Читать книгу Her Triplets' Mistletoe Dad - Patricia Johns - Страница 14

CHAPTER TWO

THE DRIVE FROM Benton to Eagle’s Rest was a quiet one. As Gabby stretched her legs out to feel the heat from the vents, Seth put on the radio to fill the silence. A few honky-tonk Christmas tunes about unrequited love were on various stations. She’d never been a fan of heartbreaking songs, but today they seemed more personal. She’d gotten married today, but she wasn’t in love with her husband.

“Could you change the station?” she said.

“Sure.” Seth flicked the station to an equally depressing song. He stuck it on a talk radio station and Gabby sighed. It was an improvement at least. Seth’s broad hand rested on the top of the steering wheel, and he looked about as somber as she felt.

Gabby turned away from Seth, staring the window at the snow-laden farmland. She was thinking about her babies, and about this legally binding step she’d just taken. While a woman could do far worse than Seth Straight, with his rugged good looks and his strong sense of personal ethics, she felt a wave of misgiving. She had terrible luck with men—and at the age of thirty, she could accept that her “luck” was rooted in her decision-making. She chose the wrong guys again and again. Whenever she followed her heart, it brought more pain. Her heart needed to stay out of this.

Seth had made better choices in his own life. His wife had been a saint. She really was perfect for him, even if she’d never trusted Gabby. Gabby, of all people, wasn’t a threat to their marriage. She and Seth had never felt more than friendship for each other, but she could understand a woman protecting her turf. All the same, Seth had loved Bonnie deeply. It had been the kind of connection that people envied, including Gabby. If she could find a guy who looked at her like Seth had looked at Bonnie, she’d never complain again—as long as he was legitimately single. Sad that she now had to add that qualifier to her list. But Gabby had been taken advantage of one too many times, and while Seth wasn’t the type to treat her shabbily, she had an even bigger reason to keep herself in control of her emotions. Her new husband was still in love with his late wife. Gabby was willing to accept this arrangement for what it was—a convenience—but she wouldn’t hope for anything more. This was a favor, nothing else.

Gabby looked down at her wedding ring. It was just a simple band, but it was already taking on meaning. It certainly would to everyone else. They’d all expect a passionate love story, and Gabby wasn’t going to be able to deliver. How was she supposed to play this? Would their natural friendship look romantic enough to a casual observer? Would they have to amp up their physical contact in order to look the part? All things she should have thought through already, but she hadn’t had the time. Her boys were her priority, and they needed their specialty formula. Plus who knew what other medical help might be necessary down the road with premature triplets.

They arrived in Eagle’s Rest in the late afternoon and headed to the south side of town, where Gabby’s aunt Bea lived. Bea was her mother’s aunt, so unlike Ted, she was legitimate family. Small, boxy houses built in the sixties, with large yards and mature trees, ran up and down the street, and her aunt’s house was second from the end. Most of the houses had Christmas decorations on their lawns—inflatable Santas, lights on the trees, wreaths on doors… The snow had stopped and watery winter sunlight filtered through the overhanging boughs of the trees. Gabby fiddled with the roses in her lap, then looked down at them.

“What do I do with my bouquet?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” Seth said. “Were you wanting to throw it or something?”

“No.” Gabby sighed. “I just don’t know what I’m supposed to do with it.”

“Bring it back with us. Stick it in a vase.”

He sounded so sure of himself that it actually sounded like a logical plan, as if that was what anyone would do with a bouquet after a secret wedding—stick it in the center of the kitchen table. But why not?

“Okay,” she agreed. “I’ll do that.”

Throwing it away seemed wrong, and tossing it over her shoulder wasn’t even a possibility.

“This doesn’t have to be complicated,” Seth said. “Keep it simple—isn’t that what we said?”

Yes, that was exactly what they’d said, but that was before she’d said vows for the first time in her life…before she’d realized that this was her first marriage, and even if she annulled it right now, it would always be her first marriage. Her heart ached in a strange way. She wasn’t sad, exactly, just overwhelmed by it all, and the only thing that would make her feel better was to pick up her babies and hold them close.

