Mother In A Moment

“Who’re you?” Suspicion vibrated from her small person.

“I’m your uncle Garrett.”

Her face became fearful, and she pushed away from him, yelling, “Stranger!” over and over again. She ran to Darby, who’d reentered the building, and practically jumped into her arms. She twined her legs around Darby’s waist and buried her blond head against Darby’s shoulder.

“Maybe you could get the triplets,” she suggested calmly. “I’ll wait in the car with Regan and Reid.”

Sure. Get the triplets. No sweat.

Right.

There was nothing for him to do but agree, so he turned toward the cribs lining the wall. Cheerful balloons and kites had been painted above the cribs, and he focused on them as he walked closer.

If he was a drinker, he’d be thinking about now that this was all some alcohol-induced hallucination. Some nightmarish fog that he would wake up from, sooner or later. But when he stood next to the cribs and looked down at two scrunched-up butts and one wide-eyed baby, who was now chewing on the corner of a blanket, Garrett knew there was no waking from this nightmare.

He was thirty-five years old, for God’s sake. Why did looking into the round little face of a nine-month-old tot with a head nearly as bald as the cue ball on his pool table back home in Albuquerque make him want to head in the opposite direction? Fast.

The baby’s mouth parted in a grin, baring several stubby little teeth. He…she?…stood up and wrapped little starfish hands around the edge of the crib and bounced its little knees. Garrett’s unease wasn’t going anywhere, he knew, so he just reached out and picked up the kid, holding it at arm’s length as he strode outside to the car. The kid didn’t seem to mind. It grinned, drooled and wriggled its legs as if Garrett was some longtime friend.

Darby was standing by the car, and he pushed the baby at her. She had little choice but to accept, and Garrett went back inside, leaving her to fasten the child into one of the safety seats crammed into the backseat.

The other two babies were still sound asleep. Garrett scooped them both up, hoped they wouldn’t wake and start screaming at him, too, and took them outside.

By the time he pulled into his driveway next to his pickup, all of them having been packed into Darby’s car so snugly that he felt some real sympathy for sardines, his head was pounding with the force of jackhammers.

And the fun was just beginning.

“Mr. Cullum?” Darby was looking at him over Regan’s sleeping form. “I think we should get the children inside.”

He shoved open the car door and unfolded himself. “I’m gonna need a van,” he muttered, and nearly cringed at the notion.

Getting the children inside the house proved to be nearly as much work as getting them settled inside the car. But finally the job was done. The triplets were situated in the center of his wide bed—the only piece of furniture he’d acquired new when he’d moved into the rental. It was king-size, extra-long and fit him to a T. Right now his long, fat pillows were lined around the edges like some puffy corral, to keep the sleeping triplets in the center, and the likelihood of him getting a decent night’s sleep grew even dimmer.

Tad, Keely and Bridget. One boy and two girls.

“They look like three peas in a pod,” he muttered, staring at the sight from the doorway. Darby had put Regan and Reid in the second bedroom. Fortunately, it had come furnished with twin beds.

“You’ll get used to them,” Darby assured. “And you don’t have to dress them alike that way just because their—” Her voice broke off awkwardly.

“Because their mother did,” Garrett finished flatly. Trust Elise—pretty, proper, pampered—to dress her triplets alike. “You don’t have to avoid her name.”

“I wasn’t.” But her distressed expression told a different story. “You’ll be able to tell the triplets apart before long,” she reassured.

“Sure,” Garrett agreed abruptly. “When it’s time to change a diaper, I’ll know whether I’ve got Tad in hand or not.”

Her lips twitched the moment before she turned away. “If it helps, Keely is the only one with eight teeth already.”

“Great. Another clue.” Garrett followed Darby down the narrow stairs, back into the living room, where they’d already dumped the diaper bag and the assortment of other items she’d filched from the child-care center.

She glanced around. “I must go. Did you put my car keys somewhere?”

He slowly drew them out of his pocket and held them up in the air. “You’re responsible for this situation, Darby White. You don’t think I’m gonna let you go all that easily, do you?”

Responsible.

