Brenda saw stars and the room started to spin. How could she have been so incompetent? She had been playing at sleuthing in search of her brother for so long – getting caught like this with her "hand in the cookie jar" was inexcusable. {But how could Jax have possibly found out the *real* reason I took the job as his children’s nanny?} Was there some leak in the small group of friends she had taken into her confidence? Or had he done some detective work of his own? Everything had seemed to be running smoothly when he left for the Ball earlier that evening……

{Best to play it cool. Deny, deny, deny……..until there’s no other option.} She tried to mask the deep breath she took to calm herself. "Excuse me?"

"I said you don’t have to explain yourself, Brenda," Jax replied calmly. He tossed his jacket onto a side chair in front of the desk and came to stand directly in front of her, bracing his weight with his hands as he leaned forward. The two loose ends of his undone formal bow tie dangled loosely against his shirt. "I KNOW what’s going on."

"You………you do?" {Calm. Calm and collected. If he really *does* know why you’re here, he sure doesn’t look too angry about having the wool pulled over his eyes. Yet.}

"Of course." Jax straightened, smiled, and eased a hip onto the side of the desk to balance there, his arms crossed. "You’re looking for a piece of paper and pen so you can write me a resignation letter."

"A………a resignation?" Brenda’s eyes widened again but she fought to retain her composure. "But why on earth would you think I would be resigning?"

"Oh, come on, Brenda," Jax moaned. "I’ve got eyes. I saw the way Lissie was shooting daggers at Ashley when we were getting ready to leave tonight. And I think I came in just on the tail end of them trading verbal insults." He shook his head and snorted sadly. "The way I figure it, things must have gotten pretty ugly after I left – and if Lissie couldn’t take out her anger or resentment or whatever the h*ll it is on Ashley, either you or Scott got caught in the crossfire."

"Ahhhhhh………" One raven eyebrow arched in understanding. "And you think Lissie behaved so badly that I’d want to resign?"

"I wouldn’t be surprised." He rose from his perch on the edge of the desk and ran his fingers through his hair with a long sigh. "I swear – sometimes I can’t believe that Miranda and I brought such a contrary, foul-mouthed, rude……."

"…….normal teenager……." Brenda interrupted Jax’s tirade with a serene smile.

"……..into the world." His voice was much softer and held the definite air of surrender to her point of view as he finished the thought. Undoing the French cuffs of his formal shirt, one side of Jax’s mouth lifted in a crooked smile. "So you’re NOT in here leaving me a "Dear John" letter of resignation?"

"Uh……….NO!" Brenda kept a bright smile plastered on her face while her knees continued to knock. {Well, that was bright, Brenda. Now you have to figure out some reason why you WERE in here!}. "I……..uh……." When she sank back into the desk chair and noticed that the side drawer was still slightly ajar, inspiration struck. "Well, if you must know," she drawled with a sheepish grin, "I had a craving."

Jax rolled his sleeves above his elbows. "A craving?"

"Yeah …….for chocolate." She slid the drawer open and held up one of the candy bars. "Addie told me that you kept a secret stash of these in here, so when I couldn’t sleep tonight and discovered I had a *bad* case of the munchies, I thought I could sneak in and help myself to one without being discovered!" Brenda sent a silent prayer heavenward that Jax wouldn’t remember to confirm her assertion with his secretary the following day. She looked at the candy bar longingly before replacing it in the drawer. "But now that I’m busted……"

"Oh, please…….keep it!" Jax’s warm smile sent heated currents through Brenda’s body that threatened to melt the confection right in her hand. He strolled lazily towards one side of the office and opened a cabinet to reveal a built-in bar. "I’m afraid there’s no milk here to go with the candy, but there’s brandy if you’d like something to help you sleep……." He took a snifter from a rack of gleaming crystal and began to pour an amber-colored liquid into the bottom of it, glancing back at her over one shoulder. "Care to join me in a nightcap?"

{Let’s see……..time for a reality check. You’re alone with a disturbingly handsome man, it’s late at night, he’s asked you to join him in a nightcap, and you’re wearing your jammies……..and boring, virginal, *white* cotton panties.} Brenda shifted uncomfortably in the desk chair. "I…….uh…….." She finally smiled and nodded. "Well, I guess a few little sips of brandy won’t hurt me." Jax returned her smile, took down another snifter, and poured two fingers’ worth of the liqueur into it.

