Читать книгу Assignment: Twins - Leigh Michaels, Leigh Michaels - Страница 7

NIKKI plunged her hands into the hot, soapy water for the last time and pulled the plug out of the drain. “There, that’s the last of the dishes.” She picked up a baby bottle which had tipped over and set it upside down to drain on one of the towels which lined the small counter.

From the dining nook just outside the galley kitchen, Laura called, “Washing three days’ worth of my dirty dishes wins you the friendship service medal, you know.”

Nikki dried her hands, rolled down the sleeves of her silky blouse, and buttoned her cuffs. “Is that all I did?” She kept her voice light. “From the size of the pile, I expected it had taken a week to build up.”

“For the average family of four, perhaps. But when you have two kids this size, dirty stuff collects in a hurry.”

Nikki paused in the doorway. Laura was sitting with her back to the kitchen, facing a pair of high chairs. In each chair was a dark-haired child, not quite a year old, each armed with a small, soft-tipped spoon and a plastic bowl. The thick, gooey, grayish, slimy-looking substance which had once been in the bowls was now spread liberally over the high-chair trays as well as the two cherubic faces, and a few lumps had landed on the plastic mat which covered the floor.

All things considered, Nikki thought, I got the best end of the deal by doing the dishes.

Laura’s babies were adorable, no question about it. But fond as Nikki was of Zack and Anna, she didn’t regret that her life had taken a different channel from Laura’s. At least, not very often.

“What is that stuff they’re eating, really?” Nikki asked.

“Rice cereal mixed with mashed pears.”

Nikki wrinkled her nose. “It looks like library paste that’s been left out to mildew.”

“Shh. They’re very sensitive to other people’s reactions to food. I mashed up some squash for them to try the other night. Stephen took one look at it and made gagging noises—and the twins spit out every bite after that.”

“You’re certain it was because of their dad? I mean, honestly, Laura—squash? They’re only eleven months old. Not liking squash seems to be part of the deal.”

“It’s an excellent source of Vitamin A,” Laura said firmly.

“I’m sure it is.” Nikki nodded toward the twins. Zack had cereal in his left eyebrow. Anna’s chin was covered with half-dried paste. “Are they actually getting any of that stuff inside where it counts?”

“Well, Anna’s better at it than Zack is,” Laura admitted. “But Zack’s more determined to do it himself, so I have to sneak in an extra bite when he’s not paying attention.” She dipped a spoon into one of the bowls and inserted it into the boy twin’s mouth while he was inspecting a lump of cereal that had stuck to his smallest finger. He swallowed absent-mindedly and opened his mouth again.

“Want me to help?”

Laura smiled. “You don’t really mean that. If you got cereal all over that suit right before you go meet an important client, I’d feel awful. You’ve already done enough for one day, anyway, clearing up my dishes. Having a broken dishwasher and two babies does make life a little difficult.”

Nikki pulled up a chair. “I know finances have been a bit tight lately for you and Stephen,” she said gently. “But it will have to be fixed before you can list the house for sale.”

Laura nodded. “Seth’s going to tear it apart when he has time and see if he can get the parts so he and Stephen can get it running again.”

“When he has time? I see.” Nikki was proud of herself; her voice sounded absolutely neutral. “How’s The Lone Repairer doing these days?”

Laura shot her a suspicious look. “Since when do you want to chat about Seth?”

“I was just making conversation. But if you don’t want to talk about your husband’s brother—”

“I thought you might have run into him recently. He’s working on a house up in the Rockhurst neighborhood, one of those huge mansions near the art museum. It’s a big job.”

“And that—plus all the blond fashion-model lookalikes who require his attention—is why your dishwasher is still broken.”

“Well, I do wish he’d date someone whose IQ is larger than her dress size,” Laura said. “But to be perfectly fair, my dishwasher isn’t Seth’s responsibility. He has his own place to keep up.”

“I suppose when it’s your full-time job to fix things, it’s not much fun to do it on your day off, too.”