Darby felt the blood drain from her head, and her knees wobbled. She stared at Garrett. How could he know? How could anyone know?

He was swearing under his breath and pushing her into a chair, nudging her head down between her knees. She pushed at his hands, but he held her firm. She squirmed. “What are you doing?”

“You looked like you were gonna pass out.”

He bent his knees and crouched in front of her, finally allowing Darby to lift her head. But he was so close she could see the flecks of brown in his green eyes, and she wanted to lower her head once more. Her throat tightened again. “Mr. Cullum, I don’t know how you—”

“Garrett.”

“I…what?”

“Call me Garrett. Seems stupid to be so formal under the circumstances.”

Not even Dane had lashes as long as this man’s, and Dane was so handsome Darby used to tease him about being pretty. She swallowed nervously. “I’m terribly sorry about—”

“Dumping five kids on me? Don’t feel sorry for me,” he murmured. “Feel sorry for them. And if it weren’t for you speaking up about what Elise told you, they wouldn’t be saddled with an uncle who doesn’t have a clue what to do with ’em.” He straightened. “You can’t just abandon us now.”

The room swam again and Darby pressed her fingertips to her closed eyes. From blind panic to pitiful relief in the span of a heartbeat was almost more than she could take.

She moistened her lips and dropped her hands, looking up at him. He’d removed his jacket some time ago, and the sleeves of his white linen shirt were folded up his forearms. He looked grim, tired and appealing. And she was appalled at herself for even noticing that at a time like this. For all she knew, he had a wife tucked away somewhere. Or a fiancée. Or a harem.

He also looked something else, she realized with a start. Beneath his steady, green gaze he was just as panicked as she’d felt. And why not? His life had changed today.

She sat up. “Mr. Cull—Garrett, you do have a choice regarding the children. Laura did say that your brother-in-law had no family on his side, but obviously you’re not the only remaining relative of the children. Your… Mr. Carson is probably on his way back from his business trip, if he hasn’t arrived already. I’m sure between the two of you, you’ll manage to—”

“Have you met him?”

“Well, no, actually. I know of him, of course. You can’t live in Fisher Falls and not know who Caldwell Carson is. He is the mayor, after all. And if not for that, I’ve heard his company built more than half the homes in the state.”

“Yeah, he’s a busy boy, Caldwell is.” He ran his hand around the back of his neck. “And between the two of us, we’ll be working out exactly nothing. The kids are with me. They’ll stay with me.” His lips thinned. “It’s what Elise wanted, right?”

Darby nodded. It was the one thing she could confirm with complete honesty. And now that job done, it was time for her to go. To remove herself from the situation before she brought more harm to innocent people.

Harm. Such an inadequate word for what she’d caused.

“I need to go.” She stood and held out her hand for her keys, but he didn’t drop them into her palm, and unease rippled through her. “My keys?”

They jingled, sounding loud in the silence of the house, when he finally released them into her hand. She pushed them into her pocket and headed for the door. “Good luck with the children.”

“Meaning you think I’ll need it.”

“If one of the triplets wakens during the night, I suggest giving a bottle. I saw some cans of formula in the diaper bag as well as clean bottles. It’s premixed. Just pour it in the bottle. The children will probably take a while to settle into a new—” her throat clamped tight “—a new routine. Just give yourselves plenty of time to, ah, to adjust,” she finished huskily. She didn’t dare look at Garrett. If she did she would start crying.

And if she started crying, she wasn’t sure if she could stop.

The past few months had been so calm. So quiet. She’d started to breathe again. And now this. Elise and Marc had been young, in their prime, with five innocent children completing their home. They hadn’t deserved this.

And she felt guilty for even fearing that her brief period of peace might be threatened as a result.

“You know the kids pretty well.” Garrett’s voice stopped her as she pushed open the screen door. “And they know you.”

Darby nodded. It seemed ridiculous to tell him good-night. There was nothing good about this day. “The children usually spend two or three half-days a week at the center. You’ll probably want to sign them up full-time. But I should warn you that there is a waiting list. You might have better luck looking at some of the other places in town if that’s the route you want to go.”

