“Are you Jack Tomlinson?”
“Yes. And you are?”
“Miranda Harris. I’m a social worker with the Colorado Division of Child Welfare. Do you know Gwen Hultgren?”
His body flashed hot, then cold. Gwen. His gaze flitted past Miranda toward the center row of the SUV. Were those car seats?
“Jack?” Miranda’s question required an answer. The car’s exhaust fumes stung his nostrils as he tried to draw a deep breath.
“Yeah, yes. I—I know Gwen.”
“Have you spoken with her or a member of her family recently?”
Shame heated his skin. He and Gwen had had a brief relationship. Although that was hardly the phrase for their weekend together. Jack shook his head. He’d called once and left a voice mail, but she’d never called back, and he’d stayed away from Nevada.
Miranda stared through the windshield, both hands still gripping the steering wheel. “Jack, you’re a father. These babies are yours.”
His chest compressed, like a block of wood jammed in the vise grips in his uncle’s woodshop. “Babies?”
“Yes. Twin girls. They’re six months old.”
Right on cue, the sound of a baby cooing filtered toward him. Jack’s thoughts churned, desperate to grasp this announcement. It couldn’t be true, could it?
He’d lived with the guilt of the seemingly harmless flirting in a hotel elevator that had led to him skipping the tech conference in Nevada and spending three drunken days with a virtual stranger. Gwen. He wasn’t proud of his actions. The lingering grief and anger over his father’s death had plunged him into a downward spiral of poor choices.
But a pregnancy? Twins? Why hadn’t she told him? Where was she now? Why was there a social worker here in his driveway with two babies in her car?
Jack slowly scraped his fingers across his jaw. “Gwen. Where is she?”
Empathy flickered in Miranda’s eyes. “I think it would be best if the girls and I came inside. Do you mind?”
“Okay.” How could he say no after the news she’d just delivered? Jack stepped back as Miranda turned off the ignition and climbed out of the car.
He forced himself to draw a calming breath although his heart pounded like a freight train thundering across the prairie. He had daughters. And no relationship with their mother. This couldn’t be happening. There was no way he was equipped to be a single dad of two helpless babies.
Miranda handed him a car seat. “This is Macey. She’s sleeping.”
He stared at the baby girl wearing gray-and-pink-striped pajamas. Jack’s chest expanded as he caught a glimpse of her full cheeks and thick eyelashes.
“Hi, Macey,” he whispered, his voice catching.
“And I’ll carry Charlotte in.” Miranda held the car seat in one hand and slung the strap of a packed bag over her other shoulder.
Macey and Charlotte. Charlotte and Macey. His daughters? Jack shook his head in disbelief as he slowly walked toward his house, careful not to jostle the precious cargo in his care.
Inside, he lowered Macey’s car seat to the floor in the middle of his living room. Miranda did the same with Charlotte’s car seat. Jack braced his hands on his hips and stared at the twins. Charlotte stared right back, her curious blue eyes sizing him up. His emotions careened from shock and awe to confusion and hurt. If this was all true, why didn’t Gwen tell him he was a father?
“You must have a lot of questions.” Miranda set her bag on the floor, then sat on his brown leather sofa.
The understatement of the year. “Where is Gwen?”
“I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, but Gwen passed away unexpectedly three weeks ago. Car accident.”
The words landed like a fist in his gut. Gwen was gone. The babies didn’t have a mother. He backed up slowly and slumped into his recliner. His vision tunneled and he struggled to formulate a coherent thought.
“I know it’s a shock, me showing up on your doorstep and telling you these babies are yours and their mother is gone.” Miranda’s spine straightened. “Macey and Charlotte have been in an emergency foster care home while we looked for you. The State of Colorado strives for permanent placement with a biological relative as quickly as possible. That’s especially important with very young children. The twins need to bond with their father. You.”
“Are you sure I’m their dad?” He did the math in his head. The timing was right.
