9. Ria
CHAPTER 9
RIA
R ia handed a strawberry to Jacob, who popped it in his mouth with a delighted smile. The kids were sitting outside on the back lawn to enjoy the surprisingly warm March afternoon. Jamie was on patrol around the fence with a large stick in search of squirrels to befriend. Exactly how the stick was supposed to help in the friendship, Ria wasn’t sure, and Jamie couldn’t explain. Jacob was coloring on an enormous piece of paper, longer than he was tall, that Ria had found for him. He looked deeply satisfied. Jasmine was climbing up and sliding down a toddler-sized plastic slide Ria had found in the playroom and moved outdoors. One of her small hands clutched a plastic toy horse.
Ria, for her part, was simply enjoying the sunshine and the sound of the children playing. That morning, Tristan had been gone before she’d come downstairs, but her conversation with him the night before kept replaying in her head. She shouldn’t have said that the real magic of parenthood was showing up. A comment like that would have gotten her fired from any of her last half dozen nannying jobs.
Yet Tristan hadn’t seemed upset with her. He’d just seemed… thoughtful. As though Ria’s words had struck him. Whether any changes would come of it remained to be seen.
“Wia?” Jasmine came dashing over from the slide, her horse still in her hand. “Juice?”
“Sure, honey. Let’s get some.” It was time for a snack anyway. Ria gathered the triplets, got them inside, and settled them on the living room floor with a few toys. She left the door to the kitchen open so she could keep an eye on them while she looked for juice and snacks. Tristan only kept organic, cold-pressed orange juice (and something muddy-looking and green in a juice bottle that Ria wasn’t touching). She poured a little of the orange juice into three sippy cups then carried them back to the kids along with some crackers and halved grapes.
“Wike gwapes,” Jasmine said with a grin. “Mommy wike gwapes.”
Ria blinked. None of the triplets had mentioned anything about a mother before, and she’d assumed Tristan was a single father.
“Mommy?” Ria asked.
“Mommy wike gwapes,” Jasmine said again. She reached for another grape half with enthusiasm.
“And skuls,” Jamie added. His eyes gleamed at the thought of his favorite animal.
“Squirrels,” Ria corrected automatically. Her mind was racing. Did these children have a mother who was out of town? Was Tristan married? She tried to remember if she’d seen a ring on his hand but couldn’t. It was one thing for him not to give all the details about the children’s daily routine or possible school, but it was another for him to have left out their mother.
“Yeah. Skuls.” Jamie nodded.
“Where is your mommy?” Ria asked. The triplets looked at each other.
“Pawk,” Jasmine said finally. She broke a cracker with her hand and popped the largest piece into her mouth.
“Your mommy is in the park?” Ria repeated. The triplets all nodded, but Ria wasn’t any the wiser. She knew kids this age often had trouble imagining where people were, but usually that meant they thought their teachers lived at school or their grandparents lived in a specific restaurant. She’d never heard any kid say that their mother lived in the park.
“Pawk haz skuls,” Jasmine continued. Her tiny green eyes began to tear up, and Ria saw that they were heading into dangerous waters. Of course, kids their age would dearly miss their mother if she were away, even if it was only for a few hours. And given that Ria had been here for more than two days now with no sign of a mother, she must be gone for longer than that.
“That’s lovely. What should we do after our snack?” Ria asked in hopes of changing the subject.
“Skul?” Jamie asked hopefully.
“Cwayon?” Jacob suggested.
“Pawk wif Mommy,” Jasmine said forlornly. Her grapes and cracker shards were forgotten.
“How about we go swimming?” Ria suggested. She’d seen signs for an indoor pool not far from here. That would definitely distract the triplets from missing their mother.
“Yay!” There were cheers. The triplets began to eat their snacks more quickly, clearly looking forward to a pool trip. After they ate, Ria took them all upstairs and busied them with a chunky puzzle while she found swimsuits and towels for everyone. Still, as she packed the bag, walked the triplets to the pool, and played with them in the shallow water and spouting fountains of the kiddy section, she couldn’t stop thinking about their mother. Why hadn’t Tristan mentioned her?
Even stranger, the house didn’t have much of a feminine touch. Ria would be surprised if any woman lived there. Maybe Tristan was divorced, then, though that didn’t explain why the kids thought their mother lived in a park. Maybe she just had a big yard? Although, if Tristan was divorced, that meant the kids would probably spend some time at their mother’s house, which made Ria’s job a little confusing.
