Twins On The Doorstep

“I’m sure, Rosa,” Cole said patiently.

And, for the most part, he was. There was just this tiny little inkling of doubt left, but he knew he was needlessly torturing himself. If there had been a baby—or babies—because of that one wondrous night, Stacy would have told him.

Wouldn’t she?

“Then why would someone leave them on your doorstep?” Rosa asked, dipping the edge of her cloth in the warm milk. “Why not with the sheriff or on the clinic’s doorstep?”

“I really don’t know, Rosa.” The next moment, he exclaimed, “Wow! I sure am glad this baby doesn’t have teeth yet. He’s got really strong lips for an infant.”

He carefully maneuvered his finger out of what appeared to be a steely rosebud mouth.

“She,” Rosa corrected.

He looked at the housekeeper, confused. “She?”

Rosa nodded her head.

He gazed at the infant. She was all bundled up in yellow. Both of the babies were. Yellow was neutral. It didn’t indicate either male or female. “How would you know that?”

Rosa smiled. “I have a gift,” she told him calmly.

His eyes narrowed just a little. “You unwrapped this one, didn’t you?”

The corner of Rosa’s eyes crinkled just a little more as she laughed. “Perhaps I did, a bit,” she admitted.

Rosa’s laugh was infectious and Cole caught himself laughing, as well. Doing so made him feel just a little better—at least, for now.

Chapter Two

Stacy Rowe was amazed.

She’d been born and raised in Forever, and a little more than eight months ago she would have said that it felt as if things never changed in this tiny town. And then Aunt Kate had whisked her away on that European vacation—insisted on it, really—saying that she wanted Stacy to open her eyes and see that there was a world beyond Forever.

And, more importantly, a world beyond Cole McCullough.

The second his name flashed across her mind, Stacy clenched her fists at her sides as if that would somehow chase away any and all thoughts of the tall Texan.

She wasn’t ready to think about Cole yet.

Cole was the reason that she’d left Forever eight months ago.

And he was the reason she almost hadn’t come back. She didn’t want to see him, not yet.

Maybe not ever.

Not after what had happened.

But she really didn’t have that much choice in the matter. Aunt Kate, that unbelievably hearty, dynamo of a woman, had suddenly become ill in Venice. Never one to complain, Aunt Kate had waved away all of Stacy’s voiced concerns—right up to the time she’d taken a turn for the worse and died before a flight home could be hastily arranged.

Aunt Kate’s death had complicated matters far beyond the immediate emotional component. Alone in a foreign country, Stacy had felt utterly stranded. Aunt Kate had always insisted on handling everything and it was easier than arguing with the woman, so she had let Aunt Kate do it.

It had taken every fiber of her being for Stacy to rally, pull herself together and do what needed to be done.

Per her aunt’s specified last wishes, she’d had her aunt’s body cremated and then she’d flown back to Forever with an urn filled with Aunt Kate’s ashes.

Stacy would rather have flown anywhere else, but in all honesty, she couldn’t afford to travel any longer or go anywhere except the town she’d always called home. Aunt Kate had been the one with all the money.

Her aunt had left her a little money in her will, but that, too, required a trip back to Forever. Olivia Santiago, along with her partner, Cash Taylor, ran the only law firm there. As Aunt Kate’s attorney and executor, Olivia had the only copy of her aunt’s will.

So, with a heavy heart and more than a little reluctance, Stacy had returned. Once back, she’d presented Olivia with a copy of her aunt’s death certificate.

And that was when she discovered that some things in Forever had changed. The house that she’d grown up in, the one that her mother had left to her when she died and where she and Aunt Kate had lived before they’d gone off to Europe, had burned down while they’d been away.

The other thing that had changed while she’d been gone was that Forever had finally gotten its first hotel up and running. What that meant was that at least she had a place to stay while she waited for Olivia to square things away for her when it came to the will.

This was her first week back and, hopefully, her last.

Getting up, Stacy got ready quickly, intending to go downstairs to get some much-needed coffee and eggs over easy. The hotel, still in its infancy, had just opened a small restaurant on its premises. She’d heard it was having some trouble with a faulty refrigerator, but supposedly that had been taken care of. She crossed her fingers.