“I have birth certificates and you can do a paternity test.” She tugged a folder from the side of the diaper bag. “As far as the state is concerned, if you’ve passed a background check, don’t have any felony convictions, a documented history of child abuse or a compelling reason why you’re unfit to parent, then the babies will be placed with you immediately.”
“But I’m a stranger to them.” Jack choked out the words. And he couldn’t be trusted alone with two babies.
“Not for long.” Miranda smiled. “They need you, Jack. I’m sorry Gwen chose to keep them from you. But you’re all they have.”
“What about Gwen’s parents? Does she have any siblings?”
“Unfortunately, Gwen’s mother is deceased. We haven’t been able to reach her father, and her sister has three young children. She’d like to be more helpful, but she just can’t.” Miranda pulled her car keys from her pocket. “Like I said, you’re the girls’ closest biological relative.”
Panic welled inside. “You’re leaving now?”
She nodded. “As soon as I unload the rest of their belongings.”
“You can’t even stay for a day or two? Help me figure this out?”
“My caseload is heavy. I have four more families to meet with, so I’ll be staying at a hotel in Limon for the next two days.” She stood and handed him her business card. “You can call me anytime. There’s also a toll-free number for twenty-four-hour assistance. I’ll be back to check on your progress in about a month.”
Jack scrubbed his hand over his face. He didn’t have words.
“I’ve written down detailed instructions about their normal routines. I have a portable crib in the car, along with about three days’ worth of formula, diapers and wipes. You’ll need to get connected with a pediatrician as soon as possible and talk about introducing solid foods. The birth certificates and immunizations records are in there, too.”
“I can’t believe this is happening.”
“You’ll figure it out. People have babies every day.” She opened the door. “I’ll get the rest of their stuff.”
“No, I’ll unload your car. I need a minute.” Jack stepped outside, sucking in a deep breath. Even though it was almost ninety degrees, icy tentacles of fear slithered through him.
“I’m not ready to be a father. I was doing good to try to care for a dog,” he said.
Minutes later, Miranda’s taillights disappeared down the drive. Macey’s eyes popped open and Charlotte’s face contorted. They both began to cry. What a pathetic, mournful sound.
His heart raced. He reached for his phone and glanced at the screen. What a mess he’d made. Who could he call? He didn’t dare tell his family. His mom was going to be so upset. Not to mention disappointed. Laramie’s number was the first one he scrolled to. Why not? She’d know what to do.
“You changed your mind, didn’t you?” Laramie didn’t even bother with a greeting. Her voice carried a triumphant tone, too. He probably deserved that.
Jack stared at the wailing babies still nestled in their car seats in the middle of his living room floor.
“Um, no. N-not exactly,” he said, hating the tremor in his voice.
“What is that noise?”
“Laramie, I need help.”
“Is that a baby crying?”
“Babies. As in two.” Jack kept staring and willing his feet to move, but he had no idea what to do to get the crying to stop. Skye and her
husband, Gage, had Connor, and Jack had witnessed plenty of his tantrums, but he couldn’t recall how they’d defused the situation.
She gasped. “Two? What are you doing with two babies?”
“Please. Just come over. I’ll explain when you get here.” Jack raked his hand through his hair as he paced.
“Jack, I—”
“Laramie, I can’t call anyone else. Please. I’m begging you.”
“All right.” She sighed. “I’ll be there in ten minutes. Do you have diapers and formula?”
Jack glanced at the diaper bag and plastic bin Miranda had brought and tried to remember her instructions. “Enough for a couple of days.”
“Do you know how to mix formula?”
He gritted his teeth. “No.”
“Then look in their car seats or their diaper bags for pacifiers. If they have something to suck on, that might help with the crying for a few minutes. I’ll show you how to fix a bottle when I get there.”
“Okay. I’ll look.”
“See you soon.”
