Bending The Rules

"Mom, I'm a PA, I'm not a nanny." I grumbled as I flicked through the detailed job profile folder. "I don't know the first thing about kids."

I hadn’t really interacted with children since I’d been one myself. Why she’d thought I could do this was beyond my comprehension.

"Think of it this way honey... You're just PA to a much smaller client." She smiled as she gazed up at me, like this wasn’t a ridiculous idea, when clearly it was.

I rolled my eyes and placed the leather bound folder back down on the old granite countertop. She had to be insane, this was nothing at all like a normal run of the mill PA job. "Mom, I didn't work to entertain my last client." I retorted.

Mom's eyes narrowed and she walked passed me briskly, she placed her fingers on the brown folder and pulled it across the counter until it was in front of her.

"No, but if he'd had his way,” She paused and I turned to look at her, with her eyebrow arched she smiled knowingly. “Why do you think he restructured and sold the company? He realized he couldn't get what he wanted from you."

I frowned and shook my head, was she really insinuating Mr. Jones, who was 40 years my senior had wanted to sleep with me? He was 64 for goodness sakes. I was young enough to be his grandchild, besides he’d sold the company because he wanted to retire.

"Honey, you're a beautiful girl. You inherited your father's height, his long legs, and you have my looks. I was Miss..."

"Rhode Island, yes Mom I know." I finished her sentence before she could, I’d heard the story a thousand times over. She was wrong about Mr. Jones though She picked up the folder and held it out to me again. "Felicity, It'll only be for three months, and you'll really help me win favor with Mr. Coran's company if you get the job. I wouldn't ask if I didn't think you could do it."

I glazed over the booklet once more. I had to give whoever had created it the credit they deserved, It was well presented and thorough. It would have been more impressive if it was for and adult, but it wasn’t.

Everything was accounted for, right down to a daily timetable, I sighed, a seven year old girl with a timetable. She almost barely had a moment to breath in between school and the after school dance lessons, not to mention everything else. My own childhood had been similar for a time and I’d hated it.

With a sigh I looked up at Mom and forced a smile on my face. "Fine, I'll go for the job. But only because you need to do business with Coran's company."

"That's my girl." Mom smiled back and walked over to the phone.

I placed the folder down and promised myself that if I got the job I'd let the poor little girl have a sliver of free time. My entire childhood had been so structured that when my Dad had died at 9, I had barely known him. Despite who he’d ended up being, it had been no way to live.

"I'd better call I guess." I said, rolling my eyes as Mom handed me the phone.

"Yes. He needs someone urgent, the last Nanny left suddenly."

Suddenly, why? How much trouble could a seven year old girl cause?

I dialled the number on the front cover of the booklet and waited for the call to connect. Mom stood over me watching me like an hawk. I didn't blame her, getting this contract for the company where she worked meant becoming partner, something she had been striving for since I had been born. She more than deserved it, I knew it, and her colleagues knew it… they just seemed to enjoy making her jump through hoops to get it.

"Mr Coran's office, Cecily speaking, how can I help?" The girl on the other end of the phone answered. She sounded cheerful, and for a moment I was jealous of the fact she had a job doing the exact thing I had done since I graduated with my business degree. The kind of job I wanted to be applying for now. I pursed my lips and forced the words out of my mouth before I lost my nerve.

"I would like to apply for the position to be the nanny for Mr. Coran's daughter."

The woman paused for a moment. "Putting you through to Mr. Coran... May I please have your name?"

"Felicity Taylor." I murmured.

There was silence for about ten seconds and then suddenly the phone picked up. "Yes. Ms Taylor, I understand you are interested in the Nanny position." the voice on the other end was cold and etched with stress.

"Yes Sir."

"Well, have you had any experience with children?" He asked. I paused, unable to think of anything to say that didn’t instantly count me out of the running.

"No sir, but I am a quick learner, and I was a child once." I closed my eyes and shook my head, funny I might be, but now was not the time for joking.

"Was that meant to be funny?" He replied, sounding less than amused.

"Sorry sir."

He sighed heavily and obviously down the phone line.

"Look, if you can come to my house at 6pm tonight for an interview I will consider you. But please try not to waste my time Ms Taylor." He sounded desperate, the edges of his words frayed with tension.

"Thank you sir." I replied.

"6pm Ms Taylor. Don't be late."

