Derek and his two girls,
June and Lacey, had moved into the neighborhood last winter. Derek, a widower, had accepted a transfer in
the hopes they could begin again.
Jillian had been a wonderful wife and mother but had succumbed after a
long battle with cancer. Her passing had
taken its toll on them and Derek thought it would be best if they were closer
to family. June was 4 and Lacey 6 when
Jillian was diagnosed and watched as their mother went from a vibrant force in
their lives to someone they visited in a hospice center and who no longer bore
any resemblance to her former self. When
she passed, it was both a blessing and a curse.
Derek was wise enough to get them to counseling early and it seemed to have
helped them deal with Jillian’s passing and their ability to move forward with
their lives. He hoped the move was
another step in that direction.
Both his parents
and sister lived in Oakwood, a suburb of Portland. Derek had actually grown up there but after
college the lure of a big city was much too enticing and he took a job in San
Francisco. He rented an apartment and
bumped into Jillian in the elevator his first week there. It was love at first sight for Derek but
Jillian had given him a run for his money.
When she finally allowed him to catch her they married and lived in the
city until she became pregnant with Lacey.
They bought a home and moved to Marin County and lived the good life
until that horrible visit to check out a problem she was having with headaches.
Tests revealed a brain tumor and their life was a series of one downward day
after another. Surgery was not an option
and nothing else slowed the growth of the tumor.
So when the job
opened up in Portland he jumped at it.
He was ready for a fresh start and the girls needed family around. The
company sent him out to find a house and instead of going alone he took the girls. This was going to be their new home and they
should have a say in the decision. His
sister set him up with a realtor friend and he found a gently used cozy three
bedroom home not too far from his parent’s home. It was in a good neighborhood, lots of
families with kids, and Lacey could walk to school.
So here they were
facing their first summer in Oakwood.
The girls would be out of school from June 10 to August 29th
and Derek had no idea how he was going to fill their time. Neither one of them wanted to go to camp. He didn’t want to impose on his parents for
the whole summer and his sister worked.
He decided to place an ad for a housekeeper/nanny in the local
paper. He couldn’t believe how many
responses he received. When he narrowed
down the field he had the girls sit in on the interviews to watch the
interaction between them.
After a thorough
reference check he settled on Shannon Fielding.
She was a substitute school teacher and a freelance writer. She was in her mid thirties and would be a
good fit for the girls - young enough to relate to and respond to their needs
but old enough to know how to handle the wheedling and cajoling that went on
when they were trying to get their own way.
It would also be nice to have help with the laundry, cooking and
cleaning. He was exhausted from being
mommy and daddy.
Shannon was a
gem. He enjoyed living in a house he
didn’t have to worry about cleaning, and taking a clean shirt out of the drawer
that he didn’t put there and best of all sitting down to a home cooked meal
that he didn’t cook. The girls were happy and carefree. As the summer wore on
he found himself paying closer attention to Shannon. He wasn’t interested in a
relationship but it would be nice to have dinner with a grown up. He wasn’t sure if this was a good idea so he
never followed up and then one day she asked if he and the girls would like to
join her at a festival that was being held in the park close to the house. He
agreed and they met at the park. It was
great fun riding the rides, eating junk food, playing the carnival games. He
almost forgot to miss Jillian. Somewhere
along the way they met up with his sister.
She asked if the girls wanted to have a girl’s night with her. June and Lacey loved Aunt Sarah and agreed
readily. That left Shannon and Derek
alone and he invited her to have dinner with him. She agreed.
He took her to a
little Italian restaurant he loved. It
had been family owned for years and he had frequented it often when coming back
to Oakwood. It wasn’t very busy this
early in the evening so they had their pick of tables. He ordered a bottle of wine and
appetizers. As they drank they talked
about their lives, their hopes and dreams.
He was surprised to find she had been married once. She explained they
were both young and couldn’t resolve their differences so it ended in divorce
five years later. They didn’t have any
children . That was their major unresolved
difference - she was ready, he was
not. She said she came to understand it
was because he was really still a child himself. She said if she ever got married again the
man would have to be an adult- a strong
man not afraid to show his feminine side but able to take charge when the
situation called for him to do so.
