Family for Keeps & Sadie's Hero by Margaret Daley

walk in my shoes.”
    “I hear your teasing tone, and don’t forget I’ve met that family. They are dears.”
    He tossed back his head and laughed. “Dears? My, I’ve never heard them referred to as dears.”
    His infectious laughter spread through her, warming her inside. She imagined his younger brothers, all over six feet and broad-shouldered like him, and knew they wouldn’t want anyone to think of them as dears. “Well, at least your mother, daughter and sisters are.”
    “Oh, but the trials and tribulations of being the head of a large family. Casey was over at the house first thing this morning wanting me to help her find the perfect job. I said something about working at the foundation for me, and she immediately said no. She wants a job, but she’s being awfully picky about it. Says she can’t work for me.”
    “What does she like to do?”
    “She likes working with people and she’s good with computers.”
    “We have an opening on our floor for a unit secretary if she wants to apply at the hospital.”
    “I’ll mention it to her. She loves children so she might go for it.”
    “Come on into the kitchen. I’ll put some coffee on and even fix us something to eat.” She stopped after only taking a few steps and turned to him. “That is if you haven’t had anything for dinner yet.”
    “Nope.” Mac followed her. “Do you have a roommate?”
    “Yes, but Delise is gone for the weekend. She went to see her parents in Aspen. She wanted me to go but I—”
    “—had a date.”
    She paused at the counter and glanced over her shoulder at him. “Well, yes, that, too. But I promised Jan I would work for her tomorrow. She needed some time off while her son was home from college.”
    “How long have you been a nurse?”
    “Seven years.”
    “Have you only been a pediatric nurse?”
    “No.” Tess turned her attention to making the coffee, concentrating on keeping her hands from trembling.
    “What else have you done?”
    She hadn’t heard him approach, but he stood right behind her. She sucked in a deep breath and held it for a long moment. “A little bit of everything,” she finally answered, aware that her voice quavered.
    He laid his hand on her shoulder and squeezed. “I’m sorry. Have I hit a taboo subject?”
    She swallowed hard. “My first job as a nurse was in the emergency room in a large city hospital. I saw more that year than a lot of people do in ten years. I moved around after that, but I’ve decided working with children is what I want to do from now on.”
    He positioned himself next to her, lounging against the counter with his arms crossed over his chest. “I see your fascination with clowns extends to your home.”
    After putting the coffee on, Tess leaned next to him and looked about her. Her clown collection overflowed from the living room into the kitchen as well as her bedroom. “I started collecting them when I was a little girl. I can’t go by one in a store and not buy it.”
    “I can tell. How many do you have?”
    “I stopped counting after a hundred.”
    “Well, I know what to get you for your birthday.”
    “Yeah, I’m easy to buy for.” She tried to ignore the implication of his teasing statement, but she couldn’t. It suggested they would have a future. She saw how at home he appeared in her kitchen, and her wariness pushed to the foreground.
    “Of course, a friend has to keep straight which clowns you have, and I’m sure there will come a time when you’ll have everything there is to have.”
    She shoved away from the counter. “I always say if you’re going to do something you might as well do it right.”
    “An all-or-nothing kind of person.”
    “Yeah, I’m afraid so. I tend to jump in with both feet.”
    “What happens when you discover there’s no water?”
    Tess went to the refrigerator, some of life’s painful lessons washing over her. “It hurts when I land.”
    One side of his mouth lifted in a self-mocking grin. He bent and