Jingle Bell Babies

Nope. Because he was practically dead on his feet and didn’t need any witnesses to the fact. Someone who would report back to Nicki. Who’d report to Clay. Who’d report to Maya….

He had an idea. As much as Lori Martin obviously loved children, he knew exactly what would make her beat a hasty retreat.

“I didn’t realize you were interested in the position. When can you start?” Jesse injected just enough sarcasm to scare her off. And let her know exactly what he thought about people gossiping about him.

Lori Martin met his gaze. And smiled sweetly.

“Right now.”

Chapter Three

You’re hired.

Those two simple words echoed in Lori’s mind as she reached the end of the long dirt road, and the car’s headlights illuminated a turn-of-the-century two-story house with a stone foundation.

Jesse’s house.

Maybe she should leave the engine running.

Lori hadn’t expected Jesse to turn cartwheels at her impulsive offer the night before, but his cool response had her questioning her decision. And her sanity.

I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

The verse in Philippians she’d read during her devotional time that morning filtered through her panic and calmed what some people would have called “the butterflies” in her stomach. To Lori, it felt more like a herd of mustangs had taken up residence there.

She took a deep breath and turned off the ignition.

The front door opened and Jesse stepped onto the porch, his lean, broad-shouldered frame backlit by the soft glow from the window.

He’d been waiting for her.

Lori got out of the car, tempted to leave her suitcase in the trunk. Just in case.

I can do all things through Christ, Lori reminded herself. All things.

She’d made a promise to the girls—and to God—and she intended to keep it.

Scraping up her courage, Lori popped the trunk and wrestled her suitcase out. She took a step back and smacked into something warm and solid.

“I can take this.” Jesse’s fingers closed over the handle and brushed against hers as he took control of the suitcase.

The chilly morning air was making her shiver. Had to be that….

“Thank you.” The mustangs had multiplied, but Lori forced a smile.

“Is this all you have?” She sensed a scowl in the darkness.

“I packed what I needed to get me through the next few days.” If she lasted that long. “My rental came furnished, but I plan to pick up the rest my things later in the week.”

Jesse acknowledged her words with a curt nod as he retraced his steps back to the house.

Did the man know how to smile?

All things…

The verse dissolved like sugar in water as Lori followed Jesse inside and caught her first glimpse of her new home.

“You can go on in.” Jesse’s gruff prompt encouraged her to take another step forward.

A reluctant step forward.

It was obvious that two bachelor ranchers and three babies equaled chaos.

Jesse coughed as he ushered her into the living room. “The place is a little…neglected. I had a housekeeper. Up until last week.”

So. He’d fired her, too.

Which explained why the room looked as if the tornado had gone through his house the day before, instead of five months ago.

Bright plastic toys were scattered like confetti from one end of the room to the other. Laundry—men’s faded chambray work shirts mixed in with tiny, colorful sleepers—lay draped over the three infant swings lined up in front of the window.

And what was that smell?

Lori took a few more steps forward and something crunched beneath her foot. Glancing down, she saw the remains of a pretzel ground into the carpet.

“The housekeeper did most of the cooking, too.” Jesse discreetly swiped up a sock and crossed his arms to hide it from view.

Not that they’d had much time to talk about her specific duties yet, but it would have been nice if Jesse had mentioned she would be in charge, not only of the triplets, but of the entire household.

“I started asking around to find someone else, but…” His voice trailed off and Lori filled in the blanks.

Your former nannies spread the word about you.

The former nannies he’d apparently fired without a qualm.

But Madison, Brooke and Sasha needed her, so Lori was determined not to start off the day—let alone the first fifteen minutes—on the wrong foot.

“Don’t worry about it. I don’t mind cooking,” she said cheerfully. “I make the best eggplant Parmesan you’ve ever tasted.”

“Eggplant…” Jesse frowned. “I don’t think I’ve ever tried that.”

“Oh, I’m sure you’d remember if you had. It’s delicious. In fact, it’s considered a staple in a vegetarian diet.” But probably missing from the menu of a certain cattle rancher.

