The Cowboy's Twins (4 page)

He was their father. He had rights. Responsibilities. Privileges.

How
dare
she?

He fished out his phone and punched Susie's number again, but not surprisingly, it went straight to voice mail. Again. She was avoiding him, as well she might, considering what she'd just done. Was she seriously just dumping a couple of babies on his doorstep and running away?

No. Not just a couple of babies.

His
babies.

He didn't know how he knew they were his children. Given Susie's actions during the past year, their paternity might well be called into question, but his heart and his gut were telling him there was no doubt that he was the babies' father. And not just because Susie had dumped them on his doorstep.

Overcoming every other emotion he was feeling, even the most heated ones, amazement and wonder and love warmed his chest, swirling and curling around and filling his heart full to the brim.

He was astounded by how instantly those feelings appeared and how strong they were. He'd woken up this morning a man who had been living practically like a hermit, deliberately isolating himself, mucking through the mire of his own despair.

Alone.

And now—

Now he was a
father
.

“Should we take them inside, do you think?” Faith asked hesitantly.

“What? Yes.” He'd nearly forgotten Faith was there, but he was grateful she was. He wasn't even remotely capable of dealing with this crisis on his own, and her question proved it. He didn't know what to do with one baby, never mind two.

Of course he needed to take the infants inside the cabin, and then...

What next?

He didn't know the first thing about infants. Not what they ate, though presumably it was milk of some kind. Not how to get them to sleep, or even where they should sleep. It wasn't as if he had a crib in his spare room. He didn't even know how to change a diaper.

Faith stood and touched his shoulder. “You look lost.”

And frightened.

She didn't say it, but they both knew it.

He met her empathetic hazel eyes and groaned. “I feel lost. Like on-another-planet lost. I don't have a clue what I should do next. This is so beyond my realm of experience—almost beyond reality, actually.”

She nodded. “I can't even imagine what you're going through. It's not every day a man learns he's a father when his babies show up at his door. Let's get these two little darlings in out of the heat and tend to their immediate needs, and then we can make a plan.”

She'd said
we
as if it were just a given that she'd be part of—whatever this was. Her voice teemed with compassion and confidence. He was grateful that she'd come to Serendipity and chosen it to be her home. He was glad he'd met her. It was no accident that she'd bid on him today.

He knew in his heart that as crazy as this whole thing was, the Lord was watching over him. Faith's presence proved it. Even though she hadn't known him for more than a few hours, she offered her support and was willing to stay with him—with
them
. He
needed
her here.

He unlocked the door to his cabin, and Faith held the screen door for him as he grabbed the handles of both of the car seats and carefully transferred the children—
his
children—indoors. He scanned the area for the best place to put the car seats and settled on the carpet between the front of the couch and the coffee table.

Faith followed with a diaper bag in her hand—which, in the shock and devastation of the moment, had escaped Jax's notice. He supposed he should be grateful Susie had left him a modicum of supplies, but he was too angry to give her even that. He hoped she'd left a note giving him some idea of her state of mind—and the children's names would be nice, at the very least.

He turned his attention to one of the babies while Faith took care of the other. It took him a moment to figure out the lock system on the car seat, and by the time he was ready to lift the infant out, Faith already had hers tucked safely in the crook of her arm and was smiling and making delightful cooing noises to the contented infant.

He'd finally managed to unhook the straps but hesitated in removing the tiny little human being from the seat. He didn't know what he was doing. What if he accidentally hurt her?

“Support her neck with one hand and slide the other one behind her back,” Faith instructed, as if she knew what he'd been thinking.

“Right.” He cleared his throat and rubbed a hand down his jaw. This wasn't going to get any easier by waiting, and unlike the infant Faith held, his baby girl was starting to fuss again.

He held his breath and slid his hand underneath her, trying to be gentle but feeling like a clumsy giant. His daughter was so tiny he could easily support her neck and back with one hand, but he didn't take any chances. He followed Faith's directions to the letter.

The baby was incredibly fragile, weighing next to nothing. He held her out in front of him and swallowed hard around the lump of emotion in his throat.

“She's crying and yours isn't,” he said, his voice scratchy. “What am I doing wrong?”

Faith chuckled. “You're doing fine. Don't worry about the fussing. Babies do that. She's just communicating with you. Put her up against your shoulder and pat her back. She's likely hungry or wet or both. The first thing we should do is see about getting these sweethearts changed into dry diapers and then get them some bottles of formula to warm and fill their little bellies.” She sat down on the sofa and kissed her baby's forehead. “Let's see what we've got here.”

Jax adjusted the baby he was holding to his shoulder, and to his surprise, she immediately calmed down. He watched Faith remove the contents of the stylish red diaper bag. She placed everything she found on the coffee table—a stack of diapers, a box of wet wipes, four plastic bottles and a couple of yellow cans bearing a brand name Jax didn't recognize. He couldn't even begin to guess what was inside. A couple of yellow T-shirts with snaps on the bottom.

“Diapers first, then formula.” Faith spread a blanket on the floor and laid her baby down, gesturing for Jax to do the same.

“What's formula?” Jax asked, following Faith's lead. He carefully unwrapped the blankets swaddled around his infant and removed the wet diaper.

“It's like milk, only it's specifically made for babies' sensitive stomachs.”

“I don't have any formula.” Jax gently lifted the baby's legs and slid a diaper underneath her. He started to tape the tabs only to realize the diaper was backward.

Tabs in back, cartoon picture in front.

Good thing he was a fast learner.

“Yes, you do.” Faith nodded toward the yellow cans. “But that stash won't last very long, especially with two little ones. You'll have to get to the store soon.”

Like
today
. And not just for formula, but for all the other things two babies would need.

