the last two weeks. They’re as sweet as can be. I’m so sorry about your wife.”

Jared nodded, feeling totally out of his element. He knew nothing about children—knew nothing about his own daughters! Fortunately, Cassandra appeared to know all that was needed. The twins took to her like ducks to water. Laughing and talking, the three of them, all the same height with Cassandra kneeling, seemed to mesh perfectly. For a moment Jared was envious. He watched them while the receptionist notified the attorney of Jared’s arrival.

“Mr. Randall will be with you in just a moment,” the receptionist said, seemingly unaware of his hesitation.

Nodding, Jared moved slowly across the reception area toward his children. One look at them and all doubts fled. They looked just like he had as a child—though feminine versions. He could see nothing of MaryEllen in either child except for her blue eyes. Had they inherited her temperament or ambition?

“Hello,” he said.

Two pairs of identical eyes swiveled to him. The little girl in yellow put her thumb in her mouth, watching him warily.

“I think you are a bit too tall for them. Either pick them up, or get down on their level,” Cassandra suggested, leaning on her heels. She brushed the hair off the face of the child sucking her thumb.

Jared stared at the unwavering eyes regarding him. Slowly he sat on the edge of the sofa, totally at a loss. He didn’t like the feeling. Over the years, he’d perfected his ability to fit in with different cultures, different societies as he expanded Hunter Associates in Pacific Rim countries. Now he was floored by a pair of babies.

“Smile,” Cassandra said, the lilt in her voice one of amusement. “This is your daddy. Tell him your name,” she prompted the twin in pink.

“Asslee,” she said proudly, her gaze steady.

Popping her thumb from her mouth, the other twin piped up. “Me Bitnee.”

“Ashley and Brittany,” Cassandra repeated, smiling at them. “And this is your daddy. Can you say Daddy?”

For a moment Jared was struck by the change on her face. He wished she would smile at him like that. For the first time he realized how lucky he was that she had responded when he’d yelled for Helen yesterday. He couldn’t have handled these children by himself. They stood by Cassandra, shaking their heads. Then Ashley began talking nineteen to the dozen. Cassandra listened as if she understood every word, nodding and smiling. Maybe she did. But he didn’t.

A father should be better able to cope. What was he going to do? Dealing on an international level in business was one thing. The thought of dealing with these toddlers scared him half to death.

Cassandra stayed in the reception area with the twins when Jared met with MaryEllen’s attorney, Thomas Randall. The girls had warmed up to her, and she thought it best to have as few disruptions as possible. They already had experienced a lot of change. She would try to make things easier for them.

Sitting on the sofa, she enticed them to sit beside her, one on each side. “Let me tell you a story. It’s about two big girls who just met their daddy...” Trying to explain the coming changes in a story, Cassandra told the tale in simple terms. She made flying sound like a grand adventure and moving to San Francisco as normal as brushing their teeth.

When Thomas Randall offered to read the will aloud, Jared asked if he could skim it himself. It took only a few minutes. The will was short and simple. The half interest MaryEllen owned in the company was left in trust to her daughters, to be administered by her husband, the children’s father. Jared looked at the attorney when he finished.

“She was a young woman. Her death caught me by surprise,” Jared said. He wondered how much the man knew about their marriage.

The attorney nodded. “The children’s baby-sitter called us when MaryEllen went into the hospital. I went to see your wife just before she died. She was very sick. I think she pushed herself too hard and had no reserves when the end came.”

“The girls will miss her,” Jared murmured.

“Not as much as you might suspect,” Randall said. “Apparently there have been a series of baby-sitters and housekeepers over the last couple of years. I don’t believe the girls are strongly attached to anyone—even their mother. My receptionist reported they adjusted well to staying with her.”

“I’ll get them established in a stable environment. I have to return to San Francisco,” Jared said.

“We expected that. I have all the paperwork right here. Anything else we can do, just ask.”