“Vege—” Jesse choked on the rest of the word. “You’re a…vegetarian?”

Lori waited a beat, hoping he’d realize he was being teased. It would prove a sense of humor lurked somewhere below that serious demeanor. “No.”

Jesse frowned.

Apparently not. “I was kidding.”

“Kidding?” Jesse repeated the word suspiciously.

“Making a joke….” Never mind.

“Right.” Jesse continued to stare at her, and Lori wondered if, in spite of her best intentions, she was going to break her predecessor’s forty-eight-hour record. Abruptly, Jesse turned away. “I’ll show you to your room. The girls are still asleep, but I guess that’s not a surprise, considering how late they went to bed last night.”

Lori envied them. She’d stared at the ceiling for hours, asking God if she’d made the right decision.

It wasn’t as if she were a risk-taker by nature. And considering Jesse Logan’s track record with the triplets’ former nannies, one might argue that taking the job definitely put her in that category.

After she’d helped Jesse bundle the girls into their snowsuits the night before, Lori told him that she’d be there by six-thirty the next morning. She didn’t know much about ranching but assumed Jesse’s day started at sunup. The mixture of relief and gratitude in his eyes told her that she’d guessed correctly.

Fortunately, Lori had the day off from her job at the hospital, which would give her time to contact the personnel department at the hospital and talk to Janet, her supervisor.

Another factor that had proven God was at work in the situation. In fact, the longer Lori had thought and prayed about it, the more she realized that seemingly small and insignificant details now looked like signposts, directing her down a different path than the one she’d been on.

She wouldn’t have known Jesse was looking for a nanny if Nicki hadn’t called and asked for her help in the church nursery the night before. And just last week, Lori’s landlady mentioned her niece had moved back to High Plains and needed a place to stay. She asked if Lori wanted to renew her lease, which was due the second week in December. Lori had told her that she planned to stay—but the lease agreement remained on her desk, still unsigned. Lori couldn’t help but think that her landlady would be happy to offer the unit to a family member.

Even if Lori believed in coincidences—which she didn’t—it would have been impossible to ignore the verse she’d read during her devotional time—the one she’d memorized while packing her suitcase. The one she silently repeated as she wove through a maze of baby jumpers and followed Jesse to the second floor.

A spacious landing opened up at the top of the stairs, and Jesse turned down the hallway to the left.

“You can have the room that adjoins the nursery.” His husky voice dropped to a whisper as he nudged the door open.

Lori braced herself, ready to pretend to be enthusiastic.

Only, this time she didn’t have to pretend.

The color scheme was a serene combination of subdued ivory, sage-green and a vibrant shade of blue that reminded Lori of Jesse’s eyes….

The sky, she quickly corrected the errant thought. It reminded her of the sky.

She ventured farther into the room, aware that Jesse had put her suitcase down and moved aside to allow her to explore.

A queen-size antique four-poster bed, covered by a double wedding-ring quilt, dominated the room. Hand-hooked wool rugs had been strategically placed in front of the matching nightstands and the window. All places where bare feet might linger.

A sepia-toned photo of a man and woman held a prominent place on the wall above the headboard. Instead of staring somberly at the camera, typical for photographs taken during that era, the young couple was smiling at each other.

“My ancestors, Will and Emmeline Logan.” Jesse stood beside her and Lori’s heart did that crazy skip-hop thing again. “Will and Zeb Garrison founded High Plains in 1858, and Will married Emmeline a few years after that.”

Lori forced herself to concentrate on the photo instead of the appealing, masculine scent of the man standing beside her.

More than a hundred years separated the two men, and yet the family resemblance was uncanny. Will Logan had the same bone structure—angular jaw and deep-set eyes—but his smile held a hint of mischief. “Was it your great-grandfather who started the Circle L?”

Jesse nodded. “He built the house for Emmeline. The ranch has been run by one of their descendants ever since.”

