by Tina Leonard
CALEB WASN’T CERTAIN where the idea came from. It hit in the split second after he wheeled Matthew beside the nursery window. The squeal of pure joy that left April’s throat as she flew into the hall seared his brain with the fear she’d suffered, and he’d instantly thought, I can do something about that.
“April,” he said as she prepared to wheel the bassinet into the nursery, “I think we ought to get married.”
Chapter Five
In her overwhelming relief at having Matthew back, April wasn’t certain she’d heard Caleb right when he spoke. Or maybe he was teasing. Concern was flying through her mind as her eager fingers touched Matthew’s skin, checking him over as the nurse and the mother in her warred to know he was safe and sound; perhaps she’d missed the resonance in Caleb’s flat comment. Men didn’t deliver proposals the way he had, did they? And why would he want to marry her?
“I’m sorry, Caleb, I wasn’t listening. Could you repeat that?”
A muscle twitched in his jaw; his Adam’s apple jumped in his throat. “Maybe we ought to get married.”
She searched his face for signs of teasing, reluctance, medication, anything. But his expression was genuine, his posture stiff.
He was serious.
“Let me put Matthew back into the nursery. I want to change him, and get him where he can hear his brother and sisters. And then we’ll talk. Okay?”
He nodded, and April wheeled the bassinet into the nursery, her heart thundering. My first proposal. And I don’t think it’s because he’s in love with me, either.
Her hands shook as she fixed Matthew’s diaper, and then checked the other babies. Making a notation on the charts, she counted to ten, tried to gather her courage and went out into the hall to meet Caleb.
“Where was he?” she asked, unable to help herself.
“At Maitland. A mother had an unsuccessful pregnancy and was distraught. I’m guessing she crept down here during the early shift, when the desk wasn’t fully staffed. She just wanted to touch a living, breathing baby, I believe, in order to save herself from—” he blew out a breath “—I don’t know. Probably going around the bend.”
“Oh, poor thing,” April said, her heart struck. “I wouldn’t want to be in her shoes. I mean, she shouldn’t have done it, and technically, the hospital should—”
“Let’s not go into technicalities right now. I asked you a question, April,” he said.
She swallowed uncertainly, perceiving that he might have blurted out the question, surprising even himself, but she knew there was some strong reasoning behind it.
“Not that this is the first thing I thought I’d say when I received my first proposal, but why?” she asked him.
“You’re not going to get temporary custody without a two-parent home. I’m willing to provide that.”
“Why?” she asked again, unable to see where he was heading.
“Because I can. And I don’t want them shuffled off, either. And it scared the hell out of me when Matthew was missing. If I have all five of you under one roof, I can…you know.”
April cocked her head. “Protect us better?” she asked softly.
“Of course.”
She sensed behind his brisk tone that he was hiding his feelings as much as she was. “I don’t know what to say.”
“It makes sense.”
“Yes, in a strange sort of way. We’d have to file for emergency temporary custody. It’s possible. But…that’s an awful lot of adjustment for you, Caleb. Four babies, a wife, a very small house, diapers, crying, feeding—”
“I hope you don’t cry too much,” Caleb said. “As for feeding, there’s always fast food. Cops are used to eating on the run.”
“I meant the babies.”
Caleb gave her an abashed grin. “I knew what you meant. I’m trying to inject some levity into a moment where my heart’s about to leap out of my chest. I don’t do much of anything without a lot of methodical thought, so I’ve just about used up my allotment of proposal courage.”
“Oh, that’s sweet of you, Caleb,” April said quietly. “Here comes your father.”
To her astonishment, Caleb turned pale before her very eyes. He really hasn’t thought this through, she realized.
And in a way, she liked the fact that he hadn’t calculated what his proposal would mean in terms of turning his life upside down and inside out.
“Mr. McCallum, my best friend, your daughter, Bri, is not the only McCallum to marry, it seems. Your son has just asked me to marry him,” April said to Jackson as he joined them in the viewing area. “He has?” Jackson seemed stunned as his gaze riveted to their faces.
“Yes. I’d like to know what you think about that.”
The elderly man eyed his son with some amazement. “That you’re getting the short end of the stick, April, but if you think you can put up with him…” His attempt at teasing fell flat as his hope caught up inside him. He stared at Caleb. “I didn’t know you were contemplating such a serious move.”
Caleb shrugged. “I didn’t, either. But the time feels right.”
Jackson scratched his head, glancing at April. “Um, how can I put this delicately? Is there—or will there be—a grandchild in the mix?”
Apparently, Jackson thought that there had been some nights of passion between April and Caleb, a quick fling even, and there were results for which to be accounted. April smiled at him, and then glanced toward the four babies in their isolettes. “We hope so. That’s the main idea.”
Jackson followed her gaze, then snapped his own to his son’s face. Caleb stared back at him, unperturbed. Slowly, Jackson glanced at the babies, then brought his focus to the hint of a smile on April’s face. “Oh, I see,” he said softly. “I do see. Well, thank you for letting me in on the scheme. I’ll do everything I can to help you.”