“I’d like directions to the cemetery,” Jared said as he began to read the legal papers that would wind up MaryEllen’s estate.

When Jared finished with the lawyer, he returned to the reception area where Cassandra sat on the sofa softly reading aloud, a twin snuggled on each side, their eyes on the pages of the book. For a moment they didn’t see him. He took the time to study the group, aware of a curious yearning. That is what a family would look like. A mother devoted to her children, all of them waiting for the father.

He hadn’t realized before that he had no clear vision of a family. He’d been raised by his grandfather, a gruff old man. There’d been few amenities or social graces in that all-male household, but at least he had had his grandfather when his parents had died. He had not gone into foster care like Cassandra. Nor would his children!

His goal for the last decade had been to establish his company, make it a success. He’d never given a thought to starting a family. Now he’d been presented with a ready-made one. Was the next step to acquire another wife?

One of the twins looked up, the one who sucked her thumb. Brittany?

“Man,” she said.

Cassandra looked up. “How’d it go?”

“Fine. I’m finished here. We can head for MaryEllen’s apartment We’ll need to pack the children’s clothes and toys. I’ll also have to get an idea of what’s needed to close the place. Later I want to swing by the office and make sure things are settled there. Paul will be in charge. I want to review the current projects with him.”

For a moment he thought her lips tightened, and he remembered her comment about having kids dumped on her. But it couldn’t be helped. No matter her likes or dislikes, Cassandra looked like a natural with those twins, and he hadn’t a clue how to begin. It was only for a day. Then she’d be back in the office and could stay away from children for the rest of her life if she so chose.

“As long as you realize you have to pull your own weight,” she said, disengaging herself and rising. “Come on, munchkins, time to go home. Brittany, you come with me. Ashley, you go with Daddy.”

He almost didn’t recognize the appellation. He was the daddy of these children.

Cassandra picked up Brittany and propped her on her hip. She looked at Jared, her dark, solemn eyes behind her glasses. Was there a hint of a challenge in her gaze?

Jared reached down and picked up Ashley. She was light as a feather. Holding her against his chest, he stared into her eyes. She patted his cheek and smiled. Something tugged in his heart. She was precious. Small and alone and totally dependent upon him to care for her. Panic nipped at his heels. Could he do it? What if he screwed up? He knew nothing about parenting. Had thought to work up to it, if ever he’d decided to take the plunge. Read books while his wife was pregnant, learn as they went along. Not be an instant father with no warning and no time to prepare.

“Let’s go, Daddy.” Amusement danced in Cassandra’s eyes, but she kept the smile from her lips. No point in letting Jared know she found his uncertainty touching. He was a dynamo in the office. Now he looked as awkward as a teenager on a first date. She blinked and led the way from the reception area. Why in the world had she thought about dating? She was a baby-sitter, that’s all. He was dumping his children on her and taking off for the New York office, abdicating all responsibility for a day. Sometimes it didn’t pay to open your mouth!

Adding the small bag for the twins to the others, he followed. Cassandra waited by the elevator, allowing Brittany to press the buttons. Both were lit, but she didn’t care. They’d just wait for a down elevator. Children liked to experiment and try things. She may be mad at their father for insisting she accompany him, but she would never take that anger out on these children.

MaryEllen Hunter’s apartment came as a surprise. It was large, formally decorated in delicate Queen Anne furnishings and located in a prestigious neighborhood only two blocks from Central Park. When they entered, Jared placed Ashley on the floor. She didn’t move. Cassandra deposited Brittany beside her. The two girls looked at the adults.

“Where’s your room?” Cassandra asked.

Ashley pointed down the hall.

Crossing into the living room, Jared dropped their bags on the floor beside an ornate credenza that took up most of the wall. Surveying the room, he wondered when MaryEllen had decided to go for the elegant look. Their place in San Francisco had been comfortable with sturdy furniture and few knickknacks. Maybe this style fit with her idea of living in New York. He didn’t like it much, but he was more interested in comfort at home.

