Deep in the Heart (4 page)

“
We got enough to cover it?”

“
Yeah, but we need to keep a watch on them. They did this last minute thing to us two months ago. I don’t want to make a habit out of cutting it this close.”

“
Got it.” Keith yanked on his work gloves. “Did you get that fence fixed yesterday?”

“
Fence?” Ike asked incredulously. “I’ve been buried here under this mountain of paperwork for a week. What do you think?”

Keith smiled with a slight tease on the edges. “I’ll let you worry about the paperwork. Leave the real work to me.”

“
Ha. Ha.” But Ike didn’t really protest. “Don’t hurt yourself getting your head through the door.”

This time Keith laughed out right. “No worries there. That’s why they made the barn doors so wide.”

Ike too joined in the laughter. Then his gaze fell to the desk. “Oh, and sometime today you need to take these invoices up to the main house. Your dad needs them for the accountants.”

“
Invoices? Be still my beating heart.”

“
Yeah. Yours or mine,” Ike said with more seriousness this time. “And with all due respect, I’d rather it be yours.”

Keith yanked the nail bags from the sidewall. “Such loyalty. You won’t take a bullet for me?”

“
A bullet yes. Your father on the other hand...”

With a shake of his head, Keith attached the belt to his waist. “You’re the definition of bravery, Ike.”

“
Bravery around here gets people killed or fired… Neither of which I really need right now.”

Keith started toward the door and was halfway out of it when Ike yelled.

“
Hey! Invoices.”

Some excitement in life just couldn’t be avoided. He stepped back to the trainer’s desk and took the stack of papers. “Okay, but if I don’t come back, it’s your fault.”

“
Better my fault than my head.”

And Keith ducked out. His father was bad. There was no doubt about it. Everyone knew it, and they all lived life in barely disguised fear. But really he wasn’t all that bad. At least he hadn’t been when Keith’s mother was still alive. The sadness that always accompanied thoughts of her drifted over him. Pushing it back, he loaded the tools he needed into the bright red, Dodge extended cab and climbed in. That was the one lesson he had learned with precision from his father—the great therapeutic benefits of good, old-fashioned hard work.

It had taken her most of the morning to find it, but with careful examination, Maggie had indeed carved out one whole hour in which nothing else was planned for the children. In the morning it was dance class for Isabella and art for Peter. Then lunch in the breakfast nook. Even that detail was noted on the schedule. In fact, everything was noted down to the minute, including the ten minutes of walking in the garden from one o’clock to ten after.

However, after the walk and before naptime, which was also clearly spelled out, there it was—a whole blessed hour with not one thing scheduled. She had seen the enormous redwood playhouse in the backyard from the window in the playroom. Bending down to their level, she let her eyes go wide. “What do you say before naptime we go out in the playhouse and read some stories?”

“
Stowies!” Isabella squealed excitedly.

“
Shh!” Peter immediately warned, and the fear was evident.

“
No, it’s okay, Peter,” Maggie said, taking his hand. “Isabella’s just happy. Aren’t you happy?”

“
I don’t want to go.” Sullen and afraid, he looked like a trapped animal.

“
Really? Why not?”

His gaze dropped to the carpet. “I don’t want to get dirty. We’ll get dirty if we go outside.”

“
Oh.” She sounded like she understood although she really didn’t. “Well, I’ll tell you what. We’ll find some clothes that we don’t have to worry about a little dirt. How would that be?”

Peter still didn’t look convinced, but Maggie started about finding the clothes despite his reluctance. It took fifteen minutes of their precious hour, but she got them ready, and with Isabella in one arm and Peter’s hand tucked securely in her other hand, they went out to the playhouse in the backyard.

“
Crud.” The invoices still lay on the seat. Really and truly Keith didn’t have time for this, but he knew it was time that had to be made. Turning the pickup up the side road, he bypassed the stables and headed to the main house. Jeffrey was out front mowing, and Keith waved at him with a lift of his hand. “Just get this done and get back to work.”

