Detective Barelli's Legendary Triplets

Norah swallowed. But then she remembered this wasn’t real and would be rectified. Brody let out a wail and once again she snapped back to reality. She was no one’s bride, no one’s wife. There was a big difference between old dreams and the way things really were. “I’d better go save the detective from the three little screechers.”

Norah opened the door and almost gasped at the sight on the doorstep. Brody was in Reed’s strong arms, the sleeves of his navy shirt rolled up. He lifted the baby high in the air, then turned to Bea and Bella in the stroller and made a funny face at them before lifting Brody again. “Upsie downsie,” Reed said. “Downsie upsie,” he added as he lifted Brody again.

Baby laughter exploded on the porch.

Norah stared at Reed and then glanced over at Shelby, who was looking at Reed Barelli in amazement.

“My first partner back in Cheyenne had a baby, and whenever he started fussing, I’d do that and he’d giggle,” Reed explained, lifting Brody one more time for a chorus of more triplet giggles.

Bea lifted her arms. Reed put Brody back and did two upsie-downsies with Bea, then her sister.

“I’ll let Mom and Aunt Cheyenne know you might not be in today,” Shelby said very slowly. She glanced at Reed, positively beaming, much like Annie had done earlier. “I’ll be perfectly honest and report you have a headache from the sweet punch.”

“Thanks,” Norah said. “I’m not quite ready to explain everything just yet.”

As her sister said goodbye and walked off in the direction of the diner, Norah appreciated that Shelby hadn’t added a “Welcome to the family.” She turned back to Reed. He was twisting his wedding ring on his finger.

“So you were supposed to work today?” he asked.

“Yes—and Sundays are one of the busiest at the Pie Diner—but I don’t think I’ll be able to concentrate. My mom and aunt will be all over me with questions. And now that I think about it, with the festival and carnival continuing today, business should be slow. I’ll just make my pot pies here and take them over later, once we’re settled on what to say if word gets out.”

“Word will get out?” he said. “Oh no—don’t tell me Annie and Abe are gossips.”

“They’re strategic,” Norah said. “Which is exactly how we ended up married and not sent away last night.”

“Meaning they’ll tell just enough people, or the right people, to make it hard for us to undo the marriage so easily.”

“She probably has a third cousin at the courthouse!” Norah said, throwing up her hands. But town gossip was the least of her problems right now, and boy did she have problems, particularly the one standing across from her looking so damned hot.

She turned from the glorious sight of him and racked her brain, trying to think who she could ask to babysit this morning for a couple hours on such short notice so she could get her pies done and her equilibrium back.

Her family was out of the question, of course. Her sister was busy enough with her own two kids and her secondhand shop to run, plus she often helped out at the diner. There was Geraldina next door, who might be able to take the triplets for a couple of hours, but her neighbor was another huge gossip and maybe she’d seen the two of them return home last night in God knew what state. For all Norah knew, Reed Barelli had carried her down the street like in An Officer and a Gentleman and swept her over the threshold of her house.

Huh. Had he?

“You okay?” he asked, peering at her.

Her shoulders slumped. “Just trying to figure out a sitter for the triplets while I make six pot pies. The usual suspects aren’t going to work out this morning.”

“Consider me at your service, then,” he said.

“What?” she said, shaking her head. “I couldn’t ask that.”

“Least I can do, Norah. I got you into this mess. If I remember correctly, last night you said you’d always wanted to get married at that chapel and I picked you up and said ‘Then let’s get married.’” He let out a breath. “I still can’t quite get over that I did that.”

“I like being able to blame it all on you. Thanks.” She smiled, grateful that he was so...nice.

“Besides, and obviously, I like babies,” he said, “and all I had on my agenda today was re-familiarizing myself with Wedlock Creek.”

“Okay, but don’t say I didn’t try to let you off the hook. Triplet seven-month-olds who are just starting to crawl are pretty wily creatures.”

“I’ve dealt with plenty of wily creatures in my eight-year career as a cop. I’ve got this.”

