Kitabı oku: «Assignment: Twins», sayfa 2

CHAPTER TWO

NIKKI stared at him, certain she couldn’t be hearing correctly. “What do you mean I won them?” she croaked finally.

Seth shrugged. “I could have said you lost the lottery, but I thought it would make you feel better if I put a positive spin on it. What it comes down to is, you get to keep the twins a while longer.”

Nikki’s head was spinning. “Oh, no.”

“You’re the one who volunteered for this responsibility,” Seth pointed out.

“I said I’d take care of the babies for three days. Count ’em—Friday, Saturday, Sunday. I’m—”

“Or until till Laura gets home.”

And Laura didn’t expect to be hit by a virus, any more than I would expect to get struck by lightning… But what was she going to do about it? “I wasn’t counting on this.” Her voice felt feeble. “They could be delayed for a couple of days.”

“At least.” Seth was looking at the television set.

Nikki followed his gaze. Someone from public health was showing off a chart of infection rates. The angle of the line tracing the increasing number of infected people aboard the ship looked like a rocket’s path to the heavens. If her sales figures were to climb at that rate, Nikki thought, she’d be thrilled.

She said, trying to sound cheerful, “The good news is that at this rate the virus will have gotten to everybody on the ship by about tomorrow. Once that happens, things can only get better, right?”

“That’s what you call the good news?”

Nikki had to admit it didn’t sound very encouraging. “Look, I’m not trying to make light of the situation. I’m as worried about Laura and Stephen as you are. But it looks as if they’ve got the entire public health organization working on it…” Her words sounded hollow. That sort of no-holds-barred action wasn’t directed at every garden-variety virus. This stuff was different.

Poor Laura had been afraid that she might get seasick on the cruise. Now there’s irony for you, Nikki thought. Compared to the bug that was running wild on the ship, it sounded as if seasickness would be positively pleasant.

“No point in worrying. There’s nothing we can do about Laura and Steve right now.” Seth picked up the bag of parts and went back to the kitchen.

Nikki trailed him hopefully.

Zack had flopped down on the kitchen floor and was chewing on the handle of a screwdriver. Seth took it away from him and put it back in the toolbox atop the counter. The baby howled, and absently Nikki picked him up, handed him a plastic measuring cup from the cabinet and watched in disbelief as Seth snapped the toolbox closed.

“You’re not leaving.” It was half-question, half-plea. “Seth, I can’t stay here till that ship’s out of quarantine. I was supposed to go home tonight. I have a life, and I’ve already put it on hold for three days to do this.”

“What are you planning to do with the twins, then?”

Nikki opened her mouth to answer, and shut it again. What on earth was she going to do with the twins? Much as she hated to face the fact, Seth was right—she had assumed the responsibility, and now it was up to her to make sure the babies were safe and taken care of, until their mother could take over once more. If she couldn’t actually look after them herself, then she’d need to find someone who could. She looked speculatively at Seth.

“The way I see it,” Seth said, “you can look in the want ads under baby-sitters—”

“Hire a stranger? Laura wouldn’t like that.”

He didn’t seem to have heard her. “Or you can call child protective services and report that the babies are being neglected, and have them put in foster care. Or you can drop them off on a stranger’s doorstep, ring the bell, and run.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

Seth shrugged. “That’s about all the options I can think of.”

“There’s one more. I can hand them over to you. You’re their godfather.”

“Being a godparent has nothing to do with baby-sitting. It’s purely a spiritual duty.”

“Don’t go getting sanctimonious on me now, Seth.”

“I wouldn’t dream of trying. You’re the one who said it. As I recall, you told Laura on the twins’ christening day that I was a bad choice for the position because I wouldn’t recognize a spiritual experience if it bit me in the—”

“Seth Baxter, do you ever do anything when you’re in church besides eavesdrop?”

“So you admit telling her that.”

“I may have,” Nikki admitted. “I don’t actually recall. But that’s beside the point.”

“In any case, you’re their godmother, so the same argument applies to you.”

“All right then, we’ll leave godparenting out of it altogether. You’re their uncle. With their parents out of the country—”

“Don’t forget indisposed,” Seth added.

“That makes you their closest kin at the moment. I’m only a friend of the family, with no legal standing at all. So the bottom line is that you’re the one who has to make the decisions.”

Seth’s eyebrows raised slightly. “If it’s my choice, then I choose to let you keep them. You’ve been doing a fine job so far.”