He hung up without another word and I looked up at Mom with the phone still against my ear. She was frowning. "Felicity! Your sass may fly with me, but you can't expect the CEO of CoranCorp to be the same."

"I know Mom, sorry. He still gave me the interview though." I said, relieved.

"He did?" She sounded genuinely shocked, as she began to smile. I didn’t want to get her hopes up, but it was nice to see her smile. I smiled back and handed the phone over.

"Yes, he did. But don't hold your breath, he sounds incredibly hard to please."

Or impossible to please.

"Just try honey."

I nodded, for my Mom I would try anything, she had single handedly raised me for 15 years, it hadn't been easy but she had persevered. She deserved the pay off for her hard work and she more than deserved to become partner at Jean, Loader and associates. If I could help make that happen, then I was going to.

By the time 5:30pm rolled around I had dressed myself in normal office attire, a black pencil skirt, crisp ironed white shirt and a black blazer.

"You're wearing that?" Mom asked her face awash with confusion as I walked toward the front door.

"It may be a job as a nanny, but the man is used to seeing business women, perhaps I'd do well to appeal to his business side considering I have no experience with actual children."

If push came to shove, maybe he’d offer me a job in his office rather than his home.

"Flick." She warned.

"Mom, it'll be fine, I'll do my very best."

I walked to the door and picked up my handbag. "Good luck Felicity!" She called out, I tried to ignore the hope laced in her words. Me getting this job meant a step up for her, a chance to impress. But right now it was pressure that could jeopardise everything.

"Thanks mom" I replied, wrapping my hand around the silver door knob. It was cold against my hand, as cold as the voice on the phone had been. If this was an omen, a warning of what was to come I was in trouble. I closed my eyes and willed the weird feeling away as I walked outside and across the wooden porch. I'd lived on the ranch with Mom my entire life, after Dad had died I'd promised myself I'd always take care of her. If I was being honest, it was true that I'd almost put my life on hold. Graduating at the top of my class had earned me job offers from all over the country, but I chose to stay here. This job was live in, and if I got it then it would be the first time I'd stayed away from Mom for longer than a week. I wasn’t sure I was ready. It sounded ridiculous that as a 23 year old woman I hadn’t done a lot of the things my peers had, like move out or travel.

My Mom and I only had one another though, it had never seemed right to not be around.

I got in my car and drove before I could change my mind, The Coran mansion was only down the road on the outskirts of town like the Ranch, I'd driven past it every day since I'd graduated high school. My stomach swirled as I approached the driveway, I had never really been a shy person but the thought of being confronted by the billionaire mogul who was well known for his icy personality was slightly daunting.

I turned in to the driveway and pressed the buzzer on the security gate.

"State your name please."

"Felicity Taylor." I replied, speaking into the small grey box on my left.

"Very well Ms Taylor." The man's voice replied, it wasn't Mr Coran, but I was hardly surprised, with a house as big as this he probably had a full staff roster.

The gate opened and slowly I drove up the driveway, I parked next to another car, grabbing my hand bag just to look more prepared and then walked the rest of the way up the path until I made it to the front door. I knocked hard against the solid wood, so hard my knuckles ached slightly. A few moments later the door opened and a short older man smiled at me.

"You must be Ms. Taylor, please, come in. Mr Coran is in the study, he won't be long." He took me by the elbow and guided me inside. "Please wait in the living room, Molly is in there."

"Molly?" I repeated.

"Mr Coran's daughter... Please tell me you read the briefing?" he said sharply. "Mr Coran is very particular."

I bit the inside of my cheek due to my stupidity. I’d only glanced over the briefing, I’d seen enough to know that the seven year old girl was under far too much pressure. I clearly hadn’t absorbed her name. I swallowed hard and returned my gaze back to the man who had let me in.

"I noticed." I frowned as I walked into the living room. "Sorry, of course I read the briefing."

"Good, well I'll leave you two to get acquainted." He looked at Molly and narrowed his eyes. "Be nice Molly Coran."

"Ugh." Molly replied barely looking up.

"My name is Harvey by the way, should you need anything."

"Thank you Harvey."

Harvey left, and it was just Molly and I in the great big room, it was beautifully decorated with artsy statement pieces I was sure cost the earth, but it didn't take much for me to notice that there were no family pictures adorning the walls at all.