Lori felt a stab of envy. What would it feel like to be part of such a strong family line? To share a legacy that had bonded its members together for more than a hundred years?

Her own family had splintered and fallen apart the summer after Lori had graduated from high school.

“It’s beautiful,” she murmured. “You must feel very blessed.”

“Not everyone would agree with your opinion.” Jesse pivoted sharply on his heel. “I’ll show you the rest of the house and then I have to get to work. Clay is probably already in the barn waiting for me.”

Lori found herself staring at his retreating back.

Not everyone would agree…

Agree with what? That his home was beautiful—or that he’d been blessed?

The headache that had anchored its claws in the back of Jesse’s skull during the night finally worked its way around to his temples.

He hadn’t expected Lori Martin’s innocent questions to bring back an avalanche of memories…and regrets.

Marie had never described the house as beautiful. The first time she visited she labeled it “quaint,” and Jesse, who’d taken it as a compliment, remembered thanking her. But several months after the wedding, she’d complained the rooms were too small and she felt cramped without adequate storage space. Without discussing it with him first, she’d talked to her father. Philip not only had an architect draw up a new blueprint, but then generously offered to pay the expenses so they could build something more suited to their style.

What Marie didn’t understand was that the ranch was Jesse’s style.

And he thought it had been hers.

Memories lapped against the walls Jesse had shored up around his heart.

The truth was, both of them had assumed a lot about each other.

They’d met at a rodeo, when Marie had come to town on what she described as a “girls’ getaway” weekend. She sat down next to Jesse on the makeshift bleachers, her eyes sparkling with mischief as she told him that her friends had dared her to kiss a cowboy.

Unable to resist her charming smile, Jesse planted his favorite Stetson on Marie’s head and kissed her on the cheek instead, surprised at his own boldness.

They had dinner that evening. And the next.

Marie extended her weekend stay to an entire week. When she finally left, she took Jesse’s heart with her. After more than ten years of pouring his heart and soul into making the ranch a success, he’d been ready for someone to share it with.

Jesse had always been the levelheaded one when it came to life and relationships, but in spite of Maya’s reservations, he proposed to Marie on Valentine’s Day and they married less than six months later.

Unfortunately, it hadn’t taken long for Jesse to realize that Marie had a romanticized, Hollywood view about life on a ranch. Emergencies ignited like brush fires, and as the owner of the Circle L, it was Jesse’s responsibility to put them out. Night or day. Marie started to resent the hours he spent apart from her. She resisted Maya’s attempts to befriend her, and refused to become part of the tight-knit community, but still complained that she was bored.

Bitterness scoured the lining of Jesse’s stomach. He’d opened his heart and taken a risk. And in the end he’d lost.

He didn’t blame Marie, he blamed himself. He’d written a fairy tale of his own—one in which he and his wife would work side by side during the day and sit together on the porch swing in the evening, waiting for the first star to appear in the sky. They’d laugh together. Raise a family together. The way his parents had.

But the reality? More arguments than laughter. And too many nights when Jesse had sat on the porch swing alone while Marie sat inside watching television or talking on the phone.

He didn’t feel blessed.

“Mr. Logan? Jesse?” Lori Martin stood beside him, concern reflected in the depths of her amber eyes. “Is something wrong?”

Jesse’s lips twisted.

Maybe she was worried that she’d agreed to work for someone who was losing his mind. Not that Jesse blamed her. A few times over the past few months, he’d wondered about that himself.

He frowned as his gaze dropped to the constellation of pale cinnamon freckles dotting the bridge of Lori’s nose.

Funny, he hadn’t noticed them until now.

With a jolt, Jesse realized he hadn’t noticed how young she was, either. Probably in her mid-twenties. Her smile seemed to appear without warning or reason, and the lively sparkle in her eyes was evidence of a life that hadn’t been touched by disappointment.

Lucky her.