He kissed April on both cheeks, his style old world, and April sensed he was being chivalrous in a moment that had totally knocked him off his feet. Clearing his throat, he said gruffly, “April, what I said about you getting the short end of the stick—” he glanced toward Caleb “—I’m very proud of my son. I don’t always show it.”
Her smile was understanding. “I know, Mr. McCallum.”
“Jackson. You’re going to be part of the family.” He shook his son’s hand, took April’s hand in his, and as he stood in between them, keeping a tight hold on both, he looked through the nursery window. “Quadruplets,” he said under his breath. “I’d better get busy!”
“Well, we don’t have our hopes up too high,” April said. “And rest assured that we will have a prenuptial agreement drawn up.”
“Prenuptial agreement?” Caleb and Jackson echoed.
“Of course. In the event that…our situation doesn’t come to fruition, I wouldn’t want you to think that you have any lingering responsibilities for me. Or to me.”
“A prenup is not necessary, April.” Caleb looked stoney.
“I feel it is,” she said, her tone quiet yet firm. “It’s very important to me that all the expectations are known by everyone up front. I’m doing this for the children, not for me, or for you. You’re giving me your name, and a marriage contract for a clear-cut reason, and I feel that I should treat it as such.”
“Well, I don’t think—” Caleb began.
“I think April has hit upon a very sensible arrangement, myself. After all, there are all my millions at stake, and a prenup would make me rest easier at night.”
April smiled. “Precisely what I was thinking.”
“Now, wait just a minute—” Caleb tried again.
“Caleb, can I see you in private?” Jackson asked. “Congratulations, April, I think this is a very satisfactory arrangement for everyone. I am delighted to welcome such a forward-thinking and intelligent woman into our family, for however long.”
“Thank you, Jackson.”
“If you’ll excuse us…” Caleb said reluctantly.
“Of course.” April smiled at him, and walked ba
ck into the nursery, touching each child with fingers that gently, firmly pressed their skin. So that they would know she was there. And that she loved them.
JACKSON FAIRLY DRAGGED his son into the Austin Eats diner next to the hospital. “I don’t have to tell you how happy I am about this, son.”
Caleb sank into a booth. “I’m not certain what I am.”
“Look. Let the prenup thing go. The girl is obviously independent, and wants us to know she doesn’t expect anything from us.”
“From me, Dad, she’s marrying me.”
“Not exactly. When you marry someone, you marry the in-laws too, Caleb. And that means me—and my money, about which she’s trying to reassure me. I say give April her breathing room. Who cares about the prenup?”
“I do. I don’t think a marriage starts well with a road map. You and Mom didn’t have one.”
“Well, your mother was a delicate little flower who did everything I wanted and lived to please me. I haven’t married again because I’ll never find that kind of devotion.”
“April’s a delicate flower—”
“Not really, son. She got that spine of independence from somewhere. I say, tell her our lawyer will draw up the prenup, and then, I suspect you two will be so busy that she’ll forget that the lawyer doesn’t get around to it.”
Caleb frowned. “Are you saying we’ll trick her?”
“No, I’m saying that I don’t think we really need to go to the trouble with this gal. If you don’t get the children, and you decide not to stay together, you’ll just annul the marriage. Right?”
He didn’t want to think about that scenario—it meant admitting that April might not get temporary custody of the children, and it meant she might not want to stay with him if she didn’t. He really didn’t like that thought.
“I don’t think I like it, Dad.”
“Look.” Jackson blew out a breath and scratched his white-maned head. “Ever since your mom was gone, you’ve wanted reassurance from everyone that they weren’t going to leave you. You didn’t realize it, but that’s what you were doing. When your partner died, you took it hard, which is natural, especially since you blamed yourself. But you never got over it because it was a piece of yourself you couldn’t hang on to. That’s left over from your mom’s death. I’ve stayed a little aloof from you over the years because I was worried about how you’d take it if I up and croaked. You took your mother’s death harder than the other kids, Caleb.”
“There was a reason for that,” Caleb said on a growl.
“I know. I know. Self-induced guilt,” Jackson said. “But it’s time you let go, son, and realize that you can’t hold on to people so tight. You’re gonna scare this little girl, because all she wants is to think she’s always gonna have her independence. You see how this is a recipe for sure disaster?”
A glimmer of recognition was starting to intrude in his brain, and Caleb didn’t want to let it in. “Not really.”
“Okay.” Jackson put the saltshaker in the middle of the table. “This is April. She’s salty and independent because she’s had to be that way. This is you,” he said, placing the pepper shaker next to April the saltshaker. “You want to share the same space with her, but you can’t. You can’t go on watermelon, you can’t go in ice cream, you can’t go in cookies.”
“You are making no sense at all.”
“You can’t make the pepper go where the salt wants to every time, or you’ll ruin the recipe,” Jackson said, out of patience. “Isn’t there a rock song that has to do with if you love something, you gotta let it go? She wants her independence; you can’t hold on to her so tightly. Pretend the prenup is okay with you, and she’ll appreciate you for it, Caleb. It’s the first thing you can do that shows April you’re not going to try to squash her with overbearing solicitousness.”
Caleb shook his head at his father. “I want to take care of her. That’s my end of the bargain.”
