They had everything they wanted. A healthy young boy, a wonderful lakeside home, a new business that Ryan had dreamed of, and most importantly they had each other. The Owens were like a family straight out of a movie. Ryan and Mel met in college and have been crazy about one another ever since. They married after graduation and both settled down in the small town of Corwin, South Carolina where Ryan opened a bed and breakfast. They were very happy for the first year and became even more ecstatic after they found out Mel was pregnant with their first son Carter.

Years went by and things seemed to be going just fine. Carter was now five and in school and Mel and Ryan would spend their days working at the bed and breakfast enjoying life. However, Mel was having some issues that she was too afraid to reveal to her hard working husband. She graduated with a degree in photography and never really got to live her dreams of being a famous photographer after Carter was born. She knew that with taking care of the house and the family, not to mention the bed and breakfast, there would be no time to live out her dream. Being the driven person she was she decided to apply to a big magazine just to see what would happen. The difficult part about this career opportunity was that it was 2 hours away from her home and the bed and breakfast. She was not too concerned however, thinking she probably did not have a chance of getting the job anyways. She just wanted to give herself a shot.

Life went on and things were good until Ryan found a letter from the firm Mel applied to asking her to join their team as a lead photographer. Ryan loved Mel and wanted her to be happy, and insisted that she take the opportunity. He wanted her to live her dreams and decided they would do whatever it would take to make this happen. So they held auditions for a nanny that could help out at least until the family adjusted to the new life style.

It only took them one audition to find the perfect nanny they were looking for. Her name was Katie Kavanaugh and she was a very sweet and pretty young lady. Katie was only 22 and was taking time off from school to earn some money. She had an instant connection with Carter and she just seemed to fit into their family very well. Things went without a glitch for quite some time.

Mel loved her new job and she was very good at it. She got to travel and take pictures of very exotic places and amazing things. She was also bringing home a great deal of money. Mel was missing her son though. She loved Carter very much and felt as if she was not as close to him as she had been three months ago before she started her job. She was determined not to let this dream job ruin the relationship she had with her son, but one day she felt as if she had already done so.

It was getting late and about to be time for Carter to go to bed. He was in the kitchen playing at his father’s feet with toy cars as Ryan scraped the leftovers off the plates. Mel came into the house after a long day and was not in a good mood because of pestering work issues. She told Cater in a strong voice to go up stairs and get ready for bed.
“Can I have five more minutes mom? Please?” he said with the sweetest voice.
“Carter you know it is getting late and you need to go bed now!” she shouted.
“I bet nanny Katie would let me stay up. I bet she would be a better mommy too!” he yelled as he scurried up stairs.

At that moment she realized that her job was becoming a problem. The next morning she went to work to tell them she needed more time with her family. As Mel had her work issues, Ryan had some problems of his own. Nanny Katie began to get very flirty and a little too comfortable around him. He even caught her calling Carter son and him honey. He started to feel like she needed a break from his family. He did not want to tell Mel because he figured that she had enough on her mind.

Later that afternoon, Mel came home and had some great news for the family she had spent way too much time away from. As she walked into the door Katie had her arms around Ryan, and he was trying to push her away. She was furious and yelled at Katie to leave her house and never come back. Carter ran to his nanny Katie’s feet and clung on with all of his might. He was just screaming not to leave over and over again. Mel grabbed Carter by the arm and took him up to his room and as she went up the stairs she demanded in a very stern voice, “Leave my house Katie Kavanaugh and don’t you dare come back. Stay away from MY family! We don’t need you anymore.”

Later that night Ryan sat on the couch replaying the day’s events over and over again. He knows he did nothing wrong but knew nothing good could come from this. Mel finally came out of her room and sat on the couch with him and apologized. She explained how she over reacted and she trusted that nothing was going on between Katie and him. She was just so angry that this woman, that she employed to help her, thought that she could just come in and take over her family. She just wanted things to get back to normal. Carter on the other hand was so angry and did not understand that his nanny Katie, his best friend, was a bad lady.

A few months went by and the family was settling back into a normal predictable life. Carter was forgetting about nanny Katie and stopped hating his mother for making her leave. They were doing very well and Mel even got to keep her dream job, but only part time of course. She had the best of both worlds and loved every second of it. They thought that nothing more could go wrong until one day they got a strange call from Carters school. They had noticed a strange women standing at the fence during carters recess wearing all black and watching Carter from time to time. As soon as Mel got this call she knew exactly what she was dealing with. It had been about 4 months, but she knew it had to have been Katie Kavanaugh. She became very worried that it had become some sort of an obsession. She called the local police department and asked them to come over as soon as possible.

A few hours later the family sat patiently and waited for the officer and detective to come by and speak with them about Katie. Carter did not really know what was going on so as soon as the doorbell rang they asked their son to wait up stairs until told to do other wise. When the two gentlemen walked inside Mel felt a sudden burst of relief. She explained that Katie was their nanny and became obsessed with the family and was trying to take the place of Mel. The officers told them not to worry and thought it would be no big deal. They told Mel and Ryan that they would look into things and see if there were any problems to take seriously.

Closing the door behind the officers, Ryan knew something was not right. He felt as if the officers did not take them serious. But then they heard a lot of noise coming from outside. They opened the door to find Carter in one of the officer’s hands and Katie handcuffed in the other officers hands. They ran to their son knowing that he was also most taken from them. Katie had attempted to take Carter by sneaking out the backdoor that she still had the key to. She would have succeeded if it weren’t for the police being there.

Katie was arrested and taken away with the officers. The family went inside and felt much better that this crazy, obsessive person was no longer able to be a danger to their lives. Carter was very frightened and confused by the whole situation. They sat and talked to Carter until he fell asleep.

Soon after putting Carter to sleep, they got a phone call from the police department. They explained that they looked into the case and found some very disturbing information. Katie Kavanaugh’s real name was Rachel Peterson and had been in hiding after accidently murdering her own son a few years back. They found evidence and her plans of action at the residence that she had been hiding out at. She stole Katie Kavanaugh’s identity and had her locked in her basement. She was after the Owens because Carter was the same age and looked just like the son she once had. She wanted him and Ryan to be her family because she had ruined hers. Rachel had plans to kill Mel right after she abducted Carter and had thoughts that she could just replace her. She was mentally unstable and could have done a lot of harm to the Owen family. The officers assured that she would be locked up for the rest of her life and their family had nothing else to worry about. They also said that they were very fortunate that nothing too terrible had happened.

The Owens were shocked by everything that had happened. They had no idea about what happened or why it had to happen to them. They were very relieved that it was all over and they could finally get back to living the life they once loved. The only thing they were worried about was Carter living in fear that something like this would happen again.

It took Carter a few months, but he was finally the giggling, fun, fearless boy he once was. They had a cousin that was moving into town to come help out every once in a while. They knew family was the one thing they could trust. They vowed never to hire another stranger ever again just for the sake of Carter. It took a while but the family was back to the way they were before Mel ever took her dream job. They finally found a way to make everything work out together. As long as Katie, or Rachel, or who ever she was, was in jail then they had nothing to worry abou