Chapter 22
Twenty-Two
B ecky woke to both babies screaming at the top of their lungs. Kevin still made a cute mewing sound, even when he was crying, but Marley’s cry changed into something that was shrill and demanding.
Either way, it sounded like they had been crying for a while by the time she finally struggled out of the depths of unconsciousness and tried to figure out where and how she was.
She didn’t feel normal. She felt…a little uncomfortable.
Her neck ached, but she felt warm and safe and snuggled up, and it was weird, because she had just come from the funeral of her sister, and she shouldn’t be feeling this good.
And then she realized that Rodney held her. She vaguely remembered he carried her in and sat on the couch. She had thought that she needed to get up and take her shoes off and her coat and check on the babies, but the next thing she knew, she had been deeply asleep.
“I can get them. You lie down.” His words were soft in her ears, his breath over her skin, and her arms were already around him, but she wanted to move them up, to slide her fingers in his hair and bring his head down to hers.
But that wouldn’t do with the babies crying.
“No. I’ll… I’ll make the bottles.”
That was what she was supposed to do. She wasn’t sure where the baby bags were, or whether he had even gotten the dirty bottles out, but she was pretty sure they’d made sure that there were clean bottles at the sink before they left, anticipating the needs that might arise when they got home.
Plus, there were extra clean bottles in the baby bags. They had been figuring out that whatever they thought they needed, they should double it.
That included the number of diapers that they took anywhere and the number of outfit changes too.
Although, really the only place they had gone was to look at the house, and now her sister’s funeral. The babies were so young, and she really liked to keep them at home. She thought that was best for them. Although soon, this wouldn’t be home anymore.
She moved, reluctantly sliding off his lap and standing up. Taking a moment to orient herself before realizing that the blanket had slipped to the floor.
She grabbed it and threw it over the back of the couch, then turned around to offer her hand to him.
“My arm’s asleep,” he said.
“I’m sorry,” she murmured.
“No. I… I enjoyed it.”
She didn’t say anything but continued to hold her hand out until he grabbed it, and she helped him up.
He had said something about still wanting to be with her.
But she didn’t know exactly what that meant.
He had abruptly cut off their relationship, and she didn’t know whether when he said that he wanted to be with her, he meant until something else happened that he was going to not want to tell her, or whether it meant this time for real.
She knew he wanted her to believe that it meant this time for real, but… How did she go about doing that?
She walked over to the counter, pulling two clean bottles from the rack, and started to get them ready for Rodney, who had knelt down beside one of the car seats and was opening it up. He would get a diaper changed while she made the bottle.
She realized she was still wearing her coat, so she took it off and threw it on the stool.
She was wearing her boots as well, but they would just have to wait.
The babies were crying in earnest now, and she would get them taken care of first. If she worked, she would have both bottles almost ready when he had one diaper changed, and she would feed the first twin while he changed the second diaper.
They kind of had a system going. Whoever started changing the diapers just did them both.
Neither one of them fussed or complained about getting the short end of the stick. They were past that, she thought. Or maybe both of them were willing to do whatever work it took.
She screwed on the last bottle’s cap and carried them both over to the coffee table where Rodney had just finished changing one of the babies.
In the dark, she couldn’t tell which one.
Thank goodness they were different genders, otherwise she probably would get them mixed up and never be able to figure out which one was which.
He handed the baby to her, carefully cradling its head.
“This is Marley.” He grinned. “She’s the loudest.”
The other baby was still crying, and Marley was still making angry whimpering sounds.
“The squeaky wheel and all that,” she said, feeling more awake and a little bit embarrassed at how she had been sleeping.
He seemed fine, totally comfortable. Like it wasn’t any big deal.
But it was a big deal to her. She didn’t do that with just anyone. In fact, she didn’t do it with anyone.
But Rodney was different. She didn’t mind doing it with Rodney. Once upon a time, she dreamed every night about kissing him.
He was definitely her teenage crush, and her young adult crush, and her now crush apparently, because she found herself sitting down on the couch, watching him work. Admiring him.
Had he really abandoned the opportunity to become even richer? Selling off what he had to come back here to take care of babies?
What did that say about him?
And he seemed to indicate that he was going to stay. He said he was arranging things, getting rid of the staff and all that, buying a house in Raspberry Ridge. That sure looked like a man who meant what he said about sticking around.
She’d been burned by him once.
But for the years and years before that, decade even, he had done everything he said he was going to. Was she going to hold just one little mistake against him?
It was a five-year mistake. He could have corrected it anytime, and he didn’t.
But he explained why, and it did make sense. Yeah, she didn’t really understand the man’s need to look all macho and all that, but she understood that it was there.
Kind of like her need to look pretty and go shopping, or even her need to see the future and at least have an idea of what was there so she could make plans and adjust her schedule accordingly.
It really wasn’t necessary. The Bible told them to live day by day. And not to worry, because God would take care of them.
He finished changing the diaper and carefully set the baby in one of the car seats while he went and washed his hands.
They really needed to get bassinets or beds or something. But before they did that, they should see how long it was going to take to get the house in Raspberry Ridge. It didn’t make any sense to load this house up with stuff, only to carry everything up there.
Cart and horse and all that, she thought to herself.
He came back, sat down, grabbed the bottle, and carefully picked up the baby.
Kevin was crying almost as loud as Marley usually did by the time Rodney leaned back and put the bottle in his mouth.
Kevin took a moment to realize what happened, and then a blissful quiet descended on the living room.
“Well. That feels better,” Rodney said, sounding relieved but also a tone of humor in his voice.
“Yeah. So much better.”
“How long until they sleep through the night?” he asked.
She thought it might have been a rhetorical question. “I haven’t looked. But I think it varies. Anywhere from two months to a year or later.”
“Two months? We’ve got another…nine weeks of this?”
“Seven weeks. And maybe our babies will be early.”
“They’re smaller than regular babies. Do you think that means that they’ll be earlier or later?”
“Probably later.”
“Wow. The idea of doing this for another seven weeks makes me want to…cry, I guess. That’s probably my biggest urge right now.”
She looked at him. He hadn’t shed a tear during the funeral. He looked sad, he looked grave, and he’d even looked concerned about her a few times. But there had been no crying.
She normally didn’t cry either. And she hadn’t cried during the funeral. She hadn’t even cried at the graveside, although she felt like it. It wasn’t as deserted as what she thought. There were the workers, and several pallbearers had come along so they could carry the casket to the grave.
“Thank you for being there today. Thank you for your support and your care. I wasn’t expecting that, and it really touched me. This was probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life before, and you were right there with me ready to give me anything I needed. I appreciate it.”
The words as they came out of her mouth were sincere, and she meant them with all of her heart.
He sat there, his eyes dark as his head leaned back on the edge of the couch, watching her. His smile was a little sad as he met her eyes, then he looked down.
“I’m glad I was there. I wouldn’t have wanted you to have done that by yourself. I…don’t want you to ever have to do anything by yourself. It’s always better if you have someone who loves you with you.”
There he went, talking about love again, and she wasn’t sure that she was ready for that.
Not yet. But she did think that she was more ready now than she had been.
Because after all, he’d shown her today that he meant what he was saying, that he would be there for her and support her.
And he didn’t seem to act like he wanted to be somewhere else.
So many times, she’d seen men who were bored or impatient or didn’t care to be where they were, and yet…
Rodney seemed to just want to be wherever she was.
And he was content as long as she was there.
That’s the way she felt about him. As long as he was there, she was happy. Would she have been happy in the business world?