"What are you doing Molly?" I asked, attempting to break the ice. "Is that homework?"

Molly remained silent and ignored that I was even there. Suddenly I regretted my decision not to read the booklet in more detail. Perhaps Molly was mute or something like that.

"You smell like flowers." She said in a confused voice. Right, not mute.

"Thank you." I replied.

Molly scoffed and looked back down at her paper. I lifted my bag up and pulled out the lotus flower candle I had bought for Mom's birthday a week or so beforehand. Her birthday wasn't for a while yet, so I could always go get another.

"Flowers huh, do you want to see something cool?" I asked sitting down opposite the young girl who was currently regarding me with a cool nonchalant stare.

"Cool? Okay... I guess" She said slowly, unwilling to commit to a connection just yet. I placed the candle down and lit a match. I lowered it to the center of the candle where the unused wick poked through, within a few seconds the wick burnt out and the middle of the candle began to spit out light and sparks.

Molly giggled and jumped back, as the candle began to turn, while the petals opened and a tinny sounding happy birthday tune played.

"It's like magic!" Molly said in awe, not taking her eyes away from the candle until the music stopped.

"It is, I'm glad you liked it."

Molly smiled and lifted her arm off her paper, she was drawing a picture of her and her dad. Sitting on a cloud above them sat an angel. "That's my Mom. She's beautiful."

"She really is Molly, that's a beautiful picture."

Was her mom no longer alive? Was that why Mr Coran was single. I had so many questions, that I had the feeling would remain unanswered whether or not I got the job.

Molly grabbed a blue crayon and kept drawing as I watched, in awe of her, wondering how she had managed to go through so many nannies.

"Ms Taylor." Mr Coran's voice rang through the big room like an echo in a cave. "I'll see you in my study now. Molly please head up to your room to get ready for bed please."

Molly stopped drawing and looked over at the door.

"Can Ms Taylor say goodnight to me Daddy?"

I looked over at Mr Coran, his icy blue eyes were wide and he looked at me. I nodded slightly and then he looked back at his daughter.

"Of course she can honey. Off you go." I stood there for a moment, caught off guard by his somehow inviting smile, it wasn't that he looked completely unlike the tower of a business mogul I had seen on the cover of all the top business magazines, because he did. He still stood there, hard stare, chiseled features and a navy business suit, but there was something about him here, in this house. Like he want to let go.

Molly ran passed me, stopping to hug her father along the way. Without saying a word he turned on his heel and left the room, so I walked after him and followed him up a flight of stairs. When he reached the end off the hall on the first floor he stopped and opened a door.

"After you Ms Taylor." He ushered, holding his arm out.

I walked in and waited for him to walk around to his seat. "Please, sit Ms Taylor."

I nodded and sat down, looking up I noticed his warm smile was all but gone and his eyes were almost dark.

"Sir, please call me Felicity." I said, trying to lighten the mood, but something told me it wouldn’t be that easy.

"Ms Taylor, if you are successful, you will be part of my staff. Aside from Harvey my staff are all called by their surnames. You will be no different."

"Sorry sir.”

Mr Coran glazed over the resume I had brought with me. "You're a business graduate?" he questioned raising his eyebrow high "Top 2% in your class. Have the mighty fallen?"

"I was a PA for Mr Lewis at Glow until he retired. CoranCorp bought the company and absorbed the business. Effectively you killed my job." I replied. His judgement stung, but he didn't know my story... not that I expected he would care even if he did.

"A PA for a small sales company? These kind of results could have had you as my PA for goodness sakes." He said unapologetically

"I took what was available at the time sir. I wanted to be close to my mother." I said. "But none of that matters now, I am jobless, and you have a job vacancy."

Mr Coran put the resume down. "You're overqualified, and yet somehow under experienced for the job I need you to perform."

"With all due respect sir, I believe you're in a bit of a bind."

Mr Coran's blue eyes flickered with surprise. "You're feisty aren't you Ms Taylor."

"Feisty and also in a bind Mr Coran."

"Explain?"

"As a favour to my Mom. She works for Jean, Loader and associates, she has since I was born and they've pretty much assured her a partnership if she can gain favour with your company in the company restructure they're planning." I explained, his eyes widened.

