A Groom for Maggie
He stopped scribbling on the paper.
And so he would have to remember not to need her, too, not to get too attached. For her sake;
The pencil snapped in his hand.
Half an hour later, Alex decided to phone his former mother-in-law and get it over with. He flipped through the Rolodex file on his desk until he came to the name he sought: Marlene Shaw. With one final deep breath for strength, he picked up the phone and dialed.
They made it through the pleasantries quickly, then Alex got directly to the point. “I’m getting married in a couple of weeks.”
There was a thick pause. “Is that right?” Marlene asked icily. “To whom?”
Alex could tell from the stiffness of her voice that she was already trying to determine whether this was going to help or hinder her custody case. “To Margaret Weller.”
“Margaret Weller,” the older woman repeated, “Margaret We—” There was an audible gasp. “Surely you’re not talking about the nanny!”
“The same.”
“That’s impossible.”
“I don’t think so.”
“She’s a servant!”
“That’s not exactly the way I think of things, Marlene. Kate couldn’t ask for a better stepmother.”
“But Kate…why, she needs family. There’s no substitute for blood, Alex. No one could be better for her than her own flesh and blood. Some outsider can’t give her that.”
He let a moment of silence linger after her outburst, then said mildly, “She has that. I’m her father, you remember.”
The derisive snort on the line was answer enough.
“And now she’s going to have a stepmother who loves her, too.” He waited a beat. “So I trust I won’t be hearing from you again about custody.”
“You do, do you? Well, think again. We don’t even know where that woman’s from, what her background is. She could be a criminal for all we know about her—”
Alex shifted his grip on the receiver. “My people screened her before I hired her. So drop it, Marlene. You know you don’t have a case, and I’d really rather not have to describe your schemes to my fiancée.”
“Isn’t that why you’re marrying her?” Marlene shot back. “To keep me from my grandchild?”
“Of course not,” he snapped, unable to quell a small tremor of guilt. “I’m marrying her because I want Kate to have a good family, a rational environment.”
“I see.” Marlene drew out the last word. “But you’re mistaken if you think this will help your case.”
“Your attempts to get custody don’t hold water,” he lied. “They never have. You have no grounds.”
“Have you forgotten that I lived with Sandra and Kate? I practically raised that child!”
Cold washed over Alex. “We both know that’s not true.”
“Oh, but it is.” Her voice echoed her daughter’s cruel sarcasm.
Alex swallowed. His lawyer had told him it was extremely unlikely she could win a custody battle, but recent headlines and news stories about custody hearings had made Alex nervous. Stranger things than a grandmother winning guardianship had happened. Besides, even his lawyer had acknowledged that Marlene’s having lived with Kate and Sandra had given her a tiny bit of leverage.
“I’ve got a call holding.” Alex’s mouth was dry. “I just wanted to let you know that I would be marrying again and that Kate will have a stepmother. One who will love her and take excellent care of her. I thought that would be important to you.”
“That girl is a foreigner, isn’t she?” Marlene snapped, as though Alex hadn’t spoken at all.
He let out a weary sigh. “She’s British.”
“How very convenient for her. Of course you know all she wants is to become an American. They all want to become Americans.”
He increased his grip on the phone. “I’m hanging up now. It was a pleasure talking with you, as always.”
His tone was unmistakably dismissive, but she still managed to add, “This isn’t over, Alex. Margaret Weller has got a few things to prove to me, I can tell you. I shall be calling the British Embassy and U.S. immigration authorities right away to have them look into the matter.”
He knew he shouldn’t ask but he couldn’t help it. “Matter?”
“The matter of this hasty wedding, of course.” Her voice was syrupy with malice. “I’d hate for Kate to be caught in the middle of an immigration scandal.”
Chapter Three
Maggie and Kate sat on Kate’s bed, playing with dolls when Alex came looking for them.
“You can’t keep me from going to that ball,” Kate squeaked in a high, false voice. She waved her doll in another doll’s face. “The prince wants me to go!”
Alex smiled at the already-small voice raised further in imitation of another, and leaned against the door frame to watch.
“I’ll lock you in the attic,” Maggie returned, in a cartoon-bad-guy voice that made Alex chuckle to himself. “And your little mouse friends, too.”
“No! No!” Kate bounced the doll away, pogo-stick fashion. “I won’t stay!”