Bea Thibodaux’s little white house had a towering oak tree out front that dwarfed the structure but gave some beautiful dappled shade for the summertime. Seth pulled into her driveway and turned off the engine.

“Are you coming in with me?” Gabby asked.

“Do you want me to?” He looked over at her uncertainly.

“You might as well,” she said. “But mess up your hair, or something. You look too formal and wedding-ish.”

Seth chuckled softly. “I’m not the one dressed in white.”

Gabby shot him a smile. “It’s cream.”

“Same diff.”

“Let’s just try to get in and out without the neighbors asking too many questions.”

“You give them too much credit,” Seth shot back. “They won’t ask us, they’ll go ask your aunt once we’re gone.”

He had a point, and she shook her head. “I guess we can’t help that. And we’ll start telling people soon enough… Let’s go in. I miss my boys.”

She pushed open the door and hopped out of the truck. One of her aunt’s neighbors came out the side door of her house with a snow shovel at the same time and shot Gabby a curious look.

“Hi,” Gabby called casually, and headed toward her aunt’s place as if she’d just gotten back from a coffee or something. The neighbor raised her hand in a wave, but didn’t stop watching Gabby. Seth followed a moment later, and Gabby was relieved to see that he’d left the string tie behind and seemed to have dug out an older, more beaten up cowboy hat. Now he just looked like a really well-dressed cowboy. Hopefully, the neighbors would assume he was a date.

Aunt Bea pulled open the front door before Gabby even had a chance to knock, and the older woman looked immediately at Gabby’s left hand, then over at Seth’s.

“So you did it,” Bea said, stepping back. “Come in, then.”

Before they’d left that morning, Gabby had told her aunt the plan and sworn her to secrecy. Bea hadn’t liked it, but she hadn’t tried to stop them, either.

Gabby headed for the car seats where the babies were all lined up and asleep. Andy was sleeping with his tongue sticking out, and Beau and Aiden were turned toward each other in the car seats, breathing in unison. Gabby squatted down in front of them and reached out to touch their tiny feet.

“Mommy’s back,” she whispered.

“I just put them down after diaper changes,” Bea said. “So they should be dry. Except for Andy. He wets his diaper the minute I put a new one on… Lucky he doesn’t seem to mind being wet, unlike Beau.”

“Thanks, Auntie,” Gabby said, reaching for Andy. “I appreciate it.”

She put a hand under Andy’s little rump and the other under his downy head and scooped him up. He settled with a sigh against her chest, and she felt the tension seeping out of her. This was what she needed—to hold her babies.

“So you’re going ahead with the plan to move into Seth’s house?” Bea asked.

“Yes,” Gabby said.

“Well, I expect we can put Seth to work, then,” Bea said, turning toward him. “Can you start carrying out some baby things? I’ve got it all ready to go by the side door.”

“Sure.” Seth looked relieved to have something to do. “I’ll load everything up.”

“Auntie, we’re not telling people yet,” Gabby added.

“Oh.” Bea nodded. “Not even your mother?”

“I will tell her—tomorrow, though. I want a bit of time to think it out before I do.”

“She’s your mom,” Bea replied. “I don’t know why there’s any explanation necessary besides the actual truth. She’ll understand that you need to provide for your children. She knows what it means to be a single mother, after all.”

“No, she’ll feel like she let me down,” Gabby said. “And I don’t want her to think that.”

Gabby’s mother, Carol, had helped her get through college and earn her diploma to be a medical office assistant, and then Carol had lost a few jobs, one after another. None of it was her fault—just the fluctuating economy. She’d gotten into debt, and there was no way she could help Gabby pay for that expensive formula now. Gabby knew her mother would feel terrible if she found out that Gabby was marrying Seth only for health insurance.

“We just need some time to sort out our stuff,” Gabby said. “But we were spotted in Benton by Taylor Shirk, so it probably won’t stay a secret for long.”

