Chapter 3 #2
“Leon said you’re good with children.” After questioning my son, I found out that Elena volunteers at her church daycare on Sundays.
On Sunday morning, I followed her from her house to church and watched her playing with the children.
I was just there to observe her, but I found myself smiling at her interactions, especially with the youngest toddlers.
She clearly adores children, and they love her.
I had Rosie with me, and after Elena went home I approached one of the nuns to ask about their daycare services, and inquired about Elena in particular, saying she was a friend of the family.
The nun praised Elena’s commitment to the children to the skies and back.
She’s been volunteering at the daycare for three years and has never missed a Sunday.
For the last three days, I’ve had someone on my team follow Elena, and as far as I can tell, she doesn’t drink, smoke, or take drugs.
She’s always on time for work and church.
A background check—thanks to a cop I know who enjoys earning a little extra on the side—told me that her record is squeaky clean.
Her family is unknown, and she was raised by two church-going spinster sisters.
I feel confident that Elena is responsible enough to take care of Rosie, and now all that’s left is to introduce them and see if my daughter likes her.
I nod at the truck. “Get in. I’ll take you to meet Rosie, and we can talk about it. She’ll be asleep, but I can talk you through what I’m looking for.”
Sweet, trusting Elena gets into my truck. I want to tell her she shouldn’t get into a vehicle with a man who’s practically a stranger, but seeing as her naivety is working in my favor, I hold my tongue for now .
“Nice truck. I’m surprised you drive one of these,” she says as we head to my house.
“Why?”
She hesitates for a moment. “No reason.”
“You were expecting an old white van with electrical gears in the back?”
“Maybe. Or something flashy, like Leon’s car.”
I bought Leon a muscle car for his twentieth birthday.
I let a little of my youthful twang back into my voice. “Ma’am, I’m a good Southern working man. Driving a truck is in my blood, no matter how many decades I’ve spent in the Pacific Northwest. I make a mean fried chicken, and I like my iced tea sweet.”
She smiles when I call her ma’am . “You should have told me you like sweet tea. I would have brought you some.”
“Not regular iced tea with sugar packets on the side, I hope.”
“No, sir.”
“Damn, that’s good service.” I relax my arm along the window as I drive and rest two fingers on the steering wheel. I can’t remember the last time I had a woman in my truck, and it feels good.
“You looked like you were working hard this evening. Your focus was intense. Was it security stuff?” she asks.
“Yes, security stuff.”
Elena looks out the window, and then turns back to me. “I love what you do. It gives me a warm feeling.”
I can’t help but smile at the road ahead.
Oh, darlin’. Isn’t she sweet? When she says things like that, it gives me a warm feeling too.
“Tell me if you still have that warm feeling after I’ve walked you through the complicated security system on my house.
If you’re going to look after Rosie, you’ll need to understand how it works. ”
“Mr. Grant, are you a paranoid, overprotective father?” she asks in a way that tells me she would like it if I said yes.
“Me? Never.”
Elena laughs.
The warm feeling deepens. Are we flirting? This feels like flirting.
Ten minutes later, I pull into the driveway of my home, but I don’t put the truck into the garage since I’m going to drive Elena home.
“Wow, your home is beautiful,” she says, getting out.
It’s a two-story Georgian revival with six bedrooms, white columns, high ceilings, and tall Palladian windows.
There’s a twelve-foot gate out front and a high fence encircling the property.
Every inch of the house and garden is surveilled by cameras and microphones, and the recordings are backed up in real time to the cloud.
I wonder why Leon has never brought her here. Maybe he only takes girls to his mother’s place. Leon and Elena alone together under Rebecca’s casual care. I don’t like that thought at all.
I asked the nanny, Mrs. Kerr, to stay later tonight, and as I take Elena inside, I tell Mrs. Kerr she can head home.
The nursery is upstairs, and Rosie is fast asleep with a night-light on that projects stars onto the ceiling.
My daughter has curly blonde hair and she’s dressed in pink-and-white pajamas.
“Ohh, she’s beautiful,” Elena whispers, smiling with her hands resting on the edge of the crib. “She looks just like you. Are her eyes hazel?”
“They are. And she’s stubborn like me, but a whole lot sweeter. I need a babysitter overnight once or twice a week at short notice. Is that something you’d be interested in?”
