Cowboy's Triplet Trouble

Grace’s heart sank to the ground. If the man seated on the chair opposite her wasn’t the girls’ father, then the man in the doorway must be. A look at his hand showed her he was wearing a gold wedding ring that matched the one on the woman’s finger.

Married. Oh, God, had he been married on the night they’d slept together? Had he ditched his wedding band for a quick fling while out of town? The very idea horrified her. The last thing Grace would ever do was get involved in any way with a married man.

“I think maybe introductions are in order,” the man in the chair said. “I’m Jake Johnson, and that’s my brother Jeffrey and his wife, Kerri.”

“I’m so sorry. I’ve obviously made some sort of mistake,” Grace said as she rose to her feet. Jeffrey … Justin … maybe she’d gotten his name wrong at the wedding. Certainly coming here had been a terrible mistake.

She didn’t want to screw up a marriage. This had suddenly become an awful nightmare and all she wanted to do was escape from it all. “I’ll just take the girls and we’ll be on our way.”

“Grace—may I call you Grace?” Jake asked. She nodded and he motioned her back to the sofa. “Please sit down. Jeffrey isn’t the father of your daughters either.”

“Heavens, no!” Jeffrey replied. “I’d eventually like to have children, but I definitely want to do that with my wife.” He looped an arm around Kerri’s shoulder and smiled at her lovingly.

“I think you’re looking for our brother,” Jake said.

“There’s more of you?” Grace felt as if she’d entered either a comedy of errors or the Twilight Zone.

Jake gave her a tight smile. “One more. Justin. We’re triplets.”

Grace breathed a sigh of relief, although she was more than a little embarrassed that she’d just given Jake Johnson far more personal information than she’d ever want him to know. “Is Justin here?”

“He isn’t,” Jake replied.

“But he almost always shows up around dinnertime,” Kerri said as she approached the stroller. “May I?” She gestured to Abby, who raised her hands to get out of her confinement.

Grace nodded and checked her wristwatch. It was just after noon. “Could you contact Justin and see if maybe he could come by earlier? Otherwise I’ll just take the girls to the motel room where I’d planned to stay for the night and he can contact me there.”

“Nonsense,” Kerri said briskly. “I’ve got lunch ready and of course you and the girls will stay and eat with us.” She laughed as Abby grabbed her nose with a giggle.

“I don’t want to impose,” Grace protested. The whole thing felt awkward. At that moment the other two girls woke up and suddenly chaos reigned.

“We definitely need introductions to these sweet girls,” Kerri said as her husband pulled Bonnie from the stroller and Grace got Casey.

“You have Abby, Jeffrey has Bonnie and I have Casey,” Grace said. Each of the girls grinned as they heard their names. “And as you can see, they haven’t met anyone they don’t like yet. Although Casey here is definitely the most shy.” She frowned. “Maybe it would be best if I just go to the motel and you can tell Justin to meet me there.”

“You’re here now,” Jake said rather curtly. “You might as well stay for lunch and I’ll see if I can get Justin on his cell phone.” As he left the room Grace felt some of the tension that had coiled in her belly ease. At least Jeffrey hadn’t been in the room when she’d told Jake that she’d been nothing more than a drunken one-night stand with Justin. Gosh, how utterly embarrassing.

“Jeffrey, why don’t you go out to the shed and bring in the old high chairs,” Kerri said, obviously a woman accustomed to being in command. “And while you do that, Grace and I will go into the kitchen and get to know each other a little better.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Jeffrey replied agreeably. He set Bonnie on her bottom at his feet and headed toward the door.

Grace felt as if everything was quickly spinning out of control and she didn’t quite know how to get any control back. At that moment Jake returned to the room. “Justin didn’t answer, but I left him a message to come here as soon as he can,” he said.

“We were just about to take the girls into the kitchen,” Kerri said. “But we seem to be short one pair of hands.”

“The story of my life,” Grace muttered beneath her breath.

Jake bent down and picked up Bonnie. He carried her away from his body, as if he’d never carried a baby before and wasn’t sure he liked it. At that moment Grace decided she wasn’t at all sure she liked him very much.

