Married...with Twins!
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Jennifer Mikels
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Chapter One
“You’re a daddy now,” someone had said to him.
He couldn’t even remember who’d said the words.
He’d been reeling from the shock. Unlike other men
who had nine months to prepare for fatherhood, Lucas Kincaid had become a daddy overnight.
Fate threw some real curves, he decided, dropping the tailgate on the borrowed truck he’d parked in his driveway. Just as he and his wife were on the verge of divorce, they’d become the guardians of twin twoyear-olds.
Disbelief still shadowing him, he cradled a Victorian dollhouse in his arms and turned toward the back door of the split-level house that he and Val had bought four years ago.
From the kitchen, ear-piercing screams drifted to him.
“Sounds as if Valerie has her hands full, Lucas,” a neighbor yelled out with a wave.
A sun that promised another warm September day glared in his eyes as he squinted at Kate Whitton ambling toward him.
“Those twins are sure adorable-looking,” she said in her strong Texas drawl.
Luke thought so, too. Urchins with blond ponytails, pug noses and quick grins, Brooke and Traci Dawson had kept Val and him on their toes since seven this morning. And more than once had given them an indication of life with toddlers in the terrible two stage.
“If you need help, let us know.” Kate gestured toward the truck that was loaded with toys and cartons. “They certainly have a lot.”
Luke merely nodded. For six years, Carrie Dawson had longed for pregnancy. When she’d learned she was expecting, she and Joe had been elated at the news that she was carrying twins.
“I’ll stop in later and see if Valerie wants help.”
To tell Kate no would have caused more of a problem. Luke sidestepped two tricycles and nearly kicked over Val’s clay pot filled with geraniums. He’d always wanted children. He knew a lot of men could care less, but of all the patients he saw, he liked the kids best. They asked the most absurd questions, they lightened his day, they made him remember why he’d decided on a career in medicine.
After medical school, he’d returned to New Hope, the town he’d been born and raised in, and had opened his practice because he liked personal one-on-one contact with patients. Some viewed him as a confidant, like Agnes, who had an allergy to penicillin and a tough time with widowhood. Some had become relatives, like Edwin, Val’s crusty-mannered grandfather. Others had developed into good friends, the best, like Joe and Carrie Dawson.
Nearing the back door, he shifted the dollhouse to one arm and reached to open the screen door. A soft breeze fluttered around him as he paused and peered over the top of the dollhouse.
His gaze went to his wife. A small, slender woman with long legs and hair the color of deep, rich coffee, she had the lithe figure of an athlete or a dancer. Her dark brown eyes were wide and expressive, her face animated as she talked low to the twins. In her hand was the object of the battle, a Raggedy Ann doll.
Pouting two-year-olds glared up at her until she stretched and grabbed two cookies from an opened package on the counter.
Traci’s pout lifted first. She crawled onto Val’s lap and curled an arm around her neck. More interested in the cookie than affection, Brooke plopped on the floor to munch away.
“Cookie.” Traci waved it, then scrambled off Val’s lap.
At the slam of the screen door behind him, Val angled a look over her shoulder in his direction. Out of necessity, they’d spent more time together this morning than they had in weeks. “Where is this going?” he asked about the dollhouse.
“Good question,” she said, actually sounding a little amused. She paused in unpacking a carton overflowing with stuffed animals and dolls, and unconsciously raked fingers through her shortcropped, hairstyle. It was a familiar gesture, one he’d seen often when she’d been in his office hunched over the ledgers or seated at the reception desk, greeting patients. “Your den,” she finally answered, and shrugged.
That wasn’t the response he’d expected, but he didn’t protest. Though she was usually organized, she looked a bit overwhelmed. Luke sensed she had no idea where to put anything except the twins’ clothes.
“Hi, lion,” Brooke sang out as Val lifted a fuzzy tan animal from the carton of stuffed animals. All morning she’d greeted everything that had been unpacked. As Lucas inched his way around her, her blond head swiveled toward him. “Lu-cas, don’t drop.”
Amusement rippled through him. He’d had his share of toddlers in his office, but their tendency toward bossiness had eluded him until this up-close and personal encounter. Crossing the living room, he felt resistance on his leg.
“Can me help?” Brooke asked, still yanking on his jeans.
Traci suddenly tugged on the other leg. “No.” Her blond ponytail swung with the wag of her head. “Traci help Luke.”