As he ambled back towards her, a snifter in each hand, Brenda relaxed in Jax’s desk chair and folded her hands in her lap. "You know, I guess you weren’t the *only* one who made some incorrect assumptions tonight."

"Really?" Jax handed one of the snifters to Brenda. "How so?"

"Wellll…….." She ran a finger delicately around the rim of the fine crystal. "The way you and Miss Brent looked when you left here tonight, I thought that you and she would spend………well, that you might not be back……."

"You mean that we would…….that I would…….." To Brenda’s surprise, Jax’s face flushed a soft shade of pink and it took him a minute before he could look her in the eye again. "Well, if that *had* been my intent, Brenda, I would have informed you before I left that I wouldn’t be returning until morning." His lips thinned with determination. "My children come first in my life. I would never put my own…….uh……." His cheeks colored even darker. "……..my own wants or needs ahead of theirs. I just got back today from a long business trip. I wasn’t about to spend another night away from my family," he added emphatically.

Brenda leaned forward, an impish grin on her face. "And Miss Brent didn’t try to change your mind?" She narrowed one eye and tipped her head to the side. "Because from the way she looked when you left here, she *definitely* had plans for YOU tonight."

He suddenly chuckled softly. "Well, any *plans* she might have had for me tonight got sidetracked when she had an unexpected migraine." Then his eyes widened slightly and he sobered, staring into his brandy. "Thank GOD!"

Brenda pulled back in surprise. "Excuse me?"

Jax snorted and shook his head. "This will probably destroy the "gentlemanly" image you’ve gotten of me so far, but ……. well……." He looked around as though he was making sure nobody else was listening. "Most of the time we’re together, Ashley Brent gives ME a huge headache!"

"Really!" Jax rose and walked towards the window to stare at the sky as Brenda sat back, openmouthed in shock. "That’s certainly not the impression *I* got!"

"What?" He turned towards her and frowned. "Did I LOOK like I enjoy being with her?" Jax gripped his snifter more firmly. "Because, by God, if I’m sending her some kind of subconscious signals that I’m interested in her, tell me – so I can STOP!! Right away!!"

"I’m not sure if you’re sending Miss Brent any signals, but Lissie is sure reading some – loud and clear." Brenda rose one eyebrow to gaze pointedly at Jax.

"Ohhhhhhhh………" He lifted his snifter towards Brenda, pointing his first finger in a "now-I’ve-got-it" gesture. "So THAT’S what the row was about after I left tonight, then!"

Brenda stared at the brandy in her glass as she swirled it in contemplation. "Let’s just say that Lissie was painting a rather grim picture for Scott of his future, with Miss Brent as his stepmother."

"Stepmother!" Jax’s shoulders drooped as the air left his lungs in a whoosh. "Wherever would Lissie get the idea that I was going to *marry* Ashley?"

Brenda chewed on her lower lip delicately. "I believe she mentioned that your mother was quite fond of Miss Brent…….."

"Ahhhh, yes……..my mother." Jax grimaced. "My own personal matchmaker from h*ll." He was suddenly reminded of his conversation with Jane Jacks not an hour earlier. If there was ever a perfect time to invite Brenda to the Civic Dinner, it was now. They were alone, with no probability of the children interrupting; the atmosphere was relaxed; they seemed to be getting along well……….{Yep…..it’s now or never…}

"Jax?" Brenda’s voice brought him out of his deliberations. She had straightened in the desk chair and set the brandy snifter down on his desk, looking at him most intently. "As long as we’re talking like this……..and since we didn’t get a chance to have our regular 9 o’clock meeting tonight……."

{Is she a mind reader, too? Did she somehow find out about my plans for the Civic Dinner already?} "Yes?"

"Well……." Brenda smiled shyly shifted nervously in the immense leather chair. "When I was talking to Lissie earlier this evening about her behavior with Scott…….." She lowered her eyes, then raised them again somberly. "She mentioned the fact that her mother died in this house."

