Loving Miss Libby by Rosemarie Naramore

the hot dogs from the grill,
smiled.  Libby could see he was proud of the children too. 
    Soon they were seated on chairs around the small
table.  “The food looks good,” Marky declared, eager to dig in.
    “Grace first,” Dan said.
    The children reached out to link hands and Libby
found herself holding Kate’s and Dan’s hands.  She gave Kate’s little hand a
squeeze, and tried not to think about how warm and strong Dan’s hand felt
enveloping her own.  She glanced around the table.  The little ones dropped
their faces.  Dan smiled, turned toward her briefly, and then bowed to pray.
    It was a short prayer, thanking God for their many
blessings, and asking Him to bless their meal, but it warmed Libby’s heart. 
Dan was obviously a Christian who retained a strong faith in God.
    Libby’s former boyfriend had proclaimed to be a
Christian, but he hadn’t behaved like one.  When she had learned of his
infidelity, he had cited a litany of reasons for it, and the fault, according
to him, had been hers.  “If only she had done…  If only she hadn’t done…”  His
placing blame with her for his actions had put her in a tail spin, and she was
embarrassed now realizing she had almost bought into his accusations.
    Seeing Dan with his children, his loving ways, his
kindness to her…  He was a man living Christian principles.
    As the thought entered her mind, however, Cherise’s
name popped into her head, as well as the memory of that car leaving his house
during the early morning hour. 
    Were he and his former girlfriend still involved?
    As if on cue, Dan’s cell phone trilled in his shirt
pocket.  He pulled it out and glanced at the screen.  “I have to take this,” he
said, and rose from the table. 
    Libby stood up to help the children prepare their
plates.  Dan was now standing at the other end of the porch, his phone pressed
to his ear, listening.  Finally, he said, “I’m sorry I’m not there.  I know you
need me.”
    “Who was that, Daddy?” Marky asked, as he returned
to the table.
    “Ah, it was Cherise,” he said with a sigh, and
stuffed his phone back into his pocket. 
    “Do we have to leave, Dad?” Kate asked, bracing for
his answer.
    He searched her face.  “Not this time,” he said, and
she grinned happily.
    “Yay!” Marky cried.
    Libby got the distinct impression that when Cherise
called, Dan answered, and she suspected it meant packing up whatever he was
doing with his children, in order to go to her. 
    Libby found herself revising her opinion of him. 
She abruptly scolded herself, since she knew she wasn’t privy to the whole
picture, but there was no denying that Cherise was still a fixture in the
family’s life and still held some sway over Dan.
    She made a decision to withhold judgment, since it
wasn’t her place to judge him.  She was his childrens’ babysitter.  She wasn’t
a prospective girlfriend or wife.  It was inappropriate for her to speculate
about him or his life—and certainly not his relationship status.
    When Dan dropped into the chair beside her and
smiled warmly, she smiled in return, but quickly turned away to help Marky put
mustard on his hotdog.  She was here for Marky and Kate.  Not to make eyes at
her employer.

Chapter Eight
     
    “How’s the babysitting going?” Libby’s mother asked her, during a phone conversation. 
A week had passed since she’d accompanied Dan and the kids to the lake.
    “Fine,” she said crisply.  “The kids are adorable.”
    “And the father?”
    “What … about him?”
    “I understand he’s adorable too.”
    “Mom!”
    She chuckled.  “Annie told me.  She apparently
spotted you all when you went out for ice cream.”  Annie was a friend of her
mother’s.
    Libby remembered that outing.  “Dan invited me to
join him and the kids for burgers and we had ice cream after.  It was no big
deal.”
    “Honey, you sound glum.  Is everything all right?”
    “Yes,” she said, attempting to perk