“I’ll let you be the one to tell her,” Bea said, and as Seth picked up a couple garbage bags filled with clothes and linens, the older woman added, “Welcome to the family, Seth.”

Seth shot Gabby a half smile, then nodded to her aunt. “Thanks. Don’t worry. I’ll take care of these boys.”

“And Gabby, too, I hope,” Bea shot back.

“Most definitely.”

The warmth in his eyes, the private smile he cast in Gabby’s direction, and the way his muscles flexed as he hoisted the first bags—they were a combination that made it easy to pretend this marriage was something it wasn’t.

The screen door banged shut as Seth disappeared outside, and Gabby looked at her aunt with eyebrows raised.

“You’ve got your privacy now,” Gabby said. “What’s on your mind?”

“What’s on yours?” Bea quipped, and she reached for Gabby’s hand, looking down at the wedding ring. “Why did you do this?”

“You know why.” Gabby felt the tears rising up inside her. She was tired. She had missed her babies, and she really wasn’t in the mood to argue about something that was already done.

“I thought you’d come to your senses before you actually went through with it,” Bea said.

“Auntie, could you afford that formula for the long term?” Gabby demanded.

“No, but the church could have taken up a special offering—”

“No!” Then Gabby lowered her voice, because Beau and Aiden squirmed in their car seats. “Auntie, I’m not a charity. And I’m not going to be waiting on church collections to feed my children. Besides, I don’t want them growing up with the stigma of how they came into this world.”

“But you’ve married a man you don’t love.”

Gabby looked out the front window to where Seth was tossing the bags into the bed of the pickup. “Yes, I have. Look, he and I are good friends. We have been for years. We understand each other.”

“How long will you stay married?” Bea asked. “Is this truly until death do you part?”

“I don’t know. We’ll see, I guess. There are no false expectations here.”

“No?” Bea paced the living room, then turned back. “This is marriage. It isn’t supposed to be the sort of thing you take a day at a time!”

“I know.” Gabby rubbed a hand over her face. “Trust me, I’m aware. I’m not a child anymore, Bea. I’m thirty.”

The door opened again and the women fell silent as Seth grabbed a folded playpen in one hand and a baby swing in the other. He met Gabby’s gaze, then turned back to the door and disappeared outside once more. Bea pushed it shut behind him.

“There’s no point in arguing about it,” Bea said, adjusting her tone. She reached out and touched the back of her finger to Andy’s cheek where he lay snuggled on Gabby’s chest. “But I feel like I should at least warn you.”

“Of what?” Gabby asked tiredly.

“You’re playing with fire, dear. Those vows—they’re no joke. When you vow to belong to a man as long as you live, whether you mean it or not, it joins you to him in a way you don’t understand yet. It’s not just business. It can’t be.”

“Well, it’s too late now,” Gabby said with a bitter laugh.

“You have to know that I wish you only happiness,” her aunt replied earnestly. “All I can say is that you’re in for the ride of your life.”

Of that, Gabby was absolutely certain, but whether it would be exhilarating or a wild regret, she wasn’t sure. Still, her boys would be fed, and they’d have doctor’s visits and medicine if they needed it. And that was what mattered. She’d deal with the fallout later.

“Thank you, Auntie,” Gabby said quietly. “Cross your fingers for me, or say a prayer for me, but for crying out loud, don’t tell your church my business, okay?”

Bea smiled wryly. “Wouldn’t dream of it, dear. But the prayer chain is very discreet if you change your mind.”

“Auntie!” Gabby caught the teasing glint in her aunt’s eye. “I’m not going to tell anyone about the health insurance. You’ve got to keep my secret, okay? I don’t want Seth getting charged for insurance fraud or something like that. We can’t afford those legal fees. Besides, it’ll only hurt Mom if she knew. So I’m asking for a huge favor—keep my secret.”

Bea nodded. “I can do that. But just know, secrets have a way of coming out, anyway.”

“I’ll take that risk.”

The side door opened again and Seth poked his head in.

