The Nanny's Little Matchmakers (Love Inspired Historical) (17 page)

Stop it, he told himself sternly. He’d come on this picnic to make things right between them, not make them more uncomfortable. Which is exactly what he’d be doing if he kept mooning over a woman he could never have.

He assisted Polly into the carriage, trying not to notice how much he enjoyed the feel of her hand in his, even if it was just for a moment.

These things were best not dwelled upon.

Once they were on their way, he said, “Do you have any ideas as to how we should deal with the children on this? I admit, my first reaction was anger, and I know that’s the wrong thought.”

He smiled at her. “But really! They shouldn’t have trifled with your heart.”

“Or yours,” Polly said quietly. “But they’re children, and they can’t possibly understand the consequences of meddling with people’s hearts. They think they know a good many things about love and romance, but in truth, they have no idea what real love is.”

Good point, but Mitch wasn’t even sure he knew what real love was. After all, he’d been duped into marriage and forced to remain in that marriage to protect his children. The only love he could rightly speak of was that of a father for his children, and even then, he felt woefully unable, given his inability to see what had been happening to them.

“So what do we do?”

He glanced at her, noting the thoughtful expression on her face and appreciating once more that Polly was a woman of depth and compassion.

Finally, she spoke. “I think we need to be honest with them. I’ve tried explaining to them that there isn’t anything romantic between us and that I will always be there for them, but perhaps if we come to them together and let them know that we’re on to them, they’ll finally understand.”

Polly’s idea sounded so much more optimistic than the thoughts in his head. He’d reasoned with them multiple times over the years, but it seemed that when they got a thought into their heads, they wouldn’t let go.

“I’m not so sure...” Mitch decided that sharing his experience was the best option. “If they’re convinced that you’re the one to be their new mother, nothing is going to stop them until they get their way.”

Polly made a small noise in the back of her throat. Her expression was more thoughtful, and he decided it was best to give her a few moments to think. Besides, he needed to keep his focus on the horses. They were driving through a narrow canyon now, almost to the mining camp and the picnic spot Polly had brought them to before.

He glanced over at Polly, who seemed too lost in thought to pay much attention to the scenery. Thanks to her, one of his biggest problems—dealing with the children—seemed almost nonexistent. Sure, they still had to figure out how to keep the children’s matchmaking machinations at bay, but that seemed simple compared to everything else he’d worried about with them.

If only his other problems were so easily solved.

As they pulled up to the picnic spot, Polly finally spoke. “I think the key to dissuading the children is for us to spend as little time together as possible. They seem to think there’s something between us, and the more we’re together, the more it makes them think it’s true.”

Mitch frowned. “What makes you think that?”

“How much time did you spend interacting with the children while their previous nannies were present?”

As he thought about the answer, he understood her point. “Our picnic the other day was definitely not something I’ve ever done with another nanny.”

“Exactly.” She wore the same calm expression as she always did in working with the children, and part of him hated that she was using it on him now.

“Even though there are any number of reasons for the fact that you’re spending more time with us than you have with other nannies, the only reason they can see is that it must be romantic.”

“Are you saying I shouldn’t spend time with my children, then?” The words stung in his mouth and pained him to even let them come out.

“No.” She appeared to consider her words for a moment. “But I think we have to find some way of trading off. When you want to be with the children, then I’ll go find something else to do. When it’s time for their lessons, then you should make yourself scarce.”

Her logic was sound, and yet he didn’t like her words. He and Polly made a great team, allowing the children to have plenty of attention and love.

“We work so well together. You have a knack for keeping the younger children occupied while I spend time with the older children and vice versa.”

Polly nodded slowly. “The children say you look at me like I’m chocolate cake.”

Mitch closed his eyes. Had he been so obvious in his attraction to her?

“I meant no offense,” he said carefully.

“I know. But the children aren’t good at understanding subtleties and nuances, and what was probably a very innocent expression on your part, they took to be romantic.”

“I see.” Mitch parked the buggy, then helped Polly out.

She didn’t say anything else, but she didn’t need to. Her words had given him more than enough food for thought, and further conversation between them seemed to be almost pointless.

They shared their picnic lunch, carefully exchanging pleasantries as Polly updated him on the children’s progress with their lessons. They were bright, all of them, but that didn’t surprise Mitch in the least. What did surprise him, however, was that when Polly opened the container holding their desserts—two tarts and a large slab of chocolate cake—he found that the chocolate cake held no pleasure for him.

Well, that wasn’t entirely true. He would have enjoyed the cake, savored it, even, had it not been for the fact that now, thanks to his children, he’d never be able to look at a piece of chocolate cake without thinking about how much he wished things could be different with Polly.

