To regular readers of my raunchy stories: Bless you, and I hope there are many of you, but please be advised: There is no sex in this chapter, except a reference to what led to the divorce of one of the protagonists. The second one will have a fair amount, as he and his female counterpart make up for lost time. If you just want to read smut, you might prefer to skip this part, but the final part may not make much sense if you do.
On Monday morning, Kevin O'Brien drove up to the large daycare center and parked at the curb. He opened the back door, unfastened the belt on the car seat of his five-year old, Kerry, and helped the boy out of the vehicle. His older child was able to easily walk up to the building, but he remained standing on the sidewalk while his father unstrapped his eighteen month old sister, Kate, from her seat and lifted her out of the car. She could walk, but he didn't trust the toddler to navigate the very hard cement sidewalk, so Kevin carried her to the building, while Kerry followed.
This was a task he had been performing for the past eight months, and he had the routine down quite well by that time. Kerry rang the doorbell, as he liked to do, smiling at the cheerful sound his childish finger produced. Mrs. Ortiz, the friendly operator of the center came to the door and, after looking through the peep hole, let the three O'Briens enter. Kevin and other parents entrusted their children to Mrs. Ortiz partly because she believed there was no such thing as being too safe in a world where bombings or random mass murder could happen at any time.
"Good morning, Mr. O'Brien. Good morning Kate and Kerry," she greeted them. As usual, the children didn't say anything, accept to smile at the nice lady.
"Good morning, Mrs. Ortiz," Kevin replied.
"We have a new teacher I want to introduce you to." Mrs. Ortiz always referred to her employees as "teachers" even though they didn't actually teach their charges much, except for how to get along with one another. "Her name is Donna, and she really loves children and they seem to really love her."
She led Kevin and his two offspring into a large room, and there they saw a short, rather pudgy woman, with dark hair and an extremely sweet face. She was surrounded by a group of smiling and laughing children, and the love and warmth between her and them was obvious. It even extended to Kerry and Kate. Although they were both wary of strangers, and had clung to their father ever since their mother deserted her family, they hurried over to join the happy group. Kate hugged Donna around the knee, and Kerry pressed his face firmly against her leg, which was clad in faded blue jeans. Donna responded by beaming down at the new members of her happy flock and placing a hand on a shoulder of each of Kevin's children. They smiled back at her, the biggest smiles Kevin had seen on their faces in eight months.
When Mrs. Ortiz began introductions, Donna raised her smile to the father of the two newcomers. Kevin found himself thinking about how nice it would be to be five years old again and snuggling up to Donna's ample form.
"Donna, this is Kevin, and he is the father of Kerry and Kate there. Mr. O'Brien, this is Donna, and she will be working with your children." Mrs. Ortiz encouraged friendliness and informality among the teachers and their charges and the parents of those charges.
"I'm glad to meet you, Kevin. You certainly have two adorable children here." Donna's smile became even wider, and Kevin was struck by the thought that she was one of the very nicest persons he had ever met.
"Hello, Donna. I'm glad to meet you. Kate and Kerry seem pretty happy, too." Kevin loved his children, but would have considered "adorable" to be a stretch.
"Okay, I have to go to work. G'bye, Mrs. Ortiz. G'bye, Donna. G'bye, kids. Be good, now." They turned and waved "bye-bye" but, for the first time in the eight months he had been bringing them to Mrs. Ortiz's, Kate and Kerry didn't come after him and cling to their father's pants legs. He got into his car and drove away, glad the kids seemed to be in good hands, but slightly disappointed at how easily they had let him leave them with a woman they had never seen before.
All that day, while Kevin worked at the CPA firm where he was a partner, his thoughts frequently turned to his children and the new teacher. "Donna certainly seems like a sweet person, and the kids seemed to really take to her. It's nice to know they're in good hands." Although something of a stuffed shirt, who had never been truly comfortable with the informality among himself, and the daycare employees and them with his children, Kevin was totally at ease thinking of their new teacher as "Donna".
As a partner, his hours were rather irregular, and he had to work late that night. Another of the many things Kevin liked about Mrs. Ortiz's day care center was that he could pick up the kids late, on those occasions when he had to. There would always be at least one reliable person with them until he came to get them. There rates were the highest in town, but Kevin considered the quality of the service to be well worth the additional cost.
It was almost dark when he rang the doorbell at Mrs. Ortiz's center again. Once again, she scrutinized him, before opening the door. Nothing was said about the lateness, except to comment that her other charges had already gone home, while she led him to the place where his children had been left that morning. There on the same sofa sat Donna and, on either side of her, were Kevin's children. The rambunctious Kerry was raptly listening to her read from a book of fairy tales and Kate, instead of whining the way she usually did at this time of evening, looked up and giggled and smiled when she saw her father. When Donna looked up and smiled also, Kevin felt his day improve by almost 100%.
Although he had developed a fair amount of skill as a cook, Kevin had neither the time nor any interest in preparing meals this late in the evening. He expected to take the children to a family oriented restaurant where they would provide meals for all three of them. Kerry was aware of this, and suggested that they should take their new teacher to dinner with them.
"Oh, I'm sure Donna has other plans, and I'm sure she has her own family to see to. I'm sorry to be so late, Donna. I'll try to keep it from happening again, but sometimes I can't help it."
"That's alright, Kevin. I know that things come up sometimes. I don't have a family, though, and I was going to ask you for a ride, if it isn't too much trouble."
"Of course, and it's no trouble at all. And in fact, I really would like it if you would join us for dinner." He named the place where he usually took his small family, and Donna brightened at hearing the name.
"That's one of my favorite places. They really cater to families."