SUSAN MEIER - The Baby Bequest

He waited for her by the front door while she parked her car. When she met him at the entryway, he smiled. “Are you sure you’re ready for this?”

She laughed. It was the first time she’d laughed all day, and though Evan wished the sound hadn’t pleased him so much, he took it as a sign that she’d forgiven him for mistrusting her.

“I said I didn’t mind helping you guys get adjusted to parenting, and I don’t,” she said cheerily.

“You’re sure?”

“Are you trying to get rid of me?”

Wondering if that wasn’t exactly what he was trying to do, Evan opened the door. “Welcome to paradise.”

Crying was the music that greeted them. Evan could see Grant running back and forth in the kitchen. A glance to the right showed Chas had all three sobbing kids corralled in the living room…on the white rug, white sofa and white wing chair.

“What are you doing?” he asked with a gasp, then strode in and scooped Cody off the rug. “Are you blind? Everything in here is white.”

“The kids are clean,” Chas argued in exasperation.

“Maybe now, but…”

Evan stopped when Claire tapped him on the shoulder. “I think I should go in the kitchen and help.”

“Good thinking.”

The minute Claire left the room, some of Evan’s tension eased. He lowered himself to the sofa and settled Cody on his lap. “Sorry,” he said to Chas. “I know you guys probably had a hell of a day.”

“That’s okay,” Chas said, easily accepting his apology. “I imagine your day couldn’t have been any easier than ours.”

“Actually, my day wasn’t too bad,” Evan admitted, pressing his cheek against the top of Cody’s head, not just because it was one of the little gestures of affection Claire had taught them the night before but because it felt right, good. Holding the baby was like getting grounded. Even amid the noise and confusion, everything they were going through made sense when Evan held one of the babies.

“Claire is very much on top of things,” he continued. “She seems to have the entire sequence of events down. When a contract comes in, she knows how to schedule inventory, labor and delivery, and then how to put each contract into the accounting system so it gets billed.”

“That’s a relief,” Chas said as he successfully caught Taylor, who was crawling away as if drag racing with Annie. Unfortunately, he just missed Annie, who eluded him by scrambling around the leg of the coffee table.

Today the girls wore ruffly yellow dresses with a row of very happy daisies across the front hem. Annie, who was now playing peekaboo with Chas around the leg of the table, was so cute Evan was momentarily taken aback. Sometimes when he looked at the kids and realized they were his to raise, he felt the overwhelming sensation that he was in the middle of a miracle.

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