His expression didn’t change, but she knew without a single doubt that he was cursing inside his head. Her brother, Dane, got that same look when he was inordinately frustrated.

He’d worn that look a lot around Darby before she’d finally found some backbone and left home three months ago.

Her gaze focused on Garrett, and her shoulders sagged. If she had found her backbone and stayed at home, where everyone had insisted she’d belonged—save her great-aunt Georgie, that is—then today’s events would never have occurred. The children sleeping in the bedrooms of this simple, boxy house would be tucked in under the watchful eye of their mother and father—instead of the grimly determined one of their uncle.

“I wouldn’t have to worry about waiting lists if you’d come here to watch the kids.”

She was more tired than she thought, because he made no sense whatsoever. “I already have a job. I work at Smiling Faces, Mr. Cullum.”

“Garrett. You could work here instead. I’ll match your salary.”

“I…no. No, I’m sorry. That’s simply not possible.” She stepped out onto the porch and quickly shut the screen door.

It was insane. She couldn’t even contemplate it. Working at the center was one thing. Being this man’s…nanny, was entirely another.

He followed her. Right over to her car. “Why not? Do you have kids of your own?”

Her stomach tightened. “No.”

“A husband who’d object? A lover?”

“I’m not married.”

His lids lowered. “And…?”

Her cheeks burned. She sidled around him and yanked open the car door. It squealed. “Don’t you have a wife or…someone who can watch the children for you?”

“If I had a wife, I wouldn’t need a nanny.”

“Perhaps she has a demanding career.”

“There is no career. No wife. I’m a harmless, single male. I pay my taxes on time, haven’t broken any laws lately and shower at least once a month whether I need it or not.”

She fumbled her keys from her pocket and sank into the seat, frowning harder.

“Don’t you care about the children?”

“Of course I do!” She drew in a sharp breath. “Which is not the point.” She tried to pull the door closed, but he folded one hand over the top and held it fast. She looked from his hand to his face. But that made her breathless in a way she didn’t dare examine, and she looked back at his hand. “I’d like to leave, Mr. Cullum.”

His fingers slowly straightened, though he didn’t remove his hand completely. “Double your salary.”

She yanked the door closed. The window was still lowered. “Don’t be ridiculous. This isn’t about money.”

“No, it’s about five kids who don’t deserve to wake up tomorrow with no parents.”

His words hit her like a blow to her midsection. Her hand trembled so badly it took her two tries to fit the key in the ignition. The engine sputtered, died.

“Darby, you obviously cared enough about them to see that Elise’s wishes were followed. Just consider the idea, would you?”

Even if she did consider it, what good would it do? The children would become attached to her and she to them. When she had to leave—and she would—it would be just one more loss in their young lives that they neither deserved nor expected.

She’d done what she could when she’d run out onto the street that afternoon. She’d given CPR. She’d applied tourniquets that had done no good. She’d avoided one reporter, sicced a police officer on another and tried not to completely lose her wits when she’d recognized poor Phil as the driver of the other car. She’d known he must have died instantly.

She’d cradled Elise’s head in her arms as the injured woman had urgently whispered about her children. She’d told the police, then Social Services, about Elise’s last words.

There wasn’t anything more that Darby could do.

Nothing that she could undo.

So the best thing for her to do was go. This man, Elise’s brother, would rise to the task of caring for his new charges. She could see it in his face. And just because she was still shaking and distressed over the day’s events didn’t give her any excuse to sugar-coat her own involvement.

She turned the ignition again, holding her breath until the engine caught. She looked up at Garrett as she put the car into Reverse.

And felt herself waver yet again.

The children would be confused and desperately missing their mommy and daddy. Their lives had been torn to pieces through no fault of their own.

Her hands tightened around the steering wheel and she moistened her lips. If she was careful, if she remembered her…her place, maybe she could—

A movement behind them had her automatically glancing in the rearview mirror. The sight of a white van pulling up at the curb was like a dousing with icy water. The side of the van was painted with the colorful logo of the local television station.

“I can’t help you, Garrett. I’m sorry.”

She didn’t look at him as she pulled out of the driveway and drove away. In her mirror, she saw someone step from the van and approach Garrett.