Jack ended the call, relief flooding through him. He tipped his head back and whispered a prayer of thanks toward the ceiling. Between his anger and then his guilt, Jack hadn’t bothered conversing with God in quite a while. But it was time to start. Because he was suddenly a father of two and he was in trouble.
* * *
Two babies?
Questions zipped through Laramie’s mind as she jogged from her Mazda sedan toward Jack’s front door. Had he become a guardian for one of his coworkers’ children? Was he an emergency foster parent and hadn’t told anyone? Did a neighbor have twins that she didn’t know about? The fear in his voice when he’d called indicated the babies were a complete surprise.
Jack greeted her with a panicked expression and a wailing baby in his arms.
“Help.” He thrust the baby toward her. Laramie glanced at the other baby lying on a blanket in the middle of the living room, clutching the toes of her footed pajamas and her face pink with anger. Wow, she was really screaming.
“Oh my.” Laramie cradled the little girl against her chest and made a shushing sound. “What’s her name?”
“That’s Macey.” Jack closed the door behind her, then walked toward the sofa, which was covered with more blankets, baby clothes and packages of diapers and wipes. “This is Charlotte. I think.”
“Hey, Macey.” Laramie inhaled the sweet scent of the baby’s skin and tried to assess the situation.
“The social worker just left.” Jack plucked a canister of formula from the box on the floor. “I was trying to figure out how to feed them and change their diapers.” He stared at the label, his brows tented. “But I’m pretty much clueless when it comes to babies.”
“Their social worker?” Laramie shifted Macey to her other shoulder and looked around for a place to change a diaper.
Jack blew out a long breath. “Breaking news, she said Macey and Charlotte are my daughters. Their mother—” He paused, his expression pained. “Their mother passed away and the State of Colorado says they need to be with their father, I’m not a felon, blah-blah-blah. Then she left, and here we are.”
Thankfully, Laramie had cleared a spot on the end of the sofa, and sat down as Jack’s words registered. Daughters. Jack was a father. Her shock and disbelief must’ve been written all over her face.
“Yeah, that was my reaction, too.” Jack set the formula down and blew out a long breath. “I met their mother at a conference. She failed to mention she got pregnant after we spent the weekend together. I just found out she was killed in a car accident. So now the babies are going to live with me.”
“Oh, Jack.” Laramie’s heart ached for him. “That’s a lot to absorb in one day.”
“My mom is going to be so disappointed. I’ve made horrible choices and she doesn’t know the half of it.”
Laramie found a waterproof pad in the pile of baby belongings and spread it beside her. Jack wasn’t wrong. Mrs. Tomlinson and Jack’s siblings had experienced a similar scenario recently when a relative left a baby boy in their care and skipped town. While Connor had been adopted by Skye and Gage eventually, the whole process was gut-wrenching. Finding out Jack was a father of two babies was going to be yet another blow to his family. Especially because his erratic behavior had been a source of worry and frustration ever since his father died three years ago.
She quickly changed Macey’s diaper, which temporarily stopped the crying. But the baby girl shoved her fist in her mouth and started fussing again.
“She’s hungry.” Laramie glanced around the room. “Have you found bottles yet?”
“Right here.” Jack held up two.
Charlotte spotted them and cried louder. She rolled over onto her tummy and dug her elbows into the carpet, as if by sheer determination she could crawl to Jack.
His eyes grew wide. “Please tell me she can’t crawl yet.”
“Looks like she’s almost figured it out. You’d better let me fix the bottles.” Laramie scooped Macey up, passed her to Jack, then took the bottles and formula into the kitchen.
When she returned a few minutes later with two warm bottles of formula, she handed one to Jack. “Here, you feed Macey while I change Charlotte.”
Macey’s eyes widened and she kicked her legs as Jack sat in the recliner and struggled to hold her and give her the bottle.
“Like this.” Laramie leaned over, acutely aware of Jack’s masculine, spicy scent and his breath feathering her cheek as she gently wedged Macey in the crook of his arm, then gave her the bottle. Macey quietly sucked down the formula while staring up at Jack, one pudgy hand grasping his finger.