The kitchen was enormous, filled with sunshine from the floor-to-ceiling windows that created one wall. A heavy wooden table big enough to comfortably seat eight held place settings for three and a steaming casserole dish that smelled of chicken.

“Let’s put the girls here on the floor,” Kerri said. “I’ll get them some plastic containers to occupy them while I finish getting lunch on the table and you and I can have a nice chat.” She smiled at Grace, a friendly gesture that took some of the sharp edge off Grace’s tension.

At least Natalie had been wrong about the person living here being a fifty-year-old pervert. “Where did Jeffrey go?” Jake asked as he gingerly set Bonnie on the red-and-white throw rug on the floor.

“I told him to see about the old high chairs in the shed,” Kerri replied.

“I’ll go see if he needs help.” He escaped out the back door, taking with him much of the energy in the room.

Within minutes the girls were all on the rug with a variety of plastic spoons, bowls and lids to keep them happy. Grace sat at the table while Kerri bustled around the kitchen to finish preparing the meal and laid another place setting.

“How on earth do you tell them apart?” Kerri asked as she placed bread and butter on the table.

“Even though at first glance they look identical, there are subtle differences. Bonnie wrinkles her nose when she laughs and Casey’s hair is just a shade lighter. To make it easier on everyone else, I just dress them in different colors. Abby is pink, Bonnie is blue and Casey is yellow.”

“It’s the same with Jake, Jeffrey and Justin,” Kerri said. “Most people insist they can’t tell them apart, but there are definite differences. Jake is definitely the alpha dog and his eyes are slightly darker than his brothers. My Jeffrey is thinner than the other two and sweeter tempered.” Her voice held a wealth of love. “And you know Justin.”

That was the whole problem. Grace didn’t know Justin at all. She was ashamed to admit that she barely remembered being intimate with him. What she did remember from that night was how good the champagne had tasted and how Justin made sure her glass remained full and his flirting attention remained solely on her. “Do you all live here?” she asked.

Kerri placed a large salad on the table and then eased down in the chair next to Grace. “This was the family homestead but their parents died twelve years ago when they were all twenty-two. Jake took over running the ranch.”

She laughed. “But that’s not what you asked. To answer your question, Justin lives in an apartment in Cameron Creek and Jeffrey and I are only living here for another couple of weeks or so. We have a house being built on the property. And once we get moved in I want one of those.” She pointed to the girls, who were gibbering and playing, perfectly content at the moment.

“Be careful what you wish for,” Grace said with a smile. “I always wanted a son or a daughter. Apparently that triplet gene is strong, and despite how well they’re doing now, they don’t always stay all in the same place.”

At that moment Jeffrey and Jake returned, carrying high chairs that looked as if they were from another era. “They’re old,” Jeffrey said, “but we cleaned them up and they will still serve their purpose. Thank goodness that old shed hasn’t been cleaned out in years.”

“Perfect timing,” Kerri said as she jumped up from the table.

She helped Grace get the girls settled in the high chairs and then they all sat down to eat. The little girls had bowls with a bit of the casserole and green beans. Grace had retrieved their cups from the diaper bag and they dug into their meal with their usual enthusiasm.

“You didn’t mention where you’re from,” Jake said as he passed her the bowl of green beans.

There was something about the directness of his gaze that she found more than a bit unsettling. Kerri was right. Now that Grace had spent a little time with him she couldn’t imagine how she’d initially thought he was the man who had fathered her girls.

The cowboy she’d met at the wedding had been fun and flirty, with a bit of wildness in his blue eyes. Jake looked harder, his eyes a midnight-blue. He definitely looked as if he’d never lose control enough to drink too much, let alone wind up in a bed with a woman he barely knew.

“Wichita,” she replied.

“Nice place,” Jeffrey said as he buttered a slice of bread. “What do you do there?”

“I’m a third-grade teacher.”

Grace was grateful when the conversation changed from her to the ranch and the work being completed on Jeffrey and Kerri’s house. As the meal and talk progressed it became evident to Grace that Bonnie was flirting with Jake.

Her high chair was next to his chair at the table, and she fluttered her long, thick eyelashes as she cast him one toothy grin after another. He didn’t pay attention until she managed to grab his arm, grin and offer him a slightly smooshed green bean.