“So how are we going to do this?” Seth asked.

“I’ve got the car seat bases in the back of my car,” Gabby said. “And I think I’m ready.” She gave her aunt an appreciative smile. “Thanks for everything, Auntie. I’ll call you, okay?”

Bea nodded. “And if you need someone to mind the babies while your mom is working, I’m here.”

Gabby leaned over and kissed her aunt’s cheek. “I intend to take you up on that.”

THE ROSS RANCH was about forty minutes outside of Eagle’s Rest, out of the mountains and down in the snowy foothills. Seth was the ranch manager, and his little cottage was just up the road from the ranch hands’ bunkhouse and canteen. As he drove past the main house and around the bend, he came to another cottage—what used to be an in-law arrangement, from what he understood. This was where Billy Austin lived—a ranch hand and a good friend.

Billy’s wife, Grace, had just pulled up to the cottage. She was a teacher in town, and their daughter—now in kindergarten—hopped out of the car and turned to wave at Seth’s truck as he came around the bend. He smiled and waved back. Poppy was a cute little girl, and he had a soft spot for the kid. But then Grace and Poppy both turned their attention to Gabby’s car following his truck, and Grace brightened and waved. Here was hoping that in the car, with only a coat visible, Gabby didn’t look too much like a bride…

It wasn’t that he wanted to hide their arrangement, exactly, but he did want a few minutes with Gabby alone to adjust, at least. They didn’t have their story straight yet, and Grace and Gabby were good friends. What they decided to tell people was going to matter, big-time.

The ranch manager’s house was a small affair with two floors, and it was located on the other side of the bunkhouse and canteen. The last woman to share this house with him had been Bonnie. Pregnant Bonnie, always knocking water glasses and towels off the counter with her belly. It drove her crazy, and the memory brought back the sad ache. They’d set up a nursery together, all decorated in yellow and green because they’d wanted to be surprised about the baby’s gender. When Bonnie and little Hazel Marie hadn’t come home with him, he’d shut the door on that nursery and hadn’t gone inside again.

Seth parked in his regular spot and waited for Gabby to park next to him. The next few minutes were spent getting the babies out of her car and unloading a few necessities. They carried the car seats into the kitchen, and he glanced back at Gabby to see her appraising the place.

“Grace saw you coming here,” Seth said. “How long until she drops by?”

“She texted me already.” Gabby lifted her cell phone with a small smile. “I told her I’d give her a call later on, but I can’t tell her until I’ve told my mom. You and Billy are pretty good friends. He’ll require some explanations, too.”

“Yeah.” Seth shrugged. “This is just the start.”

Gabby bent down to uncover the babies, and she smiled down at them. All three were sleeping. Right now, the least of his worries should be the explanations. He now had three infants in his home—and their mother.

“I’ve got two bedrooms upstairs,” Seth said. “I thought you might be okay sharing with the babies.”

He hadn’t shown her the upstairs when he brought her here for dinner a week ago and they’d come up with this idea. That had still felt like private space.

“Sure, that works.” Gabby nodded. “I need to be close by for those feedings, after all. Every two hours. Did I mention that?”

“Yeah, I think you did.” Energetic, fun-loving, free-spirited Gabby was a mom on bottle duty all night. Hadn’t she sworn she didn’t want kids once upon a time? Kids are great, so long as they belong to someone else. You and Bonnie should have ten, Seth. Now she was the mom, and his daughter was gone.

“Let me take that,” he said, removing the bouquet from her shoulder bag. He retrieved a vase from the cupboard under the sink and filled it with water. He used to do this for Bonnie when he brought her flowers. Every two weeks. That was one of the things a book advised about keeping a marriage strong—regular flowers. And he’d always been particular about maintaining his marriage. Thing was, marriage was a whole lot more complicated than he’d anticipated, and flowers every two weeks weren’t quite the magic answer he’d hoped for.

Seth put the bouquet into the vase and slid it onto the table. It felt right, having flowers in here again. And it also felt like a bit of a betrayal to Bonnie, too.