Stacy got off the elevator and was crossing the lobby to get to the restaurant when she heard Elsie, the young woman behind the reception desk, let out a loud, bloodcurdling scream.

Hurrying over, Stacy put a comforting hand on the young girl’s shoulder and asked, “What’s wrong, Elsie? Can I help?”

Elsie didn’t appear to hear her or even be overly aware that anyone was standing next to her. Her attention was completely centered on the paper she was clutching.

“I did it!” Elsie cried, waving what looked like a letter in her hand. “I did it! I’m going to college!” she squealed.

Scurrying out from behind the desk, she threw her arms around Stacy, and then around Rebecca Ortiz, the hotel manager who had been drawn out of her office by the noise. “I’m going to college!” Elsie repeated, obviously beside herself with joy.

“Somewhere not too far away?” Rebecca asked, obviously doing her best to share the moment with the receptionist.

Elsie stopped abruptly and then happily grinned at the manager. “I’m going to be going to the University of Texas in Austin,” she told her small audience proudly.

“Oh. That means you’ll be going away to school.”

“Yes, it will,” Elsie cried happily, her eyes all but dancing as she moved around the lobby. “And I can’t wait to go.”

“Well, you’ve still got some time,” Rebecca pointed out. From her expression, she was already trying to figure out how to get a replacement for Elsie. “You just came back from an extended vacation. And next September’s a long way away.”

Elsie shook her head so hard it looked as if it was going to go spinning off. The young girl held the letter up higher.

“No, it says here I can start in January, just like I applied.” The girl’s eyes were dancing. “There are so many things I have to do! I can’t wait to call my parents and tell them about this!”

“You didn’t tell them when you opened the letter?” Stacy asked.

With all her heart, she wished she had parents she could share things with. With Aunt Kate gone, she was on her own.

“I, um, didn’t open the letter when I got it,” Elsie confessed, sounding just a little subdued for a moment, like she was tripping over her words. “I’ve been carrying it around since yesterday. I was afraid that the school had rejected me. But they didn’t!” she exclaimed, her voice rising again. “They said yes!”

“Yes, we know, dear.” Rebecca sighed. “Looks like I’m going to have to find a new receptionist for the hotel. Quickly,” she added.

Turning toward Stacy, she ventured, “You wouldn’t be looking for a job, would you?”

“Well, if it’ll help you out—” Stacy began, gauging her words slowly.

Rebecca’s eyes widened in surprise. “Oh, it would, it definitely would,” she assured Stacy. “I realize that you probably won’t be staying permanently, but I’d really appreciate you taking over for Elsie when she leaves.” As an afterthought, Rebecca turned toward the receptionist and asked, “When are you planning on leaving, dear?”

“This minute!” Elsie all but shouted. It was like watching champagne bubbling out of a bottle a moment after the cork had been pulled. “I’ve got so much to do between now and January.” Moving from foot to foot, the now former receptionist gave the impression that she was about to jump out of her skin at any second. “Things are finally turning around and going my way,” she cried. “I’ve got to get home. I’ve got to tell Mom and Dad I’m going to college.” She paused for a split second before charging out the front door. “I’m going to college!” she cried, as if she couldn’t get enough of the simple declaration.

And the next moment, she was gone.

Rebecca shook her head and laughed. “Can you remember ever being that excited?” she marveled, glancing in Stacy’s direction.

“Once, a lifetime ago.”

At least, it felt like a lifetime ago. But in reality, it wasn’t. She’d been that happy when she’d found herself falling hopelessly in love with Cole McCullough. In the beginning she’d been convinced that it was strictly one-sided—until he began paying attention to her.

She remembered every word of every conversation they’d ever had. Cherished all the islands of time that they’d shared together. Back then—had it really been less than a year ago?—she’d honestly believed that maybe, just maybe, they were on their way to meaning something to one another.

Oh, Cole had meant a great deal to her, he had for years now, but it wasn’t until they started spending time together that she began to believe that maybe, just maybe, there was a happily-ever-after in store for her. For them.

