AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Sylvie looked at Heath in chagrin. “That wasn’t exactly what we agreed to for tonight. You were supposed to do this on your own. No wonder you smell so good.”
He cocked his head. “Thanks for the compliment, though I don’t think I get the connection.”
“It wasn’t a compliment. It was an accusation.”
“Oh. I must have missed that part.”
“Seriously, Heath. You were supposed to have your first night alone taking care of the twins.”
“And I did. I took care of things. I didn’t get where I am in life without knowing how to delegate,” he said.
He tried to take her into his arms, but Sylvie pushed him away.
He looked at her in surprise. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned in business, it’s that it’s always best to surround myself with people who know how to do things better than I do. I’m not an expert in taking care of babies yet, as you well know. But, you can feel confident knowing that if you ever leave me with them, someone highly qualified will be taking good care of them.”
“By people who aren’t their father,” Sylvie said. She tried to keep the terseness out of her voice.
On one hand, she was kind of amused by the whole thing. She shouldn’t have been surprised that Heath would recruit help. But, on the other hand, this had been his first test — and he’d cheated by hiring ringers.
“You couldn’t even last two hours?” she asked.
Heath approached her again with an abashed look on his face, and this time, she reluctantly let him take her into his arms.
“Come on, babe. It’s not a big deal. So the boys helped me out. All they did was help me a little bit with bath time and getting them to sleep. I promise that I was involved almost the entire time if that’s what you’re worried about. I just couldn’t help them get the babies to sleep since they use their special technique.”
Sylvie jerked back. “Don’t tell me that. Do I want to know what that technique is?”
“Why not? They wrap up the babies real tight and hold them while they jump up and down on the bed.”
Sylvie gaped like a grounded fish. “Wh-wh-wh-what?”
“Sorry. That didn’t come out right. The teenagers are the ones jumping up and down. The babies are the ones being held. It’s kind of hard to say that correctly.”
“And you don’t see anything dangerous about letting three teenage boys jump on the bed while holding your babies? Seriously? They could have dropped the twins. Or worse.” She had a vision of them dropping Quentyn, and watching Quentyn bounce off the mattress and sail toward the wall. She shuddered.
“They said they do it all the time. They called it the Jones Special. I assumed you knew all about it,” Heath said, clearly confused about her reaction.
Sylvie took a few deep breaths to calm herself. It was okay. The boys were fine.
Oh … my … God. The babies. Were they fine?
She blew past Heath and rushed into the nursery. She flipped on the light and peered down into the crib.
Quentyn and Jadyn were sleeping peacefully, lying side-by-side, small smiles on their sweet, bow-like mouths.
“See,” Heath whispered beside her.
Sylvie jumped, not having heard him enter.
“They’re just fine,” he finished.
Not wanting to wake the boys, they tiptoed back to the living room.
Heath had an I-told-you-so look on his handsome face.
“I should go back in there and give them a good look-over,” she said, hands on hips. “They probably put the twins in pajamas that are the wrong size and they’ll be uncomfortable all night.”
Heath looked unconvinced. “You won’t go in there, though, because you won’t want to get them all wound up again.”
Sylvie sighed. He was right. She threw up her hands in defeat.
“Fine. They’re fine,” she admitted grudgingly. “But still. I can’t believe you hired those three. You do know that they’re the biggest con artists in town, right? We’ve all got a pool about what they’re going to be when they grow up.”
“Yeah, I know,” Heath said. “I’m in for ‘charismatic dictators of a Caribbean nation.’”
“Good one. I’ve got ‘dark net crime lords.’”
“That’s harsh.”
“Maybe. We’ll see. They sure played you.”
“No, they didn’t,” Heath said.
“Did you or did you not just give them each fifty bucks to put your babies to bed?”
He flinched. “I didn’t think you saw that.”
“Yeah, and if you actually think that anyone in this town lets those three teenagers bounce on beds with their babies, you really are pretty gullible.”
“I can’t believe it. There’s no Jones Special? Are you sure?”
“Well, not a hundred percent.”
“They told me everyone in the family hires them to put their babies to sleep when they’re fussy.”
“Ridiculous,” Sylvie said. “I’ve never heard of it. And I work in a beauty shop. We hear everything in there. Literally everything.”
“I don’t know.” Heath shrugged. “I still think they were telling the truth.”
“Doesn’t matter. We’re not hiring them ever again, okay?”
“Okay. But that’s just for the Jones Special, right? I can still hire them to change really disgusting diapers, right?”
Sylvie couldn’t help herself. She laughed.
Heath took advantage and maneuvered her over to the couch. He pulled her down into his lap. She reached across him, though, and grabbed the baby monitor. He waited while she put it against her ear and listened.
“I can’t hear anything,” she said “Something might be wrong. It can’t be good to bounce babies.”
“Sylvie, Quentyn and Jadyn are fine. You need to learn how to relax and let other people help you.”
Sylvie knew that he was right. Although there was a part of her that really wanted to go check on the babies, she had to let him see that she could release control just a little bit. They were both still learning and feeling each other out. She was going to have to give in at some point or another.
“How about you distract me then?” she asked in a sultry voice as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
“Oh yes, I think I have just the thing, Ms. Jones. One distraction coming up.”
His lips found hers and, with that, most of Sylvie’s doubts and worries were washed away … for that night.
Chapter Twenty Five
“ARE YOU SURE YOU’RE READY for this?” Sylvie had asked Heath the same question multiple times over the last several days.
&nbs
p; Momma had invited her and Heath over to dinner at her house. It was going to be the first time that they all sat down to sample the idea of being a family. Momma still hadn’t warmed to Heath at all and it made Sylvie nervous.
“I’m pretty sure I can handle your mother and stepfather for a few hours,” he said with a smile as they pulled up in the driveway of her parents’ house.
She knew that Heath was well aware of her mother’s reservations about him, but he was taking it in stride.
He helped her undo the clasps and buckles of Quentyn’s and Jadyn’s car seats. Then he picked up Jadyn as she took Quentyn, and they slowly made their way up the sidewalk.
Sylvie’s feet dragged. Heath had asked her several times why she was concerned about this particular dinner.
They had already gone out a few times with Kent and Phae and Will ’n Zilla. So far Heath hadn’t buckled under the pressure, and he seemed to go out of his way to tell her how much he enjoyed all of the different Jones constantly dropping by the house, bringing food and other sorts of things they thought the babies would need. Her family was ever-present in their lives.
But that was also part of the reason she was reluctant to introduce Heath into this particular mix. Momma had been getting more vocal with Sylvie over the last several weeks about her distrust of Heath in general.
The closer Sylvie got to Heath, the happier they were together, the more unhappy Momma grew. Sylvie didn’t understand. Her mother should be thrilled that Sylvie was happy. Heath was a good man and everyone saw it but Momma.
Momma just didn’t understand why Heath didn’t step up as a father of the twins sooner. She didn’t understand why he showed up when he did and then didn’t take responsibility for them right away. She said that he was secretive and that he was hiding something from Sylvie.
Sylvie couldn’t admit everything to her mother because she didn’t want Momma finding out Heath’s true identity yet, especially when Sylvie herself wasn’t supposed to know. It would bring up too many other questions and concerns.
She just wanted her mother to like Heath for who he was. She wanted Momma to acknowledge that since he learned he was the twin’s father, he’d been there for Sylvie and Jadyn and Quentyn.
