Texas Lullaby (Texas Montgomery Mavericks Book 7) (13 page)

Cash was parking his truck at the curb as she was trying to herd everyone into the SUV.

“Morning,” he called.

“Morning. When am I going to have my own bath?”

He laughed. “Soon. I promise.” He smiled at the twins. “Good morning, ladies.”

Now that he’d been around a lot, Ellery and Annie had become quite attached to Cash and his smile, which Lydia could understand. She’d become quite fond of Jason’s little brother too. Without him, she and the three kids would still be trying to survive in a two bedroom, one bath house. The girls ran over to him.

“Guess what?” Ellery said.

He squatted. “What?”

“Our babysitter is sick and we get to go to the office today.”

He rolled his gaze up to Lydia. “Well, that’s going to be quite the adventure.”

“I know,” Lydia said. “But we’ll have to do the best we can. Come on, girls. Climb in your seats.”

“What’s wrong with Mrs. Henry?”

“She thinks it’s food poisoning from something she ate yesterday at a church picnic. She’s coming to the office later this morning so I can check her out.”

“How are you going to work with the kids running around?”

“I don’t know,” she said brusquely. “Sorry. I’m a little stressed.”

“What can I do to help?”

“Nothing. No, wait. Finish my house.”

“Two more weeks. Maybe three, and then I’ll be out of your hair.”

Lydia bussed a kiss on his cheek. “Thank you. Sorry I snapped at you.”

He chuckled. “That’s nothing. You should see Paige when I’m really in trouble.”

She grinned. “Have a good day.”

“You too.”

She made a quick stop at the dry cleaners to pick up her white lab coats and then headed to Whispering Springs Medical Clinic. When she pulled into the staff parking area in the rear, she was surprised to find Jason leaning against his SUV.

“Morning,” she said, climbing from the driver’s seat. “What are you doing here? Are you sick?”

He straightened. “Nope. Just missing my girls and my favorite guy.”

“Sorry we didn’t make dinner at your folks’ house last night, but I had so much to get done before this morning.”

“No problem, but you were all greatly missed.”

She crossed her arms. “Jason Montgomery. You are not here because you were lonely. What’s going on?”

“I came to get the kids. I thought they might like to spend the day at my office.”

She laughed. “You’re kidding, right?”

He shook his head.

“You’re not kidding?” She narrowed her eyes into a squint. “What brought on this sudden urge to babysit? Did your brother call you?”

“My brother? What are you talking about?”

“Lord, I hope you are better in the courtroom in front of a jury than you are right now.”

“Look, I might have talked to Cash.”

She waved him off. “We’ll be fine. Really.”

He sighed. “Honey, you can’t see patients with a couple of three-year-olds and an eighth-month-old who’s mobile.”

“I’ll figure it out. You don’t have to rescue me.”

“Rescue you? Never. I was rescuing the girls.” He leaned over and looked in the back window. “Right, girls? You want to spend the day playing with me, right?”

“Jason. Stop it. You can’t want to do this.”

He stood. “Sure I do. I have absolutely nothing on my schedule that can’t be changed. Plus, KC’s in the office today and so is Margie.”

She hesitated.

“It’ll be fine. If it’s not, I’ll call you, okay? Except I’ll need to take your Cadillac. No sense to load all that stuff I know you have into my car so I can unload it at my office.” He wiggled his fingers. “Hand over the keys and kids.”

She sighed. “I’ll try to make it a short day.”

“Don’t worry about it. We’ll be fine. I have matches in my office they can play with and when they are done with those, I’m pretty sure I can find some sharp knives around.”

“Ha. Ha.”

He kissed her. “Go play doctor.”

“If you’re sure…”

“I’m sure. Go.”

He lifted the car keys off her finger. “Go,” he said again. Then he climbed into the Cadillac and pulled out of the parking lot.

Once Jason got to his office and parked, he was at a loss of how to proceed. He couldn’t leave the children in the car while he unloaded all of the bags and crib that were essential for the day. On the other hand, he couldn’t turn them loose in the office while he ran back and forth. Other parents made this look so easy.

Think. He was a smart guy. He could do this.

Since the office parking area was behind the building, there was no traffic to be concerned about. So his first step was to release the Krakens, er, the twins.

