Free The Holiday Nanny by Lois Richer Page B

the note; the man nodded and began to speak.
    Wade was too far away to hear the conversation. He grabbed a brochure off a nearby table and began to read about New Horizons, the center where Connie had come to find her father. He didn’t get far.
    â€œDaddy?” Silver edged a little closer to him, her voice whisper soft. “What is this place?”
    â€œUm.” How should he phrase this?
    â€œThose people look sad. Did somebody hurt them, Daddy?”
    â€œI don’t think so.” Wade scanned the information quickly.
    â€œNew Horizons is for people to come and get help. I guess some of them don’t have homes to go to.” He tried to put the health care crisis into terms she’d understand. “Maybe they spent all their money trying to get better. Anyway, they come here to eat, go on the computers to look for jobs,” he added, having just read that, “and to meet with people to talk about their feelings.”
    â€œOh.” Clearly mystified, Silver didn’t ask any more, and Wade didn’t volunteer. After a few moments, she climbed onto his knee and held his hand with both of hers.
    But when a little boy arrived with a woman pushing his wheelchair, Silver perked up. She watched the mother serve her child some food. The boy managed, with the awkward grace of his unbandaged hand, to feed himself. When his mother finished her meal and began to speak to him, he listened intently then nodded his head and watched her walk across the room.
    â€œCan I go talk to him, Daddy?”
    Wade hesitated. What if Silver asked the wrong question and hurt the disabled boy’s feelings? But Silver wasusually very careful of others’ feelings. He decided to take the risk.
    â€œBe polite” was the best fatherly advice he could think of. What a failure he was at this parenting business. Far better to let Connie handle it.
    â€œOkay.” Silver hopped off his knee and tinkled her way across the room to the boy.
    Being careful not to look too curious and invade Silver’s line of sight, Wade shifted to a seat a few feet behind the pair, prepared to interrupt if the scowling boy hurt his baby.
    How pathetic was he? Afraid to embrace fatherhood completely, yet acting like a besotted daddy ready to protect his kid from everything.
    He glanced up and found Connie’s gaze on him. It slid to Silver and the boy and then back to him. She smiled, and Wade knew he’d been caught out in his pretend fatherly role. But he stayed where he was anyway. Just in case.
    â€œHi. My name is Silver.”
    â€œSo?” The boy continued eating as if she wasn’t there.
    Wade told himself to ignore the rudeness and stay cool.
    â€œSo what’s your name?” Silver climbed into the chair beside his wheelchair and waited.
    â€œKris.” Other than the single word, the boy ignored her.
    â€œDo you live here, Kris?”
    Wade held his breath when the boy glared at her. “Nobody lives here, dummy.”
    â€œOh.” Unabashed, Silver swung her feet, bells faintly tinkling. “What do you want for Christmas?”
    â€œA million bucks.”
    The kid had a smart lip, and Wade was getting tired ofit. But Silver hadn’t given up, and Wade was loathe to drag her away when Connie didn’t seem ready to leave.
    â€œI want God to help my daddy love me,” Silver told him.
    â€œAnd a dollhouse.”
    Whatever they said next flew right over Wade’s head.
    I want God to help my daddy love me.
    His gut clenched as if he’d been sucker punched by one of the gangs he was quite sure ran this side of town. The words spun around his brain like a whirling dervish, deeper and deeper. Every syllable a condemnation.
    Why couldn’t he say the words? He’d give up his life if it would keep this child safe. But he couldn’t force the words, “I love you, Silver,” through his lips. And that was hurting her—something he did not want to