Page 20 of Substitute Bride

Rose felt incredibly awkward, and she had absolutely no idea what to say. She felt bad for James, who had to somehow deal with this without hurting his daughters’ feelings or giving them the wrong impression about her relationship to them.

James tightened his lips for a minute. Then he said, “Rosie is our nanny, and she’s very important. We care about her a lot, and that’s all that matters. Isn’t that right?”

“Right,” Julie agreed, smiling in relief at this confirmation.

“Right,” Jill repeated, reaching forward for another piece of pizza.

Rose’s cheeks were still warm, but she gave the girls a warm smile, and then she finally dared to look over at James.

His eyes were on her, and she had no idea what he was thinking.

She dropped her eyes so he wouldn’t think she was reading too much into the words.

But it was nice that he’d said she was important and that they cared about her. She hoped it was true—for all three of them.

Because she cared about all of them. A lot.

After they finished the pizza, they played a board game, and then Rose sent the girls up to change into their pajamas and brush their teeth. When they came back down, James suggested they watch a movie, so they all piled on the big sofa to watch one of the girls’ favorite animated films.

It had been a long day, and Julie fell asleep during the last half hour of the movie, her head on her father’s lap. Even Jill was a little groggy as the credits started to roll, so Rose helped her to her feet and kept her hand on her back as she guided the girl up to her bed.

James carried Julie up, laying her down on her bed—in the same room as her sister—and kissing her sleeping face. He leaned over to kiss Jill as well, and Rose couldn’t miss the affection on his face, even though he was normally so reserved.

He loved these girls, and he wanted the best for them. She was so glad he’d realized that the best wasn’t Genevieve.

“Kiss me too, Rosie?” Jill asked sleepily, reaching out her arms to Rose.

Rose went over to kiss her, and then she kissed Julie too, although the girl wasn’t even aware of her.

She felt James’s eyes on her as she walked to the doorway, but she was too nervous to check out his expression.

They both went back to the family room when they left the girls’ room. James collapsed on the sofa with a low groan, and Rose leaned over to pick up the empty pizza boxes.

“You don’t have to do that,” James said, noticing that she was cleaning up.

“I don’t mind.” She carried the boxes into the kitchen glad of something to do. When she came back, she picked up the empty water bottles and used napkins and threw them away as well. She felt jittery, like she couldn’t sit still, but she didn’t want to leave James quite yet, so she dampened a paper towel and went back to the family room to wipe off the coffee table, on which Julie had put her pizza crust to get it out of her way.

She was folding up the blanket when James grumbled, “Why are you cleaning up? You’re not expected to clean, you know.”

She was startled by his grouchy tone since he’d seemed in an easy, soft mood all evening. “I know. I just do it without thinking. I like things to be neat.”

“I guess so.” He sighed and closed his eyes for a minute.

He suddenly looked so tired that Rose felt a flare of concern. “You should go to bed early tonight. You look like you could use some sleep.”

“I don’t feel like sleeping yet.”

“Oh. Is your jaw hurting?”

He hadn’t been rubbing it today, and she’d been hoping that some of his stress had lessened now that he’d ended things with Genevieve.

He opened one eye and glared at her out of it. “No.”

“Okay. Good.” She stood, holding the blanket and feeling at loose ends in a way she hadn’t felt in a really long time. She’d always known how to act and speak as the nanny. That was her role, and she was good at it. For some reason all of that felt wrong right now, but acting any other way felt wrong too. “I guess I’ll head upstairs then.”

“Don’t go yet.” James opened his eyes. “Sit down and keep me company.”

“Okay.” She was gratified at the idea, but she had no idea what it meant. She sat down beside him on the couch, a little primly, holding the blanket in her lap because she’d never figured out where to put it down.