"Ah yes, She mentioned being able to solve my childcare issue if I could take her proposal seriously. Well, I hope you can live up to her high hopes then." He smiled, but only just.

"You're giving me the job?"

"Ms Taylor, I've hired 20 Nannies in the past 2 and a half years that's a little over a month per nanny. Not one of them was able to get her to smile like you did in the first few minutes."

"Oh." Had my dumb luck really just got me the job? At least Mom was going to be happy.

"Perhaps, against my better judgment, I want to give you the benefit of the doubt." He spoke slowly, and I gathered that giving people the benefit of the doubt was not something Dominic was accustomed to doing.

"Thank you sir." I smiled.

"Just don't burn my house down in order to gain favour with my daughter okay?" He smiled back, and I could see that this time it was genuine, and I found myself surprised to find warmth in it. Maybe Mr Coran had a sense of humor after all.

"Come, Molly wanted you to say good night, best we do that. I will email through a timetable, you will need to move in tomorrow." He said standing up.

"Tomorrow?" I croaked. So soon?

"Is that going to be a problem Ms Taylor?" he stopped at the door, his hand still over the silver knob. I looked up and let my eyes glance over his now steely face. "No sir, not a problem."

"Good Ms Taylor."

We walked down the hallway until we reached another door. Mr Coran knocked gently on the solid wood door. "Molly are you in bed?" He asked, his voice soft.

"Yes Daddy. Come in."

Mr. Coran opened the door, Molly's room was everything a little girl could hope for. Pink everywhere. Dolls galore, all the toys a young girl would ever need and then some, but almost all of it looked untouched. She smiled up at me. "What is your name Ms Taylor?"

"Felicity, but you can call me Flick.”

Molly giggled as she made a flicking motion with her fingers. "Flick!" She repeated. "Are you my nanny now?" Her eyes sparkled and she smiled widely as she changed her glance toward her father.

"Yes Honey, Ms Taylor is your nanny." He replied.

"Daddy... Her name is Felicity" she insisted as rolled her eyes dramatically.

"Felicity is your nanny Molly." He mused, I tried to ignore how nice it felt to hear my name on his lips, it had been a while since I'd heard a man say my name. My last boss had only called me Dear, hmm... on second thoughts maybe mom was right about him… I pushed the inappropriate thoughts from my head and refocused my thoughts on Molly. I wasn’t here to enjoy the sound of my name on any man’s lips. I was here for her… and for my Mom.

"Daddy's name is Dominic." Molly offered. "But no one ever calls him that."

"Alright Molly, it's time for bed. Ms Taylor – " Mr Coran interjected.

"Felicity!" Molly giggled.

"Felicity will be moving in tomorrow, you'll have all the time in the world together."

"Okay Daddy. Good night." Mr Coran kissed Molly on the cheek and stood up.

"Good night Molly." I said softly, but I was surprised by her sitting up and grabbing my hand, yanking me down for a hug. "Good night Flick!"

Mr Coran and I walked from the room, He closed the door behind him and looked at me.

"I will be at work when you arrive tomorrow, let me show you to your room now." He said, his steely cover was back, the almost warmth he had exhibited in Molly's room disappeared. We walked down the hallway past three more doors before stopping. He opened the door and turned the light on. "I'll have some new bed linen sent in before tomorrow."

I nodded as I walked into the room, it was so big it was almost obnoxious. Our ranch, the home I'd grown up in was not small by any means, but this one room was the size of the living area and the kitchen combined. It was nice though, with modern, white walls and floors, although it almost seemed clinical.

"You're welcome to bring your own items in... but as you can see I've furnished the room completely."

"This will be fine." I replied.

"Ms Taylor, I must warn you now, if you mess this up or hurt my daughter in any way I will use my leverage to see you blackballed in the business world." He spoke without regret, his words cold and calculated.

I frowned and looked down at the perfect white carpet, troubled by the remark that was really just a thinly disguised threat.

"Mr Coran, the last thing I would want to do is hurt an innocent little girl."

"Good answer Ms Taylor, I'll see you out."

Mr Coran walked me to the front door, and he stood there as I walked down the steps. I was almost at the bottom when, out of nowhere and before I could stop myself, my footing slipped on the last step, and I fell forward onto the gravel driveway, all too quickly my head made contact with the hard uneven stoney surface, and as the world faded to black a distressed voice called my name.

“Felicity!”