Make Way For Babies!

“Nonfat,” he said, reading the label on the cookies with a grimace. “What’s wrong with good old-fashioned butter? Has everyone gone mad?”

He was teasing. She knew that. It didn’t make her feel any better. “Some of us have to watch our weight,” she informed him rather tartly, although she forced herself to put a smile behind the words.

He swung around and looked her over from head to foot. “Do you watch yours?”

“Yes.”

The heat poured over her again as his eyes continued to study her. Once she would have told him all her worries. Not that she had any great ones, she quickly assured herself. She was just jumpy because of the twins.

“Do you think the twins are sleeping a long time?” she asked, then wished she hadn’t.

“How long have they been asleep?”

“Since I brought them home from the hospital.” She glanced at the clock. “Four hours.”

“Hmm, that doesn’t sound long.”

“Babies usually eat every three or four hours.” She stared at the monitor, then the clock again.

Spence narrowed his eyes and observed her for a long minute. “Well, let’s go look at them.”

She stood when he did. He motioned for her to lead the way. They walked down the short hall. Since he was in his socks, he made no sound at all. She tried to walk as softly.

After easing the door open, she tiptoed across the nursery and surveyed the sleeping babies. Her heart melted. They looked like cherubs, sweet and innocent and trusting. She smiled at Spence and pointed toward the door. They quietly left. He closed the door behind them.

“What are you thinking?” Spence asked, a curious note in his baritone voice as they returned to the kitchen.

“How innocent they are. How trusting.” She shook her head. “I don’t feel worthy of it.”

“Mom said you would make the perfect mother.”

Ally glanced up at him in surprise. “You discussed me and the children with Rose?”

“Of course.” His eyes locked with hers. “She worried about you during the winter. After Jack was gone. She said your grief was very deep and very lonely.”

Ally looked away from his probing gaze, feeling the strange loneliness descend on her again. She didn’t understand it at all.

“He was at work. Alone. We had both worked late that day. I didn’t think to check on him when I got in and he wasn’t home.”

She stopped, wondering if she’d given too much away about the last months and years of her marriage. She would never discuss her relationship with Jack with anyone, especially Spence. Although he had never said anything, she had always sensed his disapproval of the marriage.

“Let it go,” Spence advised. “It was an accident, one of those things that happen and you can’t do a damned thing about it because it’s too late.”

The harshness of his voice startled her. She wondered what had happened in his personal life to make him speak in that tone of unrelenting certainty and bitter regret.

Sympathy stirred in her. She had imagined him swinging lightly from girl to girl, the way he had in high school, and never settling on one for long. Maybe he had been hurt in the past. If so, he hadn’t shared it with her or Rose or Jack, not that she knew of.

Not that he would share anything with Jack. The two brothers had represented the epitome of sibling rivalry and the very opposites in personalities.

Where Jack had been introspective and intent, a man who took responsibility seriously, Spence had been carefree and laughing. Not that Spence was irresponsible. Far from it. He just had a more tolerant view of the world. He had made life bearable during the difficult time when she had come to live with her aunt. He had shared his family with her—

She shied away from the past and its memories. There was the future to think about. She had the sole responsibility for those two darling twins. Life would be far from lonely from now on.

Giving Spence a radiant smile, she said, “I’m sure Nicholas and Hannah will keep me far too busy to dwell on the past and its mistakes, whatever they were.”

“Such as your marriage?” he asked in a deadly quiet manner, his eyes fastening on her again.

For a second she couldn’t move or think. He had thought the marriage was a mistake. Hurt flooded through her, exposing pain she hadn’t realized she felt. Maybe an orphan hadn’t been a good enough match—

No, Spence wouldn’t think such a thing. It was something else, but she didn’t know what. As she stared at him, perplexed by the hidden nuances of his words and expression, his face softened.

“It’s okay. It wasn’t your fault.”

She didn’t know what he was talking about. “What?”

“Nothing.” His face assumed its usual devil-may-care grin, effectively hiding the inner thoughts he guarded.

At that moment, a soft snuffle came over the monitor. It was followed by a wail. A second cry chimed in.

She and Spence laughed at the same time.

“Looks like you’re going to be busy. Duty calls, Mom,” he teased. “Need a hand with the feeding?”

“Yes.” She led the way to the nursery, wishing she hadn’t sounded so grateful.

“Okay, how do you do this?” he asked cheerfully, watching as she scooped Hannah into her arms.

He mimicked her gestures. Returning to the kitchen, she heated the formula pouches in warm water just enough to take the chill off. The twins wailed the whole time.

“Okay, Uncle Spence, let’s see how well that famous charm works in this situation,” she challenged, handing him one of the pouches.

He gave her a sidelong glance. “The McBride charm never fails. Remember that.”

She didn’t have to. She had never forgotten, she realized as they settled into the chairs. The babies stopped crying and nursed hungrily.

“Hah, that’s how you stop the screaming,” Spence stated in satisfaction. “You plug up the holes.”

Watching him with Nicholas, that funny feeling came back. This time it reached all the way to the core of her being. Be careful, she warned herself without defining exactly what the danger was.

Thirty minutes later, they put the twins back to bed—fed, burped and diapers changed. Spence handled that part with aplomb, too.

“How did you know to come over?” she thought to ask when they settled in the living room to catch the news on television. “You didn’t just happen by with two of your famous gourmet sandwiches.”