“It would be sort of like asking you to go on a tour of homes for fun, after you’ve shown houses all week long.”

“I happen to love home tours, but I see what you mean. It’s too bad Stephen wasn’t the brother who inherited the handyman genes.”

Laura sighed. “The poor guy tries. He put up a towel rack in the bathroom last week.”

“Without Seth supervising? I’m amazed.”

“Of course, it fell off three days later and tore a chunk out of the tile wall.”

Nikki winced.

“At the rate we’re going, we’ll never get this house in shape to sell. Of course, if we can put it off till the kids go to college, we won’t need to buy a bigger house at all. The next eighteen years will be something of a challenge, in a two-bedroom house with no playroom and a kitchen the size of a postage stamp, but—”

“This is a darling house, Laura.”

“That’s the real-estate person inside you talking.”

“It’s a cute little cottage with an efficient floor plan. Perfect starter home for a young couple.”

“Until they unexpectedly have twins.” Laura spooned cereal into Anna’s mouth. “Stephen wanted me to ask you something. A favor.”

Surprise tingled through Nikki’s veins. It wasn’t that she and Stephen never talked, but it was generally Laura who issued invitations and arranged plans for the couple, while her husband was the quiet, always-agreeable one. For Stephen to specifically ask Nikki for a favor…

Laura went on hastily, “I already told him it wouldn’t work, but you know how guys can be—once they get an idea, there’s no blasting it out of their heads. I had to promise him I’d ask, so I’m asking. But honestly, Nikki, I’ve already told him you can’t, so there’s no problem.”

“Well, that seems to settle it,” Nikki said cheerfully. “But maybe you should tell me what the favor actually is, honey? I mean, in case Stephen should bring it up, it would help if I have a general idea.”

“Oh.” Laura grinned. “I guess you’re right. There’s this thing he has to attend next weekend. His boss was scheduled to go, but at the last minute he’s had a conflict, and so they’re sending Stephen instead. And he wants me to go with him.”

“So you need a baby-sitter? What’s the big deal? Of course I’ll—”

“It’s not just an evening, Nikki. It’s a conference. Sort of a continuing education seminar that goes on all weekend.”

“Well, that does make a difference,” Nikki admitted. “He actually wants you to hang around waiting for him while he’s taking classes? I hope you can at least go shopping.”

“It’s on a cruise ship in the Caribbean.” Laura sounded wistful. “But I’ve already told him I can’t go.”

Nikki stared at her. “Of course you can. Are you nuts, Laura? How many times do you get a free second honeymoon?”

“Well, it wouldn’t exactly be free. We’d have to buy my plane ticket. And I called a couple of babysitting agencies—Do you know what they charge for round-the-clock care for two babies for a weekend?” She shivered.

“I can imagine. So Stephen wanted you to ask me to look after the twins so you can go.”

Laura nodded. She looked unhappy. “I know how busy you are—”

“You said it’s next weekend?”

“A long weekend, actually. Friday morning to late Sunday night.”

“I don’t have any open houses scheduled over the weekend, so—”

“What about dates? Are you still seeing Richard?”

“Once in a while. It’s no big deal.” She saw Laura start to open her mouth, and hurried on before the questions could start. “All I’d have to do is clear my calendar for Friday.”

“Nikki, please don’t feel obligated to do this. Even Stephen admitted that it would be a lot to take on for anyone who isn’t used to twins. He’ll understand that you can’t do it. He’s just disappointed right now.”

“What about you?” Nikki asked gently. “Are you disappointed?”

Laura didn’t look at her. “Of course I am. We could never afford a cruise on our own. But I’d probably be seasick anyway, so—”

“Not on a ship that size. You’re going, so start packing.” Nikki picked up her suit jacket from the back of a chair. As she was putting it on, she looked past Laura to the twins and hesitated. Both of Zack’s eyebrows were now daubed with cereal, and Anna had a bit on her nose.

Three days. Alone. With twins…

“Wave bye-bye to Aunt Nikki,” Laura prompted the twins.

