Christmas Mom Tryouts Read online

  “Nice to meet you…Natalie.” Stone did not appear as enthused. He shook her hand and took the smaller case. “What’s this?”

  “That’s Betsy.” Natalie didn’t elaborate. Two could play the game, and she’d be darned if a fourteen-year-old would get the best of her.

  “A doll?” Disgust dripped like molasses, slow and thick.

  “A sewing machine. An old one. She’s my favorite.”

  “What do you need that for?”

  “I work as a seamstress. I sew things for other people, and I’ve made a few quilts, too. I’ve won several awards for my quilts.” She didn’t mention the cash that came with the awards, or the companies that had paid a lot of money to have a unique quilt made for corporate offices or homes.

  “I thought your name was familiar.” Stone pointed at a wall in the foyer as they walked in. “Your name is on the back.”

  Blaze of Glory, her quilt depicting the Ascent of Christ, was hanging on the large wall opposite the door.

  “The former owners said it was made specifically for that wall.” Jason nodded. “It’s a beautiful piece of art and we…my…wife and I loved…love it. I bought it from them so we could keep it. I didn’t know it was your work. Uh, Stone, how do you know her name is on the back?”

  The boy gulped. “Umm…me and Joe climbed up there to look, once.”

  “That is hanging at least fourteen feet up, how did you…?” Jason turned to look at his son.

  Stone gave his father a sheepish look. “We just wanted to see it…a breeze blew it up once and we could see the writing. So we thought we’d take a look.” He straightened. “So, we need to put…Natalie in the blue room?”

  “No, the green room. The blue room is for the other lady who is coming to try out.”

  Stunned, Natalie could only stare. Two shocks in one day. Three, if one counted nearly running over two of her charges. That quilt had sold in the five digits several years ago. And another woman was arriving, competition for the mom tryouts that would commence on this day. And her oldest, future son seemed confused, by colors, of all things.

  4

  Jason was delighted.

  Natalie Calloway wasn’t spooked by his kids running naked through the fountain spray or climbing up the walls. She’d even gently chastised him for not watching the little ones, so she obviously cared. She seemed not the least bit perturbed by their antics.

  She was also pretty, a bonus in his mind. The kids would be more cooperative if their new tryout mom was pleasant looking. Who was he kidding? He liked her looks, too.

  She had long, honey-colored hair with hints of red, tied in a ponytail, big green eyes, and a mouth that looked as if it smiled often. She was taller than he expected, about five-eight, dressed in jeans and a striped shirt over a tank top. Bright sneakers, made for running, were on her feet. She’d apparently understood she’d need to run after the little kids.

  He followed Stone and Natalie up the stairs, depositing her suitcase in the green room. Jason had intended to put her in the blue room, but some fanciful notion took hold of him, and he’d told Stone to put her luggage in the green room. It suited her coloring perfectly.

  Stone set the sewing machine case on the dresser.

  His son seemed a little upset. Had he taken an immediate dislike to Natalie?

  Jason was sure to hear about it eventually. He’d get Natalie settled and then go downstairs to greet the other woman who would be arriving shortly, what was her name? Rose…something.

  The doorbell rang.

  “Oops the other lady is here now. Be right back.” Jason loped down the stairs.

  Rose Jenkins looked older than thirty-five, but she had a nice smile, although her face was too pale. Her dark, mascara-covered lashes looked stiff, as if she’d coated them several times to make them look longer. She was dressed in a flowing skirt, with a large top over it, hiding much of her figure. Her hair was coiffed into a short, black bob. Ugly, plastic clogs were on her feet.

  Jason’s heart sank, even while he chastised himself for judging too quickly. Rose looked and acted as if she couldn’t move fast, a requirement where his kids were concerned.

  Stone skidded to a stop at the bottom of the stairs, Natalie right behind on the third step.

  “Rose Jenkins, right?” Jason asked, holding out his hand.

  “Right. And you’re Jason McLane.” Her eyes slitted when she saw Natalie, but then her smile returned.

