Vicky was shocked when she followed Bruce to the car. She hadn’t expected to be hired. At all. She had only packed the essentials to humor Alice. Everything else was still in her apartment, where she was certain now she was going to be evicted. She had finished packing it all; she just needed the movers to bring it all to Oak Mountain. It would be a costly trip. Then again, most of what she owned wasn’t that special and could easily be replaced. It was surprising how simple it could be to start over.
“No, Michael, Victoria is sitting up front with me. You and the others will stay in the back, and that’s how it’s going to be any time she rides with us anywhere, got it?”
“Ugh. Yes, sir,” Michael grumbled. He rounded the car and piled into the back seat with the other kids. Vicky sighed inwardly. She was definitely encroaching on little Michael’s territory. She could tell instinctively that out of the three, he was the one she was going to have the most trouble.
It wouldn’t be the first time she had a hard time with a child like Michael. Usually, the oldest children, even when they weren’t bear shifters, had a tendency to be very possessive over their role as the head of their other siblings. They were used to the added responsibility, and although having an adult around should have been a good thing and taken pressure off their shoulders, it often happened that the children were actually threatened by her presence and wanted to keep things as they were used to them being, whether that meant more work for them or not.
“You’re going to like your bedroom,” Bruce said, breaking into her thoughts. “It used to be my ex-wife’s sewing room, but we revamped it over the past couple of years. Marie was a tremendous help, she’s very good at picking out colors.”
“I want to be an artist when I grow up!” Marie exclaimed from her car seat.
“An artist?” Vicky exclaimed, eyeing her through the rearview mirror.
“She is already very talented,” Greg said proudly, petting his sister’s head.
“That she is,” Bruce agreed. “Who’s your favorite artist, Marie?”
“Daddy,” she said sweetly.
“Daddy?” Bruce asked skeptically, glancing at his daughter.
She giggled and nodded.
“Well, all right I guess,” Bruce said, his deep rumbling laughter filling the car. “I can be your favorite artist. You can be mine too. How’s that?”
“Good!”
Vicky watched the exchange, secretly eyeing Bruce as he drove. He was an unbelievably handsome man. She had never met a bear shifter before, except for Alice. Certainly not one so manly and rugged. He had an ethereal quality about him that almost made him look like he was from another world.
Well, technically, he was. All the bear shifters had come to Earth from another world; a planet or dimension that was nothing like the earth that Vicky was accustomed to. There was something raw and masculine about Bruce that made her heart race. And yet, there was a gentle purity about his features and the way he treated his children with love and respect that made it melt at the same time. How strange.
“Guess which house ours is, Vicky!”
Greg was already embracing her, at least somewhat, though she could tell by the way he clamped up when his brother shot him a disapproving look that if Michael decided to try to make her life hell, Greg would be right on board.
“Hmm, the third one?” she asked, scanning the six houses along the road thoughtfully. “On the left.”
That was the one that looked most, to her, like the place a strong, enigmatic man like Bruce might live. A place that was big and comfortable and suitable to raise a family in.
“How did she know?” Greg whispered to Michael. Michael gave a halfhearted shrug and stared out the window, away from the sight of their home.
“She’s got a woman’s intuition,” Bruce informed his sons, turning into the driveway and cutting the engine. “That’s something you should always respect. Especially when you find out a human has it. It’s a rare gift.”
“Okay,” Greg said, gazing at Vicky like she had some sort of superpower. “I will.”
“Good,” Bruce said, giving Victoria a private smile. She returned it, her heart pounding in her ears. God, he was handsome.
He went to the trunk and retrieved Vicky’s luggage and she followed behind in a daze as the three children ran ahead and into the house. She could hardly believe she was there, and that everything had happened so quickly and effortlessly. She had been expecting to have to go back to her apartment with the return trip Alace had promised she had booked, though now Victoria wasn’t so sure Alice was telling the truth. She had been very confident in bringing Vicky to meet Bruce, and probably hadn’t wasted the money on a flight.
She couldn’t fault the woman for it. It was lucky that Vicky had met Alice through one of the families she had been a nanny for in the past. She had been a constant source of support and encouragement, and every once in a while, would drop a hint to her that she knew somebody on Oak Mountain that she would get along with quite well. Now, Victoria couldn’t help but wonder if Alice had been talking about Bruce. It wouldn’t surprise her at all, and yet, it would make all of this very strange.
It was bizarre enough, really. The fact that she had so quickly and easily solved her issue. It seemed like no effort had been made on her part at all, almost as if fate had played a helping hand in bringing her to where she was needed most. Because, no matter how great of a father Bruce might be, she could already tell he was bewildered and baffled by the whims of his children. He was a man better left to working with his hands. Not necessarily with his heart. Although, she could tell he had quite a large store of compassion, he just didn’t quite know how to utilize it in a way that benefited children.