She raised an eyebrow and opened the door, surprised when Reed took hold of the enormous stroller and wheeled in the babies. She wasn’t much used to someone else...being there. “Didn’t I hear you tell Annie that you had no intention of ever getting married? I would think that meant you had no intention of having children, either.”

“Right on both counts. But I like other people’s kids. And babies are irresistible. Besides, yours already adore me.”

Brody was sticking up his skinny little arms, smiling at Reed, three little teeth coming up in his gummy mouth.

“See?” he said.

Norah smiled. “Point proven. I’d appreciate the help. So thank you.”

Norah closed the door behind Reed. It was the strangest feeling, walking into her home with her three babies—and her brand-new husband.

She glanced at her wedding ring. Then at his.

Talk about crazy. For a man who didn’t intend to marry or have kids, he now had one huge family, even if that family would dissolve tomorrow at the courthouse.

* * *

As they’d first approached Norah’s house on the way back from Annie and Abe’s, Reed had been all set to suggest they get in his SUV, babies and all, and find someone, anyone, to open the courthouse. They could root through the mail that had been dumped through the slot, find their license application and just tear it up. Kaput! No more marriage!

But he’d been standing right in front of Norah’s door, cute little Brody in his arms, the small, baby-shampoo-smelling weight of him, when he’d heard what Norah had said. Heard it loud and clear. And something inside him had shifted.

You know what else is crazy, how special it was. The ceremony, I mean. Me—even in my T-shirt and shorts and grubby slip-on sneakers—saying my vows. Hearing them said back to me. In that moment, Shel, I felt so...safe. For the first time in a year and a half, I felt safe.

He’d looked at the baby in his arms. The two little girls in the stroller. Then he’d heard Norah say something about a dream come true and back to reality.

His heart had constricted in his chest when she’d said she’d felt safe for the first time since the triplets were born. He’d once overheard his mother say that the only time she felt safe was when Reed was away in Wedlock Creek with his paternal grandmother, knowing her boy was being fed well and looked after.

Reed’s frail mother had been alone otherwise, abandoned by Reed’s dad during the pregnancy, no child support, no nothing. She’d married again, more for security than love, but that had been short-lived. Not even a year. Turned out the louse couldn’t stand kids. His mother had worked two jobs to make ends meet, but times had been tough and Reed had often been alone and on his own.

He hated the thought of Norah feeling that way—unsteady, unsure, alone. This beautiful woman with so much on her shoulders. Three little ones her sole responsibility. And for a moment in the chapel, wed to him, she’d felt safe.

He wanted to help her somehow. Ease her burden. Do what he could. And if that was babysitting for a couple hours while she worked, he’d be more than happy to.

She picked up two babies from the stroller, a pro at balancing them in each arm. “Will you take Bea?” she asked.

He scooped up the baby girl, who immediately grabbed his cheek and stared at him with her huge gray-blue eyes, and followed Norah into the kitchen. A playpen was wedged in a nook. She put the two babies inside and Reed put Bea beside them. They all immediately reached for the little toys.

Norah took an apron from a hook by the refrigerator. “If I were at the diner, I’d be making twelve pot pies—five chicken and three turkey, two beef, and two veggie—but I only have enough ingredients at home to do six—three chicken and three beef. I’ll just make them all here and drop them off for baking. The oven in this house can’t even cook a frozen pizza reliably.”

Reed glanced around the run-down kitchen. It was clean and clearly had been baby-proofed, given the covered electrical outlets. But the refrigerator was strangely loud, the floor sloped and the house just seemed...old. And, he hated to say it, kind of depressing. “Have you lived here long?”

“I moved in a few months after finding out I was pregnant. I’d lived with my mom before then and she wanted me to continue living there, but I needed to grow up. I was going to be a mother—of three—and it was time to make a home. Not turn my mother into a live-in babysitter or take advantage of her generosity. This place was all I could afford. It’s small and dated but clean and functional.”

“So a kitchen, living room and bathroom downstairs,” he said, glancing into the small living room with the gold-colored couch. Baby stuff was everywhere, from colorful foam mats to building blocks and rattling toys. There wasn’t a dining room, as far as he could see. A square table was wedged in front of a window with one chair and three high chairs. “How many bedrooms upstairs?”