A Very English Christmas

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Chapter 1

Temporary childminder wanted for two girls December 10th – January 3rd. Live-in position, experience necessary, generous salary, references required.

Catriona reread the text her flatmate, Sarah McCarthy, had just sent her. It was a job ad, the kind people used to post on bulletin boards before the internet became the way to advertise for things. But from the look of this, it was a piece of paper on a bulletin board with a hand printed date on the top right corner, the date being yesterday.

Intrigued, Cat texted Sarah back. Where did you see this?

The answer was immediate. This morning in the hospital staff room.

Cat’s phone suddenly rang, and it was Sarah calling. “I know you’ve been looking for work, and I thought this sounded promising,” Sarah said when Cat answered. “The advertisement was just posted in the last twenty-four hours.”

“But I have no experience with kids,” Cat reminded Sarah, who came from a large Irish family in County Clare and was probably the most capable young woman Cat knew.

Nothing fazed Sarah, not even the fire across the street earlier in the year. Sarah just dashed straight in to make sure everyone was out before the fire trucks even arrived.

Sarah tut-tutted. “You just earned a graduate degree with a teaching component. I would say that makes you more than qualified.”

“To teach eighteen-year-olds, not children.” Cat said, but Sarah was right.

Cat needed work, and the holidays were fast approaching and either she’d find work here for the holidays, or she’d be spending money she didn’t have, and that went against the values her grandmother had instilled in her.

Not that Grandma Betty would appreciate Cat spending the last two and a half years in England, earning one degree and then another. The original plan had been for Cat to finish her master’s and return to Michigan, but she’d been so happy in London, so happy to have a flatmate and friend like Sarah. Cat decided to stay another year and earn one more degree. One more degree also meant she could squeeze a little more learning in while getting more joy out of life. And then, just because she loved London so much, she spent the last semester taking a few courses that interested her. But her savings account was empty, and that wasn’t good because her checking account was empty and her credit cards were maxed out. That didn’t make her happy.

Cat really did have to go home, back to the states, and not just because a nurse from Dublin, a friend of Sarah’s family, was arriving to take Cat’s spot. But Cat needed to handle adult things in Michigan, which required an airline ticket and motivation for the big changes to come.

“You should at least call,” Sarah encouraged. “The position may have been filled, but if it’s still available, the generous salary part sounds awfully appealing. And it’s only for three weeks.”

“I really don’t want to live-in. I’d hoped to spend the holidays doing fun things with you.”

“Me, too, but if you’re living here in London, I’d still be able to meet you for dinner or drinks on weekends.”

“That’s true.”

“Besides, if you’re working, I might just pick up some extra shifts at the hospital. I could use the extra money. Right now, I have nothing for a rainy day, never mind buying the brothers and sisters presents.” She laughed. “I think we’ve gone out too many nights when we should have stayed in.”

“Agreed.” Cat took a deep breath. “I’ll call.”

“Let me know what happens.”

“Of course.”

Hanging up, Cat reflected on all the jobs she’d applied for since December first. She’d filled out applications at a restaurant, a local clothing shop, and Starbucks. She was American. Why wouldn’t they hire her? When nothing came of those, she called on a house-sitting job, a pet-sitting job, a dog-walking job and yet by the time she followed up on each, the position had either been filled, or the dates hadn’t worked, or the hours were challenging. She wasn’t afraid of doing things at night, but at the same time, walking dogs in the dark struck her as a little risky, particularly if she didn’t know the neighborhood.

But watching two kids? Taking care of little girls? How hard could that be?

Fortunately, Catriona did have good references—she’d grown close to her graduate advisor, and there were other professors who had offered to write her a letter of recommendation. Admittedly, the letters of rec had been for a PhD program in the US, should she want to continue her studies, but Cat was ready to be done with school and move forward with a career and the rest of her life.

Which would all begin after the holidays, after her return to Kalamazoo in January, after she got her grandmother’s house on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula sold. Or at least, listed for sale. But first she needed to empty the house, sort through her grandmother’s things, save a few bits and pieces Cat felt sentimental about, and focus on moving forward, which was what she’d been avoiding since her beloved grandmother died three years ago. Grandma Betty had raised her since she was a little girl, and it had been the two of them for eighteen years, eighteen mostly happy years, but with her grandmother gone, Cat felt lost. Her grandmother was her family, her mentor, and her best friend. Life hadn’t been the same since she’d gone.

