Triple Trouble (5 page)

“I think they all do.” Nick rubbed his hand over Jessie’s black curls and grimaced.

“Definitely sticky.”

“I’m guessing that’s the strained plums,” Charlene said. She handed Jenny to him and lifted Jessie into her arms. “Will you watch her and Jackie while I put Jessie in the tub?”

“Sure—but I can bathe her if you’d like a break. I’m sure I can manage.”

“No, I’m fine. Besides,” she perched Jessie on her hip and started unbuttoning and unsnapping the baby’s pants and knit shirt, “I’m already wet from being splashed by Jenny. One of us might as well stay dry.”

Nicholas wished she hadn’t pointed out that she’d been splashed with bathwater. He’d noticed the wet spots on her T-shirt and the way the damp cotton clung to her curves in interesting places. He was trying damned hard to ignore his body’s reaction—and he was losing the battle.

“Uh, yeah. Okay, then. I’ll keep these two occupied out here.” He perched Jenny on his lap and she settled against him, her lashes half-lowered, apparently content to sit quietly. Nick bent his head, breathing in the scent of baby shampoo from her damp curls.

Something about the baby’s warm weight resting trustingly in his arms and the smell of clean soap touched off an onslaught of unexpected emotion, followed quickly by a slam of grief that caught him off guard. The sound of splashing and gurgles from the bathroom, accompanied by Charlene’s murmured reply, only heightened the pain in Nick’s chest.

Stan and Amy must have fed and bathed the girls every night. Stan probably held Jenny just like this.

How was it possible that Stan and Amy were gone—and their children left alone? In what universe did any of this make sense?

It didn’t—none of it, he thought. His arms tightened protectively around the baby. He was the last person on earth who should be responsible for these kids; but since he was, he’d make damn sure they were cared for—and safe. As safe as he could make them.

Which means I have to rearrange my life.

He was a man who’d avoided the responsibilities of a wife and family until now. He enjoyed the freedom of being single and hadn’t planned to change his status anytime soon; but now that surrogate fatherhood had been thrust on him, he would make the most of it.

While Charlene bathed Jessie and Jackie, Nick considered his schedule at work and the logistics of fitting three babies and a nanny into his house and life. He was still considering the thorny subject when the triplets were asleep in their cribs and he had said good-night to Charlene before disappearing into the far bedroom. He lay awake, staring at the ceiling above his own bed while he formulated a plan.

He’d just drifted off to sleep when one of the babies cried. By the time he staggered into the room next door, all three of them were awake and crying. Charlene stood at one of the cribs, lifting the sobbing little girl into her arms.

“I’ll take Jessie into your room to change her diaper and try to get her back to sleep. I think she’s running a bit of a fever—probably because of the ear infection. Can you deal with the other two?”

“Sure,” Nick mumbled. Charlene disappeared into her room. He patted the nearest baby on the back but she only cried louder. “Damn,” he muttered. “Now what do I do?”

He picked her up and she burrowed her face into his shoulder, her wails undiminished. Feeling totally clueless, Nick jiggled her up and down, but the sobbing continued unabated. Willing to try anything, he grabbed her abandoned blanket from the crib mattress and handed it to her. She snatched it and clutched it in one hand, sucking on her thumb. She still cried but the sound diminished because her mouth was closed.

Which left him with the baby still standing in her crib, tears streaming down her face, her cries deafening.

Nick’s head began to pound. He leaned over and snagged the abandoned blanket, caught the little girl with one arm and lifted her to a seat on his hip. Then he lowered the two onto the empty bed, his back against the headboard. He managed to juggle both babies until he could cradle each of them against his chest, their security blankets clutched tightly in their hands. The first baby he’d picked up was crying with less volume, but the second one still made enough noise to wake the dead.

Vaguely remembering a comment his mother had made about singing her boys to sleep when they were little, Nick sang the only tune that came to mind. Bob Seger may not have intended his classic, “Rock And Roll Never Forgets” as a lullaby, but the lyrics seemed to strike a chord with the babies.

The loud sobs slowly abated. Nick felt the solid little bodies relax and gradually sink against his own. When the girls were limp and no longer crying, he tilted his head back to peer cautiously at them.

They were sound asleep.