Most people had nine months to plan their baby's arrival. He hadn't had a single second. And with the whole town wrapped up for the weekend with the special event, he wouldn't be able to visit Sam's Grocery until Monday. He hoped he could make it that long. When he had the opportunity, he'd call Slade and Laney and see if they had anything he could use.

Satisfied that he had his daughter's diaper fastened—if not perfectly then at least adequately—he lifted her back into his arms. Faith likewise picked up her infant, but then also somehow managed to balance two bottles and a can of formula in her other arm. Talented woman.

“Kitchen?”

“Through the door on the left,” he said, nodding toward the small space that served him as a kitchen.

“Can I help?” he asked her, not knowing how much assistance he could actually provide.

“No need.” She chuckled.

She was obviously going to set up the bottles for the infants, though Jax had no clue what that entailed, much less how she was going to manage with only one free hand. He looked around, wondering what he ought to do next and wishing babies came with a written how-to manual.

Well, okay, maybe not a
manual
. He wasn't much on reading directions. But a bulleted list, at least.

He stared down at the tiny slip of humanity nestled in the crook of his arm, smacking noisily on her little fist that she'd caught in her mouth, and felt yet another overwhelming surge of joy and amazement. His throat closed around the emotion, clogging his breath.

His baby. Sweet...

His mind sluggishly wrapped around his biggest problem yet. He hadn't seen a note in the paraphernalia Faith had emptied from the diaper bag.

“What's your name, little darlin'?”

* * *

Her arms laden with the second twin and trying to balance two warm bottles, Faith froze in the doorway, her gaze checked on the large man with the tiny infant enfolded in his muscular arms.

He'd spoken aloud. And he was right.

How was he supposed to deal with
that
issue? He could hardly care for the twins without names. Susie wasn't answering her phone and there didn't appear to be a note anywhere.

She shook her head and scoffed softly. This whole thing was messed up on so many levels that she couldn't even begin to catalog them. It was surreal.

They couldn't continue to refer to the two babies as
your baby
and
my baby
based on which infant they were holding, first because they were both his children and second because Faith would be leaving soon, or at least as soon as they could find someone else to assist him. There was no question that he'd need round-the-clock help, at least for the first few days.

Jax pulled out his phone and from the expression on his face, she could tell that he'd dialed Susie once again, but of course the senseless woman wasn't answering. Not that Faith expected her to. What woman in her right mind would drop her babies on someone's front step, even if that someone was the unsuspecting father? She was clearly immature and running away from her responsibilities. It was highly unlikely she'd offer Jax any kind of assistance now.

Faith coughed to let Jax know she was standing there, but he didn't acknowledge her. He didn't even look up. He was entirely focused on the baby in his arms.

He seemed to notice her only when she entered the living room and sat down on the couch across from his easy chair. She handed him a bottle and smiled encouragingly. With more actions than words, she showed him how to hold and angle the bottle for the precious little one in his arms. The baby took right to it, although Jax appeared a little self-conscious.

She leaned back into the middle cushion of the plush chocolate-colored couch and encouraged her baby—or rather, not
her
baby, but the infant she was holding—to root for the bottle. She was as hungry as her sister, and in moments the room was silent except for the sound of contented gurgling.

“I've got so many problems I don't know where to start. For one thing, I can't tell them apart,” Jax admitted, his lips tightening into a thin, straight line. “And even if I could, Susie didn't leave a note to tell me what to call them. She could have at least pinned a name on them or something.”

Faith looked from one baby to the other. Jax was right. The children looked exactly the same, from their scrunched-up expressions as they held the bottles to their chocolate-brown eyes. They were even dressed alike.

“You're right,” she agreed. “That's a complication, but we'll figure it out. We don't know if they are identical or fraternal twins, but at this point in the game they are unquestionably going to be hard to tell one from the other. We need to look for some kind of defining features, something that sets the two apart.”

He frowned and studied the infant in his arms, who was noisily enjoying her late lunch. “Like what?”

“I don't know. Let's compare. They both have the same thick tufts of brown hair.”

Just like their daddy.

“Your baby's hair seems slightly curlier, but that could change after they've had a bath.”

Jax's face paled and he made a choking sound. “A bath?”

She chuckled at his insecurity. He seemed like a take-charge kind of man, and yet a baby—two babies—left him helpless. It would be kind of cute, were it not so serious.

“With water,” she teased. “Don't worry, we'll get there. I'm sure somebody can show you how it's done. Your mom has probably given babies a bath or two in her time.”

“No doubt,” he said, the corner of his mouth stretching up. “And I imagine my brothers and I were more trouble than these little girls are going to be.”

Faith chuckled, imagining three rough-and-tumble boys in the bathtub. Jax's mother must have had a stern hand to have kept them in line.

“Maybe one of them has a birthmark,” he suggested, bringing Faith's mind back to the present.

“How about dimples?” She'd known identical twins in high school, and that was how she'd been able to tell them apart, especially at first.

“Great idea. My baby has them. Both cheeks and a big one on her little chin.”

“There you go, then.” She nodded toward the baby in her arms. “This little sweetheart doesn't.”

“One problem solved.” Jax groaned. “But being able to tell them apart isn't going to help me if I don't know their names. I can't believe Susie did this to them.”

Faith's heart swelled into her throat, and she could barely breathe around it. He wasn't thinking of the inconvenience to himself as much as the well-being of his babies. As for Faith, she couldn't believe Jax's ex-wife could do that to
him
. Maybe it was a good thing this Susie character had decided to leave the sweet little babies with Jax. At least he was mature and responsible. He'd take care of them. A woman who'd just leave her helpless babies on a doorstep in the Texas heat didn't even deserve to be called a mother.