But Cat was not going to be sad this Christmas. She wasn’t going to fall into the old pattern of grieving because Grandma Betty wasn’t coming back and had left a huge hole in her heart and a void in her life. Most people her age had some family, somewhere. Sarah had a huge one in Ennis—two younger sisters and four brothers. Sarah was the eldest, which was why she’d taken a job in London. She was desperate to be independent and also needed to be independent. She put herself through school and earned her nursing degree and worked hard. Sarah was an adult, and adulting.

Cat … not so much. Cat had been hiding in London, pretending this version of herself was the only version, but soon she’d go back to Michigan and face who she was.

Before she could change her mind, Cat tapped in the phone number Sarah had given her. The phone rang a couple of times and Cat prepared herself for voicemail, but instead a real person answered, a man, his voice pitched deep and a little gravelly. “This is Dr. Harmon; can I help you?”

For a moment Cat froze at the accent. It wasn’t the London accent she’d grown accustomed to, but rather there was a lilt in his voice, and she immediately thought of the more Celtic countries nearby. “My name is Catriona Blake, and I’m calling regarding the job posting on the hospital’s bulletin board. The one about needing a childminder for the holidays.”

“Do you work at the hospital?”

“No. My roommate does, Sarah McCarthy. She’s a nurse on the oncology floor.”

“I don’t know her, but it’s a big hospital, so I’m not surprised.” He hesitated. “You’re American?”

“Yes, but we have kids in America too.” She’d said it lightly, teasingly, but from his silence Cat suspected he didn’t appreciate the joke.

“What do you do?” Dr. Harmon asked.

“I’ve spent the last two and a half years at University College London earning graduate degrees. First my master’s in medieval and renaissance studies, and most recently I’ve just completed a master’s in medieval literature.”

“You must have taken Latin.”

Cat blinked, caught off guard. “I did, both years. Is that helpful for the job?”

“No. But a good friend of mine teaches upper division Latin at UCL. Did you take any classes from Eloisa Graham?”

“She was my graduate advisor. Dr. Eloisa Graham is a gem. I think the world of her, and she’s offered to be a reference for me. I can give you her number—”

“I have her number, thank you. She’s my neighbor.”

For a moment there was just silence not because Cat didn’t know what to say, not because she’d run out of words, but because she didn’t particularly like how he interrupted her, or his tone. His brusqueness and arrogance immediately put her back up.

“So, what are you doing now?” he asked crisply. “Where are you working?”

She fought her temper, and the desire to hang up on the doctor. “I’m phoning you. I was planning on applying for the position of childminder but it seems that I’m not right—”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Do you always interrupt people, or is it just me?”

For a moment, there was just silence on the line, a terribly uncomfortable silence, and Cat knew she’d probably shot herself in the foot but there was nothing to be done now but hold her own.

“I was looking for a temporary position, as I return home to the States in January. I thought this could be a good fit but I’m not feeling optimistic anymore. I appreciate your time.”

“Do you always give up so easily?” he challenged her.

She bristled inwardly. What a pompous ass. “The ad described a live-in situation, but I don’t want to live somewhere that is unpleasant, and if I’m uneasy now, I can’t even imagine how it would be to live under your roof.”

“Perhaps you’re the prickly one.” Dr. Harmon sounded almost amused. “Have you considered that?”

“I can see why you haven’t been able to fill the childminder position.”

“I can also see why you haven’t been hired for anything else.”

Cat ground her teeth together. “So, it’s okay for you to be sharp, but not me?”

“You are job seeking.”

“And you are trying to fill a position.”

Silence stretched across the line and then Dr. Harmon spoke again, his tone a touch more gentle, but the amusement remained. “We might not see eye to eye, but you might be good for the girls. My oldest daughter is a bit of a handful. It’s a stage, and it will pass, but at least she won’t bowl you over.”

“I thought we agreed I wasn’t a good fit,” Cat protested, caught off guard yet again.

“It’s a temporary position. From now until January fifth, but it’s full-time until then. I need a live-in nanny for the girls. The position requires some meals and light housekeeping, and the girls’ laundry. I handle my own.”

“Where do you live in London?”

“We’re away for the girls’ winter break, spending the holidays at a cottage in Derbyshire. We’re here now. To get here you’d take a train from London to Chesterfield, and then a bus to Bakewell. I’d pick you up from there.”

“Is that for an interview?”

“We’re interviewing now.”

