And that was the biggest reason of all to stay away from Dominic. She would fall head over heels and he would amuse himself for a few weeks or months and then move on.
No, thanks.
“Have fun tonight,” she said, grabbing Joshua’s bottle and heading for the door. “And try not to stay out too late.”
Joshua awakened four times that night. Obviously frightened and confused by another change of home and caregiver, the baby sobbed pitifully. Her heart breaking for the little boy who was experiencing his third change of homes in as many months, Audra rocked him, sang to him, cuddled and soothed him. It was 5:00 a.m. when they both fell into a deep sleep. So when Joshua’s crying awakened her again, she groaned.
Sympathetic with the baby, she forced her eyes open only to discover it was morning. She popped up off her pillow, glancing at the clock. It was nine!
Throwing back the covers, she rolled out of bed and ran to the nursery. “Good morning,” she sang, refusing to let herself be tired or listless when this baby so desperately needed love and understanding.
“We’ve got some stuff to do, and I’m not entirely sure what order to do it in.” She kissed his forehead and then checked his diaper. Realizing he needed a change, she reached for one of the throw-away diapers in the drawer of the changing table beside the crib.
“For all my experience with my nieces, I’ve never kept a baby overnight. When I babysat for my sisters, I always left when they returned home.”
Done with his diaper, she lifted Joshua off the changing table. He blinked at her as she carried him out into the hall.
“Which means I’ve never handled a morning routine. Here’s where we are right now. You need a bottle and probably a bath, but I also need to shower.”
Having slept in a loose T-shirt and ankle-length pajama bottoms, she didn’t feel uncomfortable walking through the house to the kitchen. “Since we both need things, I’m going to use what I call the airplane theory. The stewardess always says if a plane’s in trouble and the oxygen masks drop, put on your own mask first, then you can help your child.”
Joshua tilted his head as if trying to understand, but also as if growing accustomed to her. Her heart ached for him. He desperately needed someone, but it was wrong for him to be attaching to her. In a few weeks she’d be gone. She hoped Dominic wouldn’t take forever to grow accustomed to him and get involved with him.
She kissed the baby. “That means I shower first, but I can’t desert you while I shower, so we’re going to enlist some help.”
She bumped the swinging door open with her hip. Joyce Irwin, the weekend cook, sat on a stool at the center island. “Good morning, Joyce.”
The short, thin brunette slid from her seat. She clapped her hands together with glee and her green eyes sparkled. “Oh! You have the little one!”
Audra winced. “Yes, but I need some help.”
Joyce glanced at Audra’s sleep-disheveled hair, rumpled T-shirt and pajama bottoms and nodded. “Your mom filled me in that we were to pitch in and do anything you asked. Do you want me to feed him while you shower?”
“Could you? He’ll be occupied eating so he won’t cry.”
Joyce reached for Joshua. “Sounds like a plan.”
“I’ll be back in fifteen minutes. Twenty tops.”
“Take your time. I raised a boy and a girl and have two grandkids. I’m a pro.”
Audra said, “Thanks.” But passing Joshua to the cook, she had a sudden vision of Joshua being raised by servants, getting his good-night kiss from whoever was in charge of putting him to bed that night, and it filled her with unbelievable sadness.
Telling herself not to think like that, she raced out of the kitchen and up the first two halls, but as she turned the corner for the third, she plowed into Dominic.
“Whoa!” he caught her by the shoulders and steadied her before setting her away from himself, his hands still loosely holding her.
Even on a Saturday morning, Dominic’s first trip downstairs was made fully dressed in iron-creased trousers and an oxford cloth shirt—while she stood before him in pajama bottoms and a T-shirt, suddenly feeling like Cinderella. She might not be sweeping ashes for a wicked stepmother, but living with Dominic she would constantly be reminded of their different stations in life. Worse, the warmth of his hands on her shoulders seeped through her thin T-shirt and to her skin, sending a rush of heat through her entire body and causing her breathing to stop.
“Where are you going in such a hurry?”
She took one long breath to jump-start her lungs and, as calmly as she could, she stepped out of his hold. “Joshua and I had a long night. We just got up. I left him with Mrs. Irwin. So I could shower and dress.” The accountant in her, the part that was always pulled together and capable, couldn’t resist explaining why she looked so out of sorts. “That’s why I’m—” She motioned to her big T-shirt and worn pajama bottoms with her hand. “Still in my nightclothes.”