She should have realized that she was too old to believe in fairy tales, Stacy admonished herself. They’d had one wonderful, magical night together, and then he’d turned around and told her that maybe things were moving too quickly. That they should slow down before it was too late.

As far as she was concerned, it was already too late. Like a lovestruck idiot, she’d thought he felt the same way about her that she did about him. She should have known better.

She’d given Cole her heart and he had stomped on the gift, offering her a bunch of meaningless rhetoric that, loosely interpreted, said I had a great time. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

She’d always been the smart one in her family; at least, that was what Aunt Kate had always told her. But Aunt Kate found her crying in her room. Stacy had tried to pretend that nothing was wrong, but her aunt hadn’t been fooled. Then Kate put two and two together, and just like that, the idea for the European vacation had been born.

Stacy had attempted to demur, but Aunt Kate wouldn’t take no for an answer. She’d said that she always wanted to travel abroad and felt that this might be her last chance.

Little did either one of them realize that she would be right, Stacy thought sadly.

In hindsight, Stacy didn’t regret taking off the way she had. Hurt, she hadn’t thought that she owed Cole a single word of explanation, or even the courtesy of a goodbye since he had distanced himself from her right after their night together.

And, looking back, she was glad she’d had that time with her aunt.

What was hard was finding a place for herself now that she was back.

Well, that wouldn’t be a problem for the time being. Thank heavens she’d been in the right place at the right time. Any possible future money problems, at least for now, were on hold.

“When would you like to get started?” Rebecca asked her.

Stacy shrugged. She hadn’t even been thinking about this half an hour ago.

“Now would be fine,” she finally told the hotel manager.

“Now?” Rebecca echoed, surprised. “You don’t want a day to wind down and get used to the idea?”

Stacy saw no advantage in that. At least if she was working, she’d be doing something to occupy her mind, although she had to admit it didn’t exactly look extremely busy around here.

“Why?”

The question took the hotel manager aback. “Well, when you walked into the lobby this morning, I know you weren’t thinking about being able to get a job as a receptionist.”

Stacy laughed.

“I wasn’t not thinking about it, either.”

Pleased, Rebecca put her arm around Stacy’s shoulders and gave her a quick squeeze. “I do appreciate this, Stacy. It saves me the trouble of having to look for someone to take Elsie’s place. You are a lifesaver. You know that, don’t you?”

“It goes both ways, Rebecca.” When the taller woman looked at her quizzically, Stacy decided not to tell her that she needed a job or would need one eventually. Instead, what she said was, “I need to keep busy.”

“Well, we don’t exactly have so much business that we have to turn people away,” Rebecca told her honestly. “This is still Forever. But slowly we are getting outsiders passing through, especially ever since the Healing Ranch was written up in that magazine. That put us on the map, so to speak. Before then, except for the occasional lost person who found themselves in Forever by accident, looking for the right way to get back, I don’t think anyone ever came to Forever on purpose. Not unless they already lived in the general area and were just coming into town for supplies.”

Rebecca was not telling Stacy anything that she didn’t already know.

“All things considered,” Stacy said honestly, “I’m kind of surprised that someone actually built a hotel in Forever.”

Rebecca smiled. “Just between us...me, too,” she told Stacy with a broad wink. “There’s not much to this job, really,” she went on. “I can train you in an hour. Half that time if you’re as smart as I remember.”

They’d attended the same high school together—everyone in Forever did—where Rebecca had been three years ahead of her. But since the classes at each grade level were rather small, it felt as if the students were more like one large family than the typical rivalry between the different grades.

Stacy blushed a little. Compliments were a rare thing in her world. Not that Aunt Kate had been belittling. She just had a way of taking everything over, silently indicating that she didn’t feel that her niece was competent to do things as well as she herself could do them. For a while there, Stacy had begun to believe her.

“You’re being kind,” Stacy responded.

“I’m being accurate,” Rebecca corrected. “Remember, I’m your boss for now. Bosses don’t get anywhere by being just kind. They have to be accurate. I think you’re going to be good for the hotel.

“Okay, let me go over some of the key duties, and then you can get started by going to the diner and getting some breakfast for the two of us.”