One of the babies opened his eyes and let out a whimper.

“It’s about that time.” Gabby reached for the diaper bag that sat next to the car seats. “Why don’t we feed them first, then get settled?”

She was already adjusting to the space, and Gabby hoisted the bag to the counter next to the fridge and pushed aside a fruit bowl. It shouldn’t irritate him—she lived here now, after all, but Seth liked things to stay the same, even if that was unrealistic. He and Bonnie had always had the fruit bowl just there because Seth would reach over from his spot at the kitchen table and grab a banana. His attachment to a fruit bowl’s position had nothing to do with being picky. It was linked to his grief. And maybe his irrational guilt over arranging Gabby’s flowers like that…

Gabby took out a can of formula powder, then went to the sink. In a few minutes she’d shaken up three bottles, then caught his gaze lingering on her. “What?”

He’d rather not start out with an argument. And he’d be wrong—it was only a fruit bowl.

“Nothing. Which baby do I feed?” he asked. This had been his idea, and he’d just have to get used to Gabby’s touch about the place. Still… He moved the baby bag and slid the fruit bowl back into its rightful place. There. That felt better.

Gabby unbuckled the first baby and scooped him up. She planted a kiss on his forehead, and the infant’s eyes opened and gazed up at her.

“This is Aiden,” she said. “You’ll know him because he’s a little bit smaller.”

She passed him to Seth, and he reached out awkwardly, his fingers splayed. It took a moment of careful adjustment to get the baby into his arms. The little guy barely weighed anything. His heart clenched, and he swallowed back a lump in his throat. He’d imagined doing this with his own daughter a thousand times before she was born, and he’d never gotten the chance.

“Hi, there…” Seth said, looking down into the squished little face. Aiden opened his eyes again and his mouth opened into a tiny O, nudging toward Seth’s shirt, a baby’s instinct for milk. It took him a few tries to get the bottle’s nipple into Aiden’s mouth, but once he did, the baby set to sucking.

“There,” Seth said, and he felt a rush of unexpected satisfaction.

Gabby was cuddling another baby close as he slurped hungrily at a bottle. With a foot, she rocked the third car seat.

“This here is Andy,” she said, looking down at the infant she was feeding. “Beau might hate a wet diaper, but he’s a little more patient for his bottle.”

Aiden stretched out a tiny arm—remarkably strong for such a little fellow. Their marriage might be a unique arrangement, but part of Seth’s willingness to help her had been because of these babies, and he looked down at the infant in wonder.

“I’ve fed calves, and a couple of newborn goats, but I’ve never fed a baby before,” he admitted.

“No?” Gabby wrinkled her nose. “Are you serious? I thought you used to babysit your cousins.”

“They weren’t babies,” he said, casting her an incredulous look. “And Ian is only four years younger than me. His sister was like five at the time. So they all fed themselves pretty efficiently.”

“Right. You just seem so much older than him.”

“Thanks.” He rolled his eyes.

“You know what I mean—you’re more mature. He’s always been a perpetual boy. I mean, he’s fun, don’t get me wrong, but…”

She was right about that. And Gabby would know—she’d dated Ian for a few months. In her defense, there weren’t a lot of single guys to choose from in Eagle’s Rest.

They were silent for a few beats, and Seth sobered, adjusting the baby in his arms.

“I was all set to figure out bottle feeding with my daughter,” he said quietly. “I never got the chance.”

When Seth looked over at her, he saw her eyes misting. She lifted her gaze to meet his, and her chin trembled ever so slightly. It was the mom in her reacting.

“I can’t imagine losing a child, Seth,” she said softly. “That’s a heartbreak I don’t think you’d ever recover from.”

“Yeah, it’s bad.”

