Island Expectations - Evangeline Kelly Page 0,1

was strange to think about how all this began. I was twenty when I’d first started working part-time for him, shortly after his wife, Annette, passed away. His mother, Helen, helped out while I was taking classes at CSUN, and we’d gotten along well from day one. When I graduated from college a year ago, I was supposed to start looking for a job related to my sociology degree, but then Brett offered me a higher salary to take over full time. He said his mom wanted to enjoy her retirement, and she needed a break. She adored her grandchildren, but she had clubs and volunteer work she wanted to get back to.

I should have said no at that point, but I couldn’t stand the thought of walking away from him and the children. I agreed to take over until he found someone else, and the rest was history.

Honestly, I didn’t want another job. I loved taking care of the kids, and some of my best memories in the last few years were with them. Being there to catch the important moments in their lives was better than any sociology job could offer. If I absolutely had to leave, maybe I would look for a different nanny position. It didn’t require a degree, but I thrived in this kind of environment.

Who was I kidding, though? If I didn’t work with Kenny and Shelby, I wasn’t sure I could handle taking on a new home. It would hurt too much to think of them, knowing I couldn’t be there.

It had been a year since I started working full time for Brett, and he and I had both grown content to leave things the way they were. He hadn’t looked for anyone to replace me, and I didn’t send out resumes for another job. But after three-hundred-and-sixty-five days, I was at a crossroads. Either something happened between us, or I had to move on. I really had to.

There was a knock at the door, pulling me out of my dark thoughts. I strode over to open it, and a grin spread across my face. “Helen, I didn’t know you were stopping by.”

It was his mother, her short brown hair styled just right and her hazel eyes sparkling with mischief. “Don’t need an excuse to see my grandkids, do I?” She laughed, and the tension in my shoulders instantly relaxed. She was sixty-two but seemed almost twenty years younger. Brett definitely inherited his youthfulness from her. She was a lot of fun, and I always enjoyed talking to her. She leaned in conspiratorially. “Actually, I’m not here to visit them this time. I came by to ask your opinion on something.”

“Oh, of course. Come in.” I held the door open, and she sashayed in with a secretive smile on her face.

She lowered her voice and glanced both ways before leaning in again. “Brett called earlier and mentioned he had a date, so I figured this was the perfect time to catch you alone. Look at this.”

She held out her hand, and I admired the sparkling ring on her finger. It was vintage with a round setting and a pink tourmaline center. Tiny white diamonds circled the outer edge, and larger, flower-like diamonds surrounded everything else.

“Wow,” I said, nearly breathless. “That’s stunning. They don’t make rings like that anymore. Where did you buy it? It looks like an antique.”

“Oh, it is. It was my great-grandmother’s wedding ring.” She licked her lips and her eyes flitted from side to side as if remembering something from the past. “I took it to the jeweler to get it cleaned today and couldn’t wait to stop by and show you.”

“Me? Why me?”

She shrugged. “Just wanted to get your honest opinion. Before Brett proposed to Annette, I offered it to him, but Annette didn’t care for the style, so he purchased another ring.”

“I see.”

“Now that he’s putting himself out there again, I wanted to let him know the ring is available should he need it. If it’s too old and outdated, I don’t want to bother him.” She pressed her lips together tentatively and shot me a look. “So, what do you think, Eden? Do you believe Brett’s future wife will like this ring?”

There was a long moment of silence, and for a second, it felt as if she were asking if I would like the ring should Brett ever propose to me.

I snapped out of it as soon as I realized how foolish it was to jump to