Stacy looked at her, curious. “I thought the hotel had that little restaurant on the premises.” She recalled walking by it yesterday.

“It does,” Rebecca told her. “But unfortunately, it’s still closed for repairs.”

“Repairs?”

The other woman nodded. “It seems that yesterday, just before end of day, we had a grease fire. There was some damage done. We’re keeping it closed for now. Just one thing after another,” she said with a sigh. “You don’t mind going, do you?” she asked after seeing the slightly unhappy expression on Stacy’s face.

“Oh, no, no problem.”

Which was a lie. She hadn’t ventured out to see anyone except for Olivia since she’d returned.

But she knew that she’d have to face people eventually and field questions. There was no such thing as “mind your own business” in Forever. But she had really thought that eventually wasn’t going to arrive so soon.

Obviously, she’d thought wrong.

So, after a very brief review of her new duties, which, Stacy felt, anyone with an ounce of common sense could have easily figured out, she found herself walking to Miss Joan’s Diner.

She knew she could have driven there, giving herself a quick avenue of escape once she’d placed and picked up her order, but that was only putting off the inevitable. She had to face the people of Forever who would have questions for her.

It was better to get it over with than to stress over the anticipation of what those questions might be.

You can do this, you can do this, Stacy told herself over and over again, like some sort of a mantra meant to give her strength as she made her way down the streets of Forever to the diner.

You can do this. You can do this.

Finally reaching the diner’s front door, she pulled it open and walked inside. Several people at the counter looked up in her direction. She saw recognition ricochet back and forth on their faces.

You can’t do this.

Chapter Three

The babies had both been fed and, thanks to the resourcefulness of Jackson and Garrett’s housekeeper, they had been changed as well, so their whimpering, at least for now, had stopped. The twins had fallen asleep.

Cole took the opportunity to call home. It took several rings before anyone picked up on the other end.

“Hello?”

Cole could tell by the way the greeting had been barked that Connor was in less than good spirits. “Connor, it’s Cole. I’m going to be late.”

“You’re already late,” his older brother informed him.

“I know,” Cole said, an apology implied in his voice. “But it can’t be helped.”

“Everything can be helped,” Connor said impatiently. And then Cole heard his older brother sigh. “Okay, well, what’s the problem?”

Looking at the sleeping twins, Cole moved farther away from them, afraid that if he accidentally spoke loudly he’d wind up waking them up. “You know how Cody came across Devon pulled over on the side of the road and she was about to give birth?”

“Yes?” Connor sounded perplexed.

“And then Cassidy helped save that baby out of the river?”

“I’ve got chores to do, Cole. For both of us, it appears. I know all this you’re telling me. What I don’t know is where you’re going with it.”

Cole took a deep breath. “Well, it seems that it happened again.”

“What happened again?” Cole sounded as if he was coming to the end of his patience.

“I was about to leave the ranch when I found these two babies on the doorstep.”

“Two babies,” Connor repeated incredulously.

“Yeah. They’re twins.”

Connor sighed. “Of course they are. Whose are they?” he asked.

“Haven’t a clue,” Cole admitted. “They were just there, tucked into this huge wicker basket like laundry—breathing, moving laundry.”

There was a long pause on the other end of the line and then Connor finally began to ask, “Cole, did you by any chance, um...”

Cole knew what was coming and immediately headed it off before Connor had the opportunity to finish the sentence. “No, I didn’t, Connor. Those babies are not mine.”

“I’m just going to ask this once, and then we’ll put this to rest,” Connor promised before he pressed, “You’re sure?”

“I am positive,” Cole said with finality.

There was no mistaking the relief in Connor’s voice. “Okay. Then you’ve got to find out who those babies belong to.”

“I know,” Cole answered. “I’m taking them into town to see if anyone there knows anything. I’m sorry about this.”

Connor’s voice took on his customary understanding tone. “Don’t be. This isn’t your fault. Give me a call when you find out who abandoned them like unwanted puppies.”

“The second I find out,” Cole promised just before he terminated the call.

Returning to the living room, where Rosa was sitting next to the sleeping infants, Cole began to pick up the basket.