  Perhaps he should have told the two women they’d be here together, a contingency he’d decided upon to protect their reputations. He had no intention of intimacy until marriage, and by mentioning church in the ad, he hoped they’d understood that.

  It wouldn’t do for his children to hear anyone gossiping about a woman staying in the house during the mom tryouts. By having two women here at a time, they’d chaperone each other.

  He hoped. Perhaps he’d been wrong, though.

  5

  Natalie had seen the glare in Rose’s eyes. Why had Jason not informed them both that there’d be another woman competing for the job in the same timeframe? Surely he wasn’t one of those men who liked women fighting over him? Or worse, wanted more than one woman at a time. Surely that wasn’t it. He’d advertised for a wife, not a girlfriend, and last she’d known, polygamy was illegal.

  Natalie put her disappointment on the back burner. The job had specifically stated she was there to love the children, not him.

  “Stone, show Miss Jenkins up to the blue room.” Jason’s voice broke through Natalie’s musings.

  “Thank you.” Rose Jenkins gave Natalie another odd look as she mounted the steps.

  Jason carried Miss Jenkins’s suitcase up the stairs.

  Natalie followed, unsure if her duties would start right away.

  

  “We’ll let you two get settled, unpack your things and do whatever you need to do to…freshen up.” Jason spoke to both ladies on the upper landing.

  “Thank you,” Miss Jenkins murmured as she made a beeline for her room.

  Natalie turned to her own door and slipped inside. Tossing her suitcase on the mint-green bedspread, she opened it and began taking out clothes. She grabbed the handle of the closet door, hoping there were some hangers for her pants and blouses.

  A shower of something crackly rained down on her head. Natalie stepped back, crunching in whatever had floated to the ground.

  Cornflakes. The closet was booby-trapped.

  Fluffing her shirt, she tried to keep the cereal from sliding down her back. A door to the right of the closet revealed an en suite bathroom. She went in, stripped, shook out all her clothes and then put them back on.

  Grabbing the trashcan, Natalie scooped up the cereal on the bathroom floor and then moved out to the bedroom carpet. The crushed flakes were ground in. She’d need a vacuum cleaner to get that.

  Stepping outside her room, she spotted what had to be a linen closet. Maybe there was a sweeper in there. There was, hidden in a corner with the broom and dustpan.

  Taking the machine back to her room she plugged it in and ran a few passes over the carpet, sweeping the closet floor, too.

  The kids had declared war and they’d won this round.

  But she’d win the battle.

  

  Jason slipped the mitts over his hands and opened the oven door. The lasagna simmered, ready to come out. He set it on the stovetop, and slid in the cookie sheet with the garlic bread, switching the stove dial to broil.

  Stone and Larissa had already made a salad together. He’d had to halt them from squirting each other with the cherry tomatoes, but otherwise, they’d done a decent job.

  “Supper’s ready!” He called, opening the back door to yell again. He’d not seen Joe or Anna for most of the day. They’d gone to climb the driveway trees this morning, and hadn’t shown up since. Which pretty much told him what they thought about a new mom coming into their lives.

  George, the stable hand who took c
are of the boarded horses, had said he’d keep an eye on them, so Jason wasn’t too worried. George had a habit of putting the kids to work, mucking out stalls and letting them feed carrots to the horses when they finished. Sometimes, he’d toss a saddle on one of the ponies and let them take a short ride while he held the reins.

  Joe and Anna came through the back door grinning and smelling of horse.

  “Go wash your hands and faces.” Jason didn’t want to know what that smear was on Joe’s cheek, but figured it’d be better washed off.

  The other four kids drifted into the kitchen to take their places at the table.

  Rose and Natalie followed.

  “Thank you for the flowers in my room,” Rose said, her delight evident. “Such a lovely welcome.”

  Jason noticed the merest whisper of hurt in Natalie’s expression before she masked it.

