Kasey Michaels - Maitland Maternity - Triplets, Quads and Quints

“Do you still have cookies to eat?” he asked.

She glared at him and didn’t answer.

“Honey, we need to talk about what’s upset you so it won’t make your blood pressure go up. I promise I haven’t deliberately tried to rile you.” He sat on the couch, pressing against her legs as she lay there. “Now, tell me what I did this time.”

“You told Alice, my dad, and probably Adam, Caleb and Grace about my checkup.” She doubled up her fist and hit him in the arm, knowing it wouldn’t hurt him, but maybe it would let him know how angry she was. “Alice told me I needed to eat the cookies because you told her I needed calories.”

“Who else but your cook should I have told? And I had to tell her about seeing the babies, so she’d believe me.”

“And my father?”

“Well, I could tell, when we talked at lunch, he was putting up a front about everything being all right. He was scared to death you were going to die just as your mother did. I wanted to reassure him.”

Her eyes filled with tears, and she bit her bottom lip. “And my brothers?”

“Your father asked me to call and reassure them because they were worried sick about you, too. You’re the only female in the group. They don’t know if you’re just trying to reassure them, or if maybe you don’t know what’s going to happen.”

“And they believe you because you’re a man!”

“No, they believe me because I’m a medical professional who’s delivered a lot of babies.”

“Did you call Grace, too?”

“Yes, because she asked me to. She said she didn’t like to ask you because she was afraid it would make you worry.”

She sniffed. She’d been sure the man had overstepped his mark, but there he was, explaining it all away, making her look like a hysterical woman. “I—I still think you should’ve at least told me you were going to—to interfere in my life.”

He leaned forward to pick up the cup of tea and then held it to her lips. “Take a sip.”

She did so, trying to ignore his body pressed against her stomach. His touch drove her crazy. It apparently affected the girls, too, because they suddenly began jumping around like five-year-olds playing soccer, running in all directions and kicking anything that moved.

After he set the cup back on the table, he looked at her and whispered, “May I?”

She didn’t have to ask what he wanted. She knew he wanted to feel her babies move. She nodded.

His big warm hands spread out over her stomach, acting like a lightning rod for the movement. One lump in particular caught his attention. “I think one of the girls is standing on her head.” He rubbed the lump and it shifted.

“They move around a lot, especially at night.”

“Bri, I want to thank you for having the courage not to terminate the pregnancy.”

“You’re wel—I mean, it has nothing to do with you! Nothing at all.”

With his hands still on her stomach, he stared at her, challenging her words.

“These are my girls, and no one, not their father or anyone, is going to hurt my girls.”

“Why would you think their father would want to hurt them?” he asked softly.

“Because he hurt me! He left me alone, wanting—wanting his love and—and my children are better off just belonging to me. I won’t hurt them.”

“Are we talking about the mythical boyfriend who split? Or are we talking about me?”

She looked away, refusing to give him an answer. “I’m tired. I want to go to sleep.”

He sighed. “Okay. Do you need a foot rub?”

“No! I can manage.”

“All right, but you need to understand, Bri, that I’m going to watch over you, try to care for you and the girls. I’m not trying to hurt you or trap you into anything, okay?”

“Fine.”

“Okay, I’m going to go turn down the covers. Take my arm while I walk you to your bedroom.”

“I can—”

“I know you can. Just let me help. Then I’ll lock the door as I leave.”

“Fine!”

They walked to her bedroom in silence. He pulled down the covers, then covered her up as she settled in the bed. As he turned away, she saw him pause by her dresser.

“What is it?” she demanded as he picked something up and looked at it. Frantically, she tried to think what he could’ve found. Whatever it was, he put it back in the ceramic bowl where he’d found it and told her good-night. The minute he’d left her bedroom, she knew what he’d found.

A black stud from a tuxedo—ripped from Hunter the night they’d made love. The one thing she’d found of Hunter’s the next morning.

And treasured. The one sign that what she’d experienced hadn’t been a figment of her imagination.

Even if he had left her.

Hunter left Bri’s condo with a smile on his face. For the first time, Bri had admitted the girls were his daughters. She’d given it away when she’d threatened to tell everyone he’d abandoned her.

He was coming to know Bri better, and he was pretty sure she told the truth. Except to him.

When he’d seen the tuxedo stud, he knew it was the one he’d been unable to find the morning he’d left her room. And she’d kept it. And she’d said the father of her babies had abandoned her when she’d wanted him to love her.

She wanted him to love her.

He was willing. But he was pretty sure she couldn’t handle any pressure about her life right now. It was taking a lot of work on his part to keep her blood pressure from rising too high. The best thing he could do now was to take care of her and the girls. Later, when they were safely born, he’d woo her, convince her he hadn’t left her.

The last thing he’d wanted was to lose her. He climbed into his SUV and looked up at her windows, dark now so she could sleep. If he was lucky, he’d get his cake and eat it, too. He’d have Bri to love and three little girls to complete his life. All he had to do was wait.

THE NEXT MORNING, the tenth of December, Bri got to work early. The hospital opening had occurred before Hunter had arrived. She hadn’t wanted Christmas decorations up until after the opening.

Today they would be hanging two angels in maroon robes with golden halos on their heads, playing their horns, in the huge windows of the lobby. The angels would be seen both from inside and outside the hospital.

At the other end of the lobby, there would be a huge Christmas tree, a real one. The fragrant scent of pine would fill the air. Twinkling white lights would cover the tree, as well as oversized ornaments.

All the departments would get a regular-sized artificial tree. Though Bri hated to use the artificial ones, she did because some patients might be allergic to the smell of real evergreens. The staff members would decorate their trees. Overnight, the entire hospital was going to be festive.

She loved Christmas.

“Bri, nice job,” April called as she crossed the lobby at eight. “I wondered when we would have decorations.”

“I wanted to wait until after the opening. By then it was hard to get on the schedule,” Bri explained.

“This is perfect. We’ll have at least a couple of weeks to enjoy them. How’d your checkup go yesterday?”

“Fine,” Bri said, thinking that at least here was one person Hunter hadn’t called. “Abby says the girls are in good shape if we have to deliver any time soon, but late January is still the expected delivery.”

“Great. I heard we got several more patients in the hospital last night. Let’s go to the cafeteria and have some breakfast, and I’ll tell you all about it.”

“Did Hunter put you up to this?”

She regretted her question when April looked at her with surprise.

“No. I didn’t eat breakfast. All I could think about all the way here were those cinnamon rolls Sam makes. Don’t you love them?”