“No, no,” Brittany said when Cassandra started to follow.

“What?”

“No, no.” Brittany shook her head, warily eyeing the living room.

The phone rang.

Jared crossed to answer it, puzzled by Brittany.

“Jared Hunter.”

“Mr. Hunter, this is Annie Simmons. Mr. Randall called a little while ago and suggested I get in touch with you. I was the twins’ baby-sitter. The most recent one, I should say. I understand you’ll be taking the children back to San Francisco with you, but if I can help in the meantime, please let me know. I don’t start another job for a week.”

“We plan to leave tomorrow.” Jared glanced at Cassandra. “But if you could come by today, that would be great. You could help us pack their things, maybe suggest where I can dispose of what we don’t take with us.”

“Surely. I could stop by around one.”

Jared checked his watch. It wasn’t even noon. “That will be fine.”

“I’ll be there.”

Cassandra and the twins had disappeared. He followed the sound of voices drifting down the hall and stopped at the door to their bedroom. It was large, with two cribs, a highboy dresser and more dolls and stuffed animals scattered around than most toy stores carried. MaryEllen hadn’t stinted on gifts for her daughters.

Brittany stood near the wall, watching Cassandra and Ashley, thumb firmly in her mouth. He wondered why one sucked her thumb and the other didn’t. Of course in the short drive from the attorney’s office, he’d noticed the difference in the personalities of the two. Ashley was outgoing and friendly. Curious and fearless. Brittany seemed to watch carefully, shy and quiet. Interesting with identical twins. Or was that the norm? He had so much to learn.

“That was the girls’ baby-sitter. She’ll stop by at one to help pack.”

Cassandra nodded, took off her suit jacket and tossed it across the rails of one of the cribs. The soft material of her blouse draped over her trim figure, Jared noticed. His eyes skimmed over her curves. Again he wondered what she would look like in lacy, frilly dresses. It was probably something he’d never see. She was an employee, here under protest to help him with his newly discovered daughters. Nothing else.

He shook his head. Who was he kidding? Only himself. Because he was the only one who knew about the attraction he felt around Cassandra Bowles. And it had better stay that way. A passing fancy. Once he caught up on sleep, got into the routine of work, he’d move beyond any such awareness.

Or so he hoped.

“If you find the suitcases, I’ll start packing,” Cassandra said, opening a drawer in the high dresser. Might as well make the most of the situation. She could get started on packing, then sort favorite toys and books when the baby-sitter arrived. She’d also make sure she found out as much as she could about the twins’ habits, likes and dislikes. Poor babies needed all the help they could get, moving to an entirely new life-style. She glanced at Jared, startled to find his gaze traveling over her body. Heat flushed through her. Swallowing hard, she shifted and turned her back. The unexpected tingling was not a sensation she’d felt before. She wasn’t getting sick, was she? No, it was the constant state of awareness she felt around Jared Hunter.

Clearing her throat, she thought longingly about her bag. She had jeans and a shirt in it. Maybe she should change before she did anything else.

“It may take me a while to find them.” Jared went into the hallway and entered the second bedroom.

Find what? Oh, the suitcases for the children. Cassandra pressed her hands against her cheeks, feeling the heat. She was acting like an idiot. She was here to take care of his children, nothing else. And she had better remember that every minute!

She trailed after Jared and found him in what must have been his wife’s bedroom. MaryEllen’s things still lay strewn about. The bed was unmade, as if she’d risen only that morning to head for the hospital. A pang hit her. MaryEllen had been alone at the end. If his trip to Bangkok had been postponed, if the typhoon hadn’t struck, Jared could have been with her.

“I’m sorry you didn’t make it back in time,” she said softly, watching the bleak look in his eyes.

“I didn’t even know she was sick. She should have told me.”

“Maybe she didn’t think it was serious until too late. Maybe she didn’t know how serious.”