“How about you
Derek, do you think you will ever get married again?”
“I haven’t really
given it much thought. I have been so
busy with Lacey and June before you came along there wasn’t much time to think
about me” he told her.
She told him it
was like anything in life. If it’s meant
to happen, it will and usually when you are least expecting it. She told him she found that making long range
plans was a waste of time. Something
else always came up and she had learned to go along with the flow rather than
beating her head against a wall.
After another
bottle of wine and dinner, they noticed the wait staff was cleaning up. He was surprised to look at his watch and see
the time.
“I best get you to
your car Shannon. I’ve taken up too much
of your time already. You should have said something”
“To tell you the
truth we were having such a wonderful evening I didn’t even think of the time”.
“Maybe we should
do this again,” he said. “ I don’t want you to feel obligated though. Just because you work with us doesn’t mean
you also have to keep me company outside of work hours”
“I would love it
Derek and I don’t feel the least bit obligated to do so”
They had dinner
together three or four times over the course of the summer. Each time they
shared more of themselves with each other. They were still in the friends stage
and Shannon found she wanted to take it further but decided to wait until she
was no longer in his employ.
September rolled
around and she had not heard from Derek so she decided to call him on the pretense of
checking on how the children were doing.
Now that they were back in school all day, they spent most afternoons
with their grandparents until Derek came home from work. She got his voice mail and left a
message. It was later that evening he
called her and told her the kids were doing well but missing her. She said she missed them too. He suggested she come over on Saturday and
join them for a barbecue.
Saturday turned
out to be a rainy day and the barbecue was nixed in favor of pizza. The girls
were happy to see her and when it was time for their bedtime she read them a
story. They asked if she could come
again and she answered that it depended on their Dad.
“Can she Daddy?”
“I think it would
be great to have her visit again” he responded.
Derek asked if she
would stick around while he put the girls down and she nodded her assent.
Shannon was in the
kitchen making coffee when Derek came down. She looked as if she belonged. It
startled him for a second. They took
their coffee to the living room and Derek told Shannon he didn’t want her to
feel obligated to come by to visit. She
put down her coffee cup, leaned over and kissed him. When she pulled back he
pulled her back in for another kiss.
“Wow, I didn’t
expect that and I guess it answers my questions about not feeling obligated”
“Yes, I’ve been
wanting to do that for some time” Shannon replied.
“Me too’, he
replied. ‘But I want to get a couple of things out in the open. I don’t know what you have in mind but I want
you to know my girls are a priority. I
don’t want them getting hurt and thinking you are in their life and then you’re
not. They’ve been through that once and
I don’t think they could deal with that again.
So I want you to be sure right now before anything gets started.”
She started to say
something and he quieted her.
“I am not
finished. The other thing you have to
know is that I am an old-fashioned guy and believe in old-fashioned ideas. I guess I’m a throwback. I will be the head of my household. I know we haven’t even reached that stage yet
but I want you to know up front what kind of marriage I expect. Things will not be a lot different than what
they were this summer. I am not a micro
manager but there will be consequences when things are “out of sync”.
Shannon piped up
with “like when you lectured me on the safety of holding the children’s hands
when they crossed the street, or the time I forgot to turn off the stove when
we went to the park”.
“Exactly, he
said. Except the consequence then was a
lecture, if we marry, the consequence may well be a trip over my knee”.
“Oooohhh” she said
squirming in her chair. “I love the
girls and I have had romantic feelings toward you almost from the
beginning. My thinking is to not include
the girls into our relationship until we are sure. We can continue as before with my coming over
occasionally for a visit as a friend.
Our dating will be just between us.
As for the other stuff, that’s food for thought. If you need an answer today, it will be no. But I promise to be open minded. What is your opinion?”
“I think the idea
about keeping our relationship between us for the present is a wonderful
idea. Regards to the other issue, sounds
fair.
And so began the
adventures of Shannon Fielding and Derek Jansen and their two girls.