“Aaargh!” Maggie’s doll fell on its face in the covers. “I can’t move! Hellllp!” She dropped the doll down, then looked up, smiling, and took another doll. “I’m here now,” the doll said with Maggie’s help. “Your fairy godmother will save you.”
“No, go away!”
Maggie looked surprised. “But I’m your fairy godmother. I’m good.”
Still talking in the doll’s voice, Kate said, “Good mothers aren’t any better than bad ones. They leave you. Go away!”
The doll in Maggie’s hand trembled ever so slightly. “But I won’t leave you.”
“Yes, you will! Mommies leave.” Kate hurled her doll against the one in Maggie’s hand and fell silent.
Maggie put the dolls aside gently and moved a bit closer to Kate. “You don’t really believe that, do you?”
Kate didn’t meet her eyes. “It’s true. My mommy left. Now I don’t have a mother at all.”
Maggie looked choked up. With absolutely no idea how to help the situation, Alex cleared his throat and walked in. “What are you two doing?” he asked, as casually as he could.
Maggie looked at him, composure sweeping her features. “Well, I’m glad you’re here. Kate just asked me an important question. She wanted to know why her mommy had to leave her.” She focused her attention on Kate. “Your mommy didn’t want to leave you, darling, but she had to.”
“Because she died?” Kate asked.
Alex winced at her bluntness.
“Yes,” Maggie said, with what sounded like an effort. “The truth is that sometimes things happen that we don’t understand right away.”
Kate looked down and said in a horribly quiet voice. “I understand. She died because I was naughty.”
Maggie’s sharp intake of breath echoed Alex’s own feelings. “Why do you say that, Kate?” he asked her gently.
Kate looked up with tear-filled eyes. “I was too noisy. I played too loud. Grandma told me if I didn’t be quiet then Mommy was going to get sicker, and I tried to be as quiet as a mouse…”
Alex couldn’t let her go on. “It wasn’t your fault,” he said, a little too gruffly.
She started at the tone of his voice and something in him stung.
“No,” Maggie soothed in a voice that belied the shock on her face, “it wasn’t your fault.”
“But grandma said—”
“Grandma was wrong,” Alex growled. And the witch wanted custody of Kate! Anger seared him and he looked to Maggie for tempering.
Maggie met his eyes and nodded, rubbing her hand across Kate’s back. “You did nothing wrong, darling, nothing at all. Mummy died because she was sick, and that was terribly sad for you. But I don’t believe for a moment that your Mummy left you entirely. I think her love is with you all the time. You’ll have that forever.” She laid a hand across Kate’s heart. “Right here.”
“Do you really think so?”
“I know it.”
Kate smiled, despite the tears still wet on her cheeks. “You’re very smart, Maggie.”
Maggie lifted her hand and ruffled Kate’s hair. “No, darling, I’m just old.” She laughed.
“And as for noise,” Alex said, “we won’t have any quiet children in this house.”
Kate looked stricken. “You won’t?”
What had he said? The child looked terrified. “You can make tons of noise.” He gave an uneasy smile, trying to wipe the fear from his daughter’s face.
The tears started anew. “Or else what? Are you going to send me away? Where would I go?”
Alex’s eyes widened and he looked desperately to Maggie, who was watching him in silence. She wasn’t going to help this time. “Never,” he said. “I’ll never send you away.” He moved toward Kate and reached for her, pulling her into an awkward embrace. “I promise. You’re going no further than our own backyard.”
Small hands clutched at his back. “Even if I don’t make a lot of noise?”
“I’ll never send you away,” he repeated, embarrassed at the choked sound of his own voice. “No matter what. And that’s why Maggie’s here. She’s going to stay.”
Kate pulled back and looked at Maggie. “Will you stay forever?”
“I’ll stay as long as you need me to.” Maggie gave her a warm smile. “But remember you can always count on your daddy, too. Always.”
“Okay.” Kate sniffed. She turned her liquid eyes to Alex and smiled, sending his heart tumbling. The responsibility for this child, this little heart, was an awesome one. He’d denied the pull of it for months now, but he couldn’t do it any longer.
Alex realized the conversation was over. Maggie had handled it perfectly, with just the right lightness of touch. The woman was a godsend, there was no doubt about it. He watched her hand stroking Kate’s hair and felt his chest tighten with relief. Relief that Kate was in such loving and capable hands.