Zack was too absorbed in turning his bowl upside down and watching it drip to pay attention. Anna gurgled, grinned, and waved her spoon in the air. A blob of cereal flew off and splatted against the lapel of Nikki’s jacket.

Laura sighed and held out a damp washcloth. “Sorry about that. I won’t hold you to the offer, Nikki.”

Nikki scraped the blob off with her thumbnail and rubbed the dark blue fabric with the corner of the washcloth. “I’ll just move my name tag up to cover the spot,” she said. “Come on, Laura. You do this all the time. Surely I can handle it for three days.”

Nikki had taken care of the twins before, of course—for an evening now and then to let Stephen and Laura go out for a sandwich and some adult talk, and once in a while for an afternoon so Laura could get her hair cut or see a doctor. This would be no different, she told herself. Only longer.

Much longer, she realized on Saturday afternoon as she took the twins out of their stroller after a walk. She was exhausted because Zack had awakened at two in the morning with a nightmare and it had taken an hour to get him settled again. She’d already run through every activity she could think of and built so many block towers to be knocked down that she was qualified for a job putting up a skyscraper. And she hadn’t even looked at the briefcase full of paperwork that she’d brought with her.

And they were not quite halfway through the weekend. She had just as many hours stretching in front of her as had already passed.

What she’d failed to take into account was that the twins at eleven months were far more active and inquisitive than when they had been infants. They were no longer charmed by the slow revolution of a mobile above a crib. Peekaboo and pat-a-cake were no longer exciting. Not only had they had been actively annoyed at being strapped into the double stroller, but they’d made it clear they were highly insulted when Nikki refused to let them kiss all the neighborhood dogs.

By the time she untangled Anna’s safety harness and extracted her from the stroller, Zack had already crawled into the narrow space between the couch and the recliner in pursuit of his ball, and got himself stuck.

Zack started howling at his predicament, and Anna began howling in sympathy. Nikki was just drawing a breath and thinking about joining them when she heard the back door open and a deep voice call, “Anybody home?”

She gritted her teeth. Seth Baxter. The Lone Repairman had finally found time to look at Laura’s broken-down dishwasher.

Why right now? she wanted to shout. Why not last week, when Laura had been at home? Or if he absolutely had to come this weekend, why couldn’t he have showed up that morning, during the fifteen-minute span when Zack and Anna had been contentedly playing with two empty boxes and a stack of plastic yogurt cups? Or last night after they’d been bathed and tucked into their cribs?

Of course, by the twins’ bedtime she’d been practically a zombie herself, with pureed peaches and baby shampoo down the front of her sweatshirt…

Not that Seth Baxter would have cared what she looked like, anyway.

In the last two years, every time she’d ever come face to face with the man, he had acted as if he found her mildly interesting—worth one long appraising survey, but nothing more. She’d come to expect that no matter what she was doing or how she was dressed, Seth would scan her with that same slightly ironic gleam in his eyes, looking her over just long enough to make her want to scream—and then, as if the sight of her bored him to tears, he would turn his attention to something else. Nikki would rather have him ignore her completely, but she supposed the chances of that happening were nil.

Of course, all things considered, she didn’t exactly blame him for inspecting her as if she were a curious breed straight out of the zoo, because that was pretty much the way she’d acted the first time they’d spent any significant time together—though his own actions hadn’t exactly won any etiquette prizes.

She sighed and reminded herself to be grateful that she didn’t run into him more often. Once every few months was bad enough.

“In the living room, Seth.” She stooped to extract Zack from his predicament.

Seth came around the corner from the kitchen. “Nikki? What are you doing here?”

She snagged the back straps of Zack’s overalls and tugged him out from under the edge of the couch. “Didn’t anybody tell you about the cruise?”

“Yeah, Steve said something. I forgot it was this weekend.” He leaned against the stubby wall which separated the living room from the dining nook, arms folded across his chest. “I wondered what they were going to do with the house apes. Zack, buddy, you’ve got to remember how to get yourself into reverse.”

