Military Daddies’ Nanny (Lucky Women’s Daddies Reverse Harem #1)

Chapter 18

Nancy

My phone buzzes with a text from Carlos, and my heart does a little flip in anticipation. " Just wanted to let you know I’m thinking of you, mamacita. Can’t wait to see you."

I grin at the pet name, feeling that familiar flutter in my belly. He and Nathan should be getting here soon as well. They’ll have to stay home with the kids who are back from school while Drew and I go out tonight.

It’s crazy how much my life has changed in such a short time. The guys are ridiculously romantic and utterly outrageous with their care sometimes.

The last few months have been...well, like something out of a dream, if I'm being honest with myself. Falling for not just one amazing man, but three? And having them all fall for me in return? It still takes my breath away sometimes, this beautiful, insane, ridiculous rodeo we have going.

I glance at the clock. It’s just after five and I squeal in excitement. It’s almost time for our date. Drew had gone to work after all, but he should be back any minute now.

I still have two hours before seven rolls around to doll up for the date, so I busy myself with mundane chores like loading the dishwasher, throwing in a load of laundry, and straightening up the living room. They are familiar tasks, grounding me here in this moment of domestic bliss.

Has it really only been four months since I stepped into this gloriously chaotic household? In some ways it feels like I've been here forever, enveloped by the easy camaraderie and unconditional love. In others, my arrival seems like a distant dream, one I'm still half-convinced I'll wake from at any moment.

Thirty minutes pass by, and the front door bangs open, and I smile in anticipation. Until a voice that most certainly does not belong to Drew, Nathan, or Carlos rings out.

"Hello? Is anyone home?"

My heart stutters in my chest as I turn toward the foyer. Because standing there, just inside the doorway, is a woman and I think I know who she is.

Karen?

My gaze darts instinctively over her features, taking in the sharp cheekbones and platinum blonde pixie cut. Even after all this time, the resemblance to Bella is unmistakable. Her eyes are the same clear hazel as her daughter's. They find mine, narrowing in polite confusion.

"Oh! I didn't realize...you must be the nanny?"

Before I can respond, the sound of small feet precedes Bella and Jason's arrival as they come to see who came in, obviously expecting their dad or uncles just like I had. At the sight of the strange woman, Jason freezes, gaze darting between her and me uncertainly. But Bella…

"Mom?" she whispers, sounding impossibly young.

My heart clenches at the naked hope in that single syllable. Because even after all this time, even after everything...some small part of this little girl still yearns for her mother's love and acceptance.

Drew appears in the foyer behind Karen, his face creased with some unreadable emotion, and nods once, heavily. "Yeah, baby. It's your mom."

And just like that, the spell is broken. Karen—for it is undeniably her—is across the room in three strides, hauling Bella into her arms with a muffled cry. Jason hovers nearby, eyes wide and mystified.

"My sweet girl," Karen murmurs, voice thick with tears. "You've gotten so big."

Numbly, I watch as she releases Bella in favor of gathering up Jason, who allows the embrace with bewildered passivity. Drew's gaze meets mine over the top of his ex-wife's bowed head, and the apology is plain in the tightness around his eyes.

My mind whirls, trying to make sense of what's happening. Part of me understands, on a rational level, anyway. Karen is the kids' mother, after all. They've spent years longing for her return, spinning fantasy scenarios of a happy family reunion.

And yet...another part of me howls in anguish at this sudden upheaval. Because I have come to love these kids like they’re mine and now, it seems like I’m about to lose them.

Minutes or hours could have passed—I'm not sure. Eventually, Karen sets the children back, straightening to face Drew with shining eyes. "Can we...I'd like to speak to you privately, if that's all right?"

Drew's lashes sweep down in affirmation, and he turns to me at last. "Nancy? Could you…" His voice catches, but not before I see the turbulence roiling in those beloved whiskey eyes.

I open my mouth, fighting to keep my tone even around the vise constricting my airway. "Of course. I'll just...give you three some space."

Grabbing my purse from the side table, I force my leaden limbs in the direction of the front door. I need to get out of here—to breathe, to think…

"Nancy, wait!" Drew's hand closes around my elbow, and I dimly register him tugging me into the hall, out of earshot. "I'm so sorry," he murmurs low and urgent when we're alone. "I had no idea Karen was going to show up like this, I swear."