Understatement of the year. Losing his wife was one kind of grief, but losing his infant daughter was another. It was an aching emptiness—a loss of a hundred things he’d never gotten to try. A pregnancy was different from a baby for the father, and while he’d felt his child squirm in Bonnie’s belly, he’d known that meeting the baby would make it all concrete. He’d be a dad in earnest then. When the doctors put her in his arms, she had suddenly become real…and so had the depth of his loss. All in that one moment. Because little Hazel Marie hadn’t survived the delivery, and his hello and goodbye had to happen all at once. He realized then it wasn’t the length of a life, but the depth of it, and his tiny daughter had sunk down into his soul.

He didn’t know how to put all those feelings into words, and he’d never tried. He’d just covered the pain over as best he could with work and keeping busy. People had expressed sympathy, and Billy had spent quite a few evenings in this house, sharing beer and some companionable silence. It had helped more than Billy probably knew. A few aunts had brought casseroles, but mostly he just sank back down into a bachelor’s life—meals for one and a whole lot of working. There was enough to do on a ranch that he could go day and night if he wanted to. And sometimes he did.

Aiden finished the bottle, and Seth put it on the counter.

“You’ll need to burp him,” Gabby said, putting her own bottle down and tipping Andy up to her shoulder. “Like this. Just pop him up there and pat his back a little bit. Aiden’s a gassy one. He’ll burp twice.”

Just pop him up there… That was easier said than done. The baby was so small that Seth was scared of hurting him. He managed to get his hand under Aiden’s head and when he tipped him up onto his shoulder, the tiny head tipped forward, too. Seth felt his gut drop. But then Aiden lifted his head and settled it down again in a more comfortable position, and there was a surge of relief.

“Okay, buddy,” Seth said softly, and he gently tapped the tiny back the way Gabby was doing with his brother. Almost immediately, there was a resounding belch.

“Wow,” Gabby chuckled. “Keep that up. He’ll do it again.”

Seth continued the soft tapping as he watched Gabby finish burping Andy. She put him back in his car seat and scooped up Beau.

“You’ve been so good, Beau,” she crooned, tucking him into the crook of her arm. “Are you a hungry boy?”

Her voice was different when she talked to her children—softer, sweeter, more intimate somehow.

Aiden lifted his head again, and then he burped again, this time leaving a dribble of milk to soak into Seth’s shirt.

“Sorry,” Gabby said with a wince.

“No problem.”

“You don’t have to help with baby stuff, you know,” she said. “Just having us here is enough.”

“If you don’t want me to—” he started, then breathed a sigh. “Thing is, Gabs, I kind of want to. If I’m going to be your husband, I guess that makes me a dad to them…sort of. Right?”

“Do you want to be?” Gabby eyed him, and he couldn’t tell what she was feeling. But she was waiting for his answer, all of her body tensed. He’d learned a few things in his first marriage, like never to assume he knew what a woman was feeling. Honesty was probably the best call right now.

“Am I allowed to be a dad to them?” he asked cautiously.

“How long-term is this?” she asked.

“Uh…” He smiled hesitantly. “As long as we want it to be.”

“That’s not an answer, though.”

“I’m assuming we’re going to keep this going for as long as the boys need the insurance,” he said. “That’s on a purely practical level. As friends, though, we can stay married for the rest of our lives, if it suits us.”

“If it suits us…” She sucked in a breath. “Kids needs stability.”

“Yeah, I get it,” he said with a quick nod. And emotional connection and passionate promises gave at least the impression of stability. But he and Gabby weren’t there; they weren’t promising undying passion for a lifetime.

“I did grow up with a really great godfather,” Gabby said. “You know how much Uncle Ted meant to me. I was thinking maybe you could be like him… That way, if we do decide to end this after a while, it won’t be as traumatic for the boys, and you could stay in their lives in a meaningful way.”

Uncle Ted. That had been a weird setup with Gabby’s family—not that Seth had told her his real feelings there. Godparents mattered a lot in her family—more than in his, that was for sure.

“Okay, well…so I’ll be a godfather kind of figure. And I can help out with the bottles and stuff.”

When they got older he could teach them to ride a horse, and to fix a truck, and to use their manners. Maybe she was right, and being a godfather would be a longer-lasting relationship than a stepdad.