Nikki couldn’t decide whether to scream or kick the nearest piece of furniture. “I have a house sale closing tomorrow, and I can’t even change the time because too many people are involved. I can’t find a sitter by tomorrow morning because I haven’t the faintest idea where to start looking. Seth, I’m begging. You have to help me out here.”

“Why me? You signed up for this duty. I didn’t.”

“Because I can’t take a set of year-old twins to a mortgage closing, that’s why!”

“Well, I can’t just hang them from my tool belt while I rebuild Mrs. Cooper’s closets, either.”

Nikki bit her lip. “I don’t suppose you can. But surely you can put Mrs. Cooper’s closets on hold for a day or two. At least till we find out what’s going on on that ship.”

“Obviously you’ve never met Mrs. Cooper, or you wouldn’t say that.” He lowered himself to the floor and began to put the panels on the dishwasher once more.

As soon as he finishes, he’ll leave. You have to do something, Nikki—and fast.

She put Zack down on the floor. “How about that cup of coffee you were wanting earlier?”

“I expected better from you in the bribery department than that, Nikki.”

“All right,” she conceded. “I won’t waste your time by making coffee.”

“The truth is, there are so many dishes in the sink you couldn’t get to the faucet for water anyway.”

Nikki ignored him. “Let’s talk about this like adults. I can’t miss that closing. If you’ll just keep the twins tomorrow morning—”

Seth was shaking his head.

“You won’t even do that much? Just till noon.” Nikki knew she sounded desperate. She didn’t care.

“I can’t. I’ve got a supplier delivering a load of materials at eight o’clock in the morning.”

Nikki chewed her lip. “Eight? My closing isn’t till half past nine. Maybe we can work this out after all. Surely that gives you enough time.”

“Depends on how fast the crew unloads. It’s a big order.”

“Well, the closing is downtown. If I get the babies up in the morning while you go sign the receipt for your supplies, then I can swoop by and drop them off with you in Rockhurst—it’s almost on my way—and go straight to the closing. You can bring them back here and—”

His eyebrows raised. “How do you know I’m working in Rockhurst?”

“Laura, of course.” Nikki surrendered the last of her pride. “Seth, if you’ll just bail me out for a couple of hours in the morning, I swear I’ll come straight back after the closing.”

“What about your new client? The fancy executive at the auto plant?”

She’d forgotten. For a moment there, she’d actually forgotten a client, something which had never happened before. So it’s not just an old wives’ tale. Spending countless hours with babies really can turn your brain to mush.

“I wonder whether he likes kids,” Seth mused.

Nikki gritted her teeth.

“If he’s divorced, maybe he has children of his own. He might even enjoy having the twins around. It’s such a cozy little domestic image—you, him, the babies, looking at houses…”

Nikki had no trouble at all creating that picture in her mind. She sighed. “I guess someone else will have to show him around tomorrow.”

“Hey, kids,” Seth announced. “She’s giving up the tycoon for you. Bet you’re tickled to hear that.”

Anna clapped her hands as if in delight. More likely, Nikki thought, the baby was pleased that she’d managed to pile all her plastic blocks into an unsteady tower. Now she was eyeing her brother’s supply.

“Nobody else in the office could possibly be less prepared than I am,” Nikki said almost to herself. “I haven’t even glanced at the multiple listings all weekend. All right, that covers tomorrow.” She rushed on before he could argue the point. “Now about tonight—”

“What about it?” Seth sounded wary.

“I don’t have any real clothes here, just jeans and stuff. I’m going to have to go home and get something to wear to the closing.”

“Do it in the morning.”

“It’s impossible to get all the way out to my place and back downtown before half past nine. Not if I’ve got the twins, because they move like molasses in the mornings.”

“Then go shopping on your way.”

“You can’t be serious. Try on clothes with two babies in tow? Besides, the malls don’t open that early. And in any case, you can’t just go and buy a copy of that blue jacket we have to wear—the real-estate company has them specially tailored.”

“Okay, okay, you made your point. Let’s go.”

For a moment she was too thrilled at the hint of cooperation to take in what he’d said. Then it hit her. “What do you mean, let’s go? It will take me an hour. Ninety minutes, tops. All you have to do while I’m gone is dunk the kids in the tub, put their pajamas on, and tuck them in.”

“That’s all.” It was obviously not a question.

“Hey, I’ve been doing it all weekend. I’ve gotten pretty good at it, too.” Nikki couldn’t resist taking a jab. “You’ll probably still be wrestling with diapers when I get back.”

“I have a better idea. We’ll all have an outing.”