Nikki finished wiping Zack’s tears and took a good look at Seth. It had been several months since she’d seen him—across a baptismal font, where he’d been holding Zack while she cradled Anna—but he matched the picture in her mind almost exactly. His dark-brown hair was sun-streaked and longer than it had been at the babies’ christening, and he was wearing jeans and a polo shirt instead of a suit. But he was every bit as tall and lean as she remembered, his eyes were just as stunningly green, and his shoulders pushed the limits of the knit shirt. And the look…yes, there it was. Half-bemused, half-fascinated, and totally wary—the same expression that always made her want to scream.

Anna stopped crying, dropped to her hands and knees, and scrambled across the carpet toward Seth. He picked her up almost absently, still looking at Nikki. “How’s it going?”

She was darned if she’d admit that a few minutes ago she’d been ready to howl along with the twins. “Great. We’re doing fine.”

“Uh-huh. How many times has Laura called?”

“From the ship? Just once, when they first got on board.”

“That’s amazing.”

“She said she’d call back, but I heard Stephen in the background reminding her this was supposed to be a vacation. Anyway, she doesn’t need to check in—she left a full list of instructions on the refrigerator door, right next to her appointment calendar.”

“Her list actually fit on the refrigerator? I’d have expected a whole volume—alphabetized and cross-indexed.”

Nikki smiled. “Maybe she just didn’t have time to write it all down. But it doesn’t take an instruction manual to know that these two need a nap right now. I was just ready to put them to bed, so don’t let me keep you from working on the dishwasher.” She stepped closer to him, close enough to feel his warmth, and held out her free arm to take Anna.

The baby had nestled into Seth’s shoulder, and she didn’t seem inclined to move. Nikki stroked the baby’s back. As her fingertips neared Seth’s forearm, braced under Anna’s bottom, Nikki felt tingles run along every nerve.

Don’t be ridiculous, she told herself. You’ve touched him before.

At least…Well, she must have touched him somewhere along the way, she told herself, even if right at the moment she couldn’t remember a specific occasion. They must have shaken hands when they were introduced, for one thing—though when she stopped to think about it, she couldn’t remember actually meeting Seth. He must have just been part of the crowd, at some party back in the dark ages when Laura was dating Stephen and Nikki herself had been engaged to Thorpe. Perhaps it had been about the same time the four of them had started to make plans for a double wedding…

The dark ages, indeed.

Seth held the baby out so she could get a grip on Anna’s waist. Nikki’s hand brushed his arm, and she jerked back a little before she got hold of herself and very deliberately let her arm rest against his while he transferred the baby’s weight.

He didn’t say anything and neither did she. And it was utterly ridiculous for her to feel breathless over such a little thing. But—maybe she hadn’t ever touched him before, because she’d have remembered that kind of smoldering heat.

Nonsense, she told herself briskly.

As if they were afraid of missing something exciting, the babies did their best to fight off sleep. Ultimately they succumbed, however, and Nikki tucked them into their side-by-side cribs and tiptoed out of the room.

The house was quiet except for the catchy rhythm of a jazz tune coming from the radio in the kitchen. The front panels of the dishwasher were propped against a cabinet door, and Seth was lying on his back on the floor, peering into the dark cavity underneath the machine.

Nikki stopped in the doorway. “Have you found the problem?”

“Not yet. The drain’s not clogged, and the floats are working.”

“Is that good news?”

“Nope. I’ve eliminated the simple stuff.”

Which means he’ll be around for a while longer. Just leave him to his work and go get your briefcase, Nikki. But she didn’t move. “I’m going to make myself a cup of coffee. Want one?”

“Sure.” He slid further under the dishwasher. “How are you, Nikki? It’s been a while.”

“Since we ran into each other, you mean?” She shrugged. “Three or four months, I guess.”

“Three. It was at the christening, and you were scandalized that Laura had asked a heathen like me to be the babies’ godfather.”

Nikki didn’t bother to argue the point. Instead she stepped across him and started putting water into the coffeepot. “How’s Inga? Or was it Elsa you brought that day? I get your girlfriends all mixed up.”