Laramie’s breath hitched at the innocent gesture. If Jack holding the puppy had pulled her in, this situation would be her undoing. But she couldn’t bear to look at Jack and gauge his reaction. Not that she had time to stop and soak in the tender moment between father and daughter. Charlotte seemed determined that her sister wouldn’t get all the attention. Her crying morphed into screaming.
“I’m coming.” Laramie sat cross-legged on the floor and lifted the distraught baby into her arms. “Charlotte, listen, there’s no need for all that crying.”
Charlotte arched her back, grabbed a fistful of Laramie’s shirt and cried louder. If that was even possible.
“All right, message delivered.” Laramie changed Charlotte’s diaper in record time and offered her the bottle. The baby gulped noisily, her tiny brow still furrowed, as she clung to the bottle with both hands. Good thing Laramie had spent all those years nannying to pay for college.
“See? That wasn’t so bad.” Laramie flashed Jack a smile from her place on the floor.
Her attempt at humor fell flat. His jaw flexed and his steely blue gaze was all business. “I need your help.”
“I can only feed one baby at a time.”
“Not just today. I mean, every day. Maybe every night, too. You took care of babies before.”
Seriously? She felt sorry for Jack, and helping someone in need was always fulfilling, but lately she was saying yes to helping way too often. Besides, she’d listened to Skye vent plenty of times about Jack always shirking responsibility. “I’m not moving in and I’m not your nanny. I have a job, thank you.”
“I thought school was out. Aren’t you off all summer?”
“That doesn’t mean I don’t have plans.” Maybe she didn’t have plans all summer, but he didn’t know that. These babies were not her problem.
“I know I don’t have any right to ask you to upend your life, but at least for a few days until I can figure out what in the world I’m supposed to do.”
“You can’t keep twins a secret, Jack.” Laramie couldn’t stop the amusement from seeping into her voice. “Besides, just an hour ago at my house, you said you had a lot of attention to offer.”
He shot her a point
ed look. “Puppies and babies are hardly the same thing.”
Jack shifted Macey in his arms and glanced back at Laramie. “Please. I need some time to figure out the best way to tell my family.”
Those pleading blue eyes nailed her square in the heart. She wanted to say no. She should say no. But the babies were adorable, plus Jack obviously had no idea what he was doing.
“I’ll help you get the babies settled and down for their naps, but you’re on your own overnight. I’ll be back in the morning, and you have to tell your family about the twins before the Memorial Day picnic.” There. She’d established a boundary and a deadline. He had three days. That was the right thing to do, wasn’t it?
Later, as she strode toward her car, she couldn’t shake the ominous feeling blanketing her. What had she gotten herself into?
Chapter Two
In the history of worst nights ever, last night had to rank in his top five. Early-morning light peeked through the kitchen window as Jack stumbled toward the coffee maker. Please let there be enough coffee to make a full pot. He’d slept a grand total of two hours. Macey and Charlotte had conspired against him and taken turns crying off and on almost all night. Thankfully, they were both still asleep, but he didn’t have the luxury of staying in bed. His most demanding client had scheduled an 8 a.m. video conference call, which meant he had to figure out how to shower, eat breakfast, change two diapers, feed the girls and, most important, keep them occupied while he took the call in his home office.
So basically, achieve the impossible. Awesome.
As soon as the coffee was brewing, he started a search for his phone. No telling where it had ended up.
He didn’t want to pester Laramie about when she was coming back to help him, but he hoped it was soon. If he could just find his phone and see if she’d sent him a text yet. Having Laramie around would sure make the conference call easier. While the rest of the country was looking forward to Memorial Day weekend and making plans to celebrate, he had to keep his client happy. After all, cybersecurity criminals didn’t slow down for a national holiday. Or the shocking revelation that he was a single father of two.
An Unexpected Arrangement Page 2
