Ben called the law firm where Elise Cummings worked first thing Monday. As he expected, she took his call eagerly.

“It’s so nice to hear from you. How can I help you?”

“I have a matter I’d like to speak with you about. It shouldn’t take long. Do you have a few minutes around lunch time today? I’m happy to come to your office, as I’ll be in the area.”

“Oh, of course, that would be wonderful. Did you want to talk to Ray, too?” She sounded excited and a little flustered, and Ben was counting on her not asking why he wanted to meet with her.

“No need to bother Ray. As I said, this should just take a few minutes. I’d like to talk with you.”

“Oh, well, that’s fine. Shall we say one o’clock?”

“I’ll see you at one.” Ben hung up and smiled. Elise wouldn’t expect the topic of the conversation to be Anna, which was exactly the way he wanted it. So she would be slightly off-guard.

He pulled into the lot at one sharp and saw her Mercedes parked right in front. When he walked into the law firm, the friendly young receptionist smiled and told Ben that Elise would be right out. He didn’t even have a chance to sit before she was in the lobby to greet him and was all smiles.

“Let’s go into the conference room. Can I get you coffee or tea?”

“No, thank you.”

Once they were in the room with the door shut behind them, Elise leaned forward, radiating curiosity. “What can I help you with, Ben?”

“Well, first I’d like to thank you for meeting with me on such short notice,” he said and smiled in a way that he’d been told women often found charming.

“I’m here on behalf of Anna Kelley.” He let that sink in for a moment and it was like a shade was drawn and the welcoming smile was instantly with drawn.

“I don’t understand?” There was ice in her tone and wariness.

“Anna has become…a good friend,” he began. “She shared with me that she’d been accepted to law school but was having some issues financially. She said that you declined to help her with her financial aid application. Is that true?”

“Yes, well—yes, it is. I’m afraid that Anna won’t qualify for financial aid, so there’s no point to filling out that application.”

“I see. So, does that mean you’ll just be writing a check for her tuition, then?”

Elise gasped. “No, of course not!”

Ben made a show of scratching his chin. “Well, I’m a little confused, then. If there’s too much money for financial aid, then why isn’t Anna seeing any of it?”

“Well,” Elise stammered, clearly flustered. “It’s just that there’s no cash, you see. It’s tied up in stock and 401ks, that kind of thing. Her father had a stock he loved, and I promised not to sell it.”

“I see. Well, the 401k is irrelevant, that doesn’t affect financial aid. The stock might, though, so I can see your dilemma.”

Elise relaxed a bit, and then Ben went in for the kill.

“See, here’s the thing. It’s my understanding that Anna’s father’s will clearly left her a certain percentage of that stock and she was intending to use that for her education. Is that correct?”

“Yes, but—well, he made some changes to his will. So, that is no longer the case.”

“Are you saying he cut his daughter out of the will? Why would he have done that?”

Elise stayed silent and looked away.

“You lied to him, didn’t you? You told him that Anna got scholarships and didn’t need the money and he was confused, his brain wasn’t working the way it normally did anymore. And you took advantage of that?”

Elise sat up straight and stuck her chin in the air, a final attempt to bluff her way out of it. “You can’t prove that!”

Ben sighed. “Elise. Before, I used to be a very good lawyer. I still am. If we were to take this to trial, you will lose. I can assure you of that. I have unlimited resources and you could burn through all the money you were left. I’m sure you don’t want to do that, especially when you have zero chance of winning. It’s a fairly simple matter to prove when your husband’s cognitive skills began to decline and when I show that you cut his daughter out of the will then, based on lies—well, I think you know what will happen.”

Elise said nothing. She just sat there fuming.

“Are you aware, Elise, of the current price of the Amazon stock?”

“No, I never paid much attention to that. Frank always handled his brokerage accounts.”

“What was it the last time you checked?” he persisted.

“Around two hundred a share, maybe? I know he sold half of his stock. There’s only about 500 shares left now.”

“The stock has gone up a bit since then. It’s worth an extra thousand dollars a share.” He let that sink in and watched her mentally do the math.

“It’s worth over $600,000?”

“It is. So, it won’t be so painful now to give Anna her fair share, will it? I’ve taken the liberty of drafting an agreement letter for you to sign. If I can get your signature here, I’ll drop this off at the bank today.”