They didn’t linger after they ate but quickly packed up and returned to town, a new distance between them. Mitch tried telling himself it was best for the children this way, but he found he couldn’t swallow the lie. Even on the short ride home, he missed the easy camaraderie with Polly.

If he could say the one thing that had been missing from his courtship with Hattie, the one thing that, looking back, he wished he’d realized, it was how little he truly enjoyed her company. He’d been enamored of her, and yet, he couldn’t say for certain that he’d ever actually liked her.

With Polly, it was different. He liked her. And the more time he spent with her, the more he liked her and the more attractive he found her.

Which was why the hopelessness of them ever being together seemed all the more cruel. He couldn’t act on his feelings for her because it might scare her away. Or worse, she might choose to stay, and grow to resent him because of it.

When they arrived home, it was a blessing to leave the tension of being with her but not being able to be with her. They’d lost something very precious on the picnic, but Polly was right. For the sake of the children, it was the right thing to do. It wasn’t fair to them to hold on to hopes of their marriage if such a thing were not possible.

But as soon as they walked up to the porch, the door flew open, and an excited chorus demanded, “So? Are you getting married?”

He didn’t even have to look at Polly to know that her expression screamed “I told you so.”

“No, we are not,” Mitch said calmly, watching the excitement fizzle out of them like a fire doused with a bucket of water. “In fact, I am very disappointed in all of you for setting this whole thing up. There is nothing romantic between Polly and me, and there never will be. You must stop this nonsense of wanting her to be your mother immediately. If I find any more notes, there will be consequences.”

Mitch had no idea what the consequences would be, and he wasn’t sure if he was glad for it or not. The children delighted in finding ways around punishment, and they always tested the rules. But as he examined their crestfallen faces, he hoped that this was one situation they would not challenge.

He couldn’t afford the heartbreak otherwise.

Chapter Fourteen

T
he children seemed to accept Mitch’s edict about no more matchmaking, at least in terms of his not finding any more notes. However, they had taken to making sure that in every conversation, at least one of them mentioned needing a mother, or wanting Polly to be their mother. In fact, life at the Lassiter house had fallen into a neat routine. He and Polly were polite to each other, and though he missed the camaraderie they’d shared, the children also seemed to sense the distance between them.

Chocolate cake indeed.

Mitch was shaking his head as he exited the church, pleased that no one at the Sunday service seemed to know who he was, or anything about his scandal.

“Excuse me? Are you Mitch Taylor?”

Mitch sighed as he turned around. He shouldn’t have even thought it.

A pretty young blonde, younger than Polly, with a bright smile greeted him.

“I’m Helena Jenkins. I help out in the Sunday school.”

Mitch closed his eyes and said a quick prayer. At least the poor girl didn’t appear to be doused in anything.

She gnawed at her lip, as though she was struggling to come up with the right words to say.

“It’s all right,” Mitch said, giving her his most encouraging smile. “I’m sure that whatever you have to tell me about my children won’t surprise me.”

After all, there wasn’t much worse they could do after that time they set a previous nanny on fire. Granted, it had been an accident, and the only damage was to the nanny’s skirt, where the children had dropped a candle, but in the retelling amongst society, it had turned into something worse.

Helena’s face scrunched up slightly and her shoulders rose and fell as she sighed. “I’m a little concerned about their prayer request.”

Prayer request?

Mitch stared at her. “I don’t understand.”

“When we asked the class for prayer requests, they asked us all to pray that they would get a new mother. Now, I know it’s none of my business, but...”

He smiled at her. “I appreciate you letting me know. The children recently lost their mother, and now they seem intent on getting a new one, even if it’s only in their imaginations.”

“Oh.” Sympathy lined her face. “I will definitely be praying for your family, Mr. Taylor.”

“Thank you,” he told her, giving her another smile.

Her face brightened as she smiled. “You are most welcome. Such lovely children. Good day.”

She turned and left, leaving Mitch to shake his head slowly. He should consider their church attendance progress. He’d never been anywhere where someone called his children lovely. That should make up for them and their hijinks. What were they thinking, telling people something like that?

He looked around the churchyard, spotting Polly talking to Mary, noticing that as always, Isabella clutched Polly’s skirts. Rory, Clara and Thomas were playing tag with Nugget, Caitlin and some other children. Louisa... He scanned the area until he finally saw her. Standing with a couple other girls who appeared to be her age.

His children had never had friends. Mostly because none of the mothers were willing to allow their children to be under the influence of the Taylor Terrors, but also because other children were terrified of the kind of pranks that would be played on them. Here, there were no pranks, just good old-fashioned laughter.

“It was a good service, wasn’t it?”

