“Cut me some slack. I haven’t done this before,” he said. He caught sight of some booties and pulled them on her feet. “Comfy?” he asked.
She wiggled and stared up at him. He stared back at her for a long moment and felt as if he was seeing the beginning and ending of the earth in her eyes. He couldn’t look away.
Piper wiggled again, and he shook his head. He must have imagined that strange feeling, he thought. He picked her up and paced around the room. After a few moments, he decided to try out the rocking chair. He rocked her for several moments, then set her down in her crib on her back.
Bracing himself for her cry, he held his breath and waited. Colton counted to one hundred. No sound from Piper. He almost couldn’t believe it.
Leaving the room and carefully closing the door behind him, he glanced back at Stacey’s room. He wondered if he should check on her. Lost in a quandary, he stared at her door.
“Is there a problem?” Stacey’s mother asked.
Colton nearly jumped out of his skin. He’d been so focused on Stacey and Piper he hadn’t heard Stacey’s parents enter the house. “Stacey got sick on the way to the wedding,” he whispered, not wanting to awaken Piper. “We came back, but she was too sick to take care of the baby. I looked after Piper, and she’s fallen asleep.”
“If there’s one thing I know, it’s not to wake a sleeping baby,” Jeanne said.
Colton smiled. “I’m with you on that, but I’m a little worried about Stacey. Would you mind checking on her?”
Jeanne disappeared into Stacey’s room for a moment, then returned to the hallway. “She’s falling asleep as we speak. I think the worst of the virus is past. I feel bad that this was her first experience tutoring.”
“Knowing her, she won’t quit,” Colton said.
“Very true,” Jeanne said to him and squeezed his arm. “Thank you for looking out for Stacey and Piper tonight.”
“Piper was a breeze,” Colton said. “I just wish I could have helped Stacey a little more.”
“You helped her by taking care of Piper.” Jeanne gave him a considering glance. “Looks like Piper may be getting used to you.”
“I think I just got lucky with her tonight,” Colton said. “I always feel as if I’m spinning the roulette wheel with that little one.”
“Don’t underestimate yourself,” Jeanne said.
“If you say so,” he said. “You sure you don’t want me to hang around a little longer in case you need an extra set of hands?” he asked, feeling oddly reluctant to leave Stacey and Piper.
“I’ll be fine,” she said and chuckled. “I had to juggle babies when they were sick many times when my children were young.”
“I guess so,” he said, and felt a little foolish. Of course Jeanne Fortune Jones knew what she was doing. The woman had seven children, after all. “I’ll head on home, then. Tell Stacey to give me a call when she’s feeling better.”
“I’ll do that,” her mother said. “Thank you again for looking after both of them.”
He nodded and collected his tie, jacket and hat. “Good night,” he said, and headed toward his truck. Colton had an odd, empty, gnawing sensation in his gut as he drove home. He should have been relieved to hand over the reins of Piper and Stacey’s care to Jeanne, but he wasn’t. Taking care of a temperamental baby while Stacey was sick? It should have been one of the most miserable evenings of his life. He should have run screaming the second Stacey’s mom came home. Instead, he’d taken to the task quickly—and more easily than he’d imagined possible. And walking away from Piper—and her beautiful mother—was getting tougher by the day.
Something was wrong, very wrong. He needed to rethink all this.
* * *
Over the next couple of days, Colton brooded over his relationship with Stacey. With everyone else voicing an opinion about it, he needed to figure out his own thoughts. In a different situation, in a different— bigger, more crowded—town, he and Stacey could allow their relationship to develop naturally with little intervention. Since, however, both of them lived at home with their families, it seemed they were overwhelmed by prying eyes. Colton had feelings for Stacey and Piper, stronger feelings than he wanted to have at the moment, but he wasn’t sure what he should do about those feelings—or what he wanted to do about them. Colton wanted to take things slow. He wanted to be careful. There was a baby involved, for Pete’s sake. At the same time, he wanted so badly to be with Stacey and Piper. And yet he couldn’t stop thinking about Joe. Why had he abandoned Stacey and Piper? How could he have? Colton had known that Joe’s father hadn’t been around much, but surely that wouldn’t have prevented Joe from being the husband and father Stacey and Piper needed.
The quandary frustrated him so much that he worked outside until it turned dark. Maybe if he wore himself out, he would fall asleep without thinking about Stacey and Piper. He walked into the house with two goals in mind, a meal followed by a shower, but he caught sight of his sister Rachel grading papers in the den.
“Oh, there you are,” she called out to him, jumping up from the sofa. “I thought you might have fallen in a hole.”
“No, but I’ve been digging a few,” he said, and continued to the kitchen. He foraged through the refrigerator and found some leftover baked chicken and rice. “How’s life as a student teacher?”
“Busy, busy. But not so busy that I can’t offer to babysit so you and Stacey can have an evening out by yourselves,” she said, and shot him a cheeky grin.
“That’s nice of you,” he said and heated his leftovers in the microwave. “I’ll have to check with Stacey when she’s feeling better.”
“Oh, she’s feeling better,” Rachel said. “I talked to her today. She hasn’t called you yet because she’s embarrassed that she got sick and you had to take care of Piper.”
“I didn’t mind taking care of Piper. I was glad to do what I could to help Stacey when she felt so bad,” he said impatiently.
“What’s wrong with you?” Rachel asked. “You seem grumpy.”
“I’m just tired,” he said, pulling a mug from the cabinet. “I’ve been up since the crack of dawn, working outside in this wind.”
“Hmm,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest. “Are you sure it isn’t anything about Stacey? You’re not leading her on, are you?”
Frustration ripped through him, and he slammed the cabinet door. Swearing under his breath, he shook his head. “That’s part of the problem,” he said. “Everyone is watching every move Stacey and I make. Everyone feels the need to offer an opinion. Did you ever think we don’t need your opinion? Did you ever think we don’t want to hear what you think?” he challenged his sister.
Rachel drew back, her eyes widened in surprise. “Why are you so touchy? I just said you shouldn’t lead her on. You know that, too.”
“Then why did you feel the need to tell me?” he asked. The