The rest of the day passed in splashy play, a lunch of chicken nuggets, mashed potatoes, and peas, and an afternoon of napping and quiet activities. Evening brought a dinner of spaghetti for the kids, followed by bathtime and their bedtime routine. They were already showing enormous strides with potty training and were talking more, which Ria saw as a good sign.
When she came downstairs after tucking the kids in, the baby monitor in her hand, she ran smack into Tristan, who was just coming home. He was wearing a pair of ripped jeans and a band T-shirt.
“Is that what you wore to work?” she asked. After the words had slipped out, she realized that this was not the way one talked to their employer. Luckily, Tristan didn’t seem annoyed.
“Yeah, we have a very casual office. Are the triplets in bed?”
“Yep, just.”
“Oh.” Tristan’s face fell slightly.
“Were you hoping to see them?” Ria glanced at her phone to check the time. Tristan was home earlier than usual, but he’d still missed their bedtime by a few minutes.
“Maybe.”
“Well, tomorrow is Saturday, so I’m sure you’ll see plenty of them then.”
“Right. I’ll try to keep my work to a minimum.” They were still standing in the hallway, but Tristan now put down his backpack and took off his shoes. “Have you eaten?”
“Not yet. The kids had spaghetti, but I was too busy supervising to eat much.”
“I was just going to get some dinner, if you care to join me.”
“Sure.” They walked together to the kitchen, where Ria dished up a plate of leftover spaghetti from the triplets’ dinner. She added a few sprinkles of fresh herbs and some chili flakes for a little extra flavor before putting together a little salad. Tristan, meanwhile, dished up grilled salmon and steamed broccoli with brown rice from the fridge and heated it in the microwave.
“Healthy,” Ria said, nodding to his food. “Do you always eat so healthy?”
“Usually. But I think most people in San Francisco do.” They sat at the small dining table in the kitchen, Tristan poking halfheartedly at his fish. “How were the kids today?”
“Good.” Ria hesitated. She was probably about to overstep again. “Although, Jasmine mentioned something that I found a little confusing.”
“More squirrels?” Tristan asked. He winked, and Ria smiled.
“Actually, squirrels did play a part, but they weren’t the focus this time.” She paused, looking down at her plate of pasta.
“Go on.” Tristan lifted those intense green eyes to hers. He’d taken off his glasses again.
“She said something about her ‘mommy,’” Ria explained. “I think I must have misunderstood something — I thought you were a single father.”
“Right.” Tristan nodded slowly. “I am a single father. Actually, the triplets… they’re my nephews and niece.”
“Really?” Ria’s eyebrows lifted. She hadn’t considered that possibility at all.
“A few months ago, I found out that I had a half sister. I never knew her — she was the product of an affair my father had.” Tristan shook his head slightly. “I wish I’d known her, but my father never told my mother or me about her. Anyway, she passed away recently. I’m the only living family the triplets have, so I agreed to take them.”
“Oh.” Ria sat back in her chair, reeling. She had misread the situation, but not in the way she’d thought. “I had no idea.”
“How would you have?” Tristan shrugged. “I never told you.”
“Right. I just… wow.” She shook her head slowly. “That must have been a huge shock for you. And for the kids.” Now it made sense why Jasmine had said their mother lived in a park. She must have meant a cemetery. Ria’s heart broke for those kids, who were so young to be experiencing such upheaval in their lives.
“It was.” Tristan took a sip of his water before lifting those bright-green eyes to Ria’s again. “That’s why I’m such a lousy father.”
“A lousy father?” Ria’s brows wrinkled. “What makes you say that?”
“It’s like you said yesterday. The magic of parenthood is showing up, and I don’t. At least, not always.”
“First of all, you do show up. You took in the triplets when they needed you most, and you’ve been taking care of them for a few months now. Second, you’re not a lousy father. You’re trying your best in a very difficult situation.”
As Ria spoke, she realized that she believed everything she was saying. Before, she’d judged Tristan for disappearing into his office the moment she’d arrived (and for his too-cool demeanor), but now she was beginning to understand why he acted as he did. Of course he kept some distance from the kids. They’d been a huge surprise.
She still would have liked to see a little more effort from him, though.
“I am trying, but I’m worried it isn’t enough. I just don’t know how to keep them from crying or get them to sleep or even play with them. And I worry about stepping into their mother’s role when she isn’t here.” Tristan bit his lip. Now, his usual attitude was melting away, and Ria saw a vulnerability in his eyes.
“You’re going to be fine. And if you ever need help, you can just ask me.” Ria paused. “You know, we can start tomorrow. I was planning to take the kids to the park in the morning. Come with us.”