“Okay, ladies,” he said as he lifted Ellery out of the car and set her on her feet next to her sister. “You stand right here while I get Levi out.”

He turned back to the car to unfasten Levi from the more confusing tangle of straps. Finally, he lifted him out and turned back only to find the girls roaming around the lot.

“Annie. Ellery. Get back over here.”

As one, their heads snapped up at the sound of his voice. Bright smiles popped onto their faces…smiles so sweet that there was no way he could scold them the way he should. Holding hands, they skipped back to where he stood.

“Think you girls could help me with your bags?”

They nodded.

“Great.”

With Levi riding on his hip, Jason popped the hatch. In the back, Lydia had stored Levi’s portable playpen, a diaper bag, an insulated cooler and two small suitcases. The cases were new, or at least he’d never seen them before. They had rollers on the bottom and an extension handle. He set them on the pavement and then looped the cooler’s long strap and the diaper bag over his shoulder. Levi’s portable corral would have to wait.

“Do you two think you can pull these?” he asked as he extended one handle and then the other on the roller bags.

They nodded. Each girl grabbed a handle and pulled. Surprisingly, they had no trouble tugging the cases.

He locked the car and started toward the rear employee door.

“Y’all stay with me, okay? Don’t go wandering off.”

Ellery and Annie did as he asked, following him into the building and walking the short distance to his office.

One of the perks of being the founding partner was his larger office toward the rear of the building. The entire office wasn’t comprised of a huge amount of space. It’d been adequate when he’d begun practice with only him and his assistant, Margie. Then he’d added his cousin, KC Gentry.

He hadn’t planned to take on another lawyer into the practice, but last fall he’d added Michael Buchannan. Now that KC was weeks, if not days away from delivering her first baby, adding Michael to pick up some of the workload looked like Jason had the gift of prophesy.

Jason had expected only him and Margie to be in the office today. Michael was out of town on an oil contract deal with a company in Denver. KC was hit or miss these days. But that was fine. Even on days when she stayed home, the woman could produce an impressive volume of work.

“Hey, Margie,” he called. “Can you come here for a minute?” He opened the door to his office and shepherded the girls inside. “This is where we’ll be playing today.”

His office was comprised of two distinct areas, although there was no physical separation between them. His work area contained his desk, visitor chairs, a credenza and files. He used the other half of the room, the space closer to the office reception area and the entrance for clients, as an informal living room. It contained a sofa, wingback chairs, end tables with lamps and an office phone. A large, brightly patterned rug pulled it all together.

Sometimes, his clients needed the informality of this area. And sometimes his office space worked best.

“You bellowed, Master?” Margie said as she stepped into his office. Her eyes widened, followed by a smile. “We have visitors.” She dropped to one knee. “Hello. I’m Margie.”

The girls wrapped their arms around his legs.

“Isn’t it great? Ellery, Annie and Levi are going to be here all day.”

“Well,” she said on a long exhale. “How fun.”

“I need to get Levi’s portable crib from the car. I was going to ask you to stay here while I did but…” He looked down at the girls adhered to him. “That idea might not work.”

“Is it something I can carry?”

“It’s not that heavy. Lydia can carry it easy enough.” He passed her the keys. “It’s in the back of the white Cadillac.”

She arched an eyebrow. “New car?”

He chuckled. “Not mine. Hers.”

“Be right back.”

While she was gone, he got the twins plucked from his legs and settled in the living room area with paper and crayons. He set a ream of used paper on the floor. Printed on only one side, the paper would be put to good use for their drawing.

It didn’t take Margie long to haul the portable pen in. “Where do you want it?”

He looked at the girls with their toys, crayons and paper spread out on the rug and then to the space on the other side of his desk.

“I think over here,” he said, lifting his chin toward the space beside his desk. “In the long run, it might work better.”

“Want me to help set it up?”

He shook his head. “It’s a little tricky the first time, so how about you take Levi?”

Margie smiled and lifted the infant from his arms and then groaned. “Wow. He’s a, um, solid one, isn’t he?”

Jason chuckled as he started setting up the portable playpen. “He’s a little over twenty pounds, I think. Got an appetite like a defensive linebacker.”

