“No problem.” Josh grinned at her. He couldn’t imagine wanting to date anyone else anyway.
Chapter Six
When Josh dropped Marti off that evening, she remembered the Cabbage Patch Kids that hadn’t made it in from the backseat of her old Toyota Corolla yet. “Wanna help me carry in the gifts I bought for the babies?”
“Sure. You know they won’t care about the gifts yet, right? They’re pretty much into sucking, pooping, and peeing. I haven’t seen them do anything else. Oh, wait, they sleep and puke, too!”
“Oh, hush. These dolls will be their best friends!” She pulled two of the dolls out of the backseat of her car and handed them to Josh. “Wait while I get the other two.”
Josh stood and looked at the dolls in their cardboard boxes. “These things are creepy.”
“That’s what all my sisters say. I have fifteen of them. I love me some Cabbage Patch Kids.” She got the other two from the backseat and carried them into the house. When they got to the living room, she found her mother, his mother, Heather, and Michael with the babies. “I brought in their presents!”
Heather looked up at Marti and groaned. “Cabbage Patch Kids? I hate those things. Please tell me you’re not really leaving them.”
“When I asked you what I could bring for them, you said no toys that make noise. They don’t make noise. I’m going to open them and fill out the birth certificates right now!”
Josh stared at Marti like she’d grown an extra head. “Birth certificates?”
“Yes, each Cabbage Patch Kid is unique and comes with his or her own birth certificate, making them special.” She smiled like she’d done something wonderful, and for just a moment, he thought about running.
As she was filling them out, Marti received another of her visions, but this one wasn’t as welcome as the last. She saw herself filling out three birth certificates for Cabbage Patch Kids, while three babies slept in bassinets around her. Josh stood over her watching. All at once, she knew that if she married Josh, she would have triplets, and she had no desire to have that many babies at once. One at a time should be enough for anyone.
She looked at him, and she knew she had to end their relationship immediately. He knew her secret, sure, but she couldn’t let that matter. Her destiny had to be in Texas, where she belonged, not in Idaho with a man who would impregnate her with triplets. Had she lost her mind?
When she’d finished filling out the birth certificates, she carefully took the dolls upstairs and put them in the nursery. She put them up on shelves, and Josh stood watching her. “You really like these things, don’t you?”
Marti nodded. “I do.” She took a deep breath. “And I really like you, but I don’t think I can keep seeing you. I’m just not ready for as quickly as this relationship is moving.”
“We’ll slow it down,” Josh said, his brow furrowed. He took her shoulders in his hands. “If you want, we’ll just hang out together. I won’t try to kiss you anymore.”
It wasn’t his kisses Marti was worried about, but she slowly nodded. She couldn’t cut him out completely. He was Michael’s brother. “I think that’ll work.”
“Can I take you snowmobiling next Saturday?” he asked, still a little worried about what was going on in her head. She’d seemed very content with him earlier, and all of a sudden, she didn’t want him around. It just didn’t make sense.
“I . . . Yeah, I think that’s all right.” She really did want to go snowmobiling, and as long as they were going just as friends, it should be fine. “As friends, though, right?”
He nodded, looking a bit hurt, but she couldn’t tell him what she’d seen. He’d laugh at her. Or worse, he’d convince her it was all right, and they wouldn’t really have triplets. No, she couldn’t tell him. “All right.”
“Thanks for a wonderful day,” she said softly. “I had a really good time, and Daisy is fabulous. How is she on a snowmobile?”
He knew she was trying to make him laugh to soften the blow, so he obliged. “She likes to run alongside a snowmobile. Maybe I’ll bring her. We’ll ride around my ranch. Maybe you can make me those Irish nachos.”
“I’ll get the ingredients. I’ll meet you at your house around two on Saturday. Does that work?”
“Sure.” He felt strangely let down. He’d known her for less than a week, but already he had fallen for her . . . and she didn’t want to be around him. He had to be able to salvage it somehow. “I’m going to head home. I’ll see you then.”
“Sounds good!” Marti kept a smile on her face and tried to stay chipper. He had to think she was all right with the decision, even though she wasn’t. Not at all.
She waited a minute or two for him to get out of the house, picking up the blankets in the babies’ room and folding them nicely. When she went back down the stairs to join the others, she plastered a smile on her face. No one needed to know she’d just broken her own heart.
* * *
Marti started to do better with her routine, staying up until it was light out and sleeping late. It worked well because her mother was a morning person, and there were always two people with the babies. She did laundry while the babies were asleep at night, and she spent a lot of time curled up with books reading. She had to read or she’d lose her mind.
Her choice of books was always romance, romantic books that seemed like the couple was impossible, but they always worked out in the end. She and Josh didn’t even seem impossible, but she knew they would never work out.
More and more her visions focused on him. She saw his house, decorated how she liked it . . . and babies. Always with the babies. Each vision was more and more real, and she’d close her eyes, trying to ignore them.
She was pacing with one of the babies on Friday night after her mother had gone to bed, and another vision hit her. She had to stop walking because suddenly she was blind to the world around her. In that vision, she saw Josh pushing a little girl on a swing, two little dark-headed boys playing at his feet. He looked so happy, and she knew she was depriving him—and herself—of that happiness.