Jax’s body seemed to stiffen right before Brenda’s eyes. "Yes, that’s right. She did." He abruptly took a stiff swig of brandy, then lowered the glass again. "Did Lissie say anything else about …….. about my late wife?" His voice broke as he finished the question.

"Just that it was unexpected. But then again, I seem to remember you mentioning that she had been sick……" Brenda took a deep breath for courage. "Mr. Jacks, you know that I would never pry into matters that were none of my business, but in light of the fact that it seems to still trouble the children……"

"No, no…….. You have every right to know." Jax waved a hand weakly and his body wilted again. He moved towards the chair in front of the desk. "In fact, I probably should have told you the whole story when I hired you." He sank into the chair with a grim smile. "Although I’m sure you’ve already heard rumors about it from nearly everyone within a thirty mile radius of here."

Brenda folded her hands on the desk and didn’t have to try hard to smile warmly at Jax. "I prefer to hear the truth. From you."

He tugged on the end of his open bow tie to pull it from around his neck and tossed it onto the desk. "Miranda and I were so happy, in the beginning." Jax opened a few more buttons of his starched formal shirt until Brenda had the distracting view of some blonde chest hair curling around the edges. He sat back in the chair, propping the hand holding the brandy on the armrest wearily. "Then when Elizabeth was born, we had to make some adjustments. Miranda had to spend a lot of time with her alone. The business was taking off by leaps and bounds, you see, and I had to go out of town a lot," he explained. "But she was really good about it. I tried to get back home again and spend time with the two of them as much as I could." He rubbed his finger around the rim of the snifter and smiled wryly. "Life still was pretty d*mn near perfect."

Jax paused for about ten seconds, raised the snifter to take another swallow, then re-considered and lowered it. "Then Scott was born." The ghost of a crooked smile flickered across his lips. "I was so proud – a son to carry on the family name." The smile faded quickly. "But Miranda didn’t seem to bounce back as quickly from Scott’s birth as she did from Lissie’s – and Scott was a difficult baby." He raised his eyes to meet Brenda’s. "He was fussy, and he cried a lot. Colic, I think they call it?" He shook his head a little to organize his thoughts. "Anyway, Miranda didn’t get much sleep when he was an infant, and then it all started again when he was teething. And at the same time, she was trying to act as chairwoman for all of her favorite charities." He sighed and stared into the brandy. "We kept telling ourselves that she was just tired, or stretching herself too thin with all her charitable causes…….."

"Until?"

"She started having some dizzy spells." Jax’s gaze never strayed from the brandy snifter. "We wrote them off to lack of sleep or having too many cocktails before dinner." He took a shuddering breath. "But then, when she collapsed in the garage after we came home from dinner one night, I wouldn’t take any more of her excuses. I took her to the doctor the next day."

An awkward silence stretched between them for almost thirty seconds before Jax rose abruptly from his chair. "The doctor ordered some blood work and a CT scan, but from the look on his face after he examined Miranda, I knew there was something seriously wrong." Brenda could feel his pain as he walked to the window to stare into the darkness. "There was a malignant tumor the size of a walnut in her brain – very close to the part that controls the central nervous system." He blinked his eyes rapidly, fighting tears. "The doctor told us it was definitely inoperable, and it was still growing at an alarming pace."

"But……." Brenda could hear the anguish in his voice, even three years after his loss. "But surely there was something that could stop the tumor’s growth – radiation or chemotherapy………" She shook her head and frowned. "They’re doing so many things to fight cancer now……"

"Apparently this one was quite a virulent strain." Jax took another shot of brandy, his voice now cool and distant. "He said that the CT scan showed several other tumors in her spine and abdomen. He wouldn’t know the extent for sure without exploratory surgery, but we didn’t see any point to it." He shrugged his shoulders weakly. "After all, it wouldn’t have changed the prognosis, and Miranda didn’t want to leave the children any more than she had to."

Brenda swallowed hard. "How………how long…….."

"Five months." His voice broke again and Jax looked down at the ground. "I’m sorry ……. it’s just that I don’t talk about this very often, and it still……..well, it’s hard ………"

"Of *course* it is!" Even though she had been having some most erotic daydreams about her employer of late, at that moment, all Brenda wanted to do was take him in her arms and give him a motherly hug. But before she could, Jax visibly shivered, turned, and strode back to the bar to refill his snifter with more brandy.

