“Never underestimate the power of a well-written to-do list,” Jaxi quipped back. “How’re you doing?”
“Learning about the wonders of sleep deprivation,” Ginny said over her shoulder as she headed to the kitchen and put the food away.
“Oh, please.” Dare rolled her eyes from where she sat on the couch, pillows strategically lined up to help support the babies as she nursed them.
Ginny grinned. “What? I’m not a parent. I don’t have any parent genes, so not getting to sleep from when I want to go to bed until when I want to wake up is a hard thing.”
Vicki was there as well, sunk deep into a chair with one hand resting on the top of her baby-full belly. She gave Ginny a disbelieving look. “Honey, you live on a ranch. Or you did, and you will again. And on a ranch, thanks to animals, there is no such thing as going to bed when you want and waking up when you want, not unless Silver Stone is some sort of magical unicorn, in which case, can I move there?”
“Can you move, period?” Dare teased before turning to Jaxi and grinning evilly, all of her teeth showing. “It’s kind of fun that Vicki is just as immobile as I am right now, albeit for a totally different reason.”
“It is utterly unfair that we were due on the same day,” Vicki complained. “I feel like a defective turkey. The basting button’s popped, but nothing else is happening.”
Ginny chuckled, which was a braver thing to do than Jaxi would chance at the moment. Women who went over nine months pregnant were not known to be entirely rational. “This is the universe balancing out. Dare was two weeks early, ergo that means you will be—”
Vicki flung a pillow hard enough it hit Ginny square in the face then rebounded. “You shut your mouth,” Vicki said, but she was laughing.
The children had found their cousins, Joey and Jess, and the pile of toys in the corner of the room. Ginny helped organize the lot of them, stealing Justin from Jaxi’s arms. “Hang out. Chat. I do get more of that sleep thing than you guys.”
Which meant the three of them—Jaxi, Dare, and Vicki—fell into sweet conversation. Ginny joined in at times, and the children came back and forth between them, looking for attention as well as the occasional kiss for new boo-boos.
“I’ve got just about all the memory pages from the aunts and uncles,” Jaxi told Dare. “I’m glad Lisa suggested a way this could become an ongoing project.”
Dare nodded. “Agreed. It’s fun to think about adding pages as milestones occur. Having stuff online makes it even easier to enjoy.”
“How did you do with the pictures?” Jaxi hesitated then grinned. “I mean, before you stopped everything because of Ryan and Royce. I do not expect you to spend time on it now.”
“Well, it’s a good thing that I also agree that one should never underestimate a well-written to-do list,” Dare said with a sparkle in her eyes. “I finished scanning all the pictures before Thing One and Thing Two arrived.”
They both ignored Ginny’s exaggerated groan in the background.
“Everything’s in the Dropbox we set up. When you have time, you can get the families to spruce up their sections.” Dare lifted Royce from her breast, wordlessly handing him to Jaxi. A moment later Dare finished adjusting Ryan into position then blinked before offering an exasperated sigh. “Well, that was terrible. Jaxi, would you like to burp my baby? He’s extra spitty these days,” she warned.
Jaxi had already grabbed a receiving blanket off the table and placed it over her shoulder. Patting Royce lightly on the back, she pressed her nose against his little baby head and sniffed, soaking the new baby smell into her very soul. “You’re family, Dare. Assuming that we’re going to love on your babies is not being rude.”
Dare went speechless for a moment, looking down and fussing with Ryan.
It was Ginny who crossed the room to where Jaxi sat, dropping to her knees, a bit of moisture in her eyes. “I love you Colemans so much. I’m glad Dare found you.”
She hug-attacked Jaxi, carefully, working around the baby.
“We love her too,” Jaxi said honestly. “And you, by association. Are you planning to stick around for a while so we can enjoy your company?”
“Since Miss ‘I can do anything anybody else does’ decided to pop out twins in imitation of you—” Ginny began.
“Not my fault,” Dare insisted. “Besides, two boys means this is all on Jesse.”
Ginny folded her arms and stared at her sister. “Hush. Grown-ups talking.”
Jaxi snickered.
“I’m going to stay and help Dare for at least a couple of months. There’s no rush to get back to Silver Stone. At least not until the snow flies.”
“You’ve been gone for a couple of years, haven’t you?”
Ginny nodded, sliding over to help one of the little ones who had dropped crayons off the table. “It’ll be an adjustment to be home, so no use in going until I’m ready to settle down.”
“If you want to stay in Rocky, I’m sure we could figure something out,” Jaxi offered. “There’s a number of trailers empty. We could even move one out here to Sunset Ridge if you wanted to stay close to your sister.”
Dare and Ginny exchanged glances, and laughter rose so quickly, Jaxi wondered what she’d said.
But when Ginny pulled out a twenty-dollar bill and tucked it under Dare’s feet on the table, Jaxi sighed. “Have you been taking lessons from Lisa? She’s the one always making bets.”
“Kelli does it as well, out at Silver Stone ranch. I figured it was a given that at some point you would offer to adopt Ginny.” Dare puckered up her lips and blew Jaxi a kiss. “Love ya.”
A few minutes later, Jaxi realized Vicki had grown astonishingly quiet over the past while. She glanced at her sister-in-law to discover the woman’s cheeks were no longer flushed red but shockingly white. “Vicki? Sweetie? You okay?”
The young woman met her gaze across the room, glancing for a moment at the children before turning back and shaking her head slightly. “I don’t feel too good,” she whispered.
Dare swore. “Really?”
Vicki gave a sheepish grin. “The baby’s coming. I don’t think there’s time for an ambulance.”
Jaxi was already moving, popping a sleeping Royce and Ryan into the bassinets at the edge of the room. Then she and Ginny rounded up the rest of the little ones and herded them into the basement where there were toys and electronics to help entertain them.
Ginny pushed Jaxi back toward the stairs. “The kids I can handle. That?” She pointed upstairs. “Not my territory.”
Jaxi made it upstairs in time to find Dare guiding Vicki to a comfortable spot in the kitchen.
“You promised me you wouldn’t do this again,” Dare scolded with a tease. “No having babies in the living room.”
“Hey, I promised not to have a kid in my house. This is your place.” Vicki sucked in a sharp breath. “Hey, Jaxi. We called the guys and the ambulance, but just in case, did you bring your catching mitt?”
“I’m usually the one pitching,” Jaxi said with a soft laugh, “but I think we can figure it out. Don’t worry. Everything’s going to be fine.