The Rancher’s Surprise Triplets

This conversation was getting far too personal. After Wes she had no time or inclination for courting. His painful rejection had taught her a valuable lesson. His words still echoed in her head. Look in the mirror, honey. You aren’t worth waiting for. “Care for another piece of pie?”

“No, thanks. Save them for yourself to eat later.”

She felt the steady watchfulness of his unusually colored eyes and looked everywhere but at him. He did not need to know the details of her personal life. She was about to ask him how the fair was going...hoping he would understand it as a gentle hint to return to the grounds, when one of the babies fussed. Before she could get to her feet, all three cried.

She rushed into the room to rescue them. Bo followed on her heels but stood back, looking both lost and afraid. Afraid? Bo Stillwater? How could that be? But she didn’t have time to think of anything but crying babies. She scooped up Theo first, realizing he would become upset faster than his brothers. But how could she comfort him and tend to the other two?

Bo was there. She’d take advantage of another set of arms. “Could you hold him?”

He stepped back. “You saw me earlier. I don’t know anything about babies.”

“No time like the present to correct that. Sit there.” She indicated the armchair.

He sat, or rather, he perched on the edge of the cushion. The volume of the crying intensified.

“Sit back.” He barely got himself pushed to the back of the chair before she put Theo on his lap. He looked uncomfortable, but she needed his help so ignored it. She grabbed his hand and pulled his arm around the baby.

Theo shuddered a sob and then gave Bo a crooked, watery-eyed grin.

Bo grinned back.

Louisa hurried to the other two. Eli wriggled away and she caught him halfway across the floor, scooped him up and perched him on Bo’s other knee. Eli ducked his head, shy before this big man, but Theo jabbered at his brother and they smiled at each other.

Now to take care of Jasper. She picked him up, crooning a comforting tune, but he continued to fuss, rubbing his ears. “Time to put some drops in there, isn’t it?” She headed for the kitchen to prepare the oil but stopped in the doorway. “Can you take care of those two while I tend Jasper’s ears?”

“It seems I have no choice.”

She couldn’t tell if it was regret or something else that deepened his voice. Nor did she have time to dwell on it. She rushed about putting warm oil in Jasper’s ears, then returned to the other room. Took Theo and left Jasper in his place. She tended his ears as well, then gave him back to Bo and tended Theo. None of them seemed fevered at the moment. Perhaps they were over the worst.

She was happy about that, except once they were better, the babies would go to a home. As they should. It was purely selfish on her part to want to keep them longer. “No sign of the mother?”

“We’re still looking.”

“Have you arranged a home for them until you find her?” she asked as she returned to the living room. With Jasper perched on her hip, she gathered up the quilt and draped it over the sofa.

“Not yet. As everyone says, three babies is a lot.”

She looked at the two sitting on his knee, touching each other’s fingers and smiling. Jasper sat happily enough on her hip. “I don’t know. At the moment, it looks like exactly the right amount.” She studied him openly. “For a man with no experience, you seem to have a knack for this. You’ll make a good father.”

He shook his head vehemently. “No. Fatherhood is not for me.”

“Why ever not?” He was tall, broad shouldered, good-looking, had the attention of all the young ladies in the community. Seemed he had everything needed to find a perfect mate and raise a bunch of sweet little Stillwater offspring. Heat raced up her throat at the wayward trail her thoughts had taken.

“I fear I would turn out to be like my father.”

She blinked twice. Thankfully he wasn’t looking at her so wouldn’t have cause to think she looked like a startled rabbit. “I’ve only been here a short time but I have certainly not seen or heard anything to that effect.”

“Good. Then what I’m doing is working.” He sat the babies on the floor and strode to the door. “I must get back to the fair.” He paused as if realizing that he left her to manage three babies on her own.

Not that she couldn’t do it. But it had been nice to not feel so alone and overwhelmed. The poor mother. How had she coped? “I hope you can find their mother.”

“I’ll do my best.” Still he hesitated. “Will you be able to manage them?”

Her throat tightened. No one ever asked if she could handle her responsibilities. And she’d never suggested to anyone that she couldn’t. Her opinion of him shifted a little more to the right as she waved him goodbye.

* * *

Words and images battered the inside of Bo’s head as he hurried away. Eating pie. All safe and homey. Like it had been with Ma. Watching Louisa jostle a baby on her hip. Were women born knowing how to comfort infants, how to carry them? How to dole out gentle touches? He looked at the hand she had drawn around little Theo.

She didn’t look like Ma. She didn’t sound like her and yet something about her reminded him of his mother. And not only because she knew how to bake a pie, though he had no reason to believe it so except her own words.

You’ll make a good father. If only he could believe it possible. Holding those babies had him wishing for things beyond his reach.

His long, hurried strides took him to the fairgrounds and he welcomed the diversion from his tangled thoughts.

He had but one goal in mind—make this fair as successful as possible. And thus raise enough funds to meet the needs. And with three babies to care for until they found their mother, the needs had grown.

What if they never found the mother? The sheriff didn’t seem to be overly optimistic that they would.

If they didn’t, then someone would have to take them on permanently. He smiled as he thought of how much fun it would be to see those three babies grow into little boys and then young men. But it wouldn’t be him doing that job.

He paused to speak to the gatekeeper. “How is attendance?”

“Beyond expectations, I’d say. Jeb took away a bag of cash an hour ago.”

“Great to hear.” The sheriff had been delegated to take the money to the bank to have it kept in the safe.

He continued on his way, and as he rounded the corner of a tent, stepping over the rope fastened to the tent peg, he noticed a young boy of six or seven huddled next to the canvas, sobbing his heart out. “What’s wrong?”

“I—I losted my mama and papa.”

Being careful not to make the boy feel threatened, he squatted down. “Do you want me to help you find them?”

The boy scrubbed away the tears and nodded.

Bo held out his hand and led him toward the office tent, expecting the parents would go there to report their missing child. Indeed, as he led the boy inside, a woman let out a cry and raced over to enfold her son. The father, although less demonstrative, wrapped his arms around them both. “Thank you,” he said to Bo.

“I was scared,” the boy sobbed. “I thought I’d never see you again.”

The man turned the boy to face him. “If you are ever lost I will find you. I promise.”

The boy leaned into his father’s shoulder.

Bo stepped outside the tent. That was how a child should feel with his father—safe and certain. Unfortunately, that was the ideal but not the reality for many.

He heard raucous laughter and hooting toward the livestock tents and hustled through the crowd toward the sound. He soon saw what amused everyone and stood back to watch a boy not yet man trying to control a goat. Seemed it would be easy to pull the lead rope and drag the animal back inside, but if the animal thought she was going to be dragged, she raced toward the young fella and he jumped out of the way to keep from being bunted.

Bo was about to step in and lend a hand when an older man emerged from the tent and strode toward the struggling pair. He grabbed the goat around the neck and led her bleating and protesting inside while the relieved younger man hurried after him.