As the jumbo jet made a smooth take-off, Luis leaned back in his seat and looked across the aisle at the new nanny. She was bent close to Juan, listening as his son regaled her with some tale. For a moment he wished he could capture the sight in a photograph. His boys were special. He wished they’d forever be as happy as Juan looked right now. He didn’t often see that expression.
It was at special moments like this he missed Melissa with an ache that seemed destined to never fade. She had missed every moment of their lives, dying of an aneurism before delivering Pablo. She’d never even held her sons. At every milestone, he offered up the hope that Melissa knew, somewhere, somehow.
Stacey enjoyed sitting by Juan, happy he was so easy to travel with. He talked her ear off non-stop from the time the doors closed until the flight was airborne. He’d loved looking out the window until land was left behind. He thought the ocean was boring. Once or twice she glanced over at Luis and Pablo. That twin was quieter. He seemed intent on coloring in pages his father produced from the packet Hannah had sent. Her own contributions to keep the children entertained had yet to be opened. Hannah had packed small toys they could play with in the confined space of their seats.
Luis settled Pablo then opened his laptop and seemed totally engrossed with whatever he was reading, his expression thoughtful, his eyes focused on the screen. His hair was a bit mussed. Had he run his fingers through when she’d not been looking?
And why was she looking? She was here for the children, not to watch the father. Had it been just over twenty-four hours ago that she had met him for the first time? She’d returned to her office after meeting the boys and studied the interview sheets with more intensity than normal. He was widowed. He was head of a very successful software development firm. And he was so good looking he should carry a warning label.
When she’d gone home, she’d looked him up on the internet, and found the article Stephanie had mentioned that listed him as one of New York’s most eligible bachelors. No mention of his kids. Several tremendous photographs, however, would have everyone in New York recognizing him if they met him on the street.
She turned back to Juan. How lucky Luis was to have his twins. She hoped they were making family memories for the boys to cherish in the future. She only had vague memories of her own mother and father. She’d been six when delivered to Grams, her sister Savannah only four. And her mother’s mother had been arthritic and grumpy and already in her mid-sixties. If Stacey hadn’t had her sister, she didn’t know what she would have done. Savannah and she had made the most of whatever Grams had offered, but they hadn’t had much materially or done much outside the home. No travel, no vacations. When she’d turned eighteen, she’d deliberately set out to change her future for the better.
Stretching slightly, she acknowledged her own good luck to spend the next three weeks at some Spanish villa by the sea. When growing up in Palmerville, West Virginia, she’d dreamed about the sea. Now her best assignments were the ones at the beach. Thankfully the rich and famous liked the beach as much as she did.
During the meal service, she assisted Juan in cutting his meat and helping with his beverage. Once the meal service ended, she asked if Luis wanted to switch boys. Juan protested about going to sit by his dad, he wanted to stay with Stacey. Since the seats were large, she agreed and Pablo joined them. Soon the three of them were engrossed in putting together a puzzle she’d brought. The boys had never done a jigsaw puzzle before and vied with each other to match pieces to the spaces, often trying to force them in until Stacey explained they needed to reconstruct the picture and pieces in wrong places simply would not do!
She glanced again at her new employer. He was still working on the laptop, but she knew the battery would be dying soon. Then what would he do?
Her years working in this job had convinced her business tycoons didn’t have a family gene. They might want a family, but it was mainly for show or to leave the family fortune to. Children were nice to have brought out to meet associates and then shunted off in the care of someone else.
Her grandmother had been sickly, but she’d done her best for Stacey and her sister. She’d read to them, and taught them how to keep house, cook, mend clothes. All of it accompanied with family stories about relatives who had died without Stacey ever meeting them. Still, those were her family memories of growing up. Poor, deprived of bicycles and other toys her schoolmates had enjoyed, she still had those cherished memories. She missed her grandmother.
Growing up poor, however, had fostered the desire to enjoy luxury, hence the idea of being a temporary nanny, where she got to travel to exotic locations. While not participating in the activities of the parents, the children still had wonderful amenities that she would have loved as a child and she did her best to give each child a wonderful memory of the vacation, whether spending time with their parents or not.
She wondered about her current boss. He’d mentioned spending summers in Spain. With his parents? Or had he been shuffled off to get out of the way for their own lifestyles? She doubted she’d ever find out. Curiosity had her wondering about him while his children played quietly. Soon she’d try to get them to sleep a bit. It was already dark outside. They’d be landing in Madrid early in the morning. Sleep was required!
Midway through the flight the boys gave up and she reclined the seat they shared, covered them with a blanket and gave them each a pillow. In only seconds they were both fast asleep.
Which gave Stacey plenty of time to think. Her eyes were drawn to Luis Aldivista. His concentration seemed complete, which enabled her to study him without him being aware of it. He was better looking than the photographs she’d seen on the internet. What were his expectations for the trip?
“Mr. Aldivista,” she said softly. The jet was so quiet she knew he could hear her and she didn’t want to wake the boys.
He looked over. “Yes?” It took him a moment to focus. What was he thinking? she wondered.
“I thought maybe we should talk a bit more about what you expect from the trip. Will I be taking the boys around sightseeing, or will we be primarily at your grandmother’s place?”
“At Abuela Maria’s, I imagine,” he said, frowning slightly. “I don’t have any expectations. Just watch them. Keep them out of mischief. Try to have them behave.”
“Why wouldn’t they?” she asked, wondering if there was more to this assignment than she knew about.
“They’re a handful. If one wants to do one thing, the other wants to do the opposite.” He shook his head. “Hannah limits what they do because they’re so much trouble.”
Stacey glanced at the sleeping boys. They looked angelic to her.
“I think I can manage,” she replied dryly. How hard could they be?
“See that you do. I don’t want them disrupting my grandmother’s home.”
“I’ve never been to Spain, neither have they. I hope we see some of it while here. I’m sure the boys would love to see some of the old forts or castles.”
He looked at his computer, sighed and closed it. “Battery’s dead,” he said. Then he looked back at Stacey. “My grandmother’s home is right on the sea. The boys will find enough to do, playing on the beach. Easier to keep them corralled that way.”
She tilted her head slightly. “Will you be spending much time with them?”
“No promises. I’ll have to see how thing go at work.”
She wanted him to say he’d already planned on spending time with Juan and Pablo every day, but she was tilting at windmills. Die-hard business tycoons like Luis Aldivista never put anything before business.
“They don’t speak Spanish, do they?”
He shook his head.
“But you do?”
“Of course. I spent every summer in Spain from the time I was younger than the boys until I went to college and had to work summers.”
“Don’t