Thank God. He eyed the cribs, trying to figure out how to lower each of the babies into their bed without waking one or both of them.

He drew a blank.

“Aw, hell,” he muttered. He managed to shift one of the little girls onto the bed beside him before sliding lower in the bed until he lay flat. Then he grabbed a pillow, shoved it under his head and pulled the spread up over his legs and hips. “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.”

The sheets were still warm from Charlene’s body, and the scent of her perfume clung to the pillow, teasing his nostrils. He gritted his teeth and tried not to think about lying in her bed as he slid into sleep.

Nick woke the following morning with a kink in his neck and the sound of gleeful chortles accompanying thumps on his head from a tiny fist. He slitted his eyes open. He was nose-to-nose with a tiny face whose bright blue eyes sparkled with mischief below a mop of black curls.

He forced his eyes open farther just in time to see a second little girl as she wriggled out of his grasp and crawled toward the edge of the bed with determined speed. He grabbed a handful of her sleeper just in time to keep her from tumbling headfirst onto the floor.

The quick movement corresponded with a hard yank on his hair.

“Ow.” He winced, pried little fingers away from his head and sat up. “You little imp.”

The tiny wrist bracelet told him this triplet was Jackie. “I’m gonna remember this,”

he told her.

She grinned, babbled nonsensically and began to crawl swiftly toward the end of the bed.

“Oh no you don’t. Come back here.” He hauled her back, then threw the spread back and stood, a wiggling little girl tucked beneath each arm. He lowered them each into a separate crib and grinned when they stood on tiptoes, reaching for him. “No way. You’re trapped now and I’m not letting you out.”

“Good morning.”

He glanced over his shoulder. Charlene stood in the open doorway to the adjoining room, hair tousled, eyes sleepy. She was dressed in jeans and a pullover knit shirt, Jessie perched on one hip.

Nick was abruptly aware he was wearing only gray boxers.

“Morning.” He gestured at the girls in their cribs. “I’ll give you a hand with their breakfast as soon as I’m dressed. I’m going to jump in the shower.”

She murmured an acknowledgment as he left the room.

Both adults were sleep-deprived and weary, but the triplets seemed little worse for their middle-of-the-night activity. By the time they were fed, dressed and strapped in their car seats, Nick was beginning to wonder if he should hire four or five nannies instead of one or two.

The trip from Amarillo south to Red Rock was just over five hundred and fifty miles. In normal circumstances, pretriplets, Nick could have driven the route in eight or nine hours with good road conditions and mild weather. But traveling with three babies on board drastically changed the time frame. After numerous stops to change diapers and feed the little girls, they finally reached his home in Red Rock in late afternoon of the second day.

Charlene stepped out of the SUV and stretched, easing muscles weary from sitting for too many hours. The SUV was parked in the driveway of a Spanish-style twostory stucco house on a quiet residential street in one of Red Rock’s more affluent neighborhoods. She knew very little about this part of town; her previous apartment had been southeast, across the business district and blocks away. In fact, she thought as she glanced up and down the broad street, with its large homes and neatly trimmed lawns, she didn’t remember ever having been in this part of Red Rock before.

Good, she thought with satisfaction. Her belief that it would be unlikely she might run into Barry or his friends seemed to be accurate.

She turned back to the SUV and leaned inside to unhook Jessie from her seat belt.

“I called my housekeeper this morning,” Nick told her as he unbuckled Jackie on the opposite side of the vehicle. “Melissa promised to come by and fill the fridge and pantry with food for the girls. She said she’d wait for the delivery van with the baby furniture too.”

Surprised, Charlene’s fingers stilled and she stopped unbuckling Jessie’s seat belt to look at him across the width of the SUV’s interior. “I didn’t realize you’d made arrangements—but thank goodness you did.”

Nick’s gaze met hers and she felt her breath catch, helpless to stop her body’s reaction to him.

“We were lucky last night,” he said. “The hotel was prepared to accommodate babies. Trust me, there aren’t any high chairs or cribs stored in my attic.” He lifted Jackie free and grinned. “I’m not sure what we would have done with these three tonight if the store hadn’t agreed to deliver and set up their beds today. The only thing I’ve got that comes close to cribs are a couple of large dog crates in the garage.”