Seth smiled, but he didn’t answer. Nikki wondered if that meant he’d forgotten the woman’s name, too. Quite likely, she thought. All of Seth’s girlfriends looked, sounded, and acted alike.

“How about you?” he asked. “Are you still seeing the stockbroker you brought to the christening?”

“He was a commodities trader,” Nikki corrected. “The stockbroker was before that. And no—not for a while now. There’s a banker I’m seeing at the moment.”

“What happened to the commodities trader? He was practically glued to your side that day.”

Nikki had to think about it for a moment before she remembered. “I realized that if I wanted to get a play-byplay of the day’s markets, I could watch the financial channel—and turn it off when I got tired of listening.”

He prodded at something deep under the machine. “What the…I hate working on antiques. I swear the motor’s rusted into this thing. Being second-best never did appeal to you, did it, Nikki?”

She stopped spooning coffee into the filter and turned to stare at him. “Oh, now The Lone Repairer has expanded into psychology?”

He reached into the cavity with a pair of pliers, and she heard a metallic snap. “Still touchy about the wedding, I see.”

Touchy. That was one way to put it, she supposed. “It’s been two years, Seth. I’ve put it behind me and gone on with my life. So can you just forget it?”

He shook his head. “Of course not. That was one of the great dramatic scenes of the age. I’ll never forget watching you tell Thorpe where to get off.”

She plugged the coffeepot in and pushed the button to turn it on. “Next time I break an engagement,” she said dryly, “I’ll be sure to invite you.”

“Don’t bother. Nothing could ever top that one. Thorpe’s already at the church, wearing his tux, boutonniere pinned in place, fussing with his hair and trying to cover up the signs of a really bad hangover, and you come storming into the ushers’ room wearing half a wedding dress and shrieking at him like a banshee. The costuming alone would have been worth the price of a ticket.”

“I was not shrieking. I was making a point.”

“Not that you didn’t have reason to shriek,” Seth added. “Though I still think you went a little over the top when you started yelling at me. Just because I happened to be there to hear it all—”

“You could have let me know you were there, instead of hiding behind a pillar and listening to every word I said.”

“And interrupted your train of thought while you were on a roll?” He shook his head. “You were just lucky all the rest of the ushers had stepped out for a breath of fresh air so I was the only witness.” He sat up and reached inside the machine, grunting as he tried to lift out the motor unit. “I admire you for doing that, you know.”

Nikki was startled. “For what? Calling off my wedding because the groom spent the night before the ceremony carousing with a bunch of call girls?”

“I think they’d probably prefer to be called exotic dancers.”

Nikki shrugged. “Same thing, as it turned out.”

“Anyway, that’s not the reason. I admire you for going out in front of the crowd and facing the whispers because it was Laura’s wedding day too, and you didn’t want to spoil it for her.”

Why there should be a lump in her throat was beyond Nikki’s understanding. She bit her lip. “Thanks.”

“Anytime.” The motor twisted, and Nikki heard a crack from somewhere deep inside the dishwasher. “I didn’t like the sound of that,” Seth muttered. “In fact, I think I may have found the problem. Or maybe I just created a new one. That’s not my cell phone ringing, so it must be yours.”

Nikki hadn’t even heard the buzz. That in itself was an indication of how badly the man got to her, she told herself as she retrieved the phone from her briefcase. “This is Nikki Marshall.”

“Thank heaven. I thought you’d never answer.” The voice was soft, feminine, and dripping panic.

Nikki recognized it—Jen was the youngest and least experienced member of the sales staff at the realty office. Why she was apparently on duty alone was beyond Nikki’s comprehension. “What’s wrong, Jen?”

“The MacIntyres are here to make a counteroffer on the house they want to buy, and I don’t know what to do. Can you come in right away?”

With two babies asleep in the next room? It had been difficult enough to take them for a simple walk through the neighborhood. Hauling them out of bed and across town to meet with a pair of clients would be torture. Unless Seth would agree to keep an eye on them…

She looked over her shoulder and saw him putting the panels in place on the front of the dishwasher. So much for that great idea.