"I took her to the best specialists money could buy on three continents," he said somberly as he poured the amber liquid into his glass. When he turned and held the decanter out towards Brenda, asking silently if she wanted a refill, she shook her head firmly. "They all said that chemotherapy could possibly buy her some time, but it wouldn’t change the bottom line." Jax set the decanter down and then cradled the snifter in both hands. "We discussed it, but Miranda vetoed the idea. She wanted to be as whole and well as she could for the children for as long as she could."

"So you never told the children?"

"Not really." Jax ambled slowly back towards the desk. "I always thought that Lissie might have suspected something, but we never said it out loud. Then Miranda started having these really terrible headaches, and that’s when I had to hire the first nanny….."

"And she died at home?" Brenda finally supplied quietly.

Jax stopped in front of the desk and nodded. "The doctors recommended a wonderful hospice but she would have none of it. She……uh…….well, she hid the pain as well as she could from the kids… but……but she died here at the house – in my arms." When his head fell forward in grief, Brenda’s breath caught in her throat.

At least a minute of silence passed before Brenda rose from Jax’s chair. "Thank you," she whispered. "For sharing all of that with me." Her compassionate smile warmed his heart more than she realized. "I’m honored that you trust me that much…….."

"Of *course* I trust you!" Jax snorted softly. He set the snifter and untouched brandy refill on the desk and shoved his hands into the pockets of his tuxedo trousers. "I should have told you the truth long before now."

Brenda suddenly leaned across the desk and gave him a coy wink, trying to lighten the mood a little. "Even after you find me covertly raiding your candy stash under the cover of darkness?"

Jax’s crooked smile made Brenda’s heart flutter. "That’s right – I had almost forgotten." When one golden eyebrow arched playfully, she was glad that the sadness in his eyes was gone again – at least, for a while. "You know, I suppose there should be some *consequence* for your attempted thievery, Ms. Barrett," he drawled seductively.

She suddenly felt the same way she did as a child after eating an entire box of Hostess Cupcakes – an indefinable rush of sugar-prompted heat that rushed to her lower body and made her dizzy and giddy at the same time. Or she was having a menopausal hot flash – thirty years too soon. "A……" Brenda swallowed hard but tried to keep a smile pasted on her face. "A consequence?"

"Um-hmm….and I’ve got *just* the idea what it can be." Jax balanced a hip on the desk again and stared deeply into her eyes. "In repayment for your crimes against my house……" He stopped and tipped his head towards the desk drawer where he kept the candy. "…..or, should I say, my *drawers*," he continued with a wink, "you shall be required to grant me a favor."

"A……a favor?" {Ohhhhhhhhh, geeeeeezzzzz……..and me in my Sister Agatha Gertrude Marie white cotton panties.} Her curls bounced as she shook her head nonchalantly. "And do you have a certain favor in mind, Mr. Jacks?"

"I do." He nodded firmly, fixing his baby blues on her tremulous brown velvet orbs. "I want you to go out with me."

{That must have been SOME kind of brandy I drank. I could swear that he just………nah, it must be that I’m sleep-deprived and hallucinating.} "Did you say go OUT with you?"

Jax’s eyes suddenly widened and he pulled back. "Oh……oh, no! I’ve gone and put my foot in my mouth now and you’ll think I’m guilty of sexual harassment……." He got up from the desk and ran his fingers through his already-tousled hair. "Serves me right for trying to do this after crossing the International Date Line twice in the past twenty-four hours!" Brenda opened her mouth to speak but before she could, he held out his hands to her beseechingly. "Let me try this again ……." He clenched his hands, licked his lips, and took a deep breath. "There’s this big social engagement next Tuesday – the annual Civic Dinner for the benevolent something-or-other charity fund." He shook his head and sighed. "There are so many of them that I can’t keep them all straight. Anyway…….." He reached out towards her and when a bewildered Brenda put her hand in his, he led her around to the front of the desk. "They’re honoring J&J Jacks for their contributions to the community over the past year – particularly my partner, Roy DeLucca. He’s done quite a bit of work with the area’s troubled youth and I understand he’s getting some kind of plaque."

