a good trait.”
“Yep. Your father’s stubborn, too.”
“Like a mule.” Alex could agree with that.
“’Course, only one of ya’s gonna be able to be stubborn all the way,” she said, “it’s either gonna be you or Daphne. Else the marriage doesn’t work out.”
He shut off the car and turned to face her. “Do you have any suggestions?”
“Let her be the stubborn one,” Danita suggested. “Gonna be tough for you, ‘cause you got the old man’s personality, and he’s an ornery son of a gun. But let Daphne be the stubborn one, and you just might keep her.”
“She’s determined to leave me.”
“Nah. What’d I tell ya, Alex? She’s gotta do everything the hard way. Whether it’s breast-feeding, which most woman tire out feeding one, Daphne’s gotta do three. And diapers. She’s gotta be environmentally conscious. It’s the same in her marriage. She’s got a bug in her bonnet that she’s not perfect enough for ya. Dig in your heels and prove to her that you two are right for each other, all the while telling her she’s right.”
“It sounds so under handed,” he murmured.
“Yep. Runs in our family a bit. I call it learning to get along with folks.” Danita gave him a huge smile. “Now. You run in there and get some soybean formula. This one’s farting up a storm, and that tells me maybe her and cow’s milk ain’t gonna be a good thing. Get Daphne some roses while you’re at it. She likes big yellow ones that look like the sun. I can’t stand that damn dreary room, all those cribs crowded in there like buses. Your family’s rich as Croesus, she can have the help I could never afford, and by heaven, I’m gonna make her take advantage of it.”
He grinned at her. “Why do I get the feeling you’re on my side?”
“I’m on both your sides.” She pecked him with a gnarly finger. “It behooves me greatly not to have any of my children divorcing. It’s bad economy when there’s three newborns involved. Pick me up a box of chocolate Turtles while you’re in there,” she instructed. “I can tell I’m gonna be needed for a while.”
DAPHNE AWAKENED to the sound of silence. She yawned, realizing she was sweating. Her gown was twisted between her legs, constricting her. Her breasts hurt, but she felt relaxed for the first time since the babies had been born.
The babies! They needed to eat! She shot up in the bed and flew to the cribs. Every single one was empty.
Throwing on a robe, she hurried down the hall. Stopping just in time before exposing herself to the whole con tin gent of people standing in the great room, she watched the lesson in progress.
Nelly and Danita were patiently showing Alex how to diaper a baby. By the pile of plastic diapers beside him, he wasn’t any good at it. Sinclair stood nearby, holding one child who waited its turn at being a victim to Alex’s technique. Alexander Senior scowled in a corner, apparently disapproving of his son’s participation in child rearing.
“I got it!” Alex cried triumphantly. Holding the baby up, he showed off his handiwork to an admiring group. The diaper promptly slid off, leaving the baby bare, which was cute, except then a trickle splattered to the table underneath. Nelly quickly clapped a wash cloth to the infant bottom.
“Maybe a little more work,” she said kindly. “This one has a tiny waist. It’s hard to get it to fit properly.”
Daphne slapped her hand over her mouth so she wouldn’t laugh at Alex’s forlorn expression. Part of her was angry that they were putting plastic diapers on her babies, but if Alex was bent and determined to learn how to diaper, then plastic tabs were certainly safer than safety pins.
The yearning inside her, the voice she was desperately trying to ignore, told her that he was the most wonderful man in the world for wanting to learn. The pile of diapers and torn tabs beside him was testament to his determination. These girls his father regarded as nice but not as important as boys appeared to have Alex’s complete interest—despite the fact that she couldn’t give him a son.
If she wasn’t careful, she wouldn’t be able to insist upon the divorce in two weeks. She’d tried putting three cribs in the room to distance Alex. It wasn’t working, she knew, her heart melting as he finally succeeded with a well-wrapped diaper and snuggled his daughter to him in masculine victory. She’d brought in her mother as a deterrent, but that didn’t seem to be working, either, as she watched Danita thump her son-in-law on the back in congratulations.
Their marriage was based on lies. Her father had lied, cheating Alexander Senior. Alexander Senior had lied, cheating Alex out of a wife of his choosing. Alex was lying, really, by saying it didn’t matter that he didn’t have a son, that he’d married her because he loved her. He’d married her because his father wanted him to. Alexander Senior would really roar if he knew the over priced cattle he’d bought by way of a dowry hadn’t secured him what he’d thought he was really buying—male heirs.
Even she wasn’t being truthful, insisting she wanted a divorce. It was the last thing in the world she wanted, and what she was most determined to get. One day Alex would look back regretfully upon his life with her. He would want more than she had given him. She’d be kidding herself to think it could work out differently.
“Alex,” she said as she walked into the great room, “may I see you alone for a moment?”
The whole room came to a stand still to stare at her.
“The nap looks like it did you good,” Danita said.
“I’m fine, Mother. Alex? Do you have a moment?” She refused to be turned from her purpose.
“Sure.” He followed her down the hall to the bedroom full of cribs.
“You have diapered my babies in disposable diapers. You have taken them from my room. I said I would raise my children without an army of staff, and I meant it. This isn’t Windsor Castle, and I am not a princess who wants to be waited on hand and foot.”
“You needed your rest, Daphne. It’s important for, uh, breast-feeding,” he said quickly.
He’d been coached, she could tell. Her mother’s work, no doubt. “Alex, I absolutely will not become dependent on you. If you can’t go along with what I think is best for me and my family, then we’ll just have to move out.”
She watched anger flare brightly into his midnight blue eyes.
“Daphne, you’ve avoided me for months. You’ve kept me dangling on a string about a divorce. You’ve had the audacity to think you can keep my children from me. As the other half of this marriage, I have some rights, too. It’s been pointed out to me that I should let your female hormones rule for the time being, but—” he caught her in a grip Daphne had no desire to shrug off “—right now, I’ve had all the advice I can take.”
With that, he slanted his mouth against hers, kissing her in a way that sent memories washing over her and desire flaming into her body.
Breathlessly, she sagged against him as he raised his head to stare at her. “No protest?”
“I’m working on one,” she said feebly. “Maybe I’ll go take a shower.”
