His Plan for the Quintuplets

by Cathy Gillen Thacker

  Afterward, as they lay wrapped in each other’s arms, he thought about what it would be like to do this every day...and every night. To no longer have to hide how much they wanted to be with each other.

  “So,” she said finally, cuddling close as he stroked a hand through her hair, “if you’re serious—”

  He shifted so they were both lying on their sides, facing each other. “Absolutely serious,” he said in a low, gravelly tone.

  Her blue eyes were alight with curiosity. And hope. “How would this work?”

  Damn, she was gorgeous, with her hair all tousled, her cheeks pink and her lips damp and swollen from their kisses. His heart fuller than he had ever imagined it could be, Gabe held her close. “Well, the easiest thing to do would be to get married as soon as possible.”

  “Before you go back overseas,” Susannah guessed.

  He hadn’t been thinking he would return to PWB after all if they got married, but he could also see that was the only way she expected this would work. And maybe she was right. Maybe they shouldn’t try to change too much too soon.

  Maybe it would be best to take things one step at a time. Get married. See the kids were safe and protected. Get used to each other. And then segue into a more normal existence.

  “Yes,” he said, watching her slip from his arms and then his bed, her expression sober now.

  “I can’t believe I’m saying this,” she admitted, checking the time and beginning to dress. “But...okay.” She turned to him with a shy smile and a quiet, determined manner. “I’ll marry you, for the sake of the kids.”

  * * *

  Gabe broke the news to his parents later that evening. To say they weren’t exactly delighted was an understatement and a half. “For two people who’ve talked about nothing but getting all their kids married off with families of their own for the last decade, you really aren’t showing a lot of enthusiasm,” Gabe commented irritably, glad he had not brought Susannah along for this initial announcement. All the questions might have been enough to scare her away—or at least make her have second thoughts.

  “We expected love to be a part of the equation,” Carol said, refilling their glasses of iced tea.

  Who said it wasn’t? Gabe thought fiercely, taking one of the cookies his mom offered him. So maybe he and Susannah had sort of backed into this love affair they were in, but it was a love affair, complete with compassion and kindness and understanding, and sometimes, yeah, a whole lot of amazing sex, too.

  Oblivious to the nature of Gabe’s thoughts, his dad added sternly, “Along with a substantial dose of commitment.”

  Gabe resented the implication he could be so irresponsible. Hadn’t he spent all his life, since age twelve, proving that was not the case? That although he might make a mistake, he would never do so deliberately. “I’m not going to abandon her.”

  His dad munched on a cookie, too. “You mean you’re giving up your work with Physicians Without Borders?” Robert asked.

  “No.” That would be too much change, too soon. “Not initially,” Gabe said firmly. “But I can see a day...” His voice trailed off.

  His parents exchanged concerned glances. “Why not just get engaged first and then work it out when you’re ready to resign and take a job here in Laramie? Or at least somewhere in the United States, where Susannah and the kids can reside with you?” his mom suggested gently.

  “Because we want to get this taken care of now,” Gabe insisted.

  “As a matter of convenience,” his dad guessed.

  Gabe saw no reason to hide that he and Susannah were both being pragmatic. Keeping their emotions out of the arrangement was a plus as far as he was concerned. It would help him have the perspective he needed to protect her. Because the last thing he wanted was to ever be in a position again where his feelings about her in any way impacted his ability to think clearly. Or keep her—and the kids—safe.

  “Yes. And importance. We consulted a family law attorney this afternoon over the phone, and she said the only way a court is liable to consider me an equal guardian—if I am working elsewhere—is if the two of us are legally married and I adopt the children. And so that is what we intend to do as soon as possible.”

  “If forming a family is the primary goal, then you need to make it a real marriage with a real wedding,” his mother said quietly, looking him in the eye. “Susannah and the kids deserve that much, don’t you think?”

  * * *

  An hour later, Susannah was getting ready for bed when her cell phone chimed to let her know a text message was coming in.

  Gabe wrote, Are you still up?

  Yes, she texted back, her heart racing with anticipation.

  Can we talk?

  Wondering if he was already having second thoughts, she texted back, Sure.

  By the time she had donned a sleep cardigan over her thigh-length sleep shirt, he was on her front porch. She took him by the hand and led him inside, glad Mike and Millie weren’t there to notice this midnight call. Or comment on it the next day. She led him over to the sofa, aware she’d been feeling all tied up in knots. Happy she was finally seeing so many of her dreams come true. And yet wary that something still might go wrong.

  She sat down close beside him, turning slightly to face him, so her bare knee was pressed up against his jeans-covered thigh. “I presume you talked to your folks?”

  “Yes.” He went on to fill her in. She listened intently as he spoke. Surprised...and not...by their offer. “They want us to get married at their ranch?”

  “Yes.” His brows knit together in a frown, confirming her opinion this was dangerous territory. “In front of all our family and friends.”

