I need you!”
A chill ran down Wes’s spine at the sound of Jade’s desperate plea. He grabbed the knob and flung the door open, causing it to bang against the interior wall. “Jade!” He ran toward the baby cries, uncertain what he might find. He stuck his head in the numerous rooms that branched off the center hall of the old farmhouse. “Jade, where are you?” he asked as he reached the kitchen, only to find Jade, barefoot and disheveled holding one screaming infant in her arms while the other two wailed from bouncy chairs perched on top of the table.
His heart stopped beating at the sight of them. His daughters. His. They had his DNA, his genes, his—Wes grabbed the doorjamb.
“Thank God you’re here.” She took a step toward him.
He shook his head, trying not to break eye contact with her for fear he’d look into the eyes of one of his daughters. “Why are they crying?”
“Wes, meet Audra.” She held the infant out to him. “Please help me.”
His arms rose automatically to take her without hesitation as his body betrayed his will. He closed his eyes, not wanting to see the life he’d helped create. The weight of Audra in his arms made her all that more real. Her cries stopped as a soft mew emanated from the tiny bundle. He didn’t want to look. But he couldn’t not look. He needed to see his daughter.
“Oh my God.” His heart sprang back to life.
“What is it?” Jade frantically asked.
“She’s beautiful,” he whispered.
“They all are. We made quite the heartbreakers.”
He lifted his gaze to hers. The edginess had faded to a gentle softness. Even with her stained blouse and what appeared to be a black marker streak across her left cheek, she exuded beauty. “I guess we did.” He lowered his eyes to the other two girls contentedly sucking on the bottles Jade held for them. And then he saw more black marker. “Did you write on their feet?”
“I had to. I couldn’t tell them apart. They’re not identical, but they sure look that way to me.”
Wes cautiously stepped forward as if walking on ice. He’d held a baby before. He’d been around plenty of children in his twenty-nine years. Somehow, these three seemed more fragile than any of the others combined.
“The nose on that one is a little more upturned.” Wes glanced at the infant’s foot. “What does the M stand for?”
“Liv never told you their names?”
“She sent me a birth announcement, or what I assumed was one. I never opened it.”
“Wow, you really haven’t spoken to her in months because she chose those names in January.”
“I stopped taking her calls when she told me she was having triplets.” He reached for the third bottle sitting on the table and held it up. “May I?”
“Be my guest. She refused to eat for me.”
Wes sat in the chair across from her and held the bottle to Audra’s tiny lips. She hesitated for a second before eagerly drawing on the nipple. Her eyes reminded him of Jade’s...big, blue and the color of the Montana sky on a bright summer day. He wished somebody would pinch him because feeding his daughter was the most surreal experience of his life.
“I hate that I didn’t call. It bothered me then, but it bothers me more now. I can’t help wondering if my abandonment contributed to her leaving.”
“I won’t criticize you for walking away because if Liv and I weren’t sisters, I may have done the same thing.”
Jade’s candor surprised him. “So, you still haven’t told me what the M stands for.”
“Mackenzie and the other is Hadley.”
“Audra, Mackenzie and Hadley.” His cheeks hurt from smiling. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m—” He wasn’t sure how to introduce himself.
“You’re a friend of their mother. That’s all we can ever be.”
Ten minutes ago, Wes didn’t even want to be a friend to anyone connected to the children, now it hardly seemed enough.
“How is this supposed to work? You can’t even feed the three of them on your own.”
“That’s not fair.” Jade held a bottle up to the light to see how much formula remained in the liner. “This was my first try. Although I’m not sure what my sister was thinking when she told Maddie to call me. I’m not exactly mother material. My job’s super demanding and consumes most of my time.”
“What do you do?”
“I own a high-end event management company in Los Angeles. You could say I’m a party planner to the stars. I’m surprised my sister didn’t tell you.”
He would never have guessed she’d chosen that career path. He figured she would have chosen... Wes stared at her, not recognizing the woman she was today. He’d never given much thought to what she did after high school. Once she’d moved away, he had been thrilled to have her out of his life. Even though her cruelty still stuck with him.
“Your sister rarely mentioned you.”
Jade recoiled at his comment. “Well, that’s nice. At least you didn’t tell her how much you hated me.”
Just as much as you hated me. “I met your sister the day of my father’s funeral. We were both at the Iron Horse, saddled up to the bar. She recognized me and offered her condolences. At the time, I was too lost in my grief to realize who she was. That was the night she and her husband called it quits. She was hurting and I couldn’t see past my anger over my father’s death.”
“I’m so sorry you had to go through that, but I’m glad you two found comfort in each other.”
Wes nodded. “That old saying about misery loving company is true. We were two lonely souls drowning our sorrows. The next day I didn’t even remember her name, but we kept meeting there night after night and as time went on, we met less at the bar and more in a booth with coffee and a bite to eat. It was only then I realized she was your sister. I couldn’t have gotten through those days without her.”
“I tried talking her into moving out to LA when Kevin left. She refused to leave this place. We’d bounced around so much in foster care that once she had this house, hell would freeze over before she left it.”
“She didn’t really discuss where you two had lived while growing up, but I got a real sense that home meant everything to her.” Liv had sidestepped most references to her childhood, and he’d assumed she’d wanted to keep that door closed forever. He understood where she’d been coming from and never pressed further. “Our friendship started out consoling each other over what we’d lost. My father and her husband. Once we got that out of our systems, our conversations shifted to the future and what we wanted out of life. She talked a lot about wanting a family of her own.”
“Liv’s not one to dwell in the past.” Jade sat both bottles on the table and lifted Mackenzie into her arms.
“No, she’s not.” Wes waited for Jade to grab a burp towel, but she didn’t. “You need to hold her a little more upright and against your shoulder. And you should have something to protect your shirt because she will spit up.” He stood, still cradling Audra in one arm while he opened and closed drawers until he found what he was looking for. He draped a towel over Jade’s shoulder, noticing the softness of her hair against his hand as he did so. “Watch me.” Audra had finished her bottle. He set it on the counter and shifted her in his arms. “Hold her like this and lightly pat her back.”
“How did you get so good at this?” Jade mirrored him.
“I’ve had practice. More than a man who never wants kids should.” Wes had seen enough dysfunction in his own family to