Mercy

She stepped out of her car and walked confidently to the door, knocking lightly. Moments later a man appears, holding a little girl on his hip. "Hi, I'm Nikki." the woman says extending her arm out to shake his hand. "Leland." he says in return and welcomes her into his home.

"Hi cutie pie, what’s your name?" she says to the beautiful girl wearing a pink polka dot dress and one sock. The baby giggles and hides her head in the crook of her father's neck. He smiles and says "This is Bailee. And she's a little shy."

The trio takes a seat in the large open kitchen. The smell of the home was brand new; there was no mistaking that, Nikki thought as she looked around. Neutral colored walls, no pictures, only the bare minimum. Definitely a man’s home.

"Thank you for coming by to talk with me, I’ve been looking everywhere for a nanny." Leland says glancing at his daughter. "I didn't get a chance to read your resume, my fax machine decided to run out of ink right before you faxed it over!" he says laughing.

"Oh, really? Well, I brought another copy just in case." Nikki says as she hands him the two page resume. "So, tell me a little about yourself, while I read this over, if you don't mind." he says with a polite smile.

"Well...I’m twenty five. My first job was at Tiny Tots Daycare, I worked there for about five years and then I left to go to school full time." she says pausing to make a funny face at Bailee while Leland wasn't looking. Bailee giggles again, attempting to make the same face. Leland looks up and smiles. Making a mental note of their interaction.

"Have you graduated from college yet? What was your major?" he asks curiously. "Elementary Education. And no, I haven't graduated yet." She tells him, giving no further explanation.

She seems likable, he thinks as he watches her interact with his daughter. She's a little on the plain side, overweight, dressed casually in blue jeans and a short sleeved shirt. Her shoes were sensible tennis shoes; he noted. Her brown wavy hair was clean and her nails were manicured and painted a light pink color. She was definitely an improvement over the last three applicants that had shown up to interview for the job. Two of them couldn't get past who he was, and the other had no experience with children.

"Can you tell me what all the job requires? The ad I read in the paper didn't give a lot of information." she tells him. He had placed the ad in the local newspaper after struggling to find a full time sitter for his young daughter. He worked a strange job with strange hours and he needed someone that he could trust to take care of his child.

"Basically, I need someone that I can count on to be here anytime I need them to be. I'm sure you know what I do and that I work crazy hours, so I need someone that can work around that. There won’t be a lot of nights, but every now and then it happens." he explains. "You'll have to take her to doctor’s appointments and birthday parties.... whatever comes up if I'm not here."

Where was this little girl’s mother? Nikki wondered to herself. It wasn't her place to ask, she decided. If he wanted her to know he would have told her. "Sounds like a full time job." she says before thinking. He looks up quickly and she blushes. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that." she apologizes and lowers her head, praying that she hadn't ruined her chances. "No, you're right, it probably will be a full time job. Do you think you can handle that?" he asks, almost hesitantly.

"I can start today." She says happily.

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"You hired a nanny for Bailee?" his brother Duane Lee asks when he walks into work later that morning. "I had to do something. I need someone that will be there with her when I cant, no matter what time it is. Daycare cant do that" Leland explains.

"She's almost one and she won’t talk or walk, so maybe Nikki can teach her something." he says, trying to reason with his brother who just shakes his head and walks off. Leland never understood why people were making this situation more difficult than it already was. They all expected him to be the father, the mother and everything in between, but he just couldn't do it all. He tried to give his daughter everything she could possibly need or want in life. He bought a new home for them to live in. He made sure she had the best baby bed money could buy, she had clothes and food and a father who loved her. But to the outside world it wasn't enough. She didn't have a mother and for that, the outside world would never forgive him.

"So is she hot?" his brother asks, coming back into the main office area where he was sitting. He looks up, shaken from his thoughts. "What? Oh.... Nikki? Not really. She’s plain, kinda fat I guess." he says, shrugging his shoulders.

"Did she check out? Did you do a background check on her, make sure she wasn't crazy?" Duane Lee says very seriously. Truth was, he did think about doing a background check on her, but decided instead to call her references on the way to work. All three people had given her outstanding praise. The daycare she worked for, Tiny Tots said that all the children loved Miss Nikki and were sad to see her go. That was enough to convince him that he had picked the right person for the job.

"Nah Bra, I just called her references on the way to work. She seems like a good person and she's in school for Elementary Education." Leland tells him.

Good person or not, Duane Lee didn't seem to think his brother had made the right decision. But only time would tell.