“Hey, sweet boy,” Margie said with a soft voice. “You are quite a looker.”

Levi gave her a hard stare and must have decided she was okay because he settled against her chest.

“It’s been a while since I’ve held a baby,” Margie said. “I’ve forgotten how much a strain they are on the back, not to mention hot to hold.”

Jason looked at her. “Do you think he has a fever?”

“Calm down. I didn’t say that,” she said. “He’s fine. I meant that holding a little person so closely against me makes me hot…and not like that either.”

He chuckled as he locked the side in place, followed by the padded bottom. “There.” He turned and held his arms out. “I’ll take him or you can set him down on the floor, but watch out. He’s crawling.”

Margie swung away from him. “I’m not ready to give him up yet.”

“You will be. I’d be willing to bet there’s a diaper that needs a little work.”

She shrugged. “I have grandchildren, although they’re all past the diaper age. I know what to do.” She checked the back of Levi’s pants. “We’re fine.”

“Surprising.”

The office phone rang. “That’s my cue. Gotta go.” Margie handed over Levi and lifted the receiver on Jason’s desk. “Good day. Montgomery and Montgomery. How can we help you?”

Jason pushed a piece of paper and pen toward her. While she was on the phone, he and Levi went over to where the girls were coloring. Sheets and sheets of paper littered the floor. He sat in one of the chairs and put Levi on the floor. Levi immediately went to his hands and knees and began crawling away.

“Come back here,” he said with a laugh.

Margie hung up the phone.

“For me?” Jason asked.

“Nope. For Michael.”

“He turning into a rainmaker?”

She laughed. “Only if by rainmaker you mean drawing all the single women to the office.” Waving the paper she’d written on, she added, “This one was the librarian.”

“Lisa?”

That brought a surprised expression to Margie’s face. “You actually know the name of the new town librarian?”

Heat crawled up his neck. “She and I crossed paths over the weekend. Anyway, what did she need? Since Mike’s away, is there something I can do for her?”

“Only if you’re free for dinner on Friday.”

“Probably not a good idea.”

“Nope, probably not. Your fiancée might object.”

Hearing his assistant call Lydia his fiancée sent a quiver into his gut. Was she? Or had she decided to permanently postpone their wedding? He was saved from replying when the office phone began to trill again.

“First day back after a holiday. It’s going to be a wild one,” Margie said and hurried from his office to her desk to grab the phone.

He glanced around for Levi and found him pulling on the electrical cord of a lamp. “Oops.” A couple of giant steps put him beside the baby. “Not a good thing to be playing with.” He unwound Levi’s fingers from the cord, trying to decide if he should unplug the lamp or secure the cord.

“Jason?”

“Hmm?” he replied.

“I’m hungry.”

Annie stood looking up at him.

“Did you have breakfast?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know.”

Knowing Lydia as well as he did, he was positive the girls had eaten, but if they were hungry, they were hungry. He checked the cooler he’d sat by his desk and found juice, milk, bottles of formula, cheese and crackers. After putting Levi in his playpen, he got the girls settled with juice and cheese and crackers.

Finally, ninety minutes after they’d arrived, he sat at his desk and pulled up the estate will he was preparing. It wasn’t long before he felt a tug on his pants leg.

“Yes?” he asked, looking down into Ellery’s green eyes.

“I’m bored.”

“Me too,” Annie said.

How did Lydia, or any parent, do this all day, every day? Levi was easy compared to the attention span of three-year-olds.

“Well,” he said. “Would you like to watch some television?”

“Yes,” Ellery shouted. “SpongeBob.”

Since he had no earthly idea who or what SpongeBob was, he flipped on the flat screen TV and found a cartoon network showing the old cartoons like Bugs Bunny, so he left it there. The idea showed merit when the girls dropped to the floor, cross-legged, and became engrossed in the action.

Levi was getting restless. A quick sniff at Levi’s bottom had Jason’s head snapping back.

“Good Lord, little man. What did you eat?”

Levi’s face screwed up for a cry.

“Now, now. No reason to be doing that. Come on,” he said, lifting the baby out and laying him on a blanket. “Let’s see what we’ve got.”

He’d just gotten Levi’s pants unsnapped when his door opened.