“Oh, I’m not sure?—”
But Ria wasn’t about to take no for an answer. “It’ll be nice. We’ll all enjoy a little sun and fresh air, and you can see the fun side of being a parent.”
“All right.” Tristan gave a lopsided smile. “I suppose there’s no arguing with you, is there?”
“Nope.” Ria grinned. “You’ve been told your marching orders. Now you just have to follow them.”
“Is giving orders part of your nanny training?”
“No — actually, I should be giving you two choices, both of which are acceptable to me. For instance, would you like to go to the park with the kids tomorrow, or should we take them to the pool?”
“Now that you present my options like that, the park is sounding good.” Tristan glanced down at his food, which appeared to have been forgotten. Ria realized that she hadn’t eaten anything in a while either and turned her attention to her spaghetti.
“It works on the kids, too,” she said as she swirled a few strands of pasta onto her fork.
“I’ll give it a try.” Tristan halfheartedly stabbed a piece of fish. “So, you know that I had a sister I never knew. Do you have siblings?”
“I have four.” Ria grinned at his look of surprise, which she saw on nearly everyone’s faces when she told them about her family. “All younger than me. I have two sisters and two brothers. The oldest is a few years younger than me, and the youngest is still in college.”
“Wow. I can’t even imagine. I grew up as an only child, and I was always a little jealous of families with siblings, but four seems like a lot.”
“It was.” A memory of bouncing her youngest sister on her hip, trying to calm her down from a burst of tears after their mother had hurried out to her evening job, flashed through Ria’s mind, but she didn’t mention it. Hearing about Tristan’s sister and beginning to understand his complicated relationship with the triplets was enough for tonight on the revelations front. “But I love them. It’s been cool to see them all growing up into their own people.”
“Are you close with your siblings and parents?” Tristan asked.
“Yes. Well, I’m close with my siblings and my mom. My dad passed away when I was young.”
“I’m sorry.”
Ria gave a sad half-smile. “How about you — are you close with your parents?”
“They both passed away.” Tristan took another bite of his quinoa. The gesture was almost too casual, as though he was trying to prove that all was well, but Ria’s heart broke again. He’d lost both his parents and a sister he’d never known. Now he was raising the triplets without any family support — no wonder things were so difficult.
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“It was a long time ago. And to be honest, we were never as close as some families are.”
“I’m sure that doesn’t make it hurt any less.”
“No.” Tristan lifted his eyes to hers. “Probably not.”
They looked at each other for a long moment before Ria glanced down at her empty plate. She felt her cheeks reddening, although she didn’t want to think too much about why.
“I’d better go shower and head to bed,” she said, still looking at the empty plate. “The kids will be up early.”
“Of course, and I have a little more work to do.”
They both got up. This time, Ria loaded her plate and fork into the dishwasher instead of washing them by hand, as did Tristan. They both smiled at each other then melted away, Ria going upstairs and Tristan heading back to his office.
This evening’s conversation had been an eye-opener for Ria. She’d thought Tristan was just a detached parent, like so many of the wealthy fathers she worked with. The truth was clearly much more complicated. As she shed her clothes and stepped into the shower, she vowed that she would do all she could to help Tristan ease into his new role as the triplets’ father. He clearly needed her help — and so did the kids.
She knew that she couldn’t be their nanny forever. And even if she stayed for years, a nanny wasn’t the same as a parent. She let the warm water soak into her hair and run down her back as she reached for some of the fragrant shampoo she’d brought from home. The best legacy Ria could leave in this family was one in which Tristan felt confident as a father, and the triplets were settled into their home.
If there was something else there, a flutter of attraction towards the honest and open man she’d met in the kitchen, Ria didn’t want to think about it. A crush on her employer would be a mistake. A crush on an employer who she lived with would be even worse. It was better to focus on all the things about Tristan that annoyed her, like his fake glasses and his love of weirdly healthy food and his poor taste in vases. She couldn’t let herself think about his smile, the sparkle in his green eyes, or the way he could be quite funny when he wanted to be.
Ria stepped out of the shower, dried herself with one of the fluffy white towels, and slipped into her pajamas. Back in her bedroom, she fell gratefully into bed. Chasing the kids around all day had been one thing, but the evening’s revelations had been far more tiring. Ria had a lot to think about. She had a lot of plans to make, too. Plans for how to help Tristan be a better father. Plans for how to help the triplets feel at home.
Plans for how to keep herself from feeling anything for Tristan or the kids beyond the usual fondness a nanny might have for her employer and her young charges.