But when she opened her eyes, she saw her sister with circles under her eyes, exhausted from the demands of taking care of four babies. She couldn’t do that to him or herself.
Heather watched her sister and frowned. “What did you see?”
“Something that will never come true,” Marti said. She wouldn’t talk about it. Not even to Heather.
She put the baby she was holding into a swing and picked up another, who was crying harder. She took one of the bottles she’d already warmed and stuck it in the baby’s mouth. “What do you think of your Cabbage Patch Kid?”
Heather knew to drop the subject, but she’d been sensing something was wrong with Marti all week. She’d wait ’til the babies were down, and then they’d have a sister to sister chat. It was obviously the only thing that would work to fix Marti and whatever she’d done to mess up her life.
Once the babies were asleep, Marti got another load of laundry from the dryer to fold. When she got back to the living room, she expected Heather to have gone to bed, but instead her sister was sitting in her chair waiting for her.
She got up and walked to the couch where Marti was folding tiny baby clothes, and she picked up a onesie to fold it herself. “What’s going on, Marti? Michael said that you and Josh had decided to be just friends, and I keep seeing you have visions you’re not willing to talk about. Tell me what’s happening. Big sisters have shoulders to lean on.”
Marti shook her head, a tear slipping out of her eye. “I’m just being silly. Don’t worry about it.”
“You’re not being silly. Did something happen that makes you think you shouldn’t marry Josh? A vision maybe?”
Before Marti knew what she was doing, it all came pouring out. “I cannot imagine having more than one baby at once. I watch how tired you are and everything you’ve gone through. I don’t want to have triplets!”
Heather frowned. “And this is all because you do
n’t want triplets? Really?”
“Well, a small part of me keeps saying I’m not ready for a committed relationship, but mostly it’s about the babies. I keep seeing visions of Josh with them, or me with them, or both of us with them. It’s like my visions are trying to convince me that it’s what I want, when I know it’s what I don’t want.”
“So if you didn’t have your visions, would you still be dating Josh?”
“Definitely. I don’t think I’d have called it off over feeling that I wasn’t ready for a relationship yet. I could have gotten past that. It’s all about the babies.” Marti folded another little onesie and added it to the stack. “I know it seems crazy, but I couldn’t do what you do!”
Heather sighed, shaking her head. “Of course you could. If that’s what God wanted you to do, you’d be right there doing it.”
Marti frowned. “If I wasn’t shown the vision so I could make an educated choice, then why was I shown? It doesn’t make sense, Heather. I know I’m not meant to be a mother of multiples. It’s not for me.”
“I think you’re wrong. I think you’re very wrong. I never thought you’d be good with kids at all, and look at you with the quads. You’re a natural. This may seem strange, but you’ve always been very analytical. Sit down and make yourself a chart. Give yourself all the reasons he’s right for you and all the reasons he’s wrong for you. Then look at the list. See if you’re making a mistake.”
“It won’t matter. I already dumped him.”
“But you’re going to see him as a friend, right?”
Marti nodded. “Yeah, we have plans to go snowmobiling later. I want to say tomorrow, but it’s three in the morning. Today, I guess. My days are getting all messed up in my head.”
“Mine too! I think it’s part of the ridiculous hours we’re keeping. Speaking of which, I’m going to go get into bed and snuggle with my husband for as long as I can. Think about what I said, though. I think you’re going to regret letting the love of your life go just because you don’t want triplets.” With those words, Heather headed for the stairs and her bed.
As Marti watched her go, she couldn’t help but wonder if her sister was right. But if she was wrong, was it too late for her and Josh? Had he completely given up on her?
* * *
Josh lay awake most of Friday night, wondering if he was making a mistake. Why torture himself by spending time with Marti when she obviously didn’t want to be around him? She’d made it clear they had no future together, but he couldn’t look at her without seeing forever in her eyes.
It was just after five when he got up and let Daisy outside, going into the kitchen to brew a strong pot of coffee. He didn’t normally drink the stuff, but on days when he’d had no sleep, he really didn’t have a choice.
He went to the garage and made sure there was enough fuel in each of the snowmobiles, and then he thought about the path they would take. Thought about what he’d say to her. How he’d convince her that they belonged together. With her visions, she should know that.
Whatever. He’d be the best friend to her that he could possibly be. What else was available to him? He could not be around her or be her friend. And a life without Marti in it seemed like a waste of breath to him.
He spent the morning doing his chores around the ranch, things he would normally have put off until Monday, but he had to keep busy. He had to keep his mind off the woman he couldn’t stop thinking about. Lying awake all night and staring at the ceiling certainly didn’t work.
An hour before she was due to arrive, he made hot chocolate and poured it into two thermoses. He wanted them each to have something warm to drink while they were out. He knew she wasn’t used to cold temperatures at all, so he’d have to think of new ways to keep her warm. Ways that didn’t include holding her close and kissing her as he wanted to do.