As Brooke’s fingers tightened on the denim, Luke contemplated another battle. It took no effort to envision each twin grabbing at the dollhouse until it fell from his arms. Only one possibility existed after that. Tears and wails. Holding the dollhouse above their reaching hands, he braced his backside against the short banister of the stairway that led to the second level of the house, and patiently he waited.
Never more than a step behind the girls, Val predictably popped around the kitchen doorway, her arms hugging stuffed animals.
Was it good-humored sympathy or something else he read in the dark gaze smiling at him?
“Me help,” Brooke insisted, her little hand grabbing at the bottom of the dollhouse.
Luke had seen his wife cool tempers during city council meetings, soothe her sometimes cantankerous grandfather, and quiet patients in the waiting room outside his office who were stressing over medical tests. She possessed a soft voice and the ability to say the right thing at the appropriate time. He hoped that was all true at this moment.
Letting the stuffed animals tumble from her arms onto the living room carpet, she flashed a quick, amused smile. It tore at him. For months he’d yearned to see her like this. Instead sorrow had haunted her eyes. “Girls, I need help,” she said, offering a hand to each twin.
With no hesitation, Brooke bounded to her. “Me do it.”
Just as eager, Traci trailed. “Traci do it.”
“Round three,” Luke said on a chuckle.
Val looked his way. For an instant she could almost remember the way they used to be. As he headed for the den, she urged the girls into the kitchen. “Both of you can help.” It took a second of quick thinking to find a job for them. After dumping plastic containers onto the floor with instructions to choose three, she sent them toward the sandbox in the backyard.
While Traci perched on the edge of the tractor tire,
Brooke sat inside it, the plastic containers and plastic garden tools strewn across the grass.
Surprisingly the transition from the home the girls had always known to a new one hadn’t been as difficult as Val had expected. She assumed that was because the twins were comfortable with her and Luke. As godparents, they’d baby-sat often. They’d been there for every birthday and every holiday.
Turning away from the door, she flicked on the radio before settling on a stool at the breakfast bar to sort through a bag of clothing. Slowly, she lifted a pair of pink tights from it. She still couldn’t believe Joe and Carrie were dead, their fate sealed by a drunk driver. Why? Why them? she wondered.
Sadness flowed through her for a woman she’d thought of like a sister, for a man who’d been her husband’s boyhood friend, for all they would miss with their daughters.
At the shuffle of Luke’s sneakers behind her, Val nudged herself from dark thoughts. It did no good to linger over what had happened during the past few weeks. All that mattered now were the twins.
“Where did the dynamic duo disappear to?” he asked.
“They’re in the backyard. They love the sandbox,” she said, wanting him to know his efforts were being appreciated. Yesterday he’d moved the tractor tire from Joe and Carrie’s backyard while the twins had been napping. After a trip to the building materials store, he’d filled the tire with a fresh supply of sand. “I’m sure finding it here is helping them adjust,” she added because he’d wandered for a second to the French door as if to see for himself.
With a brush at her bangs, Val watched him leave. Who are you? she wondered. When they’d met, she’d thought he was the perfect one for her. With his tall, rangy build, dark hair, chiseled features and deep-set, blue eyes, he’d garnered his share of ogling women, but her feelings had gone beyond his good looks. Personable and intelligent, he’d been easy to talk to, easy to laugh with, and wonderful to make love with.
Then, on a February night, their world had screeched to a halt. There had been months since that night when they couldn’t be around each other, couldn’t stand to see each other’s eyes and the sadness that mirrored their own. She’d withdrawn within herself. He’d drifted away from her, spending more time at his office, volunteering for more night duty in the emergency room of the hospital, growing more silent. They’d stopped talking and laughing. They’d stopped making love. And they’d faced the inevitable weeks ago. Their marriage was over.
She doubted she’d ever feel comfortable with what she viewed as failure. Looking toward the window, she saw Luke heft the mattresses for the twins’ cribs above his head and, balancing them on it, start for the back door. He wouldn’t ask her for help, but she’d offer it anyway. She met him at the door and opened it. “We could have asked some friends over to unload the truck.”
“Jake volunteered,” he answered. “So did Mitch.”
Why he’d refused wasn’t difficult to understand. If they’d been around, they might have sensed something was wrong between Luke and her. Val stepped aside, her hands raising to offer support if he needed it. Fielding friends’ concerned questions had obviously bothered him more than a couple of hours sweating and straining muscles.