  She jerked in a breath. “Does it have to be formal?”

  He shrugged. “We can do it in jeans and T-shirts if you want.”

  Aware there was still so much she had yet to learn and understand about him, and that she didn’t have a clue what he was thinking or feeling right now except mild annoyance at his folks, she raked her teeth across her lower lip, admitting ruefully, “Somehow, I think that would raise even more eyebrows than the fact of us getting hitched. Plus, we’d have to explain it to the kids.”

  He took her hand in his and turned it over, tracing the lifeline with his thumb. “Why we weren’t getting dressed up.”

  Sensation swept through her, reminding her how very good it felt when they made love. Or when he just held her, or sat with her, talking, like right now. “They’ve seen a half dozen weddings the last year or so. All of them formal.”

  He propped his feet on her coffee table and stretched his long legs out in front of him, the action pressing his muscular leg even tighter against her knee. “Then a wedding dress and tux it is.”

  Susannah tried to make it as easy as she could on both of them. It wasn’t as if this was going to be a real wedding, at least for the two of them, anyway. “You know, I could wear Belinda’s dress.”

  He narrowed his whiskey-colored eyes at her. Objecting, as always, when he didn’t think she was appropriately seeing to her own needs. “I think you should wear your own.”

  He was probably right about that. People would expect her to want to be the star on her wedding day, even if she and Gabe knew it was all mostly for show, as a bow to tradition. And that meant getting a fabulous dress. “I could probably pick one up pretty quickly if I went to the shop in town and just selected one of their samples.”

  Gabe smiled approvingly. “Ditto the tux. Although I figured I’d rent mine.”

  Susannah flashed a wry smile while mentally trying to figure out ways to save money on the celebration without diminishing it in any way. “I don’t blame you, since there aren’t a lot of places to wear either garment around here.”

  Gabe took his phone out of his pocket. On the screen, she could see he had already made a list. Which was something she usually did. “
So...the next thing we need to do is set a date, time and place.”

  “What did you have in mind?”

  “This weekend. Maybe Saturday afternoon.”

  Susannah did some rough calculations. “Five days from now?” Was he eager or what?

  Not that she wasn’t.

  It would be nice to spend more time with him before he left again.

  He shrugged off her initial concern that it might be all too soon. “We only need three days to get a license. My brother Cade can get us a DJ or musicians, whatever you want, to drive out from Dallas, no problem. And we could use flowers from my parents’ ranch if you want to go native.”

  “It’d be great. We would just put them all in bell jars. But what about the food?”

  His voice was gruff. “Maybe have a local restaurant, like the Wagon Wheel, cater, since we never did make it there for a date.”

  Sensing latent emotion in him, too, she agreed. “Invitations?”

  “Mom and Dad said they’d send out emails and make phone calls and do that for us. As well as get the chairs and tables set up. And since the weather looks to be good and dry and not too terribly hot through the weekend...”

  She gazed over at him, unable to help but think how handsome he looked in the soft light, how right it felt to be there with him like this, even so late at night. Although when they married, this would be an every-night occurrence. When he was in town, anyway. Her heart warming at the prospect, she studied him quietly, then asked, “You’re really okay doing it this fast?”

  His eyes lit up with the happiness she felt inside. “I really am.”

  Susannah squeezed his hand. “I am, too.”

  Now, all she had to do was tell Mike and Millie and enlist their help and approval, too.

  * * *

  “Is this because Millie and I were both in the hospital at the same time?” Mike asked later the next day, when they returned home and were relaxing in Susannah’s living room while the children napped upstairs.

  “No.” Susannah disabused them of that notion, even though in a sense it was partially true. It’s because I realize how much I care about him and want him in my life. However we work that out, she thought, wanting Gabe to be as happy and secure in their relationship as he wanted her to be in hers, with him.

  “Do you love him?” Millie asked skeptically. “I mean, I know there is something really wonderful and exciting going on there. You can’t help but notice the sparks whenever you two are within a fifty-foot radius of each other. But marriage. Honey, that’s a lifelong commitment, and you two have been dating for how long now? Four weeks? Six?”

  “He’s been back for six. I guess we’ve been dating for four, maybe...”

  “You don’t know the actual date?” Mike asked, shocked.

  Susannah hedged, “I could figure it out if I looked on my phone.” Maybe. She skillfully changed the subject back to the older couple’s own storybook romance. “And speaking of first dates, don’t the two of you have an anniversary coming up?”

  Mike and Millie beamed. “August first,” Mike confirmed.

  Susannah thought about the special plans Millie had made. How happy Mike was going to be when he found out his wife was recreating the date that had started it all for them.

  She looked at Millie, knowing she needed her on her side. “Didn’t you tell me once that love comes when you least expect it?”

  Millie nodded.

  “Well, Gabe and I didn’t expect each other, and yet...like you said, there is something really wonderful and wildly exciting and fulfilling between us whenever we are together, and sometimes,” she continued wistfully, telling them what was in her heart, “even when we’re not.”

