Amanda Renee - The Bull Rider's Baby Bombshell

“Would she have had that much clarity?”

“She called Maddie and asked her to come over and babysit. And then there was the note she left telling Maddie to call me. When I checked her room, her luggage was missing. Her closet and quite a few drawers were partially empty leading me to assume she packed for a trip of some sort. She planned every step. It’s not erratic behavior. She’s either on a long vacation or she checked herself in somewhere.”

“What did the note say?” Jade withdrew the folded slip of paper from her bag and handed it to him. He read it, then turned it over as if expecting to find more. “This is all she wrote?”

Jade nodded. “That’s it.”

Wes scrubbed the day-old scruff on his chin. “This sounds permanent. I’ll talk to Harlan and see what he can find out.”

“Your brother? Why? What can he do?”

“He’s a deputy sheriff.”

“Then keep him out of it.” Jade snatched the note back from him, suddenly wishing she hadn’t come to see Wes. “The police and social workers always believe they’re doing what’s best for the children when they don’t see or understand the whole picture. I’ll handle this.”

He stared at her as if she had two heads. “Look, I don’t like the idea of involving my brother, either, but you can’t do it alone. Triplets are hard enough for a conventional family, let alone a single parent. Your sister’s a prime example of that. Do you have help at the house?”

“Maddie said she’d be willing to stay for however long I need her.”

“Unless Maddie quit her job since I left in January, she works full-time.”

“Are you offering your help?”

“As in physically be there with you?” Wes held up his hands and stepped back. “Oh no. I don’t want to see them and please don’t force them on me.”

“I would never force a child on anyone. They deserve better than that. I only came here because I thought you might have an idea where she went. My mistake.”

Jade trudged back to her car, almost twisting her ankle in the process. What the hell had possessed her to wear high heels to a ranch? Stupidity along with vanity. She’d wanted to show Wes that despite the horrible rumors he’d spread about her in school, she had made something of herself. Eleven years later and she was still letting his opinion matter.

* * *

FOR A SMALL TOWN, the drive back to Liv’s house felt like an eternity. Except for a handful of neighbors, her sister lived fairly isolated on the outskirts of Saddle Ridge. Maddie greeted her at the door, tense in anticipation of good news.

“How are the girls?”

“Still asleep. I expect them up soon. Once one’s awake, the rest follow. Did you hear anything?”

“No.” Jade slipped off her shoes and kicked them aside. “I ran into a friend of hers, though. Wes Slade.”

“He must be home for the wedding and christenings.”

“You know about them?”

“They only invited the entire town.”

Of course, they had. There was nothing like living in a small town. “So, they were good friends?”

“Until he moved to Texas. His leaving really upset Liv since he hadn’t even bothered to say goodbye. He’s a hottie and a half, but the two of them never hooked up. Probably because he was hooking up with everyone else in the county.” Maddie’s face turned pink. “Present company excluded.”

Jade was all too familiar with Wes’s libido.

“My sister never mentioned him. When did they become friends?”

“I’m not really sure since I didn’t live here then, but based on different things she’s said, I’ve always assumed it was around the time Wes’s father was killed.”

“I remember Liv mentioning that, but I didn’t realize they knew each other that well.” Jade had never discussed Wes or the rumors he had started. The rumors that led to one of his friends assaulting her. Liv had had enough going on between school and working whenever she could to save for college. Regardless, Liv had to have heard the rumors from her friends. Saddle Ridge was too small of a town not to. Was that why she kept her friendship with Wes from her? Or had Wes said something?

“I tried calling Liv again, and it went straight to voice mail. I left a message telling her you were here and that the girls were fine.”

“Nothing about them missing her?” Jade asked.

“I—I don’t remember exactly what I said. Should I have?”

Jade dropped her bag on the antique hall table in the foyer. “If she’s suffering from some form of postpartum depression I’d like to believe hearing the children miss her would prove how much they need her. That’s just speculation on my part.” She wondered if her sister would interpret their being fine as confirmation she’d done the right thing. But Maddie blamed herself enough already. Jade didn’t need to add to it. “Why don’t you head home, take a shower and relax for the night. I appreciate you going above and beyond like you have.”

“Are you sure?” Maddie gnawed on her bottom lip. “I realize you were here when the girls were born, but do you know how to take care of an infant? Let alone three?”

“I’m sure I can handle feeding them, changing a few diapers and putting them to bed.” Jade’s hands flew to her chest. “Oh my God! Liv was breast-feeding.”

Maddie shook her head. “No, it didn’t work out. She wasn’t producing enough milk and was unbelievably sore. They started on formula pretty early.”

Jade had headed back to LA eight days after the girls were released from the hospital. “She never told me.”

“She probably wouldn’t have told me if I hadn’t been staying here. It really upset her.”

“I bet.” Jade imagined her sister thought not being able to breast-feed as the ultimate failure.

“Have you ever mixed formula before?”

“Can’t say that I have.” Jade sighed.

“Come on.” Maddie motioned for her to follow. “There’s kind of a formula to making formula and it all starts with boiling water.”

By the time Maddie walked her through the steps, Jade understood why women opted to breast-feed. Even though the can came with directions, she took detailed notes, not wanting to risk a mistake.

“Just remember to toss out any mixed formula after twenty-four hours. You can make a large batch of it, but it’s not like milk. You can’t keep a gallon in the fridge for a week. If any of them don’t finish their bottle, toss it because their saliva can contaminate the formula.”

“Got it. I’m assuming this is the bottle sterilizer?” Jade pointed to a large dome-shaped appliance sitting on the counter.

“Yes. You can also run their pacifiers through there. But—” Maddie opened the cabinet next to the sink and removed three bottomless bottles and a box “—it’s more convenient to use these with the liners. That way the nipples are the only thing you’ll need to clean. Just toss the liners in the trash.”

After a crash course in infant feeding, Maddie left for the night. Jade peeked in at the girls before heading to the guest room to change. She stood in the doorway as she’d done earlier, almost afraid to get any closer to the children who were biologically hers. She still had a tough time wrapping her brain around it. If she intended to take care of them until Liv returned, she needed to remember Liv was their real mother, not her.

She tiptoed across the room to their cribs, choking back tears. They were beautiful, and she’d help create them. The inexplicable desire to hold them overwhelmed her. She wanted to tell them how much she loved them and that she’d never abandon them. How bad had things gotten for her sister to walk away from her children?

She reached over the side of the crib and lightly ran her hand over one of their matching white-and-pink cotton bunny onesies. Matching! How would she tell the girls apart? They were fraternal triplets, but they looked alike to her. Especially at this age. Liv and Maddie could tell them apart, but Jade hadn’t spent enough time around them yet. If it wasn’t for the large A , H and M stenciled on the wall above their respective cribs she wouldn’t have known who was Audra, Hadley or Mackenzie.