“When I was sixteen,” Delaney said, “my parents’ friends asked me to stay with their kids overnight while they went with my parents to some big event in DC.”
“You were sixteen? That seems young.”
“I’d had years of babysitting experience by then. They lived just down the coast from here.”
“From here? You were far from home.”
“I was familiar with the area. We’d visited that family a number of times. It would have been fine, except there was a tropical storm. It was forecasted to turn out to sea long before it hit Virginia, but it didn’t. It turned into a hurricane and came straight at us. All of a sudden, what had been gentle rain turned heavy, and the wind picked up. Sirens went off, telling us to take shelter.”
“You must’ve been terrified.”
Her laugh was low and lighthearted. “We were inside, and I’d never lived through a hurricane, so I had no idea what could happen. We had everything we needed. We hadn’t been ordered to evacuate. I figured we’d be fine.”
By the tone of her voice, it hadn’t been fine. “What happened?”
“The kids were seven and two, both boys. I had them in the house, hunkered down, when a door flew open. I’d forgotten to lock it, so that was my fault.”
“Could’ve happened to anyone,”
“Maybe. And it should’ve been an easy fix. But the dog ran out, and before I could stop him, the seven-year-old followed.”
“Uh-oh.” It was ridiculous the way his stomach clenched as if Delaney and that boy were in peril right now.
“I couldn’t just leave the baby alone, and I also couldn’t chase the older boy and the dog while holding onto him and fighting the rain and wind. I grabbed my phone and called 911 while I carried the baby to his bedroom and plopped him in his crib. The operator told me to wait at the house, but there was no way I could do that. I took off after Chase.”
“Chase? That’s the kid’s name?”
“Ironic, right?” Her quick smile faded. “It took me seven minutes to find him. The longest minutes of my life.” A look crossed her face, gone before he could identify it. “Almost.”
He wanted to ask what she meant, but she rushed ahead.
“Anyway, it was pouring. The waves were taller than I’d ever seen, crashing against the shore. The wind was whipping debris all over the beach, blowing so hard I had to fight it. The storm was thunderous, loud enough to swallow my shout. But I kept shouting. And then I heard the dog bark.
“Chase had caught up with it, and they were hunkered down by a clump of bushes, too scared to try to get back. I grabbed Chase’s hand, took the dog by its collar, and dragged them both back to the house.”
Noah found his heart pounding. “I’m impressed.”
She shrugged. “By the time the police showed up, we were back inside and drying off. I’d even consoled the baby, who had not been happy to be dumped in his crib. Everyone made a big deal out of it. I even got”—she waved toward the bandstandwhere Noah had stood earlier—“that award for bravery. My mother insisted we fly back so I could be here to accept it.”
“You won the Elijah Aylett Bravery Award?”
Another shrug. “It didn’t feel brave. I’d lost a kid and his dog. Nothing brave about that.”
“You were sixteen, and the cops told you to sit tight. Instead, you ran into a hurricane.”
“They could’ve been swept out to sea with those waves. What else was I supposed to do?”
He knew what Charlotte’s former nanny would’ve done. Nothing.
He marveled at this amazing woman who, even as a child, had risked her life to protect others, not family members but kids she was babysitting. No wonder they’d trusted her to watch their boys.
He’d made the right choice, hiring her.
Even now, as he studied Miss Wright, her gaze was on his niece.
And she’d won his family’s award? Maybe it was a sign. He must’ve been here, must’ve seen…
Except if she’d been sixteen, then he’d have been twenty-seven. An adult, living his own life.