Mitch jumped at the sound of Will’s voice. “When did you get back?”

“Early this morning. Spent some time in Denver with an old friend, a deputy I used to work with. He gave me some information on the case I think you’ll be interested in hearing. Let’s go talk in Frank’s office, where we can have some privacy.”

They started to walk toward the church, and Mitch glanced in Polly’s direction. She and Mary were headed their way.

“Will it prove my innocence?”

“It’s not a smoking gun, but it’s good. Know anyone with the initials JB?”

JB... Mitch mentally went through the list of everyone in Hattie’s world that he’d met. “No. Did any of her friends know?”

Will shook his head. “Nope. And none of them knew who she was seeing either. Said he was a high roller who sent her expensive gifts, but she was real secretive about it. Apparently, he was married.”

“They always were,” Mitch said, not trying to hide his disgust.

Polly and Mary joined them, and they went into Frank’s office. As Will gave his wife a gentle kiss on the cheek, Mitch’s stomach gave a weird start. Such tenderness between man and wife. He’d never known such a thing, and seeing it in action made him wish... Mitch shook his head. He’d wished for a lot of things, but wishing didn’t make them come true. He stole a glance at Polly, whose expression had softened. She’d been touched by the romantic gesture as well.

“Anyway,” Will said, barely breaking stride in the conversation after greeting his wife. “Despite this fellow being married, Hattie kept acting like her ship had come in. A lot of the other actresses were upset with her for putting on airs. They said she was full of herself because she was staying in a suite at the Orrington Grand, paid for by this lover.”

Nothing Mitch didn’t already know. “That sounds about right. But that doesn’t tell us anything. None of them knew his name?”

“No, and I couldn’t get the clerk at the hotel to tell me anything about the room. Apparently, it was registered to her, and there’s no record of who paid.”

“But you don’t believe the clerk?” Polly asked, her brow wrinkled in thought.

“No. My friend said that he’d seen the room register, and the page had been torn out.” Then Will looked around. “The only reason I have the initials is that apparently a bloody cuff link bearing those letters was found clenched in Hattie’s hand. My friend was asked to dispose of it because the sheriff thought it might confuse the jury.”

Destroying evidence. Mitch closed his eyes. He knew the sheriff would do just about anything to get reelected, but he hadn’t realized how far he’d go.

“But your friend thinks it’s important?” Mitch examined Will’s face, hoping that there was some good news to come of the situation.

“Yes. I told him what I knew of Hattie’s affairs, and he says it sounds like there was some kind of lover’s quarrel. People in the room below complained because they’d heard shouting. My guess, and his, is that Hattie was trying to cash in on her baby news, and he didn’t respond the way she thought he would.”

None of them ever did, which was why Mitch had five children. But no one had ever been angry enough with Hattie over it to kill her.

“Did he talk to the sheriff? Let him know that obviously someone besides Mitch was involved?” Polly’s voice was so earnest and sincere, Mitch wanted to be happy that he had someone like her on his side. But the more he felt appreciation for her, the more he had to face the difficulty of the fact that she would be leaving them.

How could he keep their lives from being so intertwined? She clearly cared about what happened to him, and that made him far happier than it should.

“The sheriff doesn’t want to hear it. Until we have conclusive proof, and a name, it’s not going to do us any good. The good news is, my friend thinks Mitch is innocent, and he’s eager to help prove it.”

Mitch stared at him. “He’d go against the sheriff? No one there would even talk to me.”

“And they won’t. This guy only talked to me because we’re old friends, and on the condition that I not mention his name. No one’s willing to cross the sheriff. He can make life miserable for a man who doesn’t play the game his way.”

The familiar old resignation sat in the pit of Mitch’s stomach, like a long-lost enemy come to roost. “Is there any hope at all?”

“If we can find out who JB is, sure.”

Mitch glanced out the window, noticing his children still outside playing. If they didn’t find the answers they were looking for, he’d only have a few more weeks of enjoying them. And then...the enemy roosting in the pit of his stomach started to peck at his insides, taunting him with what his fate would be.

* * *

Polly hated seeing the discouragement return to Mitch’s face. It had been nearly banished over the past few days, and it was a shame to see his handsome features marred.

“So how do we find out who this JB is? Do you think the owner of the hotel might know?”

Will nodded. “I’ve got a man looking into it. Seems the hotel ownership is tied up in some kind of trust, and we’ve got to be careful about how we go about things. When I was asking questions at the hotel, word got back to the sheriff, who paid me a visit. He didn’t take kindly to my looking into things. I told him it was just curiosity because reading about the case in the papers fascinated me, but he still didn’t like it.”