Brenda fought the urge to do cartwheels and her characteristic "happy dance." "So your partner will be there, too?"

"No." Jax grimaced. "Or at least *probably* not. That’s the problem. My mother is insisting that somebody attend to represent the firm and accept Roy’s plaque if he doesn’t get his butt back here from God-knows-wherever-he-is by then." He pulled Brenda into a sitting position in the chair opposite him. "Unfortunately, my mother *also* tells me that I can’t really attend this thing alone…….." He suddenly grinned conspiratorially. "And besides – if you agreed to go with me, it would probably make Lissie and Scott think that Ashley and I are less of a "couple.""

Brenda tipped her head back suspiciously and gave him a half-smile. "But it wouldn’t be a ……..a DATE."

"No!" He shook his head resolutely. "No – definitely not a date. Just some rubber chicken and watered down cocktails with a bunch of rich, boring, philanthropic Californians. We’d come back home again just as soon as I collect Roy’s plaque and thank the appropriate people."

{Rich, boring, philanthropic Californians…….the same kind of people who hang out with royalty……} Alarm bells went off in Brenda’s head. {Uh-oh ……. what if somebody recognizes me?} She winced at her desperate employer. "Oh, Jax…….I’m really not sure about this…….."

He abruptly sat up straighter. "Wait a minute – I think I know what’s troubling you!" Jax rose and went to grab the tuxedo jacket off the back of the chair where Brenda was sitting. "I should have realized this right away……" He fumbled in a side pocket of the jacket as Brenda watched, frowning in confusion. "It’s just been so long since I’ve been this close to anyone ……. well, to any woman……..since…….since…….."

Brenda gulped when she saw him pull his wallet out of the pocket. "Oh, Mr. Jacks!" she gasped. "You don’t have to *pay* me ………..!"

"No, no!!" He shook his head again and mumbled an expletive. "I think I’ve gone *beyond* one now and I’m just changing feet in my mouth!!" Jax opened the wallet and reached deep inside one of the folds to pull out a shiny gold credit card. "You’re probably hesitant to agree to attend the dinner because you don’t have anything appropriate to wear!" he announced triumphantly. "But that’s NOT a problem for you anymore!" He held out the credit card to her proudly. "I had the bank issue this card for you the other day – just in case you ever need to make any purchases for the children. But then I was called to Singapore and never got a chance to give it to you."

Brenda held the gold American Express card in her hands for a minute, truly at a loss for words for once in her life. She reverently traced a finger over the raised lettering – "Brenda Barrett." Although the name was a fabrication – just like her credentials as a nanny – the sweet thoughtfulness that resulted in the small plastic rectangle in her hand touched her heart. "Jax," she whispered, fighting back a lump in her throat to speak, "I really can’t take this……."

"Of course you can!" he insisted. "What if I’m gone to Addis Ababa or Paris or Nome and Scott needs a new pair of tennis shoes? Or Lissie will "die" if she doesn’t have another new CD?" He snorted decisively. "I certainly wouldn’t expect you to foot the bill for things like that yourself – at least, not on the salary *I’m* paying you!" She wasn’t sure if his smile or the brandy that she had consumed inspired the warm feeling in her chest. "And since you’re doing me a favor, accompanying me to the Civic Dinner, paying for a dress you’ll probably never use again is the least I can do."

She didn’t want to tell him that she probably had a dozen appropriate dresses back in her closet in Baeristonburgh. Dresses that would make all those "rich, boring, philanthropic Californians" faint dead away with envy. It would be simple enough to call Lois and have her wire Julia to send one of them in time for the Dinner – but since Jax expected her to use the credit card to purchase a dress, that’s what she would do. She told herself that the shopping trip might be an opportunity for her and Lissie to bond.

"All right." Brenda nodded, still holding the credit card as though it were actually made of the golden metal it was named for. "I’ll go with you to the Civic Dinner – and I’ll ask Lissie to go shopping with me the day after tomorrow for something appropriate to wear." Her eyes suddenly widened. "I *would* take her tomorrow," she added informatively, "but I don’t think she probably told you that she got her fifth demerit and has to sit in that detention thing…….." She frowned and put her fingers to her lips. "What did she call it?"

