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Chapter Twenty-Four
Monroe
The late-setting Oregon summer sun was the enemy of early bedtimes and my sanity. I was not babysitter material by any stretch of the imagination, but I hadn’t wanted to leave Knox to deal with the triplets by himself, especially given the emotional nature of our conversation back at my house.
So I’d accompanied him to Rob’s place, much to the raised eyebrows of Jessica’s sister, Angie, who gratefully handed over the triplet terrors. She was eager to go be with Rob and Jessica at the Portland hospital that the small local one had transferred her to in case the NICU was needed.
“Monroe was kind enough to offer to come help chase the girls.” Knox had dismissed Angie’s curiosity with a casual wave. Probably wouldn’t have worked with Rob or Jessica, but Angie was already halfway out the door anyway, only too happy to leave us to the preschooler wrangling.
“Again.” One of the triplets, the slightly taller and bossier one, Poppy, glowered at Knox until he pushed her on the playset swing. The other two, Lily and Iris, were hanging upside down off the monkey bar portion of the playset.
“Isn’t it bedtime soon?” I asked, only to get three near-identical frowns.
“Noooo.”
“They’re already off their routine,” Knox said reasonably as he pushed Poppy. “Might as well get them good and exhausted first.”
“We don’t go to sleep before it’s dark.” Poppy’s arch tone would make me smile if I hadn’t spent the last few hours listening to her explain all manner of rules and regulations. “We’re not babies.”
“Hey, Poppy, I bet you can’t run a whole lap around the yard. Who do you think is faster, you, me, Lily, or Iris?” Knox set off at a slow trot.
“Me!” All three triplets raced after him until, breathing hard, they returned to where I stood.
“How about we go inside?” Knox asked after declaring a tie with no clear-cut winner to the race. “We can play a quick board game, then watch something on the TV before you get in bed.”
“No bed.” The girls hopped up and down like cranky frogs.
“How about after a princess movie?” Knox truly was the preschooler whisperer because they rushed ahead of us back into the house, debating which movie to pick.
“When will Daddy and Mommy come back?” Iris, the smallest and most emotional of the triplets, attached herself to Knox’s leg like a baby koala. I sympathized with the impulse.
“We don’t know. The doctors need to help Jessica—Mommy—keep the baby inside a little longer so it can get bigger and stronger.”
“She can’t have the baby before the sprinkle.” Lily’s stubborn expression and blonde curls were near-identical to Poppy’s.
“Shower,” Poppy corrected.
“Sprinkle.” Iris and Lily stared Poppy down, a battle seeming imminent, but then Knox swung both Iris and Lily up into his arms, resulting in much squealing.
“It’s a shower, but also a sprinkle because it’s her second pregnancy, and mainly it’s a party for your mom and the new baby.” Knox talked fast to stave off the battle of the sisters. “Now, let’s see if we can beat Poppy to the TV room.”
“Up.” Poppy gave me a command worthy of a bejeweled empress, not a grubby four-year-old, and I was powerless to object, gingerly lifting her. Pursing her small lips, she glared at me as Knox and the other two girls dashed ahead. “Knox is better at piggyback rides.”
“I’m sure,” I readily agreed. Knox was better than me at most things, especially home repair, cooking, people skills, and anything involving small children. Poppy’s light weight in my arms, her bony elbows and knees, made breathing strangely difficult. I’d carried heavier file boxes and walked far farther on way more difficult terrain, but the responsibility for the little human weighed on my shoulders, made me overthink each step toward the couch. I didn’t know how parents hefted that kind of pressure around every day.
“We win.” Next to us, Knox and his precious cargo celebrated as he dumped them onto the sofa, far more confident than me about tossing them around, apparently not concerned that they could break. He grinned widely, totally loving his role as the fun big brother. How could I even think of taking him away from this? To ask him to turn down Frank and Leon and more time with the triplets? The girls were little now, convinced Knox was their own personal superhero, but how many more years until they were bored teens? Did I want to cheat Knox out of that time?
Forget hard to breathe. It was hard to think, especially with the answers I didn’t want so day-glow apparent.
“You okay?” Knox gave me a curious look.
“Fine.” I quickly set Poppy next to her sisters. “How about I make some popcorn?”
“Great idea.” Knox offered an encouraging smile, which made me feel worse about needing an escape.
In Rob and Jessica’s kitchen, I took my time checking messages on my phone. First up was Holden, who said Sam’s mom was out of town for a church conference but could answer our questions when she returned. More frustrating, though, none of my notes on the movie lines the suspect had quoted yielded a single good lead. We couldn’t place him in town that summer, we didn’t have a body, and my summer’s worth of work was starting to feel particularly futile.