“Come see my room,” Marie said, grabbing Victoria’s hand, and running with her toward the doorway. Bruce glanced over his shoulder at them and gave her a knowing smile, and it warmed Victoria from the inside out.
She followed the child into the house, her eyes widening when she saw how big, spacious, and rustic the interior was. All the homes on Oak Mountain looked beautiful in their own ways, but they were also all supremely natural. Made from the finest timbers and natural and sustainable resources. There was nothing artificial in any of these homes. The bear shifters were very adamant about using organic and renewable resources. Far more so than humans were. She had watched a show about it once.
“It’s up here,” Marie said, tugging Victoria up the steps and leading her down a long hallway. At the end of the hall was a doorway, and the child led her inside a very beautiful and very pink bedroom.
“Wow,” Vicky said, looking around with a smile.
“Daddy did all this!”
“He did?” Victoria smiled at the thought of the dark, brooding man working to make a fairytale princess bedroom into a dream come true for his daughter. “He is very talented.”
“That’s why he is my favorite artist,” Marie said proudly, walking over to the wall, and touching the glittering pink paint reverently.
“Marie, what are you doing?” Michael asked, coming into the room, and glaring at Vicky. “She’s not supposed to be up here.”
“Says who?”
Bruce’s voice startled them all and they turned to the doorway, where Bruce was standing and staring sternly at his oldest child.
“I’m…I didn’t mean…”
“Go to your room, Michael. We will talk about this in a few minutes.”
“I’m sorry. I just…”
“Now.”
They didn’t raise their voices. Vicky watched the whole scene play out in disbelief, unable to look away. Bear shifter family dynamics were something quite interesting, something that she had never thought she would observed or experienced before. Now that she was, it was very strange to see the ways they differed and interesting to see the ways they were the same.
She wasn’t sure if this was all bear shifter families or just this one, but Bruce was a very clear communicator, and he seemed to expect his children to be the same way. Maybe that was part of the reason why she became so easily overwhelmed by their irrational emotions. Children, even bear shifter children probably, were not fully developed in their minds yet. Their ability to understand and express emotions was limited. For somebody as no-nonsense and straightforward as Bruce was, surely that could pose a problem in his communication style.
“I’m sorry about him,” Bruce said, smiling at Vicky. She gazed at him as Michael left the room and Marie stared at them wide-eyed from the corner. She clearly didn’t like the conflict very much, and yet there was something distinctly rambunctious about the little girl.
“You don’t have to apologize,” Vicky said quickly, trying to keep the heat creeping across her face at bay. “It’s natural for children at his age to act like that. And anyway, I think he feels a little bit threatened. He’s used to being the one who helps you keep these two safe. It will take a little while, but it’s an adjustment I’m sure he is mature enough to make in time.”
“How did I get so lucky?” Bruce asked suddenly.
Vicky’s heart thudded hard in her chest as she gazed at him, her face growing warm with the strange sensation of his attention. The question almost made her feel like it wasn’t just about the children, and yet what else could it possibly be about?
“I’m just good at my job,” she finally managed. “And I’m not sure you can call it luck. Alice had a pretty big hand in it.”
“You’re right,” he said, making Vicky think he was just talking about Alice bringing them together. “I think it might be more than luck.”
Victoria was surprised by the statement and gaped quietly at Bruce as he entered further into the room and lifted Marie easily in his strong arms. “You are being such a good girl and big helper,” Bruce said, placing a quick kiss on the top of his daughter’s head. “I appreciate you being so kind to your new nanny. She is special, and we don’t want her to go anywhere, do we?”
“No!” Marie agreed.
Victoria’s heart surged once more at Bruce’s words and she took the moment to quietly study him. He was a beautiful man in his own right, with a darkness and serious quality she couldn’t help but admire. He was the kind of man her mother would have told her to stay away from, probably just because of how happy she was around him and how handsome he was.
But her mother wasn’t exactly an easy person to get along with. The alcohol impaired her judgment, more often than not, and made her very hard to relate to. In fact, she was downright toxic at times and it had become more and more clear that the longer Victoria stayed around to help her, the harder things would be for the both of them.
“I want her happy, so we can play house,” Marie said decidedly. “I don’t want anything bad to happen. I don’t want Michael and Greg to make her want to go away! They’re mean boys!”
Victoria laughed softly. “I won’t go anywhere, even if Michael and Greg act a little mean sometimes. It’s not up to them whether I stay or go, it’s up to your dad.”
“And I say she stays, and that will be the end of that.”
“Okay,” Marie said quietly, fixing a small smile on Vicky and laying her head on her father’s shoulder.
“Okay,” Bruce agreed, walking with his daughter toward the doorway of the bedroom. “that’s settled then.” He looked to Vicky with a gentle smile. “All right, let’s go have some dinner, shall we?”
Vicky nodded and soon, they were all heading back downstairs to share their first meal together.