Kerri laughed. “Looks as though you have a little admirer, Jake.”

He eyed the green bean as if it was something he’d never seen before in his life and was highly suspicious of where it might have come from. Bonnie gibbered to him and pressed the bean closer.

“Uh … thanks,” he said as he finally took the bean from her and placed it gingerly on the edge of his plate.

Bonnie clapped her hands together in happiness, her button nose wrinkling as she smiled, then fluttered her eyes, making her long dark lashes dance.

Jake focused back on his plate and Grace was thankful he wasn’t the father. He obviously had no interest in children and didn’t appear to have any softness inside him. She definitely wanted more than somebody like him to be a part of her girls’ lives.

She wanted a man who would be unable to resist the flutter of Bonnie’s lashes, the sweetness of Casey’s smiles and Abby’s infectious giggles. She wanted a man who would be unable to resist loving them with all his heart.

The food was good and the conversation was light and easy with Kerri filling most of the awkward silences with friendly chatter. Still, Grace decided if Justin hadn’t shown up by the time lunch was over and she helped with the cleanup, she’d go on to the motel and get settled in there for the night.

She’d intruded enough on these people. Granted they were Abby, Bonnie and Casey’s aunt and uncles, but there was no way to know what part they’d play in each other’s lives until she spoke to Justin.

In the best of worlds, no matter what happened with Justin, these people would want to stay involved with the little girls. But Grace was realistic enough to know that life didn’t always work that way. In fact, in her experience life rarely worked out the way it was supposed to.

The meal was just about finished when Grace’s cell phone rang. It was in the opposite pocket from the gun in her blazer. She recognized the number of the caller and excused herself from the table.

“Natalie,” she said as she answered. “I’m so sorry. I forgot to call when I got here.”

“So, what’s happening? Are you at the right place? Is he wearing a dirty undershirt and tighty whities?”

Grace laughed. “Yes and no. Yes, I’m at the right place, but I’m still waiting to meet with Justin.” She quickly explained about the men being triplets and that she was waiting for the father of the girls to show up at the house. Promising to stay in touch, she ended the call and hurried back into the kitchen.

“I’m so sorry,” she said to the others still seated at the table. “That was my younger sister. I’d promised to call her the minute I arrived here and then promptly forgot to do so. She was worried.”

“You only have the one sister?” Kerri asked.

Grace sat back down in her chair. “Thankfully yes,” she said with a touch of humor. “Natalie is twenty-four, almost ten years younger than me, and some days it feels like I have four children instead of three.”

“What about your parents?” Jeffrey asked.

“We were raised by a single mother and she passed away nine months ago,” Grace replied. She was acutely aware of Jake’s gaze on her. Dark and unreadable, the intensity made her slightly uncomfortable.

“Jake, what’s up?” A familiar deep male voice called from the living room.

Grace’s stomach clenched tight as she realized Justin had arrived. Certainly the friendliness toward her and the children by the people around the table had given her hope, and that hope now surged up inside her.

She wasn’t expecting instant happiness from Justin, but what she was hoping for was some sort of acceptance of the situation and the happiness would come later.

He came into the kitchen. In that first instant of seeing Justin again, Grace couldn’t imagine how she’d mistaken Jake for him. Justin looked younger and his hair was longer and slightly wild with curls.

His blue eyes widened at the sight of her, and then he looked at the three girls in the high chairs. “Oh, hell no!” he exclaimed and then turned and ran out of the kitchen.

Jake watched Grace’s lovely face pale as she jumped up from her chair. “Please excuse me,” she said, her voice trembling as she left the kitchen, obviously in pursuit of Justin.

There was a long moment of silence around the table.

“Mama?” Bonnie said, but didn’t seem upset by Grace’s absence.

“She seems really nice,” Kerri said.

“Yeah, she does,” Jake agreed reluctantly. Grace Sinclair was lovely and seemed nice and she was probably in for a world of hurt thanks to Justin.

“Hopefully Justin will step up.” Jeffrey looked at the little girls still in their high chairs happily finishing their meals. “What a mess,” he muttered under his breath.

What a mess, indeed. Jake’s stomach knotted as he thought of the moment of realization on his brother’s face and his ensuing race out of the kitchen.