Lori’s response to his bluff the night before, when he offered and she accepted the nanny position, had left him stunned. It wasn’t until Jesse watched her car glide up the driveway that he let himself believe she’d really accepted the position. And even then, he half expected to see her do a U-turn and hightail it back to town.

He’d stopped asking God for help a long time ago, but if Jesse didn’t know better, he’d be tempted to think He was still looking out for him anyway.

Lori felt her face grow warm and she shifted uncomfortably under Jesse’s intense perusal. Had her mascara smeared? Did she have a smudge of grape jelly on her nose?

An unhappy squawk on the other side of the door saved her from having to ask.

She and Jesse instinctively turned toward the sound.

“Brooke.” They said the name at exactly the same moment.

Lori grinned at the expression on Jesse’s face and she shrugged. “She’s always the first one awake and ready to eat in the morning.”

A shadow darkened Jesse’s eyes. “I keep forgetting that you…know them.”

Know them. Love them. Had even held them in her arms before Jesse….

Lori decided those thoughts were best kept to herself as she stepped into the nursery to say good morning to the girls.

She blinked, giving her eyes a moment to adjust to the shock.

Someone had painted the room…pink. But not a delicate, seashell-pink. A bright, vibrant, sensory-overload shade of Post-it Note pink.

But aside from the color of the walls and the identical white cribs lined up against the wall, it didn’t look like a nursery.

No pictures on the walls. No mobiles over the cribs. The windows lacked curtains and, other than the beds, there wasn’t a stick of furniture. Not even a rocking chair.

Lori’s gaze moved to an enormous cardboard box positioned under the window. She decided it didn’t count.

A sudden noisy chorus rose from the direction of the three cribs, and Lori no longer had time to dwell on the décor. Or lack thereof.

“When one wakes up, they all wake up.” Jesse shook his head. “I stopped setting my alarm a few months ago—it seemed a little unnecessary.”

Lori went to Sasha first, even though the baby wasn’t exercising her lungs the way Brooke was. She’d captured her toes and was studying them with the same serious, intense expression Lori had seen on Jesse’s face. She reached into the crib and Sasha’s dimpled hand closed around her finger.

“Good morning, sweetheart. How did you sleep?” She glanced at Jesse. “Do you have a changing table somewhere?”

“It’s in the box,” Jesse muttered.

The box under the window.

Madison rolled over to watch the show, her thumb tucked firmly in her mouth. Lori blew her a noisy kiss. “Patience, sweet pea. I’ll get to you in a minute.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Lori saw Jesse’s scowl.

It occurred to her that, if he’d fired someone for the songs she’d sung to the girls, maybe kisses were against the rules, too.

Not on her shift.

She’d spent hours caring for babies, and she knew that the more stimulation they received—the more people who touched and spoke to them—the more they thrived.

“If you have work to do, I can take it from here.” And she’d be much less nervous if Jesse wasn’t watching her.

Jesse hesitated.

“Really. We’ll be fine.” With Sasha in her arms, Lori breezed over to the changing table…box…and with one hand, flicked open a blanket before laying the baby down. She kept one hand on Sasha’s tummy while reaching for a clean diaper from the stack on the floor.

Jesse hadn’t taken the hint, and Lori felt the weight of his gaze as she deftly changed Sasha’s diaper. It wasn’t until all the babies had on fresh diapers that he finally retreated.

Lori sighed with relief.

“I must have made it through round one,” she whispered to Madison.

The baby grinned.

“I know, I know.” Lori winked at her. “I won’t get cocky. Now, let’s go down to the kitchen and find some breakfast.”

And get ready for round two.

Chapter Four

“So, what do you think? Is this one going to work out?”

Clay’s innocent expression didn’t fool Jesse for a second.

He knew he should have followed his gut instincts. But no, in spite of his better judgment, he’d gone down to the barn and put himself in the crosshairs of Clay’s wicked sense of humor.

As far as Jesse was concerned, the topic of the nannies that had come and gone over the past few months wasn’t open for discussion. But if there was an invisible line drawn in the sand, his brother had to cross it.

