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Mac swallowed and closed his eyes. If the way I was feeling was any indication, the mere mention of Kristen was hard for him.
“Though she’s no longer with us, we’ve been blessed with two amazing little people. Goes without saying, but none of us imagined a year ago that we’d be raising kids together. But Henry, Hattie, I want you two to know that all of your uncles love you like crazy and having you in our lives has made us feel more complete than we ever could’ve imagined.”
I squeezed Henry’s shoulder, and he looked up at me with a smile.
“There’s a lot of love in this house,” Mac said. “And as we start the holidays together, I can say for certain that it’s only going to grow.” With that, he raised his glass of wine. “Here’s to our family.”
We raised our glasses, Henry and Hattie lifting their small cups of milk.
“Here, here!” I said, Adam and Marcus joining me.
“Alright!” said Mac, allowing himself a smile. “This food’s not getting any hotter. Let’s eat!”
With that, we dug in. After helping Henry with his plate, I went for the turkey, snagging one of the legs and drenching it with gravy. Next was mashed potatoes, along with stuffing and some green bean casserole.
We talked as we ate, going over our plans for the winter on the farm, along with what we wanted to get done for the next year. Managing Thousand Acres was no small thing, and with the success we’d had, it was looking like we’d need another couple dozen hands on the place to keep it chugging along.
“Speaking of which,” Adam said with a big smile. “You want to tell the guys about your idea for the newest member of the staff?”
Mac’s eyes flashed, then his expression turned hard. “You dumba—, I mean, you dummy, I’m not ready to talk about that just yet. Still thinking it over.”
I was intrigued. “What? What’s going on here?”
Marcus leaned in. “Whatever it is, cat’s out of the bag. Might as well spill it.”
Mac sighed, wiping his hands and tossing the napkin down onto the table. “Fine. Got an idea for the nanny.”
“Is that right?” I asked.
“It is. The woman who runs Downing Farm.”
Needless to say, I wasmorethan intrigued.
Chapter 6
Marcus
“What the heck?” I asked.
I was equal parts amused and surprised. Seeing Mac, the oldest of us, caught on the back foot like that was something else. The man was more stoic than I was, and I was about as stoic as they came, but there was no doubt in my mind that he was all kinds of steamed at Adam for letting that particular cat out of the bag.
“You couldn’t have waited untilafterthe kids were in bed to talk about this?” Mac asked, angrily slicing through his turkey.
“I liked Aubrey,” Henry declared.
“Who’s Aubrey?” Hattie asked.
Mac sighed. “Alright, here’s the deal. If you guys want to talk about this so badly like a trio of gossiping housewives, then fine. But let’s do it after dinner.”
Adam leaned toward me. “Aubrey’s the woman who owns Downing Farm. Evidently, Mac here thinks she’d be perfect for the nanny job.”
“Enough,” Mac stated. Tight anger was on his face, the sort of anger that always reminded me of Dad whenever he’d be on his last nerve with us when we were kids.
“Fine, fine,” Adam said. “Let’s talk about it in the den over whiskey once the kids are in bed.”
“Sounds good,” I agreed. “Because I’m all kinds of curious.”
As we finished up dinner, Mac brought the conversation back to the subject of odds and ends around Thousand Acres. It was clear by the way the guys and I kept looking at one another that the subject of Mac’s new nanny suggestion was the biggest thing on our minds—far more than any goings on around the place and the potential of a new mission.