Maggie had proven once again how much more adept she was at handling his child than he was. He hoped to God she would still go through with the marriage once she found out about Marlene’s threats.
She caught his eye and mouthed the word now? and gestured toward her left ring finger.
He gave a small shake of his head, then turned to his daughter. “Kate, could you excuse us for a minute?”
“Okay…” Kate looked to Maggie, seeming a bit puzzled.
“I have to talk to Daddy for a moment,” Maggie said. “I’ll be right back.”
Outside in the hall, she turned to Alex.
He took a step toward her, closing the bedroom door behind him.
Even though there was room, neither one of them stepped away to widen the space between them.
“Have you changed your mind already?” she asked him lightly.
“Yes.”
She took a breath and her gaze flitted from his chest to his eyes. “Oh?”
“About the ceremony.” His voice was a hoarse whisper in the dimly lit hall. “We need to have something more than just the courthouse.”
“Why?”
He hesitated. “Don’t you have family you want to invite?”
“My mother…isn’t much of a traveler. Though she sends her best wishes.” She leaned against the wall, but it added only an inch or two between them. “I called her before our contract discussion. She thinks you’re a very lucky man, actually.” She smiled.
“I am,” he said, and at that moment meant it. Even though he knew this relationship—this marriage—was to be different, for just a moment he felt like the luckiest man on earth. It was crazy.
Maggie looked at him. Her green eyes were wide and tentative. “I didn’t mean…I wasn’t soliciting compliments.” She dampened her parted lips.
“I know you weren’t.” He tried to stop the rush of desire that came over him, but couldn’t.
“But that was nice, thank you.”
He paused, then decided to say what he felt. “I meant it. The way you handle things.” He looked at Kate’s closed door, then back at Maggie. “I don’t see how I could do this without you.” He hesitated again, wondering at the depth of his meaning or if he was a fool to admit it to her. “I’m just glad I don’t have to try.”
“But you were ready to just find another nanny,” Maggie said softly, still holding his gaze.
Maybe he could find another nanny, but he couldn’t find another Maggie—another woman who would give him such a hard time or who could make that hard time so damned enjoyable—so easily. Funny, he’d never quite been able to admit that before. Maybe it was because he always knew she would be leaving.
And now he knew she was staying.
As she stood before him he realized with an awkward awareness that she was quite beautiful. Beautiful enough to make him stumble over his words like a schoolboy. “You couldn’t be easily replaced,” he said.
“Yesterday you were ready to do just that.” She challenged him with her eyes.
“Yesterday I thought I had to. Besides, you know you’re more than just a nanny.”
A slight flush darkened her cheeks. “Oh?”
“Kate really loves you.”
Soot-dark lashes lowered like a curtain.
“Maggie.”
She met his eyes. Before he realized what he was doing, Alex reached his hand to her cheek, and slowly rubbed his thumb across the smooth blushing skin.
She didn’t move, and her gaze remained fixed on his.
She wasn’t going to leave. She was staying.
Alex slid his hand behind her head and gently pulled her toward him. Their lips met and fire shot to his extremities. For a long moment they didn’t move, then Maggie’s lips parted under his and he nudged his tongue into her mouth.
Her hands rose tentatively to his chest and he moved his other hand to the small of her back. Hunger for her burned quick and bright inside of Alex, despite the fact that he knew—he knew—he shouldn’t be doing this. Only half an hour before, they had agreed not to do this. He ran his tongue along her upper lip marveling at the blaze of sensation within him.
Suddenly Maggie stopped. She drew back, flushed and a little out of breath. “What was that?” she said, perhaps to him, perhaps to herself.
“A kiss.”
“I know that. But…us?” She took a step away from him, looking everywhere but at him. “That’s not appropriate for us. It can’t happen again.”
He stared at her for a moment in silence, taking in the fiery eyes, the cheeks still flushed with passion, the full lips swollen from their kiss. There was nothing he could say, he knew she was right but he couldn’t voice his agreement.
So he gave a slight incline of the head. “I apologize,” he said, without an ounce of sincerity.
She obviously knew it because it was a long, narrow look she gave him before saying, “You were about to say something about the wedding.” She drew herself up and met his eyes boldly. “Why do you want to have a bigger celebration?”
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