  He hadn’t put the flowers in the room, so he concluded the kids had done so. Why hadn’t they put flowers in Natalie’s room, too? Had they already made their choice? On what grounds? He’d not seen either woman after they’d arrived, until now, and his own first impressions didn’t put Rose before Natalie on the mom scale.

  What had Miss Jenkins done that Natalie had not to attract his children that quickly?

  Wanting Natalie to feel more welcome, he made a sudden decision to change the seating arrangements he’d come up with when he’d told Stone to set the table. If Rose received flowers, Natalie would receive the nicer view. “Natalie, why don’t you sit here?” He indicated the chair to his right, closest to the window where one could gaze out on rolling pastures. The women had to be treated fairly if this was to work at all.

  “Thank you,” Natalie said, as she slid into her seat.

  She blanched and made an audible gurgling sound before glancing at him with a stiff smile. He hadn’t dated in sixteen years, but he didn’t remember women behaving so strangely.

  George came into the room and took his usual chair, his hair slicked back and his face shaved. He must have done it to impress the ladies because he usually had a few days’ stubble on his face.

  “Dad! The garlic bread!” Larissa shouted, as a burnt smell filled the room.

  Jason bolted for the stove.

  “Um…excuse me.” Natalie stood suddenly, backing out of her chair before rushing from the kitchen.

  Jason didn’t have time to ask what was wrong. He took out the burnt bread, grabbed the French loaf and hastily slapped together another batch of garlic toast. He put the slices in the oven, hovering so they wouldn’t burn again. He turned, eyeing his children.

  Larissa shook out her napkin, whisking it about with a flourish. The tails swooped across Natalie’s seat. Too bad Natalie wasn’t here to see his kids did have some manners.

  

  Natalie sponged her jeans in the bathroom sink, trying to wash out the moldy green color and smell of manure.

  The kids had won this round, too.

  She’d almost had a heart attack when she’d sat in her chair, squishing down on something still-warm and steaming. For a second, she’d thought it was alive, and horror had emptied her mind. Her second thought was that she’d had an accident, which was just as frightening. And embarrassing.

  She wasn’t sure who was responsible for the cornflakes, but the horse manure in her chair had to be Joe and Anna. Those two definitely didn’t want a new mom.

  She hopped in the shower and sponged off, changing into fresh pants and the same shirt as quick as she could. A spritz of perfume and she was ready to face the little miscreants.

  When she’d returned to the kitchen, her chair looked as if it had been hastily wiped. The smell lingered until the burnt toast and the spices from the lasagna had covered it.

  Jason didn’t appear to notice anything wrong, which meant the kids had managed to hide their misdeed.

  Now that she knew what she was up against, she’d have to plan her strategy accordingly.

  

  Natalie had returned, a pensive look on her face. Hadn’t she been wearing jeans a minute ago? Why would she suddenly decide to change her pants?

  Dinner commenced with a noisy clatter after the blessing.

  “So…Natalie. I thought I heard the vacuum in your room earlier. Did we not tidy up enough?” The thought that she found their cleanliness lacking had bugged Jason for the past hour.

  “I…uh…spilled some face powder. Needed to clean it up. With a vacuum.” Her face was red. “I found the machine in the linen closet, I hope that was OK.” She squirmed, her nose scrunched up a little as if she smelled something unpleasant.

  “Oh, that’s fine.” Jason was relieved. He wanted a wife, a mom, who liked things clean, but he didn’t want some paragon of virtue who needed every speck of dust cleaned the minute it landed anywhere. With six kids in the house, that was impossible.

  A faint odor reached his nostrils. Jason looked at Joe and Anna. Their faces and hands were clean, so why did they still smell like horse manure?

  “Did you two clean your shoes before you came to supper?” Jason asked.

  Both children looked guilty.

  “We’ll do it right now.” Joe jumped up and took his sister’s hand. “We’ll be right back.” They ran from the room, the odor still trailing.

  “I’m sorry. Usually, they’re pretty good about cleaning up after they muck out the stables.” Jason stammered an apology, hoping this wouldn’t make the women leave.

  “It’s…quite all right,” Natalie said.