As he maneuvered the mattresses past her, Val glanced at the clock. She spent a few moments gathering fixings for lunch before she called the girls.
While she swiped peanut butter and jelly across slices of bread, then dished out peaches, they sat at their miniature table, talking to their dolls and filling cups with imaginary tea. Did they like peaches? she wondered. Or should she give them bananas? Nothing was simple. She wanted so badly to give them as much normalcy as possible. And she felt so inept.
“That’s all of it except a few cartons,” Luke said, propping two high chairs against the wall.
Val wished she could tell him how filled with doubts she was. She wished she could ask him about something as unimportant as what fruit to serve, because everything seemed significant to her now.
“Where are you going to put all of the stuff from their playroom?” Unexpectedly he stopped beside her and snatched one of the carrot sticks she’d sliced seconds ago.
As casual as he was, she felt tense with him standing so close. “In here and the dining room-for now.” Val scowled at her prepared lunch. Insecurities rising again, she spoke low to him. “Do you think they like peaches?”
It was impossible for him not to hear the shadow of concern in her voice. “Peaches-yeah. They like peaches,” he answered as he sensed she was looking for an assurance. Her uncertainty surprised him. She was a strong woman with a mind of her own. “Don’t you remember? Carrie had a thing for peach ice cream, and the twins always helped her eat it.”
“Yes.” She said the word on a sigh. “Why didn’t I remember that?”
He thought the answer to her question was obvious. “Probably because there’s so much else to think about.”
Like us, Val mused, listening to the squeak of the screen door closing behind him..
While the twins ate, she swept a look over the mess in the large country kitchen. It was going to take longer than she’d thought to get them settled in. She’d make some headway today. She had to, or the disorder would drive her crazy. Even when she and Luke had bought the house, she’d been unrelenting about getting everything in order. He’d laughed at her, and he’d distracted her, she recalled. He’d seduced her in this kitchen. They’d laughed. They’d dreamed of the family they’d raise in this house. And, she reminded herself quickly, they’d also discussed divorce in this same room.
“Done,” Brooke announced, grabbing Val’s attention.
With some satisfaction, she noted they’d eaten all of their lunch. After wiping hands and faces, she ushered them outside. As if it were Christmas, they tore at the brown bags she handed them.
“Bub-bles,” Brooke squealed.
Leaving the back door open to hear a dispute, Val left them alone gleefully blowing, then chasing, bubbles.
More bags of clothes demanded her attention. She tossed a few worn tops and pants into a garbage bag, then quickly retrieved each one, worried she was throwing away a favorite.
“The cribs are set up in the bedroom,” Luke announced behind her.
She swiveled a look back to see him retrieving the ice tea pitcher from the refrigerator. Though the twins’ pink-and-white dollhouse hardly belonged in his den, a masculine room of leather and tweed, she believed that the upstairs bedroom on the second level was perfect for the girls. Last year, she and Luke had knocked out a wall of an adjacent room to make a bedroom bigger. For the baby they’d been expecting, they’d painted it a soft, eggshell white, and she’d chosen a white fabric with a design of peach teddy bears for curtains and the padded window seat. But unlike newborns, two-year-olds climbed on everything. “The window seat will have to go,” she said, sharing her thought. She glanced toward the window to check on the twins.
Warm from his repeated treks to the truck, Luke dropped onto the closest kitchen chair. “I’ll have to contact someone to take it out and finish the wall.”
As he relaxed, Val grew more anxious. They had to talk, really talk. There was no time left. “Luke, about the promise we made to Joe and Carrie-” She bit her bottom lip, caught the nervous gesture and stopped. Be honest. It was the only way to deal with the problem. “I’d forgotten about the trip to Joe and Carrie’s lawyer-about signing the paper giving us guardianship.”
So had he, for a while. They were in an odd situation. The agreed-on divorce threatened a promise to friends, one that had been made when their marriage had been perfect. With a look up, he caught the hint of uncertainty in Val’s eyes. Not knowing what she was trying to say, he felt impatience poking at him. “You don’t want the responsibility?”
Val needed to backtrack only a few months to realize why he’d asked the question. No children, she’d told him on their wedding anniversary in July when he’d suggested another baby. “We told them that we’d take care of their children if anything happened to them,” she said instead of answering him. She believed promises should be kept. At one time, Luke had even teased her about being a little obsessed with the subject. Perhaps she was, just to prove she wasn’t like her mother who had made hundreds of promises and kept none.