Elise sighed. “I suppose I don’t really have a choice, do I?”

“Not from where I’m sitting, you don’t.” Ben smiled and handed her the pen.

She signed it and slid the paper over to him.

“How do you know Anna?” she asked.

“She’s working as my live-in nanny,” he said.

Elise crossed her arms and stared at him. “She’s working as your nanny? I don’t suppose she told you what she did to my son? A nanny is the last thing Anna should be.”

A chill ran up Ben’s spine.

“What are you talking about?”

“She almost killed my Tommy. It’s a miracle he’s alive today. She dropped him on his head!”

Ben stared at her in disbelief.

“Yes, it’s true. Ask her yourself. I’m sure that didn’t come up when she interviewed with you.”

“I’m sure, if that is true, that she didn’t mean to do it.” He couldn’t imagine Anna hurting a child.

“She was careless, in a hurry. Yes, of course it was an accident, but it never should have happened at all. It was completely preventable. I’d think long and hard about keeping her on if it were my child.”

Ben stood. “Well, thank you for your time.”

“Good day. I hope not to see you again any time soon.”

Ben left, stopped by Anna’s bank and dropped off the paperwork for Elise to transfer funds into Anna’s account. He was glad he’d gotten Elise to agree to give Anna the money she deserved, but he was concerned about what she’d said about Anna.

* * *

Anna was feeding Taylor in the kitchen when Ben walked in. She couldn’t read his expression at all and couldn’t explain why but she had a sense of foreboding that something had gone very wrong.

“I need to talk to you, but need to return a few calls first. I’ll be back in about twenty minutes.” Ben disappeared into his office and Anna felt a pit grow in her stomach, a sinking feeling that got worse as the clock ticked. She finished feeding Taylor and put her down for a nap. Ben was due to come out of his office any minute and she was a bundle of nerves. He’d said he was going to talk to Elise and by his tone, she suspected he’d learned the truth. Or rather Elise’s version of the truth. She made herself a cup of strong black coffee and stirred a little sugar in it as she sat waiting in the kitchen. Betty had gone shopping and wasn’t due back for probably another half hour or so, so the house was quiet.

Finally, she heard footsteps coming her way. Ben sat next to her at the island and his face was still hard to read.

“I went to see Elise.”

Anna nodded and waited for him to continue.

“We had a good discussion about the will and that Amazon stock. We came to an understanding that she will give you the original amount you were due before she changed your father’s will.”

Anna was surprised. “You got her to agree to that?”

He shrugged. “I explained how it was in her best interest to honor that original will. I told her if we took her to court, the one she changed would not stand and it would cost her a lot of money.”

“I see. Well, I can’t thank you enough.”

“You’re very welcome. She also told me something else. Something that was disappointing to hear.”

Anna looked away. She knew what was coming.

“Is it true? What she said?”

Anna faced him. “Yes, it’s true. I dropped my little brother on his head. And it was awful. I still have nightmares about it. We were on our way out and Elise asked me to get Tommy. He was in his car carrier and it was sitting on the kitchen table. We were in a hurry. I picked it up fast, and it wasn’t locked into position. It swung forward and Tommy toppled out, onto the hard wood floor. Onto his head.”

“Oh, my God.”

As they always did, the tears came as Anna told him the rest of the story. “We called 911, and they brought him into the local ER immediately, but his injury was too severe and his brain was swelling so fast. They had to helicopter him to Children’s Hospital in Lewiston and it was touch and go for several weeks. He needed multiple surgeries to relieve the swelling on his brain.”

“He’s okay now?”

Anna nodded. “Yes. But it was a horrible year. The Children’s Protective Services all but accused Elise of hurting Tommy on purpose. Because of his head injuries, they said it could have been caused by throwing him to the ground. It was horrible. They finally believed that I did it, though, and that it was just an accident.”

Ben was looking at her curiously. “You said the carrier wasn’t locked when you picked it up. Wouldn’t that have been Elise’s responsibility?”

Anna sighed. “Yes and no. She should have made sure it was locked and I should have checked that it was locked. We were both in a rush. It was truly an accident. But Elise has never forgiven me. Honestly, I don’t think she’s ever forgiven herself, either. She’s just very lucky he’s fine now. Of course, he can’t play any contact sports, no football ever.”

“A small price to pay. She asked me if you told me about this before I hired you.”

“Would you have hired me if I had?” Anna said.