"Jug." Jax supplied the colloquialism and then swore softly beneath his breath. "I’ll just never understand how Lissie can be on time for all of her concerts and social engagements but can’t seem to get from one class to another at school in less than five minutes!"

"Don’t come down on her too hard for it, Jax," Brenda advised as he rose from the chair. She took her own brandy snifter off the desk and handed it to him so he could put both of them back on the bar. "If this jug or detention or whatever they call it is as bad as it was when *I* was in school, she’ll have plenty of inspiration to be on time for her classes in the future!"

"I suppose you’re right." He sighed and put his hands on his hips. "Lord knows she and I have enough *other* issues to argue about already!"

When he stifled a yawn, Brenda moved towards the door of the office. "I think it’s probably high time we ended this meeting so you can get some sleep. You’ve had a rough 36 hours." She clutched the credit card tightly in her left hand while opening the door with her left, turning back to him with a broad smile. "Thanks for not being too rough on me about my……" She nodded back towards his desk. "…….sweet tooth……"

"No problem at all, Brenda." The throaty purr in his voice when he said her name sent shivers down her spine. "Thank you – and good night."

"Good night – Jax." She slipped out of the office and closed the door behind her, letting out a long sigh of relief. {Well, you got out of a close one that time. Although…….} Brenda glanced down at the credit card in her hands as thoughts of walking arm-in-arm with a tuxedo-clad Jax flitted through her brain. {……although maybe you just got yourself out of the frying pan and into the fire!!}

*~*~*~*~*

"Livin’ la vida loca…….."

Brenda tapped her fingers happily on the steering wheel of Jax’s car as she bopped in time to the music. When she volunteered to take Karl’s place picking Scott up from school the next day, Jax insisted she take his BMW so the little boy would feel comfortable. Brenda didn’t mind – it was Friday, and she needed to start looking for a dress for the Civic Dinner. Since Lissie would be confined to "jug" for two hours after regular dismissal time, Brenda thought she could pick up Scott, swing by the mall to scout out possibilities, and then pick up Lissie in one circular route.

A shrill beeping from her purse stopped Brenda in mid-bounce. She looked around guiltily, then fumbled with the knobs on the radio to turn it off before opening her purse and taking out the small cell phone. "Hello?"

"YO!!! QUEENIE!!!"

"LOIS!!" Brenda’s smile was genuinely exuberant. "I haven’t talked to you in AGES!!" Then, suddenly, the smile faded and her eyes widened. "Is something wrong? Is it momma, or daddy, or Julia?"

"No, no, no…….." Brenda heaved a visible sigh of relief. "Everybody back in Bear-claw-land is fine, Bren." She felt Lois’s smile through the phone. "Can’t I just call up my best girlfriend in the whole wide world to see how things are goin’?"

"Yeah……." Brenda arched one eyebrow suspiciously. "But not when your "best girlfriend in the whole wide world" is working undercover." She watched intently out one window of the car when some middle schoolers started coming out of the large building. "So what’s going on, Lois? Why did you *really* call?"

"Alright, alright…….You got me." Brenda could almost see Lois’s grimace. "Julia called me last night. She wanted me to tell you that the latest lead she was following from the Children’s Home Society didn’t pan out." Brenda blinked rapidly, trying to clear the frustration-inspired tears so she wouldn’t miss Scott coming out of school. "I’m so sorry, Queenie."

"That’s OK, Lois." Brenda rubbed her nose firmly. "I think this Roy DeLucca guy is gonna turn out to be Albert, anyway. I’ve just got ……..well, I’ve got a good feeling about this whole setup."

"And that good feeling – would it have anything to do with Mr. Tall, Rich, and Gorgeous that you’re working for?" Lois asked coyly.

"Let’s just say it sure makes the time go faster," Brenda replied. "Tell Julia that I understand, and that she shouldn’t let it get her down. I should have some news from this end shortly." Maybe – if she said her prayers – Roy DeLucca would even show up at the Civic Dinner and she’d get to meet Albert in person in just a few days.

"Will do, Brenda."