She said nothing, quite sure this wasn’t the right position for her but at the same time, she couldn’t afford to be terribly choosy, not when she was down to her last two hundred pounds and that wouldn’t go far in London. Instead of taking those extra classes this fall, she should have gotten a job or returned to the States. With her degrees from University College London, she could have been teaching at any US community college, and with the teaching component, she could also apply to high schools, although she preferred older students. The older the better, actually. Cat found it difficult to relate to children, probably because she’d had an abnormal childhood herself.

“How old are your daughters?” she asked, praying they weren’t toddlers.

School age children might be okay, but babies? Impossible. She’d never changed a diaper in her life.

“Nine and twelve. Although the twelve-year-old acts as if she’s twelve going on seventeen. She’s very independent and opinionated.”

From what Cat could remember of her own childhood, that sounded about right. “And the nine-year-old?”

“She’s a sweet girl, on the quiet side, usually easygoing.”

Usually, Cat repeated to herself. Which seemed to be another way of saying that lately things within the family had been rather dramatic.

“Has there been a big change in their lives? A divorce or separation?” Or death, she silently added, having far too much experience with that one.

“The divorce was four years ago, but until now we’ve always managed a family Christmas. However, this year their mum is gone for the holidays, and their nanny asked for time off, so I’ve been left in a pinch. If it were any other time, we’d be fine. The girls and I do well together, but I have a big deadline, and I can’t be as hands-on as I’d like.”

“Does that mean you won’t be in Derbyshire for the holidays?”

“I’ll be in Derbyshire but as I’m completing a paper, which if all goes well, becomes a book. I need to work in the mornings with the expectation that I’ll be free early to midafternoon.”

“Your daughters know this?”

“They know my schedule.”

Her silence must have provoked him because he suddenly added, “My children are familiar with the demands of my job.”

“I’m not criticizing, Dr. Harmon. I was just … processing. My father was a doctor. He was busy as well.” And just like that, Cat realized she could do this job.

That she should do this job. Holidays were a hard time to be alone—never mind feeling abandoned by one’s parents—whether it was their choice or not.

“Christmas is not an easy time to bring a stranger into your home,” she said. “But seeing as you need help—”

“I do.”

“And they need someone to keep them busy—in a good way—maybe it could work, me being there, taking care of things so you can meet your deadline, and the girls could have a happy winter break.”

He hesitated. “I need the help, I do, but I don’t want to mislead you. Jillian is going to challenge you right and left, at least the first few days. It’s not going to be easy, not initially, which is why I’m offering the compensation I am. You can tell yourself it’s hazard pay.”

Cat’s brows shot up. Hazard pay? “I take it I’m not the first temporary nanny you’ve tried?”

“Yes. I hired a woman from a reputable agency, but she walked out two days ago, and I refuse to jump through all those agency hoops again.”

“Why did she leave so abruptly?”

She heard him inhale and silence stretched before he answered. “She made some disparaging remarks about my ex-wife, and I told her that she’d been hired to mind the girls, not my former marriage, and she didn’t like that.”

“Or maybe she didn’t like your tone when you said it.”

“What does that mean?”

“You have a way of speaking that comes across…” She crossed her fingers, knowing full well she was making herself an impossible hire, but he might as well know the truth. “Rather highhanded.”

“Highhanded?”

“Um, pompous, and I’m sure you know the meaning.”

“I do, and it’s not flattering. You make me sound like Mr. Collins in Pride and Prejudice.”

“Would you prefer Mr. Darcy?”

“He was at least successful,” he answered dryly.

“That’s fair,” she agreed, and laughed. Cat couldn’t believe she laughed. She also couldn’t believe she wanted the job. “When would I start?”

“Tomorrow.”

“That’s soon.”

“Things are desperate around here. But we haven’t even discussed compensation.”

“You said it was generous.”

He named a figure that made her eyes widen and her lips part. Wow. Yes, generous indeed.

“It will help you get home and on your feet, as I imagine two years of graduate school drained your savings. I know from firsthand experience that being an international student is expensive.”

She suddenly felt stupidly close to tears. Money was an issue. She hadn’t been a spendthrift, but she hadn’t needed to earn that second degree, either. “You studied overseas?”

“I did a residency at John Hopkins in neurosurgery. It was a great experience and I considered staying, as there was an opportunity at the hospital, but then I was offered a position in London and returned.

“I’ll phone Eloisa now and get back to you after I speak with her. Is the number you’re calling from the best number to reach you?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll be in touch soon.”

end of excerpt