Elena takes a long look at Rosie sleeping in her crib.
Her blue-eyed gaze travels over the lilac-colored bunny blanket, the soft yellow wood of the crib, the pastel wallpaper decorated with woodland creatures.
She smiles at the shelf of plump stuffed animals and admires the twinkling stars on the ceiling.
I enjoyed decorating this nursery. I put up the shelves and wallpaper myself and painted the crib.
“I think I’d enjoy it a whole lot, Mr. Grant.”
I watch Elena intently, liking the idea of her in my house while I’m out doing dangerous things. Coming home to her with adrenaline still pumping through my body. “I can’t say exactly when I’d need you. My life can be unpredictable, but I’d give you a few days’ notice.”
Elena thinks for a moment. “That would work for me. I’ve been trying to pick up extra shifts at the diner, but there’s only so many hours it’s open.
I was about to start looking for a second job.
More waitressing work, probably.” She glances at Rosie and smiles.
“Looking after your daughter instead sounds wonderful.”
“Let me show you around.” We head out into the hall, and I talk her through the multiple baby monitors, the security system, the panic buttons, what happens when the alarm is triggered, and I notice Elena looking overwhelmed.
“You think I’m crazy, don’t you?”
She shakes her head. “Rosie’s your baby. This is your home. With the line of work you’re in, I wouldn’t be surprised by Mission Impossible lasers.”
“Those are only downstairs. I promise you that when you’re alone in this house at night, you’ll be completely safe.”
“I believe you. You’ve probably thought of everything. In your line of work, you must have heard all the Blackport break-in horror stories.”
I’m probably responsible for some of the break-in horror stories she’s heard about.
“Rosie usually wakes twice in the night and needs to be settled again. The nanny comes at eight a.m., and you can leave then. I might be here when you wake up, I might not be, or I could be asleep. What do you think, would you like the job?” I tell her how much I’ll pay her, and her mouth falls open.
“Mr. Grant, that’s way too much.”
“Not if you’re worth as much as Leon says you are.”
“Leon said that?” she asks, a smile breaking over her face.
He didn’t, but I can’t exactly tell her I followed her and had her stalked for three days.
I lead her along the hallway. “You can use the guest bedroom next to the nursery to get some sleep, and it has a bathroom where you can shower. Feel free to leave some things here. Also, give me your phone. I’ll install the baby monitor app so you can check on Rosie wherever you are in the house.”
She hands me her unlocked phone, and the background is a photo of her and Leon. She’s kissing his cheek, and he’s smiling cockily at the camera like he’s God’s gift. The photo annoys me, and I quickly open the app store.
A moment later I hand her the phone back.
“When would you like me to start?”
“Next Tuesday. Can you be here by five so you can put Rosie to bed? Other nights I won’t need you to start until your shift ends at the diner.”
“Sounds great, Mr. Grant.”
I drive her home, and when I double park in front of her building, I take a long, professional look at it. The security is terrible. I feel my blood pressure spike when I notice that someone has propped open the front door with a brick.
“Thank you for the ride home.”
I turn to Elena. “Just one more thing. I need to know while you’re in my house you’ll be focused on Rosie. The nights you stay over, Leon will be at his mother’s. All right?”
I study Elena closely, searching for any sign of resentment or annoyance that I won’t let them use my house for making out.
Elena’s cheeks turn pink, and she hastens to reassure me. “Of course. I’ll only be focused on Rosie, and Leon and I, well we’ve only just started dating, and we don’t, I mean…” She breaks off, and her flush deepens.
They’re not sleeping together?
Interesting.
I say good night and wait until Elena is safely inside her building. Then I get out of my truck, go over, and kick the brick away so the front door closes securely before driving home.
Leon is in the kitchen spreading peanut butter on crackers when I walk in. I tell him the good news about Elena accepting the job, with one caveat. “You’ll be staying with your mother on the nights that Elena is sleeping over in this house.”
Unlike Elena, Leon looks annoyed. “But, Dad, I—”
“No arguing. Elena will be here to work, and I don’t want you distracting her.”
Still grumbling, Leon eats his crackers and heads off to bed.
I don’t care if he doesn’t like it. My house. My rules.
Tuesday comes, and I find I’m anticipating being out under the cover of night, feeling like Blackport in darkness belongs to me once more. I’ve been playing it too safe lately. I need to taste danger again.