  Miss Jenkins, who’d not asked him to call her Rose, wrinkled her nose. “Well, hopefully, they remember in the future. That smell is obnoxious.”

  “Well, we do have horses here.” Stone gave Miss Jenkins a pitying look. “Sometimes, we do smell like them, especially when George or one of the horses’ owners lets us ride.”

  “I see,” Miss Jenkins answered, her nose still scrunched.

  “I like your property.” Natalie said quietly. “The gazebo is especially pretty. It would be a nice place for a quiet afternoon and a book.”

  Joe and Anna returned in their stocking feet and slid into their chairs.

  Jason took a heaping bite of lasagna, the steaming tomatoes, cheese and meat wiping out the smell of horse manure.

  His children, who seemed to be on their best behavior, made him proud.

  They were acting like angels with the two contenders, as if they truly wanted to choose the best mom for the job.

  He just hoped their efforts worked.

  6

  “You kids clean up the table and do the dishes,” Jason said after dinner, anxious to show the tryout moms that the kids were capable of helping out. “I need to load the washer, and then I will be taking Miss Jenkins and Natalie out for a walk to show them around the place. When you are done, you can join us if you want.”

  A chorus of “yes, Dad” rang out.

  “Um…I have some things to wash, too, if that’s OK.” Natalie seemed sheepish. She scurried up the stairs as if she couldn’t get away fast enough.

  What was she hiding?

  Jason put a mental checkmark against her name. It didn’t help that he was captivated by Natalie, that his pulse sped up when she entered the room. He couldn’t abide secrets. Secrets were never good for a relationship—even a friendly one.

  Rose…Miss Jenkins, didn’t register at all. He could’ve walked by her on the street and not noticed a thing. It was a horrible thought, considering what was on the outside of a person wasn’t as important as what was on the inside. Besides, his children seemed to have chosen her already. Maybe they sensed that Natalie was reluctant.

  Maybe this tryout wasn’t such a good idea, after all.

  Natalie came down the stairs with a small bundle.

  Jason showed her to the laundry room, and allowed her to stuff the washing machine first.

  She looked at the dials, turned one to a small load, dumped in some detergent and a scoop of laundry booster, turned it to a co
ld wash, and closed the lid. The woman knew how to use a washing machine, at least.

  “Dad!” Anna shrieked. “Hercules got out again!”

  Jason hit the door running, leaving Natalie gaping at him.

  Miss Jenkins, standing by the door to go out, stumbled out of his way as he shot through.

  The half-grown German Shepherd puppy was gamboling around the field, exciting the horses that Jason didn’t own. Whinnying and flying manes clattered around the pasture as Hercules gave chase.

  Stone, Larissa, Joe, and Anna had already climbed through the rails, running in different directions to grab the dog.

  “Hercules!” Jason gave it his best authoritative tone, but the puppy paid no attention.

  Hercules was having the time of his life, chasing and being chased, his tongue hanging out, tail wagging a mile a minute.

  With the ease of the experienced, his kids scattered, and then turned to close in on the puppy in a pincer movement worthy of a general’s strategy.

  Dark was approaching, and it was getting harder to see, but as the kids came closer and the horses trotted to their barn trying to get away from the dog, Hercules ran towards Jason trying to get away.

  Jason grabbed his collar. After locking the dog back in his pen, Jason lifted his sweaty shirt from his chest. “Who let the dog out?”

  “I think I didn’t latch the gate properly,” Anna said, her voice small and tearful.

  “Well, we can’t let him do this again. He needs to stay in his pen until we get him trained not to chase the horses.”

  “OK,” Anna whispered.

  They trooped back to the house, silent in the lowering night.

  Emily was standing on her helper stool, doing the last of the dishes. His youngest daughter handed the plate to Natalie, who dried and put it away.

  “Where’s Miss Jenkins?” Jason asked.

  “She…was upset that you nearly ran her over, so I suggested she go into the living room to relax and watch TV.” Natalie was matter-of-fact. “George went in to keep her company.”