“Time will tell.” Jesse chose the safest response.

Clay rolled his eyes.

“She’s very…calm,” Jesse offered.

Really calm.

Lori hadn’t seemed a bit rattled by the prebreakfast commotion. Jesse was always a little overwhelmed in the morning, when all three girls woke up within minutes of each other, bawling like newborn calves for their breakfast.

In his mind’s eye, he saw Lori’s lips purse as she blew a kiss to Madison. He shook the image away, but another one—of Lori tickling the bottom of Sasha’s tiny foot while Brooke wailed for her share of the attention—took its place.

“Patient,” he added.

“That should work in your favor.”

“I meant patient with the girls.”

“Right. Sorry.” Clay grinned. “And she didn’t run screaming back to High Plains when she saw the living room. That’s a good sign.”

Jesse had thought so, too.

Not that he hadn’t tried to keep up with the housework. And the laundry. And the cooking.

Even with two hired hands pulling ten-hour days and Clay coming onboard to help, Jesse had a difficult time staying on top of things at the ranch. It took every ounce of his energy to take care of the triplets in the evening and find a few free hours to work on the books. When he’d let the last nanny go two days before Tommy turned up missing, the house had taken a downward spiral.

Who was he kidding? Downward spiral? It had already hit bottom. Crashed and burned.

“I’m having dinner with Nicki so I won’t be around this evening.” Clay reached out and clipped Jesse lightly on the shoulder with his fist. “Lori sounds too good to be true. Don’t mess this up.”

“Me?”

“I’ve got two words for you: five nannies.”

“I wasn’t the problem.” Jesse glared at his brother. “They weren’t what I…expected.”

The teasing sparkle in Clay’s eyes faded. “Jess…” He paused, as if trying to find the right words. “You can’t expect the girls’ nanny to be like their…mother. It’s not the same. It’s not going to look the same.”

His brother didn’t realize the truckload of irony in that statement, Jesse thought. Marie hadn’t wanted to be a mother. He’d watched her emotionally distance herself from the girls—the same way she had with him.

He had prayed. Back then. He prayed she would eventually come around. He prayed she would see the girls for the miraculous gift they were—but those hopes had been crushed when he found the note and her wedding rings that day.

A wave of bitterness swept through him. Belief in answered prayer. Hope. At one time, Jesse had had a surplus of both. But that was before he’d realized they left a lingering aftertaste of disappointment.

“I know this has been hard for you, Jess, but I’m here to help.” Clay met his gaze. “Not just with the ranch but with…everything.”

“Yeah, but for how long?” Jesse retorted.

As soon as he saw the shadow skim through his brother’s eyes, Jesse silently berated himself.

“For as long as you want me to, whether you believe it or not.” Clay’s quiet promise weighted the air between them.

He sauntered out of the barn and Jesse closed his eyes.

What had happened to him?

Over the past six months, Jesse had been waiting for a sign that the well of bitterness inside of him was beginning to dry up. But instead, he felt as if it were constantly being replenished by an unknown source.

Maya told him that he had to let God work in his heart but Jesse wondered if he was beyond repair. Sometimes he thought the only thing that kept his heart beating was his daughters’ sunny smiles.

She could do this.

Lori surveyed the living room and took a moment to regroup.

Triplets fed and dressed: check.

Laundry started: check.

Supper in the Crock-Pot: check.

Kitchen—

Lori winced. That room definitely fell under the promise: I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. She planned to tackle that particular project while the girls took their morning nap.

After giving the triplets their bottles, Lori spread out a hand-pieced quilt on the floor of the living room and put all three babies in the center. While they worked their way to the edges, she deposited the toys into a large wicker hamper and sorted through the clothing draped over the swings.

Apparently, the men in the household had discovered a handy place to hang up their laundry after it came out of the dryer, saving the work of having to fold it and put it away.

Lori shook the wrinkles out of a faded denim work shirt and the subtle scent of sage and soap drifted into the air.

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