Rosa stopped him with a look. “Where are you going?” she asked.

“I’m taking them into town to see if anyone there knows who these little guys really belong to.”

“Only one of them is a little guy,” Rosa reminded him.

Rosa had been right. One of the twins was a girl.

“I know,” Cole answered. With that, he walked toward the front door with the basket in his hands.

Rosa was on her feet and wound up beating him to the front door. Her agility was rather impressive for a woman her age. “You cannot put them on the seat next to you in the truck,” she warned.

He smiled at this protective side of the woman. “I don’t intend to, Rosa. Don’t worry,” he told her. “They’ll be safe.”

“Safe” involved some clever work with the wicker basket and a length of strong rope. Securing the latter around the former, then tying the basket to the seat, Cole was able to drive into town.

Forever had a medical clinic as well as a sheriff’s office, but there was no question in Cole’s mind what his first stop with the twins was going to be.

He drove straight to Miss Joan’s Diner.

If anyone would have a clue as to who the twins’ mother was, it would be Miss Joan. Like most of the town’s other citizens, Cole was of the opinion that nothing happened in Forever and its outlying territory without Miss Joan knowing about it. Half fairy godmother, half hard-as-nails taskmaster, Miss Joan seemed to know everything about everyone.

And, if she didn’t know now, she would before the end of the day. No one doubted that the woman had her finger on the pulse of the entire town.

Cole himself had an exceedingly soft spot in his heart for the woman. Miss Joan had been there for him and for his siblings when their dad died, and although she could be blustery and demanding, and had been on more than one occasion, he knew that beneath all the tough talk, Miss Joan had the proverbial heart of gold. Even though she would be the first to deny it.

However, that didn’t change anything.

Cole parked his truck right in front of the diner. His vehicle was blocking the entrance to some degree, but he thought that, just this once, given the circumstances, he’d be forgiven.

Undoing the ropes that were holding the basket and its precious cargo in place, he picked up the twins and made his way into the diner.

The moment he walked in, Cole knew he had Miss Joan’s full attention, even though she was behind the counter and on the far side of the diner.

A couple of the waitresses, Eva and Rachel, reached him first, oohing and aahing over the infants in the basket.

But it was Miss Joan whose attention he was after. The moment the red-haired owner reached him, Eva and Rachel immediately, albeit reluctantly, stepped aside, giving the older woman unobstructed access to both the babies and the young man who had brought them in.

Deep hazel-green eyes swept over the scene, assessing it. “I assume that there’s an explanation why you brought these babies into my diner,” Miss Joan said to him.

He nodded. “I was hoping you could tell me who they belonged to.”

Miss Joan’s austere expression never changed, and neither did her piercing gaze. “You’re the one who brought them here, not the other way around. Something you need to get off your chest, boy?” Miss Joan asked him pointedly.

He thought it best if he gave Miss Joan a quick summation of events. Beating around the bush never got anyone anywhere with Miss Joan.

“I found them on the doorstep this morning. Almost walked right on top of them,” he told her, giving her all the facts he had to offer. “I’ve never seen them before and I thought if anyone would know who they belonged to, it would be you.”

There was only the barest hint of a smile on the woman’s thin lips. “I think you’re giving me a little too much credit here, Cole.” She looked from one tiny face to the other. “Have they eaten yet?”

“Rosa fed them. I’ve got a couple of baby bottles all ready to go in the truck,” he told her with a hopeful note. Garrett had returned with the bottles from the general store in record time. “So if you or one of your girls want to feed them later—”

“Back up, boy,” Miss Joan ordered. “I run a diner, not a nursery.” She paused, scrutinizing the expression on his face and putting her own meaning to it. “If you need help later, we can talk. But right now, you’ve got to find out where these babies came from.”

Jeb Campbell, sitting at the counter, raised his hand. “I know where babies come from,” he volunteered in all seriousness.

“Eat your eggs, Jeb,” she ordered in a no-nonsense voice. “We know where they come from. What we need to know is where they belong. Anyone know of someone who recently gave birth to twins?” she asked, her gaze sweeping over all the occupants of the diner.