“Okay.” He took a long swig of his ice tea. “So what’s your plan now?”
Tenseness coiled around her. “I don’t really know,” Val said truthfully, standing by the back door and watching the girls. During the past week she’d been thinking mostly about the twins’ immediate welfare. “I plan to stay home-for a while. Right now, they need nurturing and stability. If you can get another receptionist, I could handle the accounting at home. Do you think Neil or Lionel would mind?”
It was typical of her to be thinking about others, not herself or how what she was suggesting might personally affect her. “They’ll mind that you’re not there to deal with their patients.” The dentist and podiatrist he shared an office building with thought the world of her. “But they’ll understand.” Over the rim of his glass, he studied her, wondering if she remembered they had only temporary guardianship. Lovely with the hint of sunlight shining on her, bathing her face with a golden glow, she looked younger than thirty-two at the moment. “You haven’t forgotten that there’s going to be a home study and a court hearing, have you?”
Val knew all that. “I remember.” What she didn’t know was how he felt about being a surrogate daddy. Why had everything seemed so simple while they’d been at Joe and Carrie’s home packing the twins’ belongings?
Luke clicked the ice cubes in his glass. Instinct told him she was fretting. He couldn’t alleviate her worry. They were facing a major snag to keep a well-intended promise to friends. “And there’s that stipulation in their will to think about. Did you forget it?”
Hardly. Between almost every other thought since she’d cuddled the twins on the night that their parents had died, Val had been thinking about it.
“Our marriage has to be solid for us to get permanent guardianship of the girls.” He looked at the dark tea in his glass. “It isn’t.”
Her hands damp from nerves, Val rubbed one down a denim-clad hip and prodded herself to breach the big problem. “We could pretend.”
“What?” Slowly he raised his head. Of all the things he’d imagined she’d say, that wasn’t expected.
“Why couldn’t we pretend?” Her eyes returned to meet his with a steadiness she didn’t feel. “We have to think about the twins.” Val drew a hard breath and nervously brushed back strands of her bangs. “I want-I want you to sleep here again, Luke. If you keep sleeping at your office or the hospital, people might notice. We have to consider appearances now.”
He suddenly found himself with forearms on the table, leaning closer. “What exactly are you suggesting?”
Val felt encouraged. He hadn’t given her a flat-out no. He was thinking about the idea. “We have to look happily married. We have to present the right image of the most perfect couple.” She sank onto a chair near him. “For the girls.” She watched his eyes relax from their narrow stare. “I don’t want them to end up in the system. If we fail, the Department of Health and Social Services will take them from us.” Even the thought of that happening lumped her throat.
He couldn’t ever remember feeling so mentally lost before. “Do you want to forget the divorce?”
“At least for now,” she answered, her heart still pounding with fear that he’d say no. In a slow movement, he rubbed a knuckle across his jaw. The contemplating gesture bombarded her with memories and gave her a second of hope. She thought quickly of a way to soften the situation so he wouldn’t feel trapped. “It might be only for three months-six at the mostuntil the court decides its final recommendations.”
And then what? he nearly asked. Was he supposed to walk away? He cared about the twins, too.
“The girls need us,” she said softly. “I know we made a decision but…”
Lost in the dark eyes alive with emotion, Luke wasn’t unaware of a softening inside him. He resisted it and pushed to a stand. He needed to get away, to think clearly, to make sense of what was happening. Rather than shower at home, he’d take one at the hospital. “There’s a patient I have to check on. And I have ER duty tonight.”
His shadowed eyes had revealed nothing to her. Anxious because he hadn’t agreed, Val stood. She had no idea what he was thinking. “Is your answer yes or no?”
A palm on the screen door, he paused in pushing it and looked back at her. Logic warred with feelings for her as he saw the appeal in her eyes. How could he refuse? “Yes, I’ll do what you asked.”
Val waited until the door closed behind him to release the breath she’d been holding. She watched him kiss the girls goodbye. Let’s back up. Start over again. She couldn’t say any of that to him. Too much had happened since February for them to begin again.
Being alone with two-year-old twins should have been a cinch. Val learned differently within minutes.
First Traci yelled, “Pee, pee.”
