Chapter 1
The twins were screaming again.
“Alex!” Jamie called, rushing the last few steps into the nursery.
Her head was pounding with the noise of their crying. She ignored it, and leaned down to lift Lilliana from her crib. “Alex!” she called again when she had her daughter cradled against her chest. How could two tiny things make so much noise?
Footsteps sounded in the hall under the screaming from Benton, still in his crib, and then Alex was there, looking as frazzled as she felt.
“Pick up Benton, would you?”
He reached down and lifted Benton up, gathering the baby in close.
The screaming finally stopped, and Jamie breathed a sigh of relief as it quieted into little whimpering hiccups. She gently bounced Lilliana on her hip, and looked across the space of the nursery at her husband. “Well, you can’t say our life isn’t exciting.”
“I’m not sure exciting is the word I would use,” Alex said dryly.
Exhausting might have been a better one, Jamie acknowledged. It seemed like lately the twins had nothing to do but cry. It seemed worse any time Jamie tried to get something done. At least this time Alex had been home. He was still working full time, though he cut back from some of his obsessive overworking after the twins were born. Except some for Alex was still a full workload with overtime for any normal man.
She had hoped that he’d be willing to leave the company a little more in the hands of Zander, but four months in that still hadn’t happened to the extent that she wanted. He just couldn’t seem to let go. Reid Enterprises had been his baby before their babies were, and, as much as she knew he loved their children, he worried too much about the company to rely on someone else do most of the managing and running of the company. Jamie understood that. She’d known it when she married him. That didn’t make it any easier every time she had to deal with the screaming twins alone and trying to do just a little work.
Idly, she considered telling him to
come home more or she’d cut him off.
The problem was that it wasn’t a threat that she would actually be able to make herself go through with. Cutting him off would cut her off, and that wasn’t something she was really okay with. She was worse than him when it came to sex. A crazy, wanton woman. She nearly scoffed as she cradled Lilliana.
Not that it would be that drastic a change. They hardly had time for anything more than the occasional quickie anymore, and when they did Jamie was too tired to enjoy the kind of all-night marathons that used to be a regular event. Or as regular as anything got when Alex insisted on working fourteen hours a day. And the kids wanted to scream their heads off.
“How often do you have to deal with this when I’m not home?” Alex asked, rocking Benton soothingly.
“Only every afternoon or so,” Jamie said. “With occasional encore performances and dress rehearsals in the evening and morning.” She smiled tiredly. “They like doing double encores sometimes, too.”
Alex shook his head. “We’re going to have to do something about this, Jamie. It’s wearing on you too much, and you don’t have time for anything but the babies. I think we should get a nanny.”
“No,” Jamie said instantly. “I’m not getting a nanny. They’re my children. I’m not leaving them to some stranger to take care of just so that I don’t feel inconvenienced. We have MacBane who cooks everything for us, and I won’t be surprised if he starts freezing fresh organic baby food into ice cube trays soon. We have a cleaning service to manage the house, pool guys to take care of the pool, lawn maintenance to mind—oh, you know what we have! I helped you run a billion-dollar company. I think I should be able to manage two little babies who are our own flesh and blood!”
“That’s not what I meant,” Alex sighed. “I’m just… I’m worried about you, Jamie. You’re still working, and even one baby is a big job. Two are even harder. You wouldn’t have to hire someone full time. Just for a few hours a day so that you could have time to get a nap if you needed it, or get some other things done.”
“I don’t need a nap. I’m doing just fine.” Actually, a nap sounded delicious, but she had pushed herself this hard before and been just fine. She could do it again. She wasn’t going to put more stress on Alex. But she sure as hell wasn’t getting a nanny. “And I don’t want to be one of those rich families where the parents are always working and just throw money at their kids in place of interaction.”
“We’re not going to be that kind of family, Jamie,” Alex said. He crossed the nursery to stand beside her, Benton half-asleep in his arms, and bumped his shoulder against hers because his hands weren’t free.
Jamie found a smile somewhere that probably looked as exhausted as she felt. “You’re right, sweetie. I’m sorry. I’m just tired,” she sighed. “It’s been nonstop since the twins were born, and I’m so happy that we have them. Both of them. But even though they try to tell you how tiring it’s going to be, I don’t think anyone who hasn’t had kids can actually understand.”