He climbed the front steps two at a time and entered without announcing his presence. Everything was quiet. Not a sound anywhere. He wondered for a moment where Maggie and the kids were. Probably at some lesson of some kind. There was never a shortage of lessons with Vivian at the helm. Quietly he made his way down to his father’s office at the end of the hallway. He was one second from knocking when he heard the voices from beyond the door, which was open a fraction of an inch.

It took him a minute of listening to decide who was in there and whether or not he should knock. By the time he decided, knocking was obviously less than prudent.

“
I can’t believe you didn’t notice this on her records,” his father said. “That’s not inconsequential you know.”

“
I know, Conrad. Believe me. I know. If I would’ve noticed it, I would never have even called her in the first place, but you know how desperate I’ve been for someone. I thought Alicia was the answer, but then she quit before she ever showed up. This was the only application I had left.”

“
You should know better, Viv. We can’t have just anybody coming in this house. There are records and information—not to mention the money and the jewelry. Someone with her background… You just never know. How can we trust someone like that?”

“
I get it, Conrad. Really I do, but we’re leaving Monday. We’ve had this cruise scheduled for six months. If I fire her now, there’s no way I’ll have someone else by then. I don’t want to miss this trip. We haven’t been anywhere just the two of us since Izzy was born.”

“
I don’t know. Leaving her here for a whole week with no one to look after the place? I don’t like the sound of that.”

As if he hadn’t been standing there for five minutes, Keith knocked on the door. “Dad?” He pushed the door open, and his father and Vivian both looked up like they had been caught. “Oh, sorry, Vivian. I didn’t realize you were here.” He held up the receipts. “I just needed to drop these off.”

Nonchalantly he stepped into the room and handed the receipts over to his father. Then he turned to go but stopped. “Oh. We’re keeping an eye on Hodges. They’ve been jerking us around on the feed supply. Just so you know.”

“
Okay.”

Keith could feel the intense conversation going on between the two of them without hearing any of it. “Well, that’s it. I’ll just get…”

“
You know, Keith.” His father stood, still looking at Vivian. Finally he put his full gaze on his son. “We’re going on vacation come Monday, and we’re needing someone to keep watch over things here while we’re gone.”

“
Oh, sure thing.” He nodded. “I’ll make sure everything stays on an even keel just like always.” Once again, he turned for the door, and this time he had his hand actually on the knob.

“
Uh, no,” his father said, stopping him. “I don’t think you understand.” When Keith turned, his father was looking at Vivian, obviously trying to get her to give up the crazy idea. Finally his father relented and stepped around the desk. “We want you to stay up here, in the main house and keep an eye on Peter and Isabella.”

“
Pete and Izzy? Isn’t that why you hired Maggie?”

“
Well, yes.” The battle to figure out a plausible lie was clear. “But she doesn’t even know her way around yet. I’d hate to dump all of this on her and take off.”

Keith considered this a moment and then shrugged. “Well, I don’t mind if you don’t.”

Anger flashed to the surface of his father’s demeanor. “Of course I don’t mind. What’s that supposed to mean?”

“
It was a joke, Dad. You know a joke. Ha. Ha.” But no one was laughing.

Vivian turned to him. “But you’ll do it then?”

Again Keith shrugged. “What the heck. Sure.”

“
Careful down. Careful down.” Maggie stood at the foot of the ladder that stretched up into the playhouse above. Reading was fun, but their hour was gone. She was going to have to hurry to get them down for naps. Already Isabella was huddled into Maggie’s shoulder, sucking her thumb. Helping Peter down the last two steps, Maggie took his hand, and they started for the house.

That house had a way of getting bigger every time she looked at it. She wondered how many rooms there actually were. Many more than she would ever be privy to visiting she was sure. She pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind and stepped up to the door, which she opened and held for Peter.

“
Come on. We’d better get your sister down for her nap.” They crossed through the living room and were two steps into the entryway when from the other hallway the hired hand who seemed to be following her around met them at the stairs.