Charlene laughed, the sudden mental image of the three little girls sleeping in boxy carriers with gates was too preposterous.

“Exactly,” Nick said dryly. He shifted Jackie onto his hip and unhooked Jenny from her seat.

He’s much more comfortable with the babies after only a day. Charlene was impressed at how easily he’d managed to extricate Jenny from her seat while holding Jackie.

She quickly gathered the girls’ blankets, stuffed animals and various toys from the floor mats where the girls had tossed them and finished unbuckling Jessie to lift her out of the car. She slung a loaded tote bag over her shoulder and bumped the car door closed with one hip.

“I’ll unload the bags after we get the girls inside,” Nick told her, gesturing her ahead of him to the walkway that curved across the lawn to the front entry. “Ring the doorbell,” he said when they reached the door. “Melissa should be here—that’s her car parked at the curb.”

Charlene did as he asked and heard muted chimes from inside the house. Almost immediately the door opened.

“Hello—there you are.” The woman in the doorway was small, her petite form sturdy in khaki pants, pullover white T-shirt and tennis shoes. Her dark hair was frosted with gray and her deep-brown eyes sparkled, animated behind tortoise-shell-framed glasses. “How was the trip?”

“Exhausting,” Nick said bluntly. “Melissa, this is Charlene London. Charlene, this is Melissa Kennedy, my housekeeper. Charlene’s going to take care of the girls, Melissa.”

“Nice to meet you.” Melissa’s smile held friendly interest. Charlene’s murmured response was lost as Jenny wriggled in Nick’s arms, her little face screwing up into a prelude to full-blown tears. Nick stepped inside and handed Jackie to the housekeeper before he cuddled Jenny closer.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” He carried the sobbing little girl down the hall. Charlene followed him into the living room, Melissa bringing up the rear with Jackie. As often happened with the three little girls, when one of them began crying, the other two soon followed. Charlene rubbed Jessie’s back in soothing circles and slowly rocked her back and forth. She only cried harder. Melissa murmured to Jackie and gently patted her back, but Jackie’s sobs increased until they matched her sisters’ in volume.

“Jessie needs a diaper change.” Charlene raised her voice to be heard over the combined cries of the three babies.

“Can you and Melissa handle them while I bring in the bags from the car?” Nick asked, looking faintly frazzled.

“Of course,” Charlene responded with easy confidence.

Nick didn’t look convinced but he didn’t argue with her.

“Did the delivery crew set up the cribs, Melissa?” he asked.

“Yes, and the changing tables and dressers too. I put away the diapers and the other supplies in their room, and I had the men carry the high chairs into the kitchen,” she replied.

“Good.” Nick gently patted Jenny’s back with one hand as he strode across the living room toward the stairway, located just inside the front door. “Let’s get them upstairs and I’ll bring in the diaper bags.”

Charlene followed Nick and Melissa up the open stairway, with its wooden railing. The second-floor hallway branched to the right and left. Nick turned left and soon disappeared into the third room, Melissa and Jackie a step behind. Charlene brought up the rear with Jessie, slowing to glance briefly into the first two rooms as she passed. One held a white, wrought-iron bed, the floor carpeted in light green Berber. The other was a bathroom, fitted in pale wooden cabinets with green marble tops.

The house was lovely but the sparse furnishings clearly stated that this was a bachelor’s home. Downstairs in the living room, she’d noted a large plasma television mounted on one wall, with shelves of electronic equipment beneath. CD cases were piled in stacks on the shelves between stereo speakers. A low, oak coffee table sat in front of a dark-brown-leather sofa and a matching club chair and ottoman, angled next to the hearth of a river rock fireplace and chimney. There was no other furniture in the room, leaving an expanse of pale wooden floor gleaming in the late afternoon sunlight that poured through skylights and windows.

She’d glimpsed a dining room through an archway, but again, saw only the minimum of furniture in a table and chairs. She wondered how long Nick had lived in the house, since it appeared to be furnished with only essentials.

She carried Jessie into the bedroom and paused, feeling her eyes widen as she took in the room. It was large, with plenty of space for three white-painted cribs. Two dressers and changing tables matched the cottage-style cribs, and two rocking chairs with deep-rose seat cushions were tucked into a corner. Despite the number of pieces of furniture, the room didn’t feel crowded.