He shouldn’t be surprised. That’s what Justin did best … make trouble and then run from whatever the consequences. Even though there was only a seventeen-minute difference in their ages, sometimes Jake felt as if his brother was seventeen years younger.

Jake had cleaned up plenty of Justin’s problems in the past, but he wasn’t running to the rescue this time. He couldn’t. Justin was just going to have to suck it up and deal with the fact that he was now the father of three little girls.

“Maybe I should go check on her,” Kerri said and started to get out of her chair.

“No, I’ll go check. You stay here with the kids.” Wearily Jake pulled himself out of his chair.

“Bye-bye,” Bonnie said as Jake started toward the kitchen door.

For a moment he paused and stared at the three consequences of two adults’ carelessness. It had to be difficult for a third-grade teacher to be single-handedly raising three babies. Hell, it would be difficult for any woman alone, no matter what her profession.

Despite her words to the contrary, Jake had no idea if Grace needed financial help or not. Surely just buying diapers and essentials for three little ones would be a hardship on a teacher’s salary.

Girls need fathers in their lives. That’s what she’d said to him when she’d thought he was the daddy. Jake didn’t know what little girls needed, but he’d always believed that he and his brothers would have been better off with far less father in their lives.

“Bye-bye,” Bonnie said again, snapping him out of his momentary reverie.

He muttered a goodbye and then left the kitchen. Time would tell exactly what Grace needed from Justin and how his brother would step up to provide what she needed, what the little girls needed.

He was halfway to the front door when he heard Grace shriek from outside. With a burst of adrenaline he raced out the door. His heart nearly stopped when he saw her crumpled on the ground by the porch steps.

“Grace!” He rushed to her side as she sat up, her face unnaturally pale as she grabbed her left arm with her right. He glanced around but didn’t see Justin, and his truck was gone.

“What happened?” he asked as he reached a hand out to help her up off the ground.

“It was stupid. I missed the step and fell.” She winced as she got to her feet.

“What hurts?” he asked.

“I hit my shoulder.” Her face was still bleached white even though she attempted a smile. “I’m sure it’s fine.” As she tried to drop it to her side she hissed in obvious pain and pulled it back up again.

“That doesn’t look fine,” Jake replied with a scowl.

“I’m sure I’ll be okay. I just need to collect the girls and we’ll all be on our way.” They started up the stairs to the front door.

“I guess it didn’t go so great with Justin?” he asked even though he knew the answer.

She shot him a glance and he was surprised to see tears brimming in her eyes. She quickly looked away, as if embarrassed. “He basically just screamed that I’d ruined his life and then got into his truck and peeled off down the road. Yes, I think it’s safe to say that things didn’t go so great.”

“He doesn’t handle surprises very well,” Jake said as he opened the door for her. He cursed his natural impulse to make excuses for Justin. “I’m sure once he calms down he’ll be more reasonable.” At least that’s what Jake hoped would happen. But he figured Justin had probably done what he always did when he got upset—headed directly to Tony’s Tavern.

Grace slid through the door in front of him. “Once he calms down and is more reasonable he can call me or find me in Wichita. As soon as I pack up the girls, we’ll be on our way back home.”

He didn’t try to change her mind. Maybe the best thing would be for her to head home and give him an opportunity to talk some sense into his brother.

This wasn’t a speeding ticket that could be taken care of with the writing of a check. This wasn’t a drunk and disorderly charge where Jake could talk the sheriff into not locking Justin up in jail for the night.

“Everything all right?” Kerri asked worriedly as they reentered the kitchen.

“Fine,” Grace replied. “I want to thank you all for your wonderful hospitality, but it’s time the girls and I get back on the road. If I leave now I’ll be able to get home to Wichita before dark.”

“Are you sure you wouldn’t rather spend the night here and get a fresh start in the morning?” Kerri asked as she got up from the table. “We certainly have plenty of room.”

Jake watched Grace, who shook her head negatively. “Thanks for the offer, but I’d rather just get back home,” she said.

Her cheeks hadn’t regained any color. He didn’t know if the paleness had to do with the situation or if it was the pain from her fall.

His question was answered the minute she tried to get Abby out of the high chair. Grace started to lift the child, but immediately cried out and grabbed her left shoulder instead.

