Jill Kemerer - Wyoming Christmas Quadruplets

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I wish I felt good enough to take care of all the babies myself.”

“Well, four is a lot. You’re being too hard on yourself. I don’t think most people could do it all on their own. But eventually you will, and in the meantime, I’ll pop in and out to help Ainsley—until you’re up to it yourself, okay?”

“Thanks, Marshall.” She looked ready to cry again. “I guess I could use help with the babies.”

“Good. Why don’t you take a nap? I’ll show Ainsley her cabin later.”

“Cabin?” Her spine went rigid. “She needs to sleep here. In the main house. How else will she take care of the babies at night?”

He squeezed his eyes shut. Did his sister think Ainsley was going to work round the clock? “I hired her to help during the day.”

“But you’re here during the day.”

All the sympathy he’d mustered disappeared. He tightened his hold on Grace.

“Belle, I can’t do this. Not by myself. Not all the time.”

“Well, I can’t either. Do you know how hard it is to feed four babies at night?”

“Yes, I do, because you text me to come help every single night. I’m exhausted.”

She dismissed his words with a backward wave. “Well, it’s worse for me. You don’t know. I’ll have Raleigh put the blow-up mattress in the babies’ room for her.”

He gaped at her. “Do you hear yourself? She’s not sleeping on the floor in the babies’ room. She needs her own space.”

Belle glared at him.

“Look, Ainsley already agreed to work ten-hour days, which is more than most people would. She’ll be here from eight in the morning until six at night. You two can get the babies figured out, and when she leaves after the holidays, you’ll be an old pro at it.”

“But January is so soon.” She looked nauseous. “You need to hire someone else. Someone permanent.”

“I tried. No one replied to my ad.”

After a few minutes of silence, she gave him a sheepish grin. “You couldn’t have found an ugly baby nurse, could you?”

An unattractive helper would make things easier on him, but he wasn’t concerned about romance. He didn’t think he was capable of having a loving, committed relationship. He hadn’t found a woman who understood his devotion to his sister, and he doubted he would. The only family he had was Belle and the quadruplets, and he wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize it.

He patted her shoulder. “You have nothing to worry about. You’re the most beautiful woman around.”

“Yeah, right.” She held out the bottom of her faded blue T-shirt. “You’re such a liar.”

“Me? Nah. I’m going back out there and making sure you didn’t scare her off. Now give Grace a kiss, and we’ll let you rest.”

Fear flashed in her eyes so quickly he wondered if he’d imagined it. She kissed Grace’s forehead and squeezed Marshall’s hand. “Thanks.”

He stood, hitching his chin to her. “I’ll always be here for you.”

With watery eyes, she nodded.

One hurdle cleared. He walked by the babies’ room and heard Ben and Max stirring. Continuing into the living room, he stopped in his tracks.

Lila was strapped in her bouncy seat.

And Ainsley was gone.

Chapter Two

The babies and Marshall needed her.

Ainsley reached into the trunk of her car in search of a bag she’d packed. Snow had begun to fall, and the wind was gentler than when she’d arrived. Shivering, she stomped her feet. Her favorite blanket was folded neatly on top of her supplies, and she spotted a patch of blue beneath it—the tote with markers, stickers and charts.

Belle needed her, too, but didn’t want to admit it. Ainsley kind of understood. She didn’t particularly enjoy asking for help either. As long as Belle didn’t resent her presence, everything would be fine.

Well, that wasn’t quite true. The resentment issue wasn’t the only problem. Belle didn’t expect Ainsley to take over all of the babies’ care, did she?

And what about Marshall? Working with a hot, doting cowboy had better not blur her focus. She had big goals and couldn’t lose sight of them. She had to take care of herself. No one else was going to.

After pulling out the tote bag, she slammed the trunk shut. She had over six weeks to make a difference in the quadruplets’ lives, and she was ready to start now. She was getting these infants on a schedule.

Tightening her winter jacket around her throat, she ducked her head against the snow and scurried to the porch. The ranch house was a long, one-story wooden building with a covered porch devoid of decoration at the moment. She could imagine the posts strung with white Christmas lights and a large evergreen wreath hanging on the door.

Glancing up, she almost jumped. Marshall had stepped outside onto the faded welcome mat. He opened the door for her. “For a minute I thought you’d taken off.”

She shook her hair free of snow and pushed past him into the house. “Why would you think that?”

“Well...” He scratched the back of his neck, closing the door behind them. “My sister wasn’t exactly welcoming.”

She took off her coat and hung it on a hook in the entry. “Oh, no worries. She wants me to stay.”

He searched her face until heat blasted her neck. Why was he looking at her so intently? With the tote over her shoulder, she strode into the living room, where both girls were in their bouncy seats, happily sucking on pacifiers. The boys’ squawks from their room hadn’t gone into full-blown crying...yet.

“Let’s get the boys changed.” She waved for him to follow her. “Then we’ll figure out a way forward with these babies.”

“Has anyone told you you’re efficient?” He was at her side in lightning speed.

She almost laughed, continuing to the boys’ crib. “Yes, and it’s usually not a compliment.”

“Trust me, it’s a compliment. At least from me.”

Ainsley picked up Ben, and Marshall took Max. Side by side they changed diapers, then went back to the living room. After settling the boys in their bouncy seats facing the girls, Ainsley and Marshall took opposite couches.

“If you’re too tired to do this right now...”

“No, I’m fine.” She was tired, but she wanted to get a plan nailed down as soon as possible. She placed a pouch with markers, a folder full of stickers, her trusty clipboard and the stacks of various charts she’d printed on the coffee table. Laying them out in precise order, she reviewed the spread to make sure she wasn’t missing anything. With a satisfied nod, she straightened and gave Marshall her full attention. “First, let’s assign each baby a color.”

“Okay.” Skepticism thinned his lips.

“What?” She excelled at three things: organizing, helping those in need and reading people. “Something’s bothering you.”

“It’s not bothering me, but...could you explain the color dealie? My expertise is not in babies. I’m good at fixing large farm equipment and taking care of cattle. I’m pretty new at quadruplets.”

“Of course.” She peeked at the children—all quiet, thankfully. “Each child is assigned a color, and everything will be marked with it.”

“You mean their clothes?”

“Yes, we’ll dot the tags with permanent marker.”

“Most of their clothes don’t have tags.”

“Well, we’ll figure it out. The clothes aren’t the main thing. We’ll color the bottom of each bottle. And we’ll place stickers on the bouncy seats, car carriers and so on.”

“Oh, I get it.” He brought his hands behind his head, leaning back. She couldn’t help noticing his muscular arms. “What about pacifiers and stuff?”

“I think it will be too difficult to separate pacifiers. I guess we could put them into plastic storage bins labeled with their color. We can keep marking the pinkies of Grace and Max with markers, and I think this will be another way for us to keep the twins straight. Especially at bath time when the marker might wash off.”