The Surprise Triplets. Jacqueline Diamond

you won’t.” Melissa removed the sugar from her grasp before any more escaped. “Neither you nor I ought to be kneeling on the floor.”

      “We aren’t invalids.” Zora rarely requested assistance or complained about her pregnancy-related ills, except perhaps to Anya. The two had shared an apartment before moving into this house, and initially their pregnancies had drawn them closer. But Anya was on her honeymoon now, and had already packed most of her possessions to move in with Jack.

      “We may not be invalids but we should be sensible,” Melissa told her.

      “Don’t lecture me. I get more than enough of that already.” Zora flinched as a heavy tread crossing the den announced Lucky’s approach. “Speak of the devil.”

      “Behave,” Melissa cautioned her friend. “He’s a prince of a guy.”

      “You mean a royal pain?”

      Melissa chuckled. “Lucky can be that, too.”

      “Do I hear someone taking my name in vain?” The male nurse appeared in the doorway, his dark eyes sweeping to Zora. Melissa wondered if either of them noticed how he always focused on her first, no matter who else was around.

      Although Lucky wasn’t Melissa’s type, she appreciated his macho appeal, from his cropped hair to his colorful tattoos of a dragon and a sword-wielding woman in skimpy armor. These were revealed today, along with his sculpted muscles, by a sleeveless black T-shirt. New acquaintances often reacted with surprise on learning he was a nurse and a vegetarian, as if those aspects were incompatible with rough-hewn virility.

      “No more than usual,” Zora said.

      “I’m not sure how to interpret that, so I’ll ignore it.”

      Melissa was glad Lucky didn’t respond with a jab. He and Zora could pick at each other no end, and Sunday mornings ought to be restful.

      When he moved into the kitchen, Melissa halted him with an upraised hand. “Don’t step there.” She pointed to the spilled sugar. “If you would please clean that up, I’ll finish sifting this on the muffins.”

      “Sure thing. Since you’re baking, it’s the least I can do.” Cheerfully, Lucky went to fetch cleaning supplies. He really was a good housemate.

      “I’ll brew coffee.” Zora took out the canister, although neither she nor Melissa had a taste for it these days. Still, Karen would be down soon, and she didn’t function well till she’d had her first cup.

      “I should have put some on earlier,” Melissa reflected.

      “Why should you? I just want to look busy. And thanks for not telling him I spilled it,” Zora said in a low voice. “He expects everyone to be perfect.”

      “Not everyone. Just you.” For some reason, Lucky was harder on Zora than on anyone else.

      Zora measured the coffee, careful to avoid any further spillage. “It’s none of his business whether I inform Andrew about the babies. If I go after my ex for support, he’ll jerk me around, maybe sue for custody just so he feels like he’s on top. He always has to win.”

      “What about Betsy?” Andrew’s mother, Betsy Raditch, was the hospital’s director of nursing. Since Zora worked as an ultrasound tech, she wasn’t directly under Betsy’s supervision, but they’d remained on friendly terms after Zora had split with Andrew. “She must have noticed.”

      “She hasn’t asked who the father is, and I haven’t told her. No sense putting her in the middle.” Zora broke off as Lucky returned. He wiped the floor without comment.

      Melissa finished sugaring the muffins and put them on a platter. After setting one aside for herself and giving Zora another, she set the plate on the table.

      “May I eat now, Mommy?” Lucky joked. “I did my chores.”

      “Good boy,” Melissa said. “Dig in.”

      Soon the three of them were lounging around the table with the newspaper, silent except for the occasional chuckle at a comic strip or wry comment about a news story. Melissa was grateful for the company. Before moving into the house last spring, she’d lived alone in an efficiency apartment, missing married life and yearning for a baby.

      She wished she could have found the right man. But her desire for motherhood had become too powerful to resist, and being surrounded by friends provided all the support she could ask for. Most of the time, anyway.

      Zora departed first. Waiting until they heard the shower running upstairs, Lucky caught Melissa’s eye and said, “Since you’re on positive terms with your ex, you should talk to him about Zora. As her divorce attorney, he’s the best person to explain about Andrew’s legal obligations.”

      “Zora’s well aware that he owes her support,” Melissa answered. “She has her reasons for keeping mum. And it isn’t my business to intervene with her attorney.”

      “Well, she does a rotten job of taking care of herself. Her mom and stepfather live out of state, and we’re the only family she has around here.” Lucky set aside the sports section. “She ought to put her life in order before the twins are born.”

      “You think involving Andrew will put things in order?” Although Melissa didn’t disagree with Lucky’s premise, she also understood Zora’s side. “It’s a messy situation no matter what she does.”

      “She must love messy situations, because she’s always in one.” Morning light through the glass door played across his smooth olive skin. “First she had an affair with Andrew while he was married to his first wife, then, after he cheated on her, too...well, what kind of bonehead has break-up sex with a guy like that?”

      “She doesn’t always show the best judgment.” Melissa left it at that. She didn’t want to run down her friend.