No, he’d been entirely too desperate to be anything but pliable and grateful.
“Lucas!”
The distant sound of Jen’s voice broke in. He crossed the room in three long strides and brushed past Noah. Jenessa was flying across the lawn, the loose maroon dress she wore over a pair of black leggings billowing around her. Why was she barefoot? Today was the first day of October—the ground was cold.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” she gasped through panting breaths, covering the last of the grassy space between them. “Nothing at all.” She gulped for air. “They’re staying. At least for now. I had to practically beg Carmen and apparently she has to get some temporary emergency order or something from a judge somewhere and there’s this whole checklist of stuff I’ll have to do, foster parent training and . . .” She again attempted to catch her breath. “The point is, I can keep them . . . at least until . . . further notice.”
Before he could say a word, she flung her arms around his neck. She released him a second later, stepped back, and glanced over his shoulder.
“Oh, hi. You must be Noah.”
He should say something. Congratulate her. Introduce her. But no, one fast-as-lightning hug and he’d gone mute. He barely heard Noah’s mumbled “hi” behind him.
“I’m Jenessa. I own this place.” She turned her sparkling eyes back on Lucas. “Are you sure you want to stay in the cottage, Luke? It’s not exactly modern. Although you should’ve seen it back when my aunt lived here. It was my favorite place in the world back then and—oh, I can’t stay. Cade’s going to wake up from his nap any minute. I just wanted to tell you the good news.”
Words. Just cobble a few together. “I’m happy for you.”
She beamed. “I’m happy for me, too.”
And then she did it a second time. Hugged him all over again and suddenly he was convinced that moving to the cottage was both the best and stupidest thing he’d ever done.
As quickly as she’d appeared, she was gone, racing back to the house, her ponytail swaying behind her.
“I get it now.”
He was still absurdly out of breath when he turned. “Get what?”
Noah rose from the chair at the large paint-splattered table in the corner. “Why we ditched the B&B for this place.”
“What do you mean?” He stepped into the cottage, irritated as much by the tone in Noah’s voice as the knowing look in his eyes. Just what exactly did he think he knew?
“You’re sleeping with her, aren’t you?”
Lucas went still. “Say something like that again and—”
“And you’ll what?” Noah leaned his hip against the kitchenette counter. “Tell Flagg you’re giving up on me?”
“Tell him he should give up on you. I’m serious. Disrespect Jen one more time in front of me and I’ll send you packing so fast you won’t know what hit you.” He plucked Noah’s bag from the floor and tossed it in a bedroom. “Now go get the cleaning supplies and get to work.”
She couldn’t stop staring at the baby in her arms.
The creak of her rocking chair was a lullaby in the silence of the room she’d picked out for Cade—breezy yellow walls, tasseled rug with a geometric pattern of blue, white, and gray. Marshall had helped her carry the old crib down from the attic on Saturday, but up until today, it’d been in the room down the hall where Colie and Violet slept.
But now that she knew the kids were staying indefinitely, it made sense to give them their own rooms. Not like she didn’t have plenty to spare. She’d rolled the crib in here and had given the girls the pick of the remaining rooms.
Jenessa leaned closer to little Cade, the scent of baby lotion lifting from his soft, pink skin. He’d spent half the day crying. He’d pooped through his diaper. He’d made Violet shriek when he’d grabbed a fistful of her hair at suppertime.
But right now? With his little chest rising with each deep breath and his impossibly long eyelashes resting on his cheeks? It felt like she was holding a piece of heaven in her arms.
“Jessa?”
Her gaze flitted to the bedroom door. The light from the hallway spilled into the room, creating a silhouette around Violet’s thin form. “Hey, you.”
Violet wore a Little Mermaid pajama top with red-and green-striped Christmas bottoms and held a bright pink toothbrush in one hand. Carmen had stopped by Tessa Hollis’s house earlier in the day, picked up clothing and other items—Cade’s high chair, a plastic grocery sack filled with a few toys, several pairs of shoes, car seats—and dropped them off at Jenessa’s. But none of their belongings had excited Violet as much as the new toothbrush Jenessa had produced later.
She had Mara to thank for that. Her friend had swung by the mini-mart this evening and then dropped off a few things.
And thankfully, Jenessa had found a temporary solution to the vehicle situation, leasing a mid-sized SUV from a local dealership that had delivered it right to her driveway.
“I can’t reach the toothpaste, Jessa.”
Jenessa blinked and stood. She kissed Cade’s cheek once more before crossing the room and laying him in the crib. She turned on the baby monitor, another item Carmen had found in Tessa Hollis’s rental house.
What would happen to the rest of the stuff the kids had left behind? To all of Tessa Hollis’s belongings? Maybe Jenessa should bring the kids over there at some point. Let Colie and Vi pick through whatever was there and identify anything else they wanted to make sure to keep.
Or maybe that was a job better left to their father. Assuming he could be found before the home’s owner took it upon himself to empty out the place.
She reached Violet and took the little girl’s hand, leading her across the hall and into the bathroom. Moments later, Jenessa had the pink toothbrush loaded with toothpaste. “Are you old enough to brush your own teeth?” Colie had been in the bathroom with Violet the past two nights.
From her perch on the bathroom footstool, Vi’s chiming giggle was almost as cute as her dimpled grin and her mismatched pajamas. “You’re silly, Jessa.”
Or just tragically inexperienced at taking care of kids. But she’d done okay so far, hadn’t she? At least two out of the three liked her.
The other barely tolerated her. But at least Colie hadn’t seemed overly upset when Jenessa had told her she’d be staying. Had hardly reacted at all, really.
But there’d been so much to do all day that she hadn’t had much of a chance to try to soothe any of Colie’s perpetually ruffled feathers. Meals and bath time and what felt like a hundred diaper changes had chipped away at her energy. Cade had seemed fussier today than the past two days, and Violet had bulleted questions nonstop.
“How long do we get to live here? Who was that lady with the bracelets? Why did she ask so many questions? Why do we get our own rooms now? Is Colie mad that we’re staying?”
Was Colie ever not mad?
“Are you daydreaming?”
Jenessa’s eyes jolted open—when had she closed them? Toothpaste foam rimmed Violet’s mouth and her adorable little ears angled out between limp curls. “Does it count as daydreaming if it’s nighttime?” Jenessa asked.