“Okay…” Gabby’s voice softened, and she met his gaze with a gentle smile. “We’ll just learn as we go.”

That seemed to be parenting in a nutshell, really—learning as you went along. Billy’s daughter had been dropped on his doorstep, and he came back to Eagle’s Rest to raise her before Seth and Bonnie had started trying for a baby. Watching his old friend adjust to fatherhood had taught him a thing or two—namely, that a whole lot of love made up for whatever limitations a dad might have. If Seth had had the chance to raise his own daughter, he’d have bumbled along, he was sure, but the chance to bumble and mess up and fix stuff—that was more precious than most people realized.

When the babies were fed, Gabby changed diapers again. Seth stood back and let her do that one on her own. He was easing into this, and a bottle was enough to stretch his skill set right now.

“I guess I should show you your room,” Seth said, when the babies were dressed once more.

“That would be great. They normally sleep after a bottle,” Gabby replied. “I’ve got the collapsible playpen in your truck—”

“There’s a crib,” he said, and he swallowed against a lump in his throat.

“Oh…” Understanding registered in her eyes. “Hazel’s?”

He nodded. “If that’s okay.”

“It’s perfect,” she said. “They’re small enough we can lay them down sidelong and they can all sleep together. For now, at least. That’s how they sleep in the playpen, anyway.”

Hazel’s crib… He hadn’t looked at it in a long time, and his chest tightened at the thought of it being put to use after all this time. But these boys needed a home and a bed, and it was better to have that nursery used than to leave it empty of life and filled with grief.

Seth cleared his throat. “Should I carry one of the babies?”

“Please. Here’s Beau.”

She passed the infant into his arms, and Seth looked down at the tiny face of yet a different boy who needed him. Seth was a dad. Sort of. That was how he was seeing himself right now. He might not be biologically linked, but he was here…and he was married to their mother. He gave the baby a little pat on the rump.

“Hey, Beau,” he murmured.

Beau was sleeping, pale eyelashes brushing his cheeks. Seth waited until Gabby had the remaining two babies in her arms, and then he led the way up the creaking stairs to the second floor.

“That’s my bedroom,” he said, nodding toward the closed door. “And this is…yours.”

It was hard to say that Hazel’s room belonged to Gabby and her sons now, but he opened the other door to reveal the nursery. It was spacious and bright, and there was a double bed pushed against the far wall. He’d come through the room and dusted all the surfaces, did some sweeping and generally tried to make it hospitable before he left to get married. Originally, this used to be the guest room, and he and Bonnie never did move that bed out. They’d figured it might be useful for feedings or something. But Gabby could use that bed, and the babies would share the crib until they could squeeze in another couple cribs.

Gabby stepped into the room ahead of him and looked around.

“It’s beautiful,” she said. “So bright. I love it.”

He’d always liked that room, too, and he stepped forward to lower the side of the crib one-handed so she could put the babies into it. It took him a moment of fiddling—he wasn’t used to actually using any of this stuff, but before Hazel was born he’d familiarized himself with it all. He was nothing if not prepared—his life motto, for all it had worked out.

Gabby laid the boys carefully on the yellow-sheeted mattress. Andy stretched out tiny limbs and Aiden exhaled a comfortable sigh. Gabby took Beau from his arms and laid him next to his brothers. Beau and Aiden turned toward each other.

“They always do that,” Gabby whispered.

“I wonder why,” Seth said.

“They shared a womb.” Gabby shrugged. “They all did. I’m sure their relationship—the three of them—will be one we’ll never fully understand.”

“Yeah.”

We. That was the word she’d chosen, and it felt awkwardly endearing to be included like that. We.

Seth glanced around the nursery—at the owl decals on the walls, the rocking chair in the far corner holding a pile of knitted blankets he’d never actually put away—and he realized that it didn’t feel quite so sad anymore. It wasn’t that Hazel’s memory was gone from this room exactly, but perhaps her memory had some company in the form of triplet boys.