“Out of the question, Jen.” She ignored the woman’s protest. “Their file is in my bottom desk drawer. The client number is on the tab of the folder. Pull it up on the computer, find the offer they made last week, put in the new price, print out the form, and have them both sign it.” She glanced at her watch. “Then call the delivery service—have a courier bring the papers here, and I’ll check them over. Got it?”

Jen repeated the instructions and the address. “Okay,” she said doubtfully. “If you’re sure you can’t come in.”

“I’m sure,” Nikki said, and snapped the phone shut. When she came back into the kitchen, Seth was putting the last screw into place. “Is it all fixed?”

“Far from it. I have about fifteen pieces to replace—if the home-supply store has them.”

“Then why put it all back together now? You’ll just have to take it apart later. I don’t mind if it’s in pieces—it’s not like I’m getting ready for a dinner party tonight.”

“Because I don’t want the twins to rearrange all the pretty wires.”

“Oh. Good point. You’ll be back later, then?”

“Tomorrow sometime. I have an engagement tonight.”

“With Elsa?” She kept her voice light. “Or Inga?”

“Neither. Why?”

That figured. By now, Nikki thought, there could have been half a dozen more tall, slim blondes in and out of his life. “Seth, you don’t know the meaning of the word engagement.”

“People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones, darling…. How many guys have you dated since Thorpe, anyway?”

“A few,” she said coolly. “Why?”

“Anybody who’s lasted more than a month?”

“I don’t think so.” She kept her voice deliberately light. “But then by your standards, a month is an eternity, so you don’t need to worry about me being fickle. I’ll see you tomorrow, if you don’t want that coffee after all.”

He shook his head. “I’ll take a rain check. You know, you look as if you could use a nap yourself, instead of caffeine.”

“I’ve got some work to do. I have a closing on Monday, and a new client coming into town—so I need to refresh my memory of the listings before I decide what to show him.”

“Him? I thought it was normally the woman who chooses the family home.”

“Usually it’s the wife who does most of the looking,” Nikki agreed. “But this guy’s single. Actually, I think he’s divorced. He’s an upper-level executive with the auto-assembly plant.”

“Now that sounds promising,” Seth said. “If you’re really lucky, maybe he’ll be like the commodities broker—and you can find out every step it takes to build a car.”

Nikki didn’t know whether she was getting used to the routine, or the twins were accepting her, or they were all just too tired to make a fuss, but everything went a little more smoothly on Sunday.

The babies had already had their nap and were in their high chairs toying with their dinner when Seth arrived. He let himself in with a cheerful hello, set a large paper bag of parts on the kitchen counter, and gave the coffeepot a speculative shake.

“If you’re hoping to have that cup of coffee you missed yesterday, you’re too late,” Nikki said. “I kept it hot for you till just a couple of hours ago, though.”

He made a face and started to take the bottom panel off the dishwasher again. “The truth is, you forgot to turn the pot off.”

Nikki put another spoonful of peas and carrots in front of Zack. With his index fingertip, he rolled a pea across the tray. Then he tried to roll a carrot chunk, and settled for smashing it into mush instead.

“How’s it going today?” Seth asked.

“We’re doing great, aren’t we, kids?”

Anna gurgled. Zack noticed remnants of carrot on his fingertip and tried to shake them off.

Seth slid under the dishwasher. “How long till Laura and Steve get home?”

“Six hours,” Nikki answered automatically. Too late, she tried to bite back the words.

Seth was grinning. “I’m surprised you don’t have it figured out down to the minute. So you want to tell me how you’re really doing?”

Nikki sighed. “I missed the courier yesterday because I was in the middle of a diaper change when he rang the doorbell. I yelled, but he couldn’t hear me and I couldn’t get there in time, so I have a counteroffer hanging in limbo because the papers are locked up in a delivery van till Monday.”

“That’s rotten luck.”

