The Baby Arrangement (The Daycare Chronicles 3)

“You’re having twins?”

“Yep.” She nodded and kept grinning.

Braden grabbed her, hugged her, started to swing her around and caught himself. Putting her down abruptly, he said, “I’m sorry, but I’m so happy for you, Mal. That is, if you’re okay with it.”

“I’m great with it. A little worried,” she said as she started walking, being kind enough to ignore the way he’d just grabbed her. “I have no idea how I’m going to handle two middle-of-the-night feedings every two hours, but I know I’ll figure it out. I want to figure it out. It seems so perfect to me. Birthing best friends.”

“They’re going to fight.”

“I’m sure of it. But from what I’ve read, a vast majority of twins are really close. I love it that my children will grow up with built-in playmates and confidantes.”

She’d talked some about her years in foster care, about the kids who came and went. Some she’d missed horribly, others not as much.

And it occurred to him that Mallory wasn’t used to having someone hang around forever. Had never had that. Even her foster mom had faded away when she’d started a new life with a new family.

Everything seemed to stop for him. Right there.

Was that why she’d pushed him away after Tucker came along? Or, rather, had given everything she had to their son? Because she’d never really expected Braden to be around forever?

But being a mother, biologically connected to Tucker, she’d finally felt that she’d found that forever person?

He had no idea if he was right or not. But the thought made sense. A lot of sense. It didn’t change anything, other than to give him some understanding.

He still wasn’t the man she needed. Wasn’t ever going to be able to “sit in her tears,” or whatever the counselor had said. He didn’t have it in him. And he wasn’t ever going to be able to make up to her the fact that he’d robbed her of her last minutes with her son.

Living with her anger afterward had convinced him of that one. It wasn’t something he’d ever choose to repeat.

But...twins. She was having twins.

Braden was still chewing on the thought long after he’d left her at her car and returned to his condo for the night. He’d half thought about driving back to L.A., seeing if Anna was available for a drink. But he didn’t really feel like entertaining or being entertained.

What he felt was empty.

Which told him he needed a good night’s sleep in his own bed.

So he got one.

The world and its problems could wait until morning.

* * *

Mallory didn’t see Braden before he left to head back to L.A. He called her, though, to let her know that twins did indeed run in his family. His paternal grandmother had been a twin. Having never known the father who’d run out on them, he hadn’t known that.

She’d asked if his mother had made a huge deal out of him asking, but he’d had that covered, as of course he would have. He’d told her that he was having his DNA ancestry run and the question had come up. He’d said his mother tried to press him, but he’d made shutting down his family’s drama an art form. One at which he excelled.

Braden checked in with Mallory a lot more often after that night. By text, if not a phone call.

At her eight-week checkup she heard two heartbeats very clearly and sent him a recording. And by sixteen weeks she was showing. Braden was still seeing Anna, but he hadn’t slept with her yet. Why he’d felt the need to tell Mallory about that, she wasn’t sure, but she reacted as she always did around him—with kindness and support.

Though how you supported your ex-husband on choosing the right time to sleep with his new girlfriend, she wasn’t sure.

The whole thing was starting to drive her nuts. To the point of wondering if she should offer to sleep with him just so he wouldn’t do it with Anna. The fact that she’d had the thought scared the hell out of her. But she had it more than once as May moved into June.

San Diego’s weather didn’t vacillate drastically, but it was a hotter-than-normal summer so far and Mallory had taken to wearing sundresses to work. Her employees and parents all knew she was expecting. In the newsletter she handed out to parents as they dropped off and collected their children, she’d written a note explaining that she’d made the choice to be a single mother and had opted for insemination. For the most part, she’d been met with congratulations and support. Any who hadn’t understood seemed to have kept their comments to themselves. She certainly hadn’t lost any business over the matter.

To the contrary, her waiting list for students was growing.

Which made her think more and more about expanding with a second site in L.A. Not that her San Diego requests would get use out of an L.A. facility, but if she could double her income, she’d be a fool not to. She was having double the babies she’d originally intended, which meant double the future financial need.