Then Brooke screamed an echo.
Only Brooke made it in time to the potty chair. While changing Traci’s soggy diaper, Val saw Brooke limping away with one shoe on and one off.
Val found the missing blue sneaker buried under a doll and the dishtowel Brooke had used as a blanket. By the time she slipped Brooke’s sneaker on, Traci had shed both of her shoes and her socks.
Val gave up. On a warm September day, what was the harm in Traci being barefoot in the house?
By six o’clock, she chose a simple dinner of fastfood hamburgers. The girls were thrilled. Val felt guilty. Carrie would have done better for her daughters. But Carrie had eased into the job. For Val, motherhood had been thrust on her. She wasn’t complaining. God, no. For most of her life, being a mother had been at the top of her wish list. She simply longed for a little more preparation time.
In a week she’d be supermom, she assured herself. By nature, she was organized. Being an accountant had reinforced those traits. Though everything was a little chaotic and cluttered right now, she was confident that the house would be shipshape by tomorrow and she’d have a schedule in place.
After dinner, Val dug the twins’ favorite books out of a box. She ignored the three boxes she’d dumped to find those books. With a promise of bedtime stories, she maneuvered the girls into the bathtub.
Traci howled for her rubber duck.
“Tomorrow,” Val promised, soaping Traci through squinting eyes as Brooke splashed water at her. With her blouse soaked and water dripping from her face, she gathered the twins in her arms. They smelled sweet and kissable. Blue eyes drooped slightly, encouraging Val with a thought that sleep might come quickly for them.
After tucking them into bed, she read their books. They were both sleeping before she finished the first story.
Collapsing on a chair in the living room, she swept a glance around at the boxes, at the dumped books, at the toys strewn everywhere. Tomorrow she would clean up the mess.
Exhausted, it took effort to haul herself up the stairs. She was only a step from the doorway when the phone rang. With a dash to the bed, she belly flopped across it and snatched up the receiver before the ringing woke the girls. “Hello?”
“It’s me. How’s it going?” Luke asked in a soft, considerate tone that used to melt her heart. “Is everything all right?”
No way would she let him know how pooped she was. “Just super.”
“Can you manage alone?”
“Of course,” she answered because she had little choice. She knew he couldn’t be home. She accepted, in fact, admired his conscientiousness about patients. He was a good doctor. She thought he was one of the best in New Hope, in all of Texas.
“Okay. I’ll see you in the morning.”
Val dropped the receiver into its cradle. Somehow she and Luke would find a way to work things out. They had to-to protect the twins.
Tiredness seeping into her, she yawned and glanced at the bedside clock. Eight-thirty. It was too early for bed, but she needed to rest, to close her eyes.
She slept. How long, she wasn’t sure, but a moaning cry jarred her awake. It took less than a second to orient herself as alarm shocked her system. She bolted from the bed, and in a panic, raced down the hall, not even bothering to grab her robe.
The dim light from the lamp that was shaped like a colorful air balloon reflected on Traci, sitting in her crib, tears streaming down her cheeks.
Val scurried to her. “Honey, what’s wrong?”
As she lifted her up, Traci’s arms wrapped around her neck and clung. “Hold Traci.” Poor little thing. She was frightened. Perhaps she didn’t even know why. Until this moment, the twins had asked for their parents a few times, and because of the brief attention span typical of their age, they’d been easily distracted. Luke had told her not to expect grief. He’d explained that at their age, it was too hard for them to show more than passing feelings that would be too sad.
“I’m here,” Val nearly cried as she hugged Traci closer and sat on a rocking chair. She stroked her hair soothingly, felt her little body heave as she caught back sobs.
In the other crib, clutching her teddy bear, Brooke stirred but didn’t awaken.
With her fingertips, Val blotted the tears from Traci’s cheeks.
“Vali stay?”
“Yes, I’ll stay.”
She snuggled closer, burying her face in Val’s neck. “Luke, too?” she asked, then yawned.
Val peered down at her. Her lashes flickered on her cheeks before her eyes closed. For a long moment Val watched the rise and fall of Traci’s small chest. How unfair life was. “We’re going to be real close and take care of both of you,” she whispered.
Gently, Val rocked Traci in the chair that she and Luke had bought in February to soothe their own child. The baby she’d held only once, not in this room with its wallpaper of dancing teddy bears. But in a stark, white hospital room before she’d died.