"Oh, and Lois…….." Brenda settled more firmly in her seat, her lips thin and grim. "Tell Julia that she should get in touch with Captain Scorpio and tell him to KNOCK IT OFF with the security guys following me!!"

"I thought you were gonna call him and straighten things out – so he wouldn’t hire some joker to follow ‘ya like he did in Albuquerque."

"Yeah, well I didn’t get a chance to call old Malcolm soon enough," Brenda groaned. "When I was on the way here to pick up Jax’s son from school today, I spotted his latest recruit." She shook her head in disgust. "He was driving a bright orange Audi and every time I glanced in my rear view mirror, he would pull over to the curb and wait until three cars passed. Then he’d pull out and start following me again."

"Are you sure this guy is working for Captain Scorpio, Bren? Cause what if he’s just some freelance local California wacko?"

"No – he’s too geeky to be some crazy serial killer, Lois." Brenda chuckled softly. "He reminds me of that deputy in the series we watched on Nick at Night – the one in the southern town? With the little kid named Dopey and the short fat aunt?" Lois’s laughter drifted across the miles. "He was as skinny as a rail and had oily black hair that was kind of plastered across the top of his head. Horn rimmed glasses too, I think……."

"I’ll tell Julia to put a muzzle on Malcolm for ‘ya. So…….." Brenda could hear the girlish curiosity in Lois’s voice. "…..now tell me all about that hottie widower you’re workin’ for. Did he ask ‘ya out yet?"

"Actually…….." Brenda’s smile faded when she saw Scott ambling slowly towards the BMW. "I can’t talk, Lois. Scott’s coming and I’ve got to go."

"Gotcha. Watch your back, Queenie. I love you."

Brenda smiled. "And I love you back, Lois Marie. Bye." She clicked the "off" button on the phone just as Scott opened the door with a happy grin on his face. "Hi there, Scott!" she called cheerily. "Karl was busy today so I thought I’d pick you up from school – is that OK?"

Scott shook his head vigorously up and down to show his approval. He hopped inside the car, winding his legs under him in typical dog-fashion before buckling the seat belt. Although he had been quite verbal in his enthusiasm for Cocoa Krispies, words had been few and far between ever since that modest breakthrough.

"OK, then……" Brenda reached over to ruffle his blonde curls and scratch behind his ear, drawing a long growl of happiness from the youngster. She watched him sadly for a few seconds – now that she knew more of the details surrounding his mother’s death, she felt even more pity for him. Scott Jacks had been through some horrific events in his young life – and even though being his nanny was just her "cover," Brenda had a strong urge to make things right so he’d never have to suffer again.

"OK…….." She drawled the word again and then reached over to turn on the ignition. "I guess it’ll just be you and me, kiddo, since Lissie has detention this afternoon. We’ll just make a quick stop over at the mall and then we can come back……."

As soon as Brenda heard the excited whimpering coming from Scott, she put the car back into "park" and glanced over at him. He was almost frantic, shaking his head in a "no" gesture. She thought for a minute and then her face relaxed. "Oh, I understand……." She patted him on the head, smoothing his disheveled hair. "You don’t want to go in the girlie boutiques with me. Well, I *promise* I’ll take you to the pet store if you just be good for me while….."

The whimpers grew to full-fledged wails, punctuated by staccato barks. Brenda frowned at the little boy. "What is it, Scott? What’s the matter?" He looked around frantically, then finally seemed to brighten and turned to dig deep into his 101 Dalmations backpack. When he looked back at Brenda again, he held a small folded note in his mouth.

"OoooooooKkkkkkkkk…….." Brenda fought the urge to grimace when she took the slightly-slobbered paper from between his lips. She opened the note and read it, her eyes widening as she did. When she finished, she tossed it on the back seat behind her and turned back to grip the steering wheel firmly.

"Hang on, Scott," she growled. "I think I may have to KILL your sister!!!"

The breeze from her open window caused the paper to flutter from the back seat to the floor of the BMW. As Brenda pulled out of the school parking lot, it slid to the side to show Lissie’s feminine scrawl –

Dear Brenda,

Jug sucks. Gone to the mall instead.

Kisses, Lissie

To be continued……..