“What happened?” Jeffrey asked as he jumped out of his chair and hurried to Grace’s side.

“I took a little tumble in the yard.” Her voice was filled with pain.

“Justin didn’t push you, did he?” Kerri asked, a touch of outrage in her voice. Jake looked at Kerri in surprise. As far as he knew his brother had never laid a finger on any woman, but of course he’d never found out he was the father of triplets before either.

“No, nothing like that,” Grace replied hurriedly. “I just missed a step, stumbled and went down.”

“We need to get you to the hospital and have that shoulder looked at,” Jake said, deciding somebody had to take control of the situation. There was no way he could let her leave knowing she couldn’t lift the little girls. It wouldn’t even be safe for her to drive her car.

He expected Grace to protest. Instead, after a moment of hesitation, she nodded, which let him know that it had to be hurting her quite a bit.

“Maybe you’re right. It’s really painful.” Still she made no move. She gazed at her three daughters, who were happily smooshing and playing and eating what was left on their plates.

“Then let’s go.” Jake dug his truck keys out of his pocket. “The girls will be fine here with Kerri and Jeffrey.”

“Absolutely,” Kerri replied with a reassuring smile. “It will be good practice for us.”

“I promise you, they’ll be fine,” Jake said to Grace. She held his gaze, as if trying to peer inside him to see if she could trust him. “Come on,” he said with a touch of impatience. “You can decide what you want to do about heading home after the doctor takes a look at you.”

He could tell she was reluctant to go, but it was obvious she was in a fair amount of pain. She was going to the hospital if he had to throw her over his shoulder and carry her there.

They didn’t speak as she followed him out of the house and they got into his truck.

A new surge of irritation filled him. He shouldn’t be the one taking her to the hospital. It should have been Justin. His brother should be the one taking care of the mother of his children, no matter what the circumstances.

“I’m so sorry,” she finally said as he pulled out of the drive and onto the main road that would take them to Cameron Creek.

“Don’t apologize. You didn’t fall on purpose,” he replied. He could smell her, the scent of a bouquet of wildflowers that was far too appealing.

“True, but the last thing I wanted was to be any kind of a bother to anyone.” She leaned back against the seat. For a moment she looked so achingly vulnerable Jake wanted to reach out and touch her, assure her somehow that everything was going to be fine.

Instead he clenched the steering wheel more tightly. “Look, I know Justin behaved badly. But I meant it when I said once he’s had time to digest everything I’m sure the two of you will be able to work something out.”

“All I really wanted was for him to know about them and maybe spend some time with the girls, be a positive role model in their lives.” She shifted positions and hissed in a breath, as if any kind of upper body movement caused her pain.

“You must have hit the ground pretty hard.”

“I did. I have a gun in my pocket, and even though the safety was on, as I was falling I was afraid I’d hit the ground so hard it would pop off and somehow I’d shoot myself, so I twisted to make sure my shoulder and not my side took the brunt of the fall.”

“A gun?” He looked at her in stunned surprise. She definitely didn’t look like the gun-toting type. “Why on earth would you have a gun in your pocket?”

“I didn’t know what kind of people you were. I wasn’t even sure I’d find Justin here. I wasn’t about to drive into a place where I’d never been before without some sort of protection for me and my girls. Besides, I got your address from a cyberfriend and my sister was afraid I might wind up at the home of some pervert sitting around in his underwear and stalking women over the internet.”

“I’m definitely not a pervert, but if Jeffrey and Kerri weren’t living with me, there might be times I’d sit around in my underwear,” he replied with a wry grin.

He felt himself relaxing a bit, some of his irritation passing. None of this was her fault, and he’d be a jerk to punish her for his brother’s actions or inactions.

He was rewarded with her smile, and her beauty with that gesture warming her features struck him square in the gut. He quickly focused his attention back on the road.

Okay, he could admit it to himself, he felt a little burn of physical attraction for Grace Sinclair. He shouldn’t be surprised. She was a beautiful woman, and it had been over a year since Jake and the woman he’d been seeing for almost six months had called it quits. Just because Grace attracted him didn’t mean there was a chance in hell that he’d follow through on it.