“You would actually drag two kids halfway across the city at this hour just so you don’t have to give them a bath? Maybe it’s just as well if you keep dating lame-brained blondes, Seth. If you actually ever break down and marry one, maybe she’ll be dim enough not to notice that you’re ducking all the work.”

“I’m not ducking anything. When we get back, we can both pitch in for bath and pajamas, and we’ll get it done in half the time.”

Nikki doubted it, but at least he sounded willing to try. That made her even more suspicious of what he was really up to. She stared at him, eyes narrowed, and finally all the pieces clicked together in her mind. “You don’t trust me to come back at all, do you?”

“Would you trust me, if you were in my shoes? If I put on my jacket right now and said I’d see you later—”

“Probably not,” Nikki admitted.

“Then we understand each other quite well—and we’re square to start with.”

She said carefully, “You mean you’ll actually help? All that protest earlier about not wanting to be involved—”

“Earlier, you weren’t asking for help. You were trying to dump the whole mess on me.”

He was probably right, she admitted. Relief surged through her.

“I’ll pitch in, Nikki,” he warned, “but don’t get the idea that you’re off the hook. Come on, let’s go get you some clothes.”

She went to get the twins’ jackets from the stroller, which was still sitting just inside the front door. As she wrestled Zack’s arms into the sleeves, the television bulletin caught her eye once more. This time the jumpy, grainy picture on the screen showed a helicopter hovering over the deck of a ship, lowering bundles of supplies. Everybody within range of the camera was wearing a surgical mask. A few were fully garbed in protective gowns and gear.

For a disease that wasn’t supposed to be severe, Nikki thought, it certainly looked scary.

Seth came into the living room, with Anna already bundled in his arms. “Are the kids’ safety seats in your car?”

Nikki shook her head. “I wasn’t planning to go anywhere, so I didn’t bother to put them in. Seth—what if they’re not all right? Laura and Stephen, I mean. What if it’s worse than the health department’s saying? They don’t take this sort of precaution for just any little bug.”

“Don’t even think about it. Worrying won’t help Laura and Steve, but it will sure upset the babies. In the meantime…” He shrugged. “You’re the religious one. Pray that somebody figures out how to stop that virus in its tracks.”

Nikki had underestimated how long the trip would take. It was closer to two hours before Seth’s SUV was back in the driveway. Anna was asleep in her seat, Zack was yawning, and Nikki felt like falling into bed herself.

Seth carried Nikki’s suitcase and Zack, while Nikki wrestled a limp Anna out of her seat.

“I don’t care how grubby they are,” Nikki said. “I don’t even care how many of Laura’s rules I’ve violated tonight. Let’s just put them to bed in their clothes, and I’ll give them a bath tomorrow.”

As soon as the twins were tucked in, she unpacked her suitcase, hoping that in her haste she’d managed to grab at least a few pieces of clothing that coordinated. Trying to suppress a yawn, she went back to the living room. Tired or not, she still had to look over the paperwork for tomorrow morning’s closing.

Though she wasn’t surprised to be doing her review at the last minute, she hadn’t anticipated these circumstances. By now, Laura and Steve should be driving from the airport into the city. Any minute, they should be pulling up beside the house, unloading bags and souvenirs, chattering happily about the flight and the cruise, exclaiming how much the kids seemed to have grown in just a few days…

Don’t let yourself start, Nikki.

The house was quiet. She looked around in surprise. Had Seth gone, without even a word? He’d followed her out of the babies’ room, but where had he gone then?

He probably slipped out before I could think of any other favors to ask, she told herself dryly. Or perhaps someone was waiting for him. He hadn’t mentioned another date, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have one.

She opened her briefcase and swore when the blinking blue light on her cell phone caught her eye. The light meant she had voice mail waiting for her—probably from the courier service trying once more to deliver the paperwork on the MacIntyres’ counteroffer. That was yet another thing she’d have to deal with—or hand off to someone else—tomorrow morning.

She was truly off balance, she told herself, to have gone away and left her phone behind—and not even noticed that it wasn’t in her pocket. It figures, she thought. The damned thing had rung only once all weekend, until she’d walked off without it—but now she probably had messages stacked to the ceiling.

She punched in the code to retrieve her voice mail. There was only one message after all. That was a small blessing.

Behind her, Seth said, “Give me your keys so I can move the safety seats into your car.”

That was sweet of him, thinking ahead to make the morning easier for her. Nikki dug in the side pocket of the briefcase for her key chain, and froze as the message started to play. “It’s Laura,” she said and held the phone at an angle so Seth could listen too.