Ben sighed. “No, probably not. I don’t like that you lied to me though, Anna.”

Anna felt the tears threaten to fall again.

“I’m sorry. I really am.”

They both turned at the sound of the front door opening. Adiel was back. Anna couldn’t face him or anyone else at the moment.

“I’m going to my room.”

* * *

Anna sat in her room and stewed for about twenty minutes. The look on Ben’s face had cut right through her. She was so grateful for what he’d done and so sorry that she had turned out to be such a disappointment to him. Especially after the kiss they’d shared the other night, too. They still hadn’t talked about that. But Anna had been thinking about little else.

And unfortunately there only seemed to be one sensible solution. She had to leave. She wasn’t a hundred percent sure because she’d never been in love before, but she thought that she might be falling in love with Ben. And how could that ever work out? She was his nanny. And if he didn’t feel the same way it would only be awkward for her to stay. It was highly inappropriate, to say the least. And yet, she kept replaying their kiss over and over. 

It wasn’t just the kiss, though. She knew she was going to miss Ben. She’d never been happier than she had since she’d been living there, spending time with him, and Taylor and Betty. They almost felt like a family. She enjoyed his company so much—too much. Just watching Seinfeld and eating ice-cream together and playing with Taylor. It was just perfect, and she was going to miss it horribly. But it was best for her to make a clean break. Let him find a nanny that wasn’t going to go and fall in love with him and one that he wouldn’t have to worry about with his daughter. 

She called Tammy and asked if she could come and stay with her for a few days. She said she’d explain when she got there and Tammy didn’t ask any questions, just told her she could stay as long as she needed to. She packed an overnight bag and planned to come back and get the rest of her luggage. It would be too awkward to move everything out now, with Adiel still visiting. She didn’t want a scene, and she didn’t want to embarrass Ben in front of his friend.

Adiel looked her way when she walked out to the kitchen and his eyes fell on her overnight bag. She put on a bright smile and tried to act as though everything was perfectly normal.

“I’m going to stay with my friend Tammy tonight. I’ll be back in the morning. Adiel it was great to meet you.”

“You, too. I hope to see you again soon.” He gave her a big hug and his warm eyes that saw so much were full of sympathy. 

Ben looked sick to his stomach.

“I’ll walk you out.”

He walked her out to her car and as soon as they got outside asked, “What’s going on? Why are you going to Tammy’s?”

“I think it’s probably best if you find a new nanny. Tammy said I can stay with her until I find my own place. Now, thanks to you, I’ll have money to do that soon.”

“You don’t have to do this.”

“I think I do. I’ll come back tomorrow to get the rest of my stuff.”

“But what about the other night? We kissed. We haven’t talked about that yet.”

“That’s part of it, too, Ben. I liked that a little too much. I can’t do that and be your nanny, too. It’s not fair to any of us.”

“We’ll talk tomorrow,” Ben promised.

Anna sat in her car for a moment and waited until she calmed down enough to drive. Her emotions were all over the place.

Tammy had the door open for her when she walked up. She pulled Anna in for a hug, and the tears came again, harder and faster this time.

“It’s Ben, isn’t it? Come on in.”

* * *

“She’s not just the nanny, is she?” Adiel asked softly when Ben walked back in the house.

He sighed. “It’s complicated.”

“Is it? I’ve never seen you so comfortable or relaxed with someone. She seems great. So what if she’s your nanny? Life is short.”

“She is great. I just found out something today, though, that threw me for a loop.”

“Something about Anna?”

“Yeah. Something she didn’t tell me that I heard from someone else first.”

“How bad could it be?”

Ben told him what Anna had shared and about his meeting with Elise and Adiel sat quietly, taking it all in. Finally, he asked, “If you were in Anna’s shoes, would you have shared that information with a potential new employer?”

Ben didn’t have to think long about that. “No, probably not.”

“So, you’re just mad that you heard it from someone else first. And she’s done a great job with Taylor from what you’ve said and from what I can see.”

Ben nodded.

“But now you have feelings for her, and you’re not sure what to do about it?”

“That’s sums it up.”

“That’s a tough one. Do you want her to be your nanny? Or your girlfriend? It’s not really possible to have both, is it?”

“I don’t know.”

Adiel slapped him on the back. “You have a lot to think about. I hope it turns out the way you both want it to.”