Temporary Dad. Laura Marie Altom

mean to be pushy,” she said, “and please, go on with your story about your sister, but occupational hazard—I just can’t stand hearing a child cry.”

      “Me, too,” he said, wincing when the baby he held launched a whole new set of screams. “I’m a fireman. Jed Hale. What do you do?” He awkwardly held out his hand for her to shake.

      “I’m a preschool teacher now, but used to work with infants in a day care. I ran a pretty tight nursery.” She winked. “No crying allowed on my watch.”

      “Admirable.” He grinned, and his boyish-yet-all-man charm warmed Annie to her toes.

      She soon calmed the second baby, then put him—judging by his blue terry-cloth pjs—alongside his sister in a blue giraffe-upholstered carrier.

      She took the remaining infant in her arms, and, like magic, after a few jiggles he fell into a deep sleep.

      “Wow,” the boy’s uncle said with a look of awe. “How’d you do that?”

      Annie shrugged, easing the last snoozing triplet into his seat. “Practice. My major was premed with a minor in child development. Seems like I spent half my college career in the campus nursery studying infants. They’re fascinating.”

      He leaned against the open door. “Sounds pretty bookish for a preschool teacher. I didn’t even know you had to go to college for that—I mean, not that you shouldn’t have to, but—”

      “I know what you mean. I always wanted to be a child psychiatrist. Not sure why. Just one of those things.” She didn’t have a clue why she was standing here in this stranger’s home, spilling her guts about stuff she hadn’t thought of in years. Reddening, she said, “Sorry. Didn’t mean to ramble—or barge in. Now that you’ve got everything under control, I’ll just mosey off to my magazine.” She backed out of his condo and hooked her thumb toward her patio. Whew.

      The man’s eyes were gorgeous. Brown shot with the same flecks of gold she’d like on her bathroom walls. Opulent and rich and definitely all grown-up. As yummy as that spoonful of hot fudge swirled with caramel! The decorating version of course…

      Although she wasn’t in the market for a man herself, should she try fixing him up with one of the other teachers at her school?

      “Don’t leave,” Jed said, hating the needy whine in his tone. He’d always prided himself on never needing anyone, but this woman he didn’t just need, he had to have. He had no idea what magic she’d used to zonk out his niece and nephews. However, if his sister didn’t arrive to claim her offspring in the next thirty seconds, it’d be a pretty safe bet he’d need Annie’s special brand of baby tranquilizer all over again. “Really, stay,” he said, urging her inside. “I’ve been meaning to bring over a frozen pizza or something. You know, do the whole Welcome Wagon neighbor thing. But we’ve had some guys out sick and on vacation, so I’ve been pulling double shifts.” He glanced at his watch. “In fact, I’m due back in a few hours, but my sis should be here way before then.”

      Now who was the one rambling?

      Jed could’ve kicked himself for going on and on. Not only did he have a desperate need for this woman, but now that he’d been standing next to her for a good fifteen minutes, he was starting to admire more than her babysitting skills.

      She was cute.

      Hot in a G-rated sort of way.

      Loopy blond curls kissed her shoulders and neck. A curve-hugging white T-shirt gave tantalizing peeks at cleavage and a great, all-over tan. And seeing how she was now up to a PG-13, how about those great legs in the jean shorts?

      Damn.

      Not too long, not too short. Just right for—

      Waaaaaaaaa!

      Triple damn.

      He sure loved Patti’s little critters, but they were in serious need of a few lessons on how not to screw up Uncle Jed’s chances with his hot new neighbor.

      “He’s probably hungry,” she said, marching over to the carrier and picking up his squalling nephew. “Got any bottles?”

      Her lips. Man. When she talked they did this funny little curvy thing at the corners. Made him want to hear her talk about something other than babies. Where she’d moved from and where she one day wanted to go. Why she’d wanted to be a child psychiatrist but ended up teaching preschool.

      “Jed?” Annie grinned. “You okay? If you’d just point the way to the bottles, I’ll go ahead and feed this guy while you take a breather.”

      “I’m good,” he said with a shake of his head. “The bottles are in here.”

      He led her to the kitchen. A tight, beige-walled cell of a room he usually avoided by eating at the station or feasting on takeout in front of the TV.

      He took a bottle from the fridge, then turned to the woman behind him. “Want me to nuke it?”

      She grimaced, kissing his nephew on top of his head. “It’s probably best to put the bottle in a bowl of hot water, otherwise it gets too hot.”

      “Oh.”

      She headed toward the sink.

      Speaking of hot…

      Nudging on the faucet, she asked, “Got any big bowls?”

      Jed retrieved the only bowl he owned—a promotional Budweiser Super Bowl VIII popcorn dish he’d won playing sports trivia down at his friend’s bar. “This work?”

      She eyed it for a second, then said, “Um, sure.”

      OVER AN HOUR LATER, Annie had fed and diapered the infant trio. Jed had confirmed her earlier assumption of their being triplets. The five-month-old girl was named Pia, and the boys, Richard and Ronnie. Jed explained earlier that morning, he’d lost the ribbon bracelets his sister kept on the boys to help tell them apart, so now he wasn’t sure who was who.

      “Man,” he said, arching back his head with a yawn. “I don’t know how I’ll ever repay you. When Patti finally shows up, she’s going to catch heat the likes of which she hasn’t felt since I caught her smoking in church.”

      “Bit of a wild child, was she?” Annie asked, as she fastened the last snap on Pia’s pink jammies. She found a tiny pink Velcro bow stuck to the terry cloth, pulled it off, and attached it to the baby girl’s thin tufts of hair.

      He laughed. “That’s an understatement. The happiest day of my life was when she said her I Dos to Howie. Finally, I thought, she’s someone else’s responsibility.”

      “You been looking after her for a while?”

      “Yeah. Our folks died my freshman year of college. Patti was okay as a kid, but once she hit her teens, she was nothing but trouble. She started pulling all this rebellion crap. Smoking. Drinking. Exclusively dating guys whose gene pools were only half-full. Most times, I knew she must have still been upset about Mom and Dad. But then there were other times I swear she did every bit of it just to piss me—” He winced. “Sorry.”

      “That’s okay,” Annie said, hugging the sleeping beauty to her chest.

      “So lately,” he said, “she’s been kind of depressed. Howie—her husband, my savior—got laid off from his job here in Pecan, so he took a new one that has him traveling out east a lot. The company won’t pay for the whole family to relocate, so until he can find something closer to home, this is what he’s doing to pay the bills. Patti hasn’t handled it all that well. Before this happened with Howie, she’d been a bit shaky on the whole motherhood thing—not that she hasn’t done a great job. It’s just that she gets pretty frazzled.”

      “Who wouldn’t?” Annie said, starting to share Jed’s concern for his sister, this precious infant’s mother. She stroked Pia’s downy-soft hair and breathed in her innocence and lotion.

      “Anyway,