The connection wasn’t the best, and there was so much background noise that it sounded as if Laura was calling from a New Years’ Eve party. “Nikki, where are you? You always answer your phone—oh, no, I hope that doesn’t mean something’s wrong with one of the babies. I only have a minute—there are people waiting, so I can’t talk long. We’re fine, we don’t have this—stuff, this virus, whatever it is. But they’re holding us prisoner even though we’re perfectly healthy—oh, all right, Stephen, I know my minute’s up. Nikki, I’ll try again when I can get back to a phone, but I don’t know when that will be—you wouldn’t believe the lines. I’m so sorry to do this to you. Kiss the babies for me and tell them Mommy wants to come home.”

The message clicked off and there was silence.

Nikki tried to blink back tears. “Oh, damn, I wish I’d been here. I could have told her I’ll take care of the babies—”

“She knows.” Seth’s voice was little more than a whisper.

Only when she felt the warmth of his breath against her cheek did Nikki realize how close his face was to hers. It had seemed so natural to share the phone, to tip it so he could listen, too. So he could share right away in any news, rather than her having to relay it. To be close enough to lean on him, in case the news was bad.

But now that they were practically cheek to cheek…She was almost breathless.

Don’t be ridiculous, she told herself. It isn’t like there’s anything romantic going on here.

Oh, there were plenty of sparks between her and Seth Baxter, all right—there had been ever since that day at the church two years ago when she’d told Thorpe precisely why she wasn’t going to marry him, and then she’d turned around to see Seth half hidden behind a pillar and drinking in every word as if it were hundred-year-old scotch.

But the sparks weren’t the starry-eyed kind. Far from it, in fact. What the two of them created was the kind of grinding, gnashing spark which flared when metal scraped against rock—and heaven help anything that got between.

No, the reason she was feeling off-balance right now had nothing to do with Seth practically having an arm around her. She was just suffering from a sudden attack of sentimentality. Even if she’d expected that message to be from Laura, Nikki would never have anticipated how strongly affected she would be by simply hearing her friend’s voice. It was no wonder if her first thought was to look for a supportive shoulder—it had absolutely nothing to do with who the closest shoulder happened to belong to.

She snapped the phone closed and took a step away from him. “Well, at least we know that Laura and Stephen are all right.” She kept her voice cheerful. “That’s good news. If they haven’t gotten sick yet, they probably won’t, and maybe they can leave the ship tomorrow.” She dropped the phone back into her bag. “Oh, you wanted to shift the car seats.”

Seth took her keys without a word.

Nikki pushed the high chairs aside and sat down at the dining room table with her papers. Though she didn’t try to memorize the details of every transaction, she’d learned a long time ago that being able to explain each number, what it meant, and how it was calculated was almost certain to make the closing proceed more smoothly. When clients were signing documents that obligated them to thirty years of mortgage payments, it was no time for the real-estate person to appear uncertain or uninformed.

She flipped through the document and tried to page back to make a comparison, only to find the first sheet stuck to the table. How on earth, she wondered, had Zack and Anna managed to spread their lunchtime applesauce so far and so liberally without her noticing?

Seth came back inside as she was prying the page loose. “Thanks for moving the seats,” Nikki said. “I’m always afraid I won’t get them in right.”

“I didn’t move them. I’ll take your car tonight, and we’ll swap back in the morning in Rockhurst. Got a scrap of paper?”

“What? You’re taking my car?”

Seth shrugged. “I looked at the back seat and decided it’s easier to move my tools than the safety seats. See you at Mrs. Cooper’s in the morning.” He scrawled an address across her copy of the offer-to-buy, dropped his key on the table, and was gone before she could say anything more.

“Nice guy,” Nikki muttered. “He just drives off in my car without even asking whether I mind.”

But the longer she thought about it, the more relieved she was. Seth might be tempted to leave her stranded with two babies, but she was absolutely certain that he would never abandon her while she had possession of his SUV.

Seth caught himself checking his watch again. If Nikki was going to make it downtown on time, she’d better get her cute little tush—and his SUV—into gear. What was holding her up, anyway? Heavy traffic, perhaps. The Monday morning rush hour had been worse than usual. He just hoped she hadn’t stalled out on the freeway, or gotten into a fender-bender. Maybe he should have turned himself into a contortionist to get those seats into the back of her car after all, instead of expecting her to drive his. She wasn’t used to a big vehicle—he knew that for a fact, because he’d had to fold himself up to fit behind the wheel of her little car.