“And this morning Zack was standing up in his crib when I went in—and the way his face crumpled when he realized that it was me again and not his mother almost broke my heart.”

“Better you than a baby-sitter he doesn’t know at all.”

Nikki twisted around to look at him. “Don’t you have any sympathy for the poor kid?”

“Of course I do. I’m just realistic about it instead of sentimental. It’s good for them to get used to different people.”

“Well, good luck convincing them.” She added a few chunks of chicken to Anna’s tray and handed the baby her cup of milk. “And while you’re at it, try persuading Laura. Though she still hasn’t called back.” Nikki frowned. “Now that I think about it, it’s a little strange that I haven’t heard from her.”

“There hasn’t been a word?”

Nikki shook her head. “Aren’t phone calls from a cruise ship pretty pricy? Maybe Stephen put his foot down.”

“He could try, but I don’t think that would stop her any more than it would keep a mother bear from charging to defend her cubs. Are you in the mood for a bet?”

“Tell me what it is first.”

“Whether Laura calls the minute they land at the airport, or she rushes straight home to her darlings.”

“She’ll call,” Nikki said promptly.

“I don’t think so. If she calls, she’ll be five minutes later getting here.”

“It won’t hold her up a bit, because she’ll send Stephen after the car while she’s on the phone. That’s not a bet, Seth, it’s a certainty—so the only question left is how much money you want to give me. Anna, smashed peas are not a good conditioner for your hair. Come on, sweetheart, let’s go wash it out.” She lifted Anna from her high chair. “Do you mind if I leave Zack here for a minute, Seth? It’s much easier to wash them one at a time.”

Seth waved a hand instead of answering.

When she came back, he’d turned the radio on and taken the baby out of his high chair. Zack had pulled himself up beside a dining room chair and was hanging on tight, swaying his bottom in an approximate rhythm with the music. Seth was on the floor, both hands out of sight underneath the dishwasher.

“Hold that bag down here for a minute so I can sort through it, would you, Nikki?”

She knelt, holding the bag out of the babies’ reach. “How are you doing?”

“So far I’ve managed to break another valve and increase Zack’s vocabulary by at least two words that Laura doesn’t want him to know.”

The music stopped and a newscast began, but Zack danced on, too fascinated by his own movement to notice. Anna watched him as if she was studying each step. Seth sorted through pieces. And Nikki, half-listening to the newscast over the rattle of metal parts and the babbling of two babies, caught a few words that sent chills up her spine.

“Cruise ship…Caribbean…virus…quarantine…”

She scrambled to her feet and made a dash for the living room.

“Hey,” Seth called, “where are you going with my bag of parts?”

Nikki didn’t bother to answer. She dropped the bag in the nearest chair and dived for the television remote control.

The story was on the second news channel she checked. A mysterious virus had struck a cruise ship in the Caribbean, and public health officials were taking no chances. The ship and the two thousand people on board would be quarantined off the Florida coast until the bug was identified and the passengers were confirmed not to be contagious.

Nikki didn’t have to hear the name of the ship; the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach told her it was the one Laura and Stephen were on. “Oh, no,” she whispered. “All those poor people, shut up on a ship together with stomach cramps and headaches and fevers—”

Seth stood in the doorway, listening intently. “At least it doesn’t seem as though the symptoms are life-threatening. Just miserable.”

“Somehow I don’t think it would be a lot of comfort to know you’re not going to die,” Nikki mused, “if you feel bad enough to want to. What a way to spend a vacation!”

“I wonder if Steve’s boss will charge this up against his sick leave.” Seth’s voice was flippant, but there was a shadow in his eyes and a furrow between his brows.

“No wonder she hasn’t called. There must be two thousand people waiting in line to use a phone, if they can even get out of bed long enough to dial.”

“So we both lost the bet,” Seth added, “because she won’t be calling from the airport, and she won’t be coming straight home, either. At least not tonight.” He looked down at Nikki and raised one eyebrow. “Congratulations, Ms. Marshall—you have just hit the jackpot. You are the lucky winner of twins.”