Mary made the sound she always made when she was deep in thought. Polly had almost forgotten her friend was there. But now, she was glad for it.

“What are you thinking, Mary?” Polly asked.

“Seems like the sheriff is doing an awful lot of chasing people away from the truth. Why would he do that if there wasn’t something to contradict the evidence he had for his easy conviction?”

Will planted a kiss on top of his wife’s head, warming Polly’s heart. She was glad for her friend finding someone like him, especially when she noticed how pink Mary’s cheeks turned at the attention.

“And that, my love, is why I am so glad I married you. You have a way of confirming I’m on the right track with something, even when I just have my gut to go on.”

“Well you’ve got mine, too,” Polly said, looking at Mitch, who was gazing out the window. “There’s something not right about how the sheriff is handling the case, and he’s hiding something important. I can just feel it. Mitch, you are absolutely not allowed to lose hope.”

His head jerked in her direction. “Who said I’m losing hope?”

“The crease in your brow says. And I will not have it, do you hear me?”

As he nodded slowly, Polly caught Mary stifling a giggle. She turned to her friend. “What’s so funny?”

“You.” She grinned, then cast Mitch a sympathetic look. “She can’t help it, you know. She’s been bossing people around most of her life, and the only reason we don’t think she’s completely insufferable is that she’s usually right.”

For the first time since they entered Uncle Frank’s office, Mitch smiled. “Unfortunately so. But I think that’s one of the things that makes her grow on you.”

Polly should have been irritated that they were all picking on her, but with the way the mood lightened, she couldn’t be mad.

“Just how much has she grown on you?” Will asked, suddenly looking almost menacing.

Polly forced herself not to smile. Watching Will take on a protective role was sweet. Unnecessary, but sweet. She looked over at Mary, who just shook her head.

Mitch seemed to understand, too. “Not so much as you seem to be asking. Trust me, I have enough problems in my life without adding romance to the equation.”

“Romance comes whether you want it to or not.” Will stared Mitch down the way Polly imagined he’d look at a criminal. “And just so we’re clear, if you break Polly’s heart—”

“Oh, now stop!” Polly gave Will a hard look of her own. “We’ve already been fighting off the matchmaking efforts of the children. Both Mitch and I understand where the other stands. There are no romantic notions between us. Save your heroic efforts for that little one you’ll soon be raising.”

Polly tossed a smile at her friend, who rubbed her stomach.

“Are you really clear on your relationship?” Mary asked. “The harder you fight it, the harder you fall.”

Polly let out a long breath. These people were impossible. Every last one of them. She glanced over at Mitch, who was shaking his head. At least he understood where things stood between them.

“I can almost understand why Polly doesn’t want to get married,” Mitch said. “The way folks keep matching her up when she says she’s not interested has to be frustrating.”

Then he grinned. “Knowing Polly, she’s apt to never marry just to spite you all.”

“You
do
like her,” Mary said, looking quite like she’d been given a tray of Maddie’s tarts all to herself.

“I can like her all I want, but that doesn’t mean I have to marry her.” Then Mitch sobered. “Your teasing is just as futile as finding Hattie’s killer seems to be. Actually, I’m starting to think that there’s a greater chance of my marrying Polly than there is of finding Hattie’s killer, and I am absolutely not interested in marrying her—or anyone else.”

Well, that was a comfort. Even with his “or anyone else,” it was a little insulting to hear the vehemence about not marrying her. Not that she wanted to marry him, of course, but it was the principle of the matter.

He gave Polly a sympathetic look. “It’s nothing against you, but I’m sure you can understand where I’m coming from. Marriage has brought me nothing but trouble.”

Then he let out a long sigh. “Although I would never change my decision to marry Hattie. I don’t know what I’d do without the children.”

Mary gave Will that sickeningly sweet look Polly was used to seeing her friends give their husbands. “Not all marriages are bad.”

The same argument Mary, Annabelle and Emma Jane had been giving Polly the past few months. But what happened when the passion faded? When the newness of having that someone in their lives was gone? Her conversation with Ma fluttered back into her mind. She’d been wrong about her pa all these years. Could all these arguments Polly had been making against marriage be wrong?

It didn’t matter, she told herself firmly. She and Mitch were not getting married. Mitch had just made his position quite clear, and hopefully everyone else would finally listen.

Polly cleared her throat. “Marriage may well have worked out for you, but discussing the merits or disadvantages to such a state isn’t going to help Mitch stay out of jail. What we need now is a plan.”

She mentally patted herself on the back for getting the conversation back on track. Especially since Mitch looked just as relieved to finally have the pressure taken off. He wanted to talk about marriage as little as Polly did, and it was frustrating to have everyone continually bring it up.