Ten Acres And Twins

Forty-five minutes later, she walked through the door of her apartment carrying two bags full of baby supplies. She’d bought one single item for herself—a frozen chicken entrеe that she could heat later, after the babies had gone to sleep for the night. “Mom, I’m back!” she called out.

Faye Briggs stepped through the kitchen doorway, wiping her hands on a tea towel. “Hello, dear. How did it go?” she asked, taking a bag and carrying it to the table.

Abby followed her, putting the other bag down before giving her mother a hug and a peck on the cheek. “I’ll tell you in a minute. Where are they?”

“On your bedroom floor, asleep.”

Abby scurried through the apartment, then slowed to peer quietly around the door to her bedroom. Her queen-size mattress covered most of the floor space. Pillows and blankets were stacked alongside every edge, creating a giant, makeshift crib in the middle of the room.

Drawn by some maternal force she’d had no idea she had until two weeks ago, she walked into the room and knelt beside the mattress, looking down at the twins. Rosie’s fist was pulled next to her plump cheek, and ringlets haloed her head—just like Paige’s had.

Wyatt was beside his sister, his mouth sucking gently in his sleep. His tiny sock had slipped halfway off his foot, so Abby pulled it off and tucked his blanket over his legs.

Although both babies were sleeping soundly, their faces were turned toward one another, as if each one had fallen asleep in the comfort of the other’s presence.

Tears blurred her vision. Rosie and Wyatt had already lost both parents. They shouldn’t lose one another, too. And she couldn’t lose either one.

She had to find a way to keep them both.

When a shadow fell across the bed, Abby realized her mother was standing beside her. “How long have they been asleep?” she asked, swiping a knuckle under her eyes.

“Just a few minutes.”

Abby tugged Rosie’s blanket over her shoulder, looking down at the babies for one more minute before she got to her feet. Then she and her mother tiptoed out, and Abby closed the door quietly behind them.

They returned to the kitchen and began to put groceries away. “How did it go?” they both asked, and laughed together, too.

“Tell me about your morning first,” Abby said as she put a can of formula into the pantry. “Did they eat breakfast?”

“Rosie drank half her bottle and ate a little rice cereal. Wyatt drank more, but didn’t want the food. They took a sink bath, and we went for a walk. They were fine.”

“Good.” Abby smiled. Her mother had been great to help out. Losing your sister was terrible, but burying your youngest child had to be heartbreaking. Having the babies around to keep them busy had been a blessing to them both.

“Tell me about the meeting,” her mother prompted again.

“It wasn’t good news,” Abby said. “Paige and Brian made up a will a few months ago, naming me as Rosie’s guardian. But someone else has been asked to take Wyatt.”

“Oh, no!” Faye gasped. “Who?”

“I don’t know. If it’s not you, it must be someone from Brian’s side. His mom or brother, I suppose.” Abby squinted at her mother. “It’s not you and Dad, right?”

“No, it’s not. We love the babies, but you’re young and able…and you want them so much. We got a notice about the hearing, but that was all.”

“That leaves Brian’s mom and brother,” Abby said.

“Would his mom want custody?” Faye asked as she handed Abby a couple of packs of diapers.

Abby stacked them on the countertop and turned to look at her mother again. “Based on what Paige told me, probably not. Brian’s mom has her hands full raising a couple of kids from her second marriage. She’s only seen Rosie and Wyatt once, just after they were born.”

“What about Jack?”

Abby shook her head. “I don’t know,” she said. “He’s single, and seems to live for work and women. Why would he want custody?”

Faye folded the two grocery sacks and handed them to Abby before picking up her car keys. “Well then,” she said, “maybe we’ll get good news tomorrow in court.”

Maybe.

But Abby didn’t want to take any chances. Whoever had been asked to take custody of Wyatt must know by now. She was betting Jack at least knew who it was, since he’d been in the lawyer’s office this morning. In fact, she had a feeling he was her culprit.

Why couldn’t she do a little detective work?

She managed to marshal enough brainpower to see her mother to the door, but her thoughts were already rushing ahead, developing a plan. Jack was a businessman; he must carry a cellphone. She was fairly certain she’d find his number in the address book she’d found at the farmhouse.

She was going to play on her hunch.

SITTING ALONE at a linen-topped table, Abby glanced at the door every time a shape passed by the other side of the window. He was either very late or not coming at all.

The waitress had bustled by three times already, filling Abby’s water glass and asking if she wanted to go ahead and order. The pretty redhead must think she was a pathetic spinster who was being stood up for a date.

Abby didn’t care. Her feet were planted too solidly on this good green earth to worry about what some stranger thought of her.

Practical and outspoken, Abby had learned early in life to meet challenges head-on. Not much intimidated her. But she couldn’t afford to lose another loved one. Paige and Brian had been enough.

The only thing Abby feared right now was losing one of the twins, and she’d do almost anything to keep them together, and in her life. If Jack was, in fact, the chosen guardian for Wyatt, she was prepared to argue, lie or even grovel if it would persuade him to relinquish custody.

Nearly an hour after their prescribed meeting time, a single shadow loomed, tall and somehow threatening. Abby felt a tingle of awareness surge through her, knowing without looking closer that Jack had arrived. He removed his ball cap as he stepped through the door, and ran a hand through his hair as he spoke to the hostess. Then he turned and spotted Abby.

She smiled briefly, lifting a hand in greeting. He strode quickly to the table, beginning to make excuses before he was even halfway there. “Abby, I got caught up in a business call that took awhile to wrap up. I’m glad you waited.”

“It’s okay,” she said, and then wondered why she felt compelled to appease his feelings at the expense of her own. Surely he could see that this meeting was just as crucial as a business call that he could have dealt with later.

He sat down across from her and put his hat on an empty chair seat. Right away, he began to study the menu.

Abby sipped from her water glass and watched him. Though he wasn’t as ghostlike as he’d been this morning, his eyes sported dark circles uncommon to a man as vital as Jack. Brian’s death must have been torture for him.

“Have you ordered?” he asked, without looking up from the menu.

“Nope—wasn’t sure you were coming,” she said, perturbed with herself for feeling sympathetic toward the man she intended to manipulate over dinner.

He looked up quickly after hearing the note of complaint in her voice. “Since I’m late, I’ll treat.”

“That’s not necessary.”

“I insist,” he said with a wink and a grin. “What’s good here?” And with a simple change of expression, he became the man she knew. The one she’d met at the wedding.

Charming. Devil-may-care. Lethally sexy.

“Depends on what you want,” she answered tersely.