“I would have insisted the doctors try everything in their power to keep her alive.”

“I’m sure they did all they could.” She longed to offer comfort, but was unsure what to say. Did he want to talk about it? Knowing human touch could help, she reached out and clasped his hand, squeezing a bit, just to let him know he wasn’t alone.

“I don’t know a thing about taking care of babies,” he said, looking around the room. But the tight grip of his hand let Cassandra know he didn’t want to be alone.

“You’ll learn what you need to know. And you can afford competent help to take care of a lot of the routine things.”

A shriek of laughter came from the twins’ room.

“I guess I’d better check on them,” Cassandra said, squeezing his hand one last time before she slowly let go. For a moment he held on, then released her.

“I’ll hunt up those suitcases.”

Jared opened the closet door. Clothes filled the space. In the back, to the left, sat a matching set of expensive leather luggage. He drew the suitcases out, brushing against the clothes. He realized they still carried the faint scent of MaryEllen’s perfume. He couldn’t believe he wouldn’t see her again, wouldn’t go toe-to-toe with her over some business decision. Wouldn’t hear her wild dreams, most of which had a basic, strong concept they usually implemented. Wouldn’t argue about the rate of expansion and the cost-cutting measures he always demanded.

Shaking his head, dispelling memories, Jared returned to the children’s room.

“The water is too cold to swim in. When you walk outside it will be windy some days, cool from the bay, but that’s good for flying kites.” Cassandra chatted with the children as she stacked clothes on one of the cribs.

“What are you telling them?” Jared asked, looking for a place to put the suitcases.

“About their new home. I think they’ll feel more comfortable knowing about the change,” she said. “Just put them on the floor. There’s no room anywhere else.”

“Here, Ashley, you put this in the suitcase.” Cassandra handed the toddler two folded shirts. Ashley walked to the suitcase and dumped them in.

“Great technique, kid,” Jared muttered.

Cassandra laughed. “It doesn’t matter. They just want to help,” she said as she handed a similar stack to Brittany.

“Why not just dump the drawers into the case if you’re not going to have them neatly folded?” he asked, watching the jumble of shirts steadily growing in the suitcase.

“When they nap, I’ll fold everything. Right now this keeps them occupied and gives them the feeling they are helping, that they’re participating in this move.”

“Psychology, too?” He raised an eyebrow, studying her.

“Practical, actually. You could help.”

“You’ve got a system going. I think I’ll check out MaryEllen’s things. See if I can find her personal papers and pack them. I’ll have to get someone in to close up this place.”

“Find some things of their mother’s that the children can have when they are older,” Cassandra suggested. “They won’t remember her, poor babies, but it will be nice for them when they’re grown to have something of their mother.”

He heard the wistful note in her voice.

“Do you?” he asked softly. Knowing he was treading on personal ground, he still had to know.

She shook her head. “That’s why I know they’ll appreciate it. We had so little. I don’t know what happened to our things. Social Services came for me, we packed my clothes, and I got to take one doll. That was all.”

“That’s tough.” He remembered his grandfather’s complaining, when his parents died, about having to store furniture and boxes in that shed in the back. Most of it was still there—a link to parents he scarcely remembered.

“It was a long time ago.” She smiled at him, her head tilted slightly.

“I’ll find a few things for the girls. I could have everything shipped to the West Coast,” Jared said, his heart skipping a beat at her smile.

“You’re the boss. But they may not want this furniture. Just mementos.”

Jared shrugged out of his suit jacket, slung it over one shoulder and headed for the living room. He tossed the jacket on the back of the sofa and looked around. The art on the walls was good quality. The figurines and vases would make nice mementos. Had they held special meaning for MaryEllen, or had she chosen them to complement the decor? Odd he knew so little about a woman to whom he’d been married for so long. He crossed the room, then paused by a small antique desk. The drawers contained MaryEllen’s papers—most recent bills, bank statements, address book and other items.