Page 65 of Rocky Mountain Home

Oh my God. “Seriously?”

“Her water broke last night. Marion came over—Mrs. Coleman—and got the older girls off to day camp then took the little ones home with her. I’m off work today, so I said I’d wait to meet you.”

Jesse was checking his watch, of all things. “Damn. If it’s twins, I win the baby pool.”

“Jesse,” Dare scolded him. “Really? That’s what you’re focusing on right now?”

He flashed her a grin, his gaze drifting to Vicki before snapping back to Dare.

Seemingly content to ignore each other, Vicki checked her own watch. “We need to do a little juggling. I expect we’ll hear from the hospital anytime, but in the meanwhile, we can get you settled.”

“We can’t stay here if they’ll be bringing home a new baby,” Dare protested. Lordy, Dare didn’t even know how long that would be. One day? Two? She hadn’t been paying that much attention back when Caleb’s girls arrived.

Maybe Dare could arrange to stay in the hospital until she got the swing of the parenthood thing. Just for a bit, like a few weeks—or months.

“You’re right. Jaxi hoped you wouldn’t mind—”

“We’ll go to my old place,” Jesse interrupted.

“You can’t. Ashley’s moms are living in the rental.”

Dare glanced at him and raised a brow, but she didn’t say anything right then. Ashley she recognized as one of the threesome, but moms?

The boy had some explaining to do.

Vicki shook her head. “Rental’s full. Marion and Mike don’t have extra room after changing their spare room to take care of the kids better—neither of you will fit in the triple bunk or the crib. The bunkhouses are full as well. It’s been the best season yet, and well… I’ll let Joel tell you the rest, but we have space. I cleaned up the second room in the trailer. There’s a double bed in there, and you’re welcome to it.”

The orange juice in Dare’s stomach went a little sour to match the expression on Jesse’s face. Okay—she could be adaptable. “Thank you for sharing with us.”

“No problem.” Vicki glanced back and forth between them for a minute before coughing slightly. “Well, I imagine you’ll want to look around a bit on the drive, so I’ll just meet you there when you’re ready.”

“Awesome,” Jesse finally spoke, taking Dare by the elbow and guiding her toward the door. “Thanks.”

They were in the truck and on the road in seconds, as if the entire thing were a dream. A very brief, vivid and confusing dream.

“If there’s no room for us, maybe we should go home,” Dare suggested.

“No.”

He snapped the word so quickly she pushed back in her seat and bit her tongue. Whatever was going on that had rubbed him the wrong way, she didn’t want to add to his burdens, but he’d better not plan to keep her in the dark for too much longer.

Had he even said hi to Vicki? She’d been in the bathroom, so maybe she’d missed it, but the two of them had tension that could be cut with a knife.

Not what she’d been looking for, but then again, even bad answers were answers. This was a fact-finding mission, nothing more,

Wait for the Gramma factor, her brain reminded her.

Stupid brain.

She looked out the window as she sorted through the words to say. Something to let him know she wasn’t trying to push an agenda, but he needed to keep her informed.

She was about to open her mouth when he spoke first. “Are you tired?”

Now he was going to be considerate and ask how she was doing? Dare shoved aside her frustration and answered the question. “A little. Nerves don’t help.”

Jesse made a soothing noise. “Everyone will love you. And I bet we’ll be seeing the baby by this evening, so you’ll meet Jaxi soon as well. She’s an annoying pain in the ass, but she’s pretty much the type people fall in love with the minute they meet her.”

Which was one of Dare’s worries, so she focused on other parts of his comment. “We’ll see the baby tonight? It hasn’t even been born.”