A hysterical bubble of laughter builds in my chest, which I only just manage to choke back. Of course, he didn't know. None of us could have seen this coming. Because who the hell actually expects their runaway ex to reappear out of the ether six years down the line?

When I manage to speak, my voice trembles despite my best efforts. "What...does this mean for us, Drew?" Because I already know the answer, don't I? As soon as I laid eyes on the woman, the truth became inescapable.

Drew's fingers tighten infinitesimally around my arm before falling away. “I think…we will need to have to cancel our date tonight.”

“Were you planning on telling me about Karen’s return?” I ask, willing him to say that she won’t be returning and that he wants nothing to do with her.

His expression is apologetic. He opens his mouth as though to say something, but closes it again when I glare at him.

He doesn't say he owes it to Karen. Doesn't say he still has feelings for her, or that I was just a temporary diversion from his loneliness. The words don't need to be spoken aloud. I already knew the score, from the moment I watched his expression crumble while Karen embraced the children he cherished.

I was a convenience for his fractured family, nothing more. I’m just an employee.

And now that the real deal has resurfaced...what place can I possibly have here? Moisture stings my eyes, but I blink it back furiously. I will not fall apart again, not where they can see. Squaring my shoulders, I nod once in acknowledgment.

"I understand."

The confusion is evident in the creases fanning out from the corners of his eyes. "Nancy..."

But I can't bear his stuttered reassurances, his stilted apologies. I need to get out, before the dam well and truly bursts.

To his credit, Drew doesn't try to stop me when I turn on my heel and flee out the front door, leaving slivers of my bruised heart littering the foyer behind me.

I make it three blocks from the house before the first tear spills over, quickly followed by a second, and then a third. And then I'm sobbing in earnest, great gasping hiccups that shake my entire frame as I stumble down the deserted sidewalk. My purse falls from my limp fingers, handbag contents scattering across the concrete.

How could I have been so stupid? Playing house with three gorgeous men, allowing myself to picture a future with them...of course it couldn't last. Stories like that only exist in cheap paperbacks, not in the real world.

Heedless of my surroundings, I fumble my phone from where it landed, stabbing the first contact in my favorites list with blurred vision.

"Jamie? It’s me," I manage when she answers, voice mangled beyond recognition. "I...you were right. I never should have...God, what was I thinking?"

"Nancy? Honey, what's wrong?" Her voice sharpens with concern. "Where are you?"

"J-just on the corner past Drew's house. I can't…I need you to come over. Please…" I’d already told her Drew’s address before taking this job as a security measure just in case.

"Okay," Jamie responds calmly, switching into crisis mode. "Okay, stay right there. I'll come get you."

The call ends, leaving an eerie silence in its wake, save for the harsh cadence of my own panting breaths, ragged and uneven. A car horn blares somewhere close by, like an anguished cry cutting through the stillness.

Dimly I'm aware of sinking to my knees on the cracked pavement, of cradling my head in my hands as wave after wave of agony crashes over me.

My core fractures from the inside out, ribs splintering and lungs contracting painfully until blackness begins to creep across my vision. I gasp like a drowning woman, fingers scrabbling uselessly against the unyielding concrete beneath me.

How could this be happening? Just this morning, everything had been perfect—waking up tangled in Drew's arms, having breakfast with everyone...

And now, not even twelve hours later, that beautiful dream lies shattered at my feet. Because of course, it was too good to be true. Of course reality would inevitably come crashing back in, undoing every stitch of happiness I'd managed to weave.

Sobs wrack my frame anew as memories assault me, flashes of tender moments, heated glances, whispered endearments. Was it all a lie? Just meaningless physical comfort for four lonely souls, nothing more?

No. Some part of me rejects that notion, even through the heartache. What we shared; it was real. I knew it down to my marrow. They loved me, in their own ways...they just didn't love me enough.

The thought punches the air from my lungs in one harsh exhalation. My chest constricts. I can't breathe, I can't—

"Nancy! Oh my god, Nancy!"

Familiar arms are around me, hauling me upright. Jamie's panicked face swims into view, pale and pinched. "What happened? Are you hurt?"

I try to respond, but my voice emerges as little more than a garbled croak. Black tendrils creep across the edges of my sight as the world tilts on its axis.

And then there is only blessed oblivion.