The Baby Bequest

“Pat their backs,” Claire encouraged quietly, because the sleepy children were calmer now.

“When was the last time you fed them?”

“We gave Taylor the final bottle right before Evan called you,” Chas whispered. Though the little girl he held still sniffed and hiccuped, her crying had stopped and her swollen eyes were closed.

Claire swallowed the lump that formed in her throat. She could feel every iota of these babies’ pain. She missed Norm, too. But on top of that, these kids were lonely and afraid, with strange people for the second time in only two days. “Have the other two eaten?” she asked, her voice soft and tender.

Evan nodded. “Everybody has had a bottle in the past hour.”

“Then they’re ready for bed,” Claire whispered, motioning to indicate that all three children were breathing deeply and evenly. “But putting them into a crib is a very tricky thing, so we’re going to do this one baby at a time.”

The brothers nodded.

“Grant, you first. Stand up slowly,” Claire said, walking over to the first crib. When Grant joined her, she said, “Bend at the waist so that your baby doesn’t leave the warmth of your body until she’s almost at the mattress.”

Though his moves were awkward, Grant did exactly as he was told.

“Gently place the baby on the mattress and slide your hand out from under her carefully…and slowly, so you don’t disturb her.”

As if disarming a homemade bomb, Grant slowly, cautiously slid his hands out from under Annie. Claire motioned for him to take a few steps back, and he did. The baby continued to sleep. Grant sagged with relief.

Next, Claire motioned for Chas to do the same thing. She quietly repeated the instructions, and, as Grant had, Chas also went limp with relief.

Before Claire could motion to Evan, he was already on his way to the last crib. Without any direction from her, he laid Cody on the soft mattress, eased his hands and arms from under the child, stepped away, and then breathed a huge sigh of relief.

Claire had an odd intuition about the way Evan didn’t wait for her help, almost as if he didn’t want to risk her touching him again. Deciding she was putting too much meaning on things that probably had none, she clicked on the baby monitor and motioned for all three men to come out of the nursery. One by one they filed out into the hall. Claire gently closed the door behind them. Placing one finger on her lips, she cautioned them not to say anything and then directed them downstairs.

All four tiptoed down the circular stairway, through the foyer and into the all-white kitchen at the rear of the house. Collapsing on the stools in front of the counter, the brothers groaned.

“Parenting’s not exactly as easy as it looks,” Claire said with a laugh.

“How the hell do you know so much about kids?” Grant asked incredulously.

“She’s got six brothers and sisters,” Evan replied before Claire could. Though she realized he knew the answer because she’d told him as much that afternoon, she felt a strange jolt of joy that he not only remembered but took the liberty of answering for her as if they were longtime friends.

“You’re kidding,” Grant gasped.

“Nope,”

Claire said, then walked to the counter to inspect the empty bottles. Again, she told herself not to make a mountain out of a molehill. She knew what was happening. She found Evan attractive and she wanted to think he found her attractive, too, so she was grasping for straws. “My youngest brother is six. Started first grade this year. Cute as a bug.”

“But you don’t live at home. Your phone number is listed under your name, not your parents’, and I recognize that address as being part of a house converted into apartments,” Evan observed, getting comfortable on his chair.

“I’ve been on my own since college,” Claire informed him casually as she inspected the contents of the cupboards. Her heart had speeded up when she realized he not only remembered everything she told him but now knew where she lived.

But she stilled her thumping heart by reminding herself that he’d called her because he’d needed to get care for the babies. Then she told herself that even if he was attracted to her and she was to him, neither one of them could act on that attraction. First, he was her boss. Second, they had a ten-year age difference. Third, he was rich and she was poor. Dirt poor. Talk about nothing in common…

As she had hoped, she found baby food, formula and vitamins. She pulled out all three and set them on the counter. “It would have been hard for me to move back in with my family after college, but, also, my being home would have disrupted them. David was only about a year old when I left for school. He doesn’t remember me being home. Kelly doesn’t want to give up half her bedroom.” She shrugged carelessly. “Having my own apartment suits everyone.”

“You didn’t move out because you hate kids?” Evan asked watchfully.

Claire laughed. “Heavens, no. I love kids.”

All three men visibly relaxed.

“And I’ll help you,” she said with another lilting laugh. “Look here. These are prescription vitamins. Do you know what they tell you?”

“Yeah, that the kids don’t eat right,” Chas said, frowning.

“No, that the kids go to a pediatrician,” Claire contradicted. “And see,” she added, showing the men the label. “Right here is their pediatrician’s name.”

“Ah,” Chas said happily. “That’s good.”

“That is good,” Claire agreed. “Just by reading this label you’ll know the dosage to give them, and the doctor to call to find out where they are with their immunizations.”

“Immunizations?” Evan echoed, narrowing his eyes at Claire. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“Remember I told you that I was going to hit the basics with you?” Claire asked sweetly.

They nodded.

“Well, somebody get a notebook, because I think you’re going to want to be writing some of this down.”

“Okay,” Grant said, rising from his seat. “I’ll take charge of that.”

“Splitting up everything is a good idea,” Claire said, while Grant rummaged for a pencil and paper. “I meant what I said upstairs about each of you taking a child. More than anything else, a baby needs a sense of security. If each of you more or less adopts one child as his own, each baby will get that sense of security.”

Or things could actually fall apart, Evan thought, studying her carefully. He knew he didn’t trust her because he suspected she was involved in Arnie’s scheme to take the kids. He also believed that by bringing her into their home, he and his brothers had opened the door for her to continue aiding Arnie.

He knew his brothers didn’t agree with him and thought he was being paranoid. But he also realized that he had more to lose than his brothers did. They might love these children in a generic way that mixed responsibility and a sense of family, but if something happened and they lost custody, Grant and Chas would get on with the rest of their lives. For Evan much, much more was at stake, because raising these children was his only chance at being a father.

“How did it go after I left last night?”

Though the question was perfectly innocent, Evan turned and glared at Claire. The insides of his eyelids felt like sandpaper, he was so tired he could have dropped where he stood, and his head hurt.

Between the cuddling and crooning, feeding and changing, Evan figured he’d gotten about two and a half hours’ sleep. And since all three brothers awakened for every baby incident, he knew Chas and Grant hadn’t fared any better than he had. But because the triplets couldn’t be left alone, Chas and Grant got to stay home while Evan set off to handle the second half of their responsibility, running the local lumber mill.

“Kids wake up much?”

Another innocent question. Another narrowing of Evan’s eyes.

“My head hurts. I desperately need sleep. I never realized how difficult it is to care for babies.”

“Oh, come on,” Claire said, following Evan into his father’s old office. “Babies are great. And believe it or not, this is a wonderful stage in their lives…except for the teething, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

Evan fell into his father’s chair. “Teething. How delightful.”

“Trust me,” Claire insisted, sitting on the corner of the desk as if it was an old habit. “You’re going to love this.”