He heard wood slam against concrete and wheeled around to see one of the workers looking sheepishly down at a scattered pile of lumber lying on the driveway. The delivery crew foreman came around the back corner of the truck and started to yell. “That’s high-grade oak, you idiot! Take it a few pieces at a time so you don’t bang it up.” He called to Seth, “We’ll get it all around back and then we can inspect for damages, sir.”

Seth nodded. He looked down the driveway again and saw his SUV pulling cautiously off the street. About time she showed up. Relieved, he walked down to meet her.

Nikki rolled the window down and leaned out. She was already wearing her standard-issue dark-blue jacket, with her engraved name badge clipped to the lapel. Her hair was caught up at the back of her head in a knot that was held together with what looked to Seth like chopsticks. The sunlight made it look more red than its usual medium brown, and the breeze caught a strand and whipped it around her face. She tucked it impatiently behind her ear.

“You’re running late,” Seth said. “I thought you might have had trouble finding the place.”

She looked indignant. “Not likely. For your information, I know every address in Rockhurst. I’ve sold a good number of these houses. In fact, see the one across the street? I’ve sold that one twice.”

Seth couldn’t resist. “Why? Weren’t the first buyers happy with it after all?” He enjoyed watching her sputter for a few moments. “You can park over there, out of the way of the delivery truck.” He pointed at a narrow strip of concrete between the garage and a row of ornamental evergreens.

She didn’t put the SUV into gear. Instead, she opened the door and slid out. “If you want it out of the way, you park it. It was all I could do to drive this bulldozer. Putting it into a confined space is something I don’t even want to think about. Where’s my car?”

“On the street, just around the corner and out of the path of the truck.”

One of the babies wailed, and Nikki looked over her shoulder, biting her lip.

“The other one will start up pretty quick,” Seth said. “They probably think since they can’t see you at the moment that you’ve disappeared forever. I’ll get them out in a minute and they’ll be fine.”

“They’re a little cranky.” She sounded a bit crochety herself, he thought, but the expression in her big hazel eyes was almost pleading. “I finally had to wake them up or I’d never have made it. But there wasn’t time to give them a bath, and they didn’t want breakfast, so they’ll no doubt be hungry in an hour or two.”

“Oh, that’s just great.”

“Hey, I’m not the one who kept them up late last night,” Nikki pointed out. “But I’ve already had to face the music. It’s your turn.” She leaned into the SUV.

The tailored khaki trousers she was wearing molded themselves to a trim but nicely rounded bottom. Seth watched with appreciation until she turned around again.

She was holding not a baby, as he’d expected, but only her briefcase. “See you in a couple of hours,” she said. “Have a good time.”

Both babies had started to cry in earnest. Seth smothered a sigh and opened the back door of the SUV. “Don’t worry,” he called after Nikki. “I’ll make sure they have a nap so when you get back they’ll be wide-awake and ready to entertain you!”

Nikki made a rude gesture over her shoulder and kept walking.

He grinned and unlatched Zack’s safety harness.

“Sir.” The foreman was standing right behind him, clipboard in hand. “If you can come around to the site now, we’re ready for you to inspect the materials and sign the invoice.”

Seth sighed and reached across Zack to lift Anna out. With a tearstained baby in each arm he followed the foreman around the corner of the house and past a trailer full of tools to the construction site.

At the back of the Mediterranean-style house a new wing, half as big as the original main floor, was taking shape. The poured concrete walls were ready for an eventual coat of stucco to match the rest of the house, half of the windows were in place, and the crates full of red tiles which had been part of this morning’s load of supplies were now stacked neatly nearby, ready to go up on the roof.

Half a dozen men were already at work, but the instant Seth came around the corner of the house with a baby in each arm, everything stopped while the men gawked at him.

His crew chief grinned. “What’s that, boss, a couple of new trainees? Couldn’t get any with experience?”

Seth ignored him and made the rounds of the site, checking the counts and looking over the oak which the delivery men had piled inside the new rooms, safely away from rain. A couple of boards had splintered when they’d hit the driveway, and the foreman noted the damage. “Do you need the replacements right away, or can we just put them on next week’s load?” he asked.

“Next week will be fine.”

“I’ll make sure they get on the truck then. All right, if you’ll sign here….” The foreman looked uncertainly at him and the babies. “I mean…”

The twins probably didn’t top twenty pounds each, but their combined weight, plus the fact that with both arms full he couldn’t shift the burden to let one arm take a break, had left Seth’s muscles aching. Moving stacks of two by fours—even tossing concrete blocks—was dead easy compared to walking around with a twenty-pound weight attached to each arm.