Naturally. The mayor’s long-absent son had returned to town just in time to become the unexpected guardian of his nieces and nephews. In a small place like Fisher Falls, that was big news.

If she didn’t stay away from the scene, the news would grow even bigger. And Darby couldn’t face that.

Not even for those sweet kids.

Not even for a man like Garrett Cullum.

Chapter Three

“I’m going to go over and see Darby White. She won’t refuse in person.” Garrett looked across the metal desk to his assistant as he hung up the phone. He’d just been refused child care from the last center in Fisher Falls. And this one had been run by a church. “No room” seemed to be the stock answer in this town. But Garrett knew better. “We can’t help out the black-sheep son of our beloved mayor” was what they really meant.

Carmel Delgado rolled her eyes and huffed. “She’s already refused you.”

Didn’t he know it. His temporary office was housed in a trailer on the building site of what would soon be G&G Construction’s seventh office, and rather than being filled with desks and filing cabinets for his staff, one end was filled with a playpen, rocking horse and an enormous cardboard box of toys. A box that, he noted absently, the triplets were more interested in chewing on than anything. For now, thankfully, the kids seemed quiet and content enough with their lunch.

“I suppose this means I get to watch ’em for you while you’re gone.”

“Consider it practice for when you and Enrico finally get hitched and have babies.” He yanked open one drawer. Then another, looking for his keys.

Carmel snorted delicately. “Nobody’s gonna rope me into marriage. Not even hunky Enrico.” She held out one finger. The set of keys hung from her long orange-painted nail. “And back to the point—babysitting isn’t in my job description.”

He grabbed the keys. “You’re my assistant. So assist.”

“I want a raise,” she called after him as he left the office, and the fearsome five, behind.

Garrett ignored her as he headed for the new Suburban he’d luckily found at one of the car lots in town. It held the fearsome five and it wasn’t a van, so he was satisfied.

The truth was, no matter how much Carmel complained, he’d have been sunk without her the past few days. If anyone deserved a raise, it was his flamboyant assistant. But he needed her doing what she was paid to do, not playing nanny to the fearsome five, nor fending off the good town mayor.

Bringing the kids to the office was not a workable solution. They were a distraction to all of his staff, not just Carmel. They had bids to get out, a subcontractor to fire and fifty other things that had slid because he’d been too busy shoveling mashed peas into ravenous little mouths, and changing diapers.

Well, Carmel had changed most of the diapers, he acknowledged as he wheeled the Suburban over the ruts in the dirt road leading to and from the building site. Definitely not in her job description.

He had to find an alternative, and Darby White was it. He’d exhausted every other avenue.

Everyone had their price. He would just have to find out what hers was.

Ten minutes later he was walking through the front door of Smiling Faces Child-Care Center. The noise hit him first. A baby crying. A lot of childish, squealing laughter. Someone singing.

Holy God. Give him the chorus of hammer and nails over this racket.

“Can I help you?” A young woman standing behind the long counter separating the entry from the rest of the center widened her eyes and smiled hopefully. She was tall, and had thick blond hair streaming down around her shoulders.

He felt not one speck of interest. He had more important things to take care of. “I’m here to see Darby White.”

Her smile dimmed a fraction. She looked over her shoulder, scanning the room. But Garrett had already spotted Darby’s distinctive hair, and he rounded the waist-high gate.

“Wait. You can’t just go back— Okaaay, I guess you can.”

Garrett stepped through the chaos and stopped behind Darby. She was standing in a circle, holding hands with a half dozen kids who looked no older than Reid. They were singing as their circle revolved.

When she was opposite him, her feet stopped. Surprise widened her eyes. Stiffened her shoulders. The children giggled and let go, forming their own wobbly circle without her.

“Garrett. Did you bring the children in today, after all?”

“No. I spoke with your administrator. Molly? Yesterday. The waiting list for full-time care is six months long.” In six months, he and the kids would be back in New Mexico where child-care would be more easily solved since Caldwell’s damned influence didn’t stretch quite that far. Since Garrett had his own share of influence there. “The best I can get is the two hours a day three times a week that Elise had already set up. But you knew that.”