When she finally arrived, he recognized her cold weather gear as Heather’s, but he acted as casually as he could. “You ready for a day in the snow?”
Marti nodded hesitantly. “I’ve never even made a snowman, and you want me driving a snowmobile? I hope you’re aware that you’re going to have to teach me what to do.”
“Absolutely.” He spent the next ten minutes showing her how to control the machine and giving her advice on what to do if they hit a snow drift. “I have emergency blankets and matches if for some reason we get stuck. I’m really prepared for any eventuality.”
“That’s good. I wouldn’t want to freeze to death because you wanted to play in the snow.”
He gave her a bag that included her thermos and some snacks. “We won’t be out for too terribly long this first time.”
“First time? We’re doing this again?” she asked, surprised he was willing to spend time with her after the way she’d treated him.
“I can’t let you be bored in Idaho, can I? My brother would lose his nanny.” He got onto his machine and started it, leading the way. He’d made a little bit of a path through the snow, so he knew which way would be best for them to go.
Marti followed, watching his strong back and thinking about what a good man he was. He hadn’t even stopped wanting to spend time with her after she’d let him know there was no future between them. He had to know how lonely she would get with just family for company. She needed friends in Idaho, and he was going to be her best friend.
She sighed. Maybe Heather was right and she was making the biggest mistake of her life. Maybe she should stop him and kiss him, letting him know that she was ready for a real relationship. But every time she thought about the triplets, she knew she couldn’t handle it. No, things would have to go on as they were.
Chapter Seven
As Marti followed Josh through the snow-covered fields of his ranch, she realized that she enjoyed this. More than she’d thought she possibly could. The beautiful valley was covered with snow, and she couldn’t believe how much prettier it was covered in the stark white.
After a little while, Josh sped up the pace, and she was comfortable enough with the vehicle to speed up after him. It was fun, and it was a break she sorely needed after a week cooped up inside the house with nothing but laundry and babies to think about. Here she was able to just let her mind wander where it would as she floated over the snow. It felt like flying.
He finally stopped in front of a fence and turned to her. The joy on his face from their flight across the country was palpable. “What do you think?”
“Can we do this every day?” Marti asked, her face lit with excitement. “I had no idea what I was getting into, but this is fun!”
“There’s hot chocolate in your bag. You should drink a little. You’re not used to this type of cold.”
Marti nodded, reaching for the bag and pulling her thermos out, noting he did the same with his. “It is cold, but it’s so worth it.”
“I’m glad you’re enjoying this. It’s one of my favorite things to do. Anytime my brain gets jumbled, I come out here and just ride.”
“Anytime? You can’t use a snowmobile in the summer, can you?”
“I have a Quadrunner for when there’s no snow. And I spend a lot of time on horseback, both for work and for fun. I’ve almost got a stallion trained to the saddle. Been working with him for a couple of years.”
“Wait . . . didn’t you break a bone while trying to train him a year ago? It seems like that’s why Michael had to cut his trip to Texas short.”
Josh grinned at her knowing that about him. “Yup. Michael wasn’t thrilled with me, and he came back talking about Heather. Every other word out of his mouth was her name or something about her. Man, he was annoying.”
Marti laughed. “I was in school at the time, but I remember trips home, and all the talk was about Michael. I was so glad when they finally got married and I didn’t have to listen to it anymore.”
“I’m glad you understand.” He took another drink of his hot chocolate and screwed the lid on his thermos. “You ready to head back?”
Marti sighed. “I w
ish we could go on forever, but I can’t feel my toes anymore. Heather’s feet are a half size smaller than mine, and these boots are killing me!”
“You need to get your own if we’re going to have winter adventures.”
“Are you planning more?”
“I was thinking about taking you skiing tomorrow . . . or maybe sledding. You have a preference?”
“I’d much rather sled, thank you very much. Sledding sounds safer and more fun. When you’re not as high off the ground, there’s less chance you’ll die.”
He laughed. “I like both, but I can agree with sledding. There’s a great hill not too far from here. Can your feet handle those boots for a little longer? Or should I call my sisters and see if either of them have some you could borrow? Or we could drive to Wal-Mart today, but the nearest is an hour-and-a-half drive.”
She frowned. “I would really like to get my own snow gear. Would you mind the drive? We could take my car. Or I could even go alone.”
“No, I’ll drive you. We’ll do better with four-wheel drive. It might start snowing again later, and I would hate to see you out in it with no real experience driving in snow. I assume you have no experience driving in snow. I guess I don’t know that about you. Where did you go to college?”
“Oh, I went to UT in Austin. No experience driving in snow. In Texas the whole world shuts down if there’s a flurry spotted in the sky.”
“Well, that doesn’t sound very productive, but I guess I can’t say anything. I think the whole world would shut down here for temperatures over one-hundred. I would die!”
She grinned. “We just had a ton of flooding in our little town. It was weird because usually we’re under burn bans by the fall because it’s so dry.” She didn’t explain how she and her sister had helped save their entire town when a dam burst. It made them sound like they’d done something superhuman, and really, they’d just used their powers for good.
Marti: Seven Sisters Book Page 5