“And she doesn’t want you to,” Jackson said stubbornly. “You can’t hold on to everything with both fists, son. Life is fleeting, like water in your hands.”
“All right,” Caleb finally said on a sigh. “I’ll try not to squish her.”
“Squash.”
“Whatever. Oh, Jeez, I can’t believe this.”
“Well, I never got around to the birds-and-the-bees talk with you when you were a teen, so now I figure having a chat that keeps you from putting your big foot on top of your newly budding engagement makes up for it.”
The waitress came to their table. Jackson ordered chicken and mushroom chowder, and Caleb ordered a cheeseburger—not that he really had any appetite.
“You know, Caleb, it’s probably time for you to let that bag of guilt go, especially before you get married.”
“What bag of guilt?” Caleb demanded, certain he didn’t want to have this conversation.
“About your mom.” Jackson looked out the window at the hospital for a moment, then brought his gaze back to his son. “There isn’t a week that goes by that I don’t think maybe it was my fault. I knew she was a fragile little thing. But, Caleb, babies were what your mom wanted. It’s what made her happy. Her health never entered her mind, not by the doctor’s caution or my worrying.”
He stared at his son. “Think about that. I had the chance to say, ‘Have a selective elimination procedure.’ But I didn’t, because three was what God had given her, and that’s what she wanted. Yet, also a single day never went by in our children’s childhoods where I didn’t think why her? Why not me? She was the one who wanted these babies, she carried them, she worked for them, she endured the pain to carry and deliver them. And then she never got to enjoy the blessings she so dreamed of.”
Caleb thought about the suffering woman in the hospital who had felt the same way. It was almost as if, for one split second he’d seen his mother in her. Tears pricked the corners of his eyes. Impatiently, he rubbed at them, demanding that they retreat.
“Great gravy, son, if anyone should have been feeling guilty, it was me. But no little innocent baby had anything to do with her death.”
Caleb sighed as the waitress put their food in front of them. “April is very delicate, too.”
“Yes, and you can’t do a damn thing about that. If you love her, then accept that she has to make some choices for herself, and you gotta let her.”
He stared into his father’s compassionate gaze. “All right,” he said finally. “I’ll bow to your wisdom and experience on this one.”
Jackson nodded slowly, his gaze appreciative and empathetic, too, and for the first time in his life, Caleb felt a bond growing between them.
“So, how long is this supposed to last?” Jackson asked.
“We discussed filing for emergency temporary custody until the birth mother returns. April really believes that since Jenny left them to her, it’s up to her to keep the babies from being parceled out among strangers.”
“I couldn’t agree more.” He was thoughtful for a moment. “You know, son, if you go slowly, bit by bit, this marriage agreement might stick longer than April plans for it to.”
“I don’t think I should expect more from it than I know it to be, Dad.”
Jackson waved that away. “I didn’t say anything about expecting. I said, if you go slowly and gently, treading lightly, she just might learn to trust you. And then to love you.”
“You make it sound so easy.”
His father shrugged. “If anyone can put themselves in April’s place, I’d put my money on you. Bit by bit, son. No leaping tall buildings in a single bound. Just a nice, slow walk holding each other’s hand can conquer a path of great resistance.”
Jackson took a spoonful of soup, and then as an afterthought, stared at his son. “She did say yes, didn’t she? Or did she just give us a bunch of qualifications?”
APRIL’S HEART was still fluttering over Caleb’s surprise proposal when she left work. She hadn’t even mentioned it to Cherilyn or Bri, she was that rattled.
> When she saw Caleb walking toward her in the parking lot, bearing florist-wrapped long-stemmed roses, her heart went into full-speed motion sickness. “You really mean it,” she said when he came abreast of her.
“Of course. No man fools around with the M-word unless he means it.”
“Oh…” Shyly, she buried her nose among the red, satiny blooms of the roses. “They’re lovely. Thank you.”
“I was afraid maybe I didn’t hear you accept me,” Caleb said, his face serious. “If you hadn’t yet, I thought I’d better do a little better in the convincing department.” And he pulled out a jeweler’s box, handing it to her opened, so she could see the lovely emerald-shaped diamond inside. “Four sides to this stone, four babies in our lives. I hope you’ll say yes, April.”
She nearly dropped the roses. Heck, she thought she was going to faint. “Caleb! You don’t have to give me a ring! It’s just something I have to give back once Jenny returns.”
“No.” He shook his head, staring into her eyes. “It’s for you, April. You gave me a gift I’ve wanted all my life, the beginning of a relationship with my father. We’re actually relating to each other rather than not relating at all. This is yours, no strings attached. No prenup needed for this.” And taking the ring from the box, he slipped it onto her finger. “Besides, we want everyone to believe that we’re in love, and ready to be a happy family of six.”
“Oh, Caleb.” Surprised tears jumped into her eyes. “I have said yes, haven’t I? Because if I haven’t, yes. And thank you so much for taking up my cause. You’re the knight I hadn’t expected, and you can’t possibly know how much it means to me.”
They looked at each other for a few moments, awkwardly. April wondered if he was going to kiss her, or if she should just reach up and kiss him.