“
Well, hey there,” he said, and his easy smile was never far behind.

“
Hi.” She could feel her glasses sliding down on her nose, but she didn’t have enough hands to push them back up.

He stepped over to her and ran his hand down Isabella’s back. “Tired little girl.”

“
We went in the playhouse,” Peter said at Maggie’s knee, and she looked down at him in surprise.

The hired hand sat down on his heel so he was on Peter’s level. “I bet that was lots of fun. You being a good boy for Maggie?”

Peter nodded, and Maggie fought not to notice the strength in the hand the guy reached out to ruffle Peter’s hair.

“
Good deal. Keep it up, sport.”

Noise from down the hallway brought him to his feet, and Maggie’s attention snapped that direction. Side-by-side Mr. and Mrs. Ayer walked in.

“
Oh, Maggie. Good I’m glad we caught you,” Mrs. Ayer said.

As Maggie turned to them, she felt Peter cowering behind her knee. Balance was a challenge what with Isabella now breathing softly on her chest and Peter’s arm wrapped around her leg. However, she anchored herself to the floor to keep from being buffeted by the two little ones.

“
We’re going out of town next week,” Mrs. Ayer said. “We’ve asked Keith to keep an eye on the place.”

For a split second Maggie had the name with a question mark after it on her tongue, but before she could ask, the hired hand smiled at her. Her brain surged into gear. “Oh.” She fought to smile as six thousand different emotions cracked over her. “Great.”

“
I promise I won’t be too much of a pain,” he said, and when he smiled at her, she couldn’t stop her own from coming for real.

Her gaze fell to the side. When she brought it up again, it was to look at Mrs. Ayer. “Just give Patty Ann the schedule you want for the kids. I’m sure we’ll be fine.” She wanted to say more. Her heart was jumping all over until in the swirl of emotions, she thought she might do something really stupid. “Well, I’d better get these two upstairs for their nap. We’re late.”

Turning for the stairs carefully, she took hold of Peter’s hand. “Come on, Peter. You can help me put Baby Bella down.”

Keith couldn’t help but watch the three of them all the way up the stairs. She was such a natural with the kids—not demanding or overbearing like the last three nannies they’d suffered through. No, Maggie had a genuine caring in her eyes. It was clear this wasn’t just a job for her. Depression tamped down over his heart when he remembered it couldn’t last. Certainly not with her less-than-perfect clothes and manner, and definitely not now that they had found whatever they’d found in her background. He wondered about that as she disappeared around the curve of the staircase to the level above.

“
Well, then it’s settled,” his father said, dragging Keith’s attention back to reality. “We leave for Miami Monday morning, and we’ll be back… when?”

“
The next Tuesday,” Vivian said as she folded her arms across her chest. She stared up the steps. “I hate to leave her alone like this.”

“
Don’t worry about it, Viv,” Keith said confidently. “I’ve got it covered.”

“
Ms. Montgomery,” Patty Ann, the prim, middle-aged lady with the stern face and the voice of stone said, stopping Maggie ten steps from the dining room that evening.

Children dangled from her hip and her hand. “Oh. Yes, Ma’am.”

“
You’re late, Ms. Montgomery.”

“
Late?” Maggie pulled Peter’s hand up with her watch. “It’s two minutes ‘til.”

“
Yes.
Dinner
is at six.
Arrival
is prior to that so that dinner can be served promptly on time. You must understand. Mrs. Ayer is very particular about the timing of the day, and Mr. Ayer is a very busy man.”

Maggie fought the urge to curtsey. “Yes, Ma’am. I understand. I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”

There was disapproval all the way down to the tip of the long nose. “Make sure that it doesn’t.”

That night, Maggie put the kids to bed right on schedule, then went to her own room to get herself ready for bed. However, before she could completely settle down for the night, she made one last little pilgrimage back to their rooms to check on them. It was a ritual she could get used to.