She didn’t deny it. “How are they?”

“Reid won’t sleep at night, and Regan hates me.” Yet they’d both screamed bloody murder when he’d tried to get them ready to bring them to Smiling Faces for their regular time. They didn’t seem to want to let him out of their sight. Call him a coward, but he’d backed down and instead carted them all to the trailer-office.

Darby pressed her lips together. “Of course Regan doesn’t hate you.”

“My assistant is about ready to quit unless I arrange something more suitable than bringing the fearsome five to work with me.”

Her chin tilted. “There’s nothing fearsome about your nieces and nephews. You’ve told them…I assume.”

“Regan is the only one old enough to have some concept of what it means.” He hadn’t realized Darby’s eyes were quite so blue. “That’s what the psychologist said. I think that all the kids really understand is that their mom and dad left and didn’t come back.”

“It’s a lot of changes for them.”

“Which you could make easier if you’d help me.”

Darby looked around. She wasn’t surprised in the least that they were the focus of numerous interested stares. Anyone who looked as good as this man did, guaranteed plenty of interest.

It didn’t bear thinking about that she was interested enough to take a good, long look at him herself. It had been two years since she’d stood next to a man and felt even the slightest flicker. This was beyond a recipe for disaster, though.

She moistened her lips and angled her back against Beth’s avid stare. It didn’t take a genius to know what the pretty blonde receptionist would be gossiping about next. The woman’s mouth was constantly running, and Darby gave her as wide a berth as humanly possible considering they worked at the same place. “Garrett, I can’t discuss this with you here. Everyone is watching us.”

“Then where? I’m not leaving you alone until I get the answer I need.”

“Find someone else!” She lowered her voice and drew him to the rear of the room where the cribs were pushed against the wall. “There are other child-care centers in Fisher Falls. Smiling Faces isn’t the only one. There are referral services. Family child-care in private homes. I’m not the only person in town capable of solving your problem. Find another nanny.” She lifted her shoulder. “Beth, the blonde over there? She’d take you up in a heartbeat if you asked her.”

“She’d be too busy figuring out how to get in my bed to watch the kids.”

Darby flushed. It was probably true. And he obviously didn’t think he needed to worry about Darby on that score. Big surprise. On her own, she’d never managed to attract much male interest.

“You’re the only one in town who didn’t think twice about carrying out Elise’s wishes,” he said.

“So?”

His slashing eyebrows pulled together. “You really don’t know, do you?”

She dashed her hair off her forehead. “Know what?”

“Caldwell owns this town and nearly everyone in it.”

“He is our mayor. People are naturally loyal to him.”

“He wants custody of the children. He filed a suit for them even before they put my sister and her husband in the ground yesterday,” Garrett said flatly.

She sighed. Custody battles were never pretty.

“I haven’t lived here since I was fifteen,” he continued, “and those people who do remember me, don’t do it with fondness. So let’s just say that I’m not exactly overrun with friends I can count on to help me out.”

“Well, maybe the best answer is for their grandfather to have them,” Darby reasoned. “I’m sure your sister had her reasons for saying what she did, but if Mayor Carson wants them and you’re not equipped for caring for them— It’s nothing to be ashamed of, Garrett. The important thing here is the children’s welfare. Right?”

“She had good reasons.” A muscle ticked in his jaw. “Just because he’s mayor doesn’t mean he is a decent parent. Elise probably knew he’d ruin them just like he ruined us. There’s a custody hearing scheduled for next Wednesday to rule on the temporary order put in place when Elise died. At least help me out until then. It’s not even a week away.”

A week, she thought. What would one week mean?

A lot, her saner self argued. A person’s entire life could change in an instant. Compared to that, a week—six days, actually—could be an eternity.

“You don’t even know me,” she argued. “How do you know I won’t steal the silver or something while you’re at work?”

“It’s not my silver. House is rented, remember?”

She frowned.

“Molly Myers has already vouched for you. So has Laura Malone and everyone else I’ve spoken with. You may have only been in town a short while, but you’ve managed to make an impression.”