  Millie and Mike listened intently.

  She paused, trying to find the words to make the case for their marriage. “I’ve waited a long time to feel this way about any man or have him feel this way about me.”

  So maybe it wasn’t the kind of love that usually provided the foundation for a marriage. Exactly. But it was something unique that she hadn’t felt for anyone else. The kids adored him. He adored her kids. And together they made a pretty great family unit. So it was enough. It was going to have to be.

  “I want to do this,” Susannah continued, surprising herself by getting a little choked up. “And I want both of you on my side.”

  “Honey, you know we’re always there for you,” Mike said, giving her a fatherly hug.

  “We absolutely are,” Millie echoed, getting a little emotional, too.

  Susannah pulled herself together. “Do you think you’ll have time to go wedding-dress shopping with me?”

  The older woman teared up, abruptly looking as sentimental and approving as Susannah hoped she would be. Millie dabbed her eyes. “I wouldn’t miss it.”

  Susannah turned to Mike. “What about you? Do you think you’ll be up and about enough to walk me down the aisle on Saturday?”

  “Try and stop me,” he said gruffly, finally giving his full approval, too.

  Relief flowed through Susannah. “I love you guys.” Susannah hugged them both. She only hoped she and Gabe could be half as happy as the older couple.

  “We love you, too.” Millie and Mike hugged her back. Finally, Millie blew her nose and asked, “Have you told the kids yet?”

  Another milestone. One they intended to tackle together. “Gabe and I are doing that tonight.”

  Mike tilted his head. “How do you think they are going to take it?”

  Susannah shrugged, never one to predict when it came to the quintuplets. She knew how she wanted it to go, though. Splendidly. She smiled optimistically at Mike and Millie. “I guess we’ll see.”

  * * *

  Gabe had been wanting to borrow his parents’ ice cream maker and show the kids how it used to be made in the good old days, so that was exactly what they did. And while he turned the crank and churned the cream and sugar and strawberries into a sweet treat, Susannah talked to the kids about their future together.

  “So there’s going to be a wedding?” Abigail asked finally.

  Susannah looked at Gabe. Powerful emotion welled within her for this man and the children they now shared. She hadn’t realized how much she longed to have a man around. Now, with Gabe in their life, she knew. Her world as a single mom had been good. But her world with Gabe in it was great. “Yes,” she told her children, “there will be a wedding out at Gabe’s family ranch.”

  The three girls jumped up and down, clapping their hands. “Can we all be in it?” Gretchen danced in excitement.

  “I want to be a flower girl,” Abigail declared.

  “Me, too!” chimed the usually shy Rebecca.

  “Yeah, and we want to carry the pillows.” Connor did a somersault.

  “With the rings!” Levi followed suit, then the girls.

  Susannah looked at Gabe as the unbridled celebration continued among the little ones. “Told you they’ve seen a few weddings,” she mouthed.

  “Does this mean you’ll be our daddy, instead of just our friend?” Abigail asked.

  Susannah and Gabe exchanged looks again. “Yes,” he told the kids. “I’ll be your daddy then.”

  Another burst of spontaneous emotion rippled through the group. “Yay!” The kids danced around even more wildly.

  “Yay!” Susannah whispered, too, tears of bliss filling her eyes. And for a second Gabe looked suspiciously misty, too. As if all his dreams were coming true as well. Finally, he cleared his throat. Whispered to her, “I guess we don’t have to worry about them accepting me.”

  “Not at all,” Susannah whispered back, joy flooding her once again.

  Abigail walked over to watch Gabe churn the ice cream in the old-fashioned ice cream maker. Serious once again. “So are you going to live here with us every day and every night?” she asked.

&n
bsp; That was a harder question to answer. Susannah and Gabe exchanged glances over the children’s heads. With a nod, he indicated she should take the lead. Gently, Susannah explained, “Gabe’s doctor job takes him far away, so he won’t be here all the time, but when he’s not being a doctor, he will come and live here in the house with us.”

  The children frowned, confused.

  “Will he be gone a long time?” Connor asked.

  Susannah looked at Gabe, leaving that to him. “I’ll be doing six-week stints,” he said, “then back here for two.”

  The kids looked at him blankly. Understanding they did not have a concept of time, he explained kindly, “So I’ll be gone seventy-two days and then here for fourteen.”

  All their faces fell. That math they understood. “I want you to be here all the time, like you are now,” Rebecca said, her lower lip quivering.

  “I know,” Susannah said gently, engulfing several of her children in a hug, while Gabe dished out the homemade strawberry ice cream into bowls. “But that’s not how Gabe’s job works. So we have to be supportive of him, and that means being happy when he is here and okay when he is not.”

  The kids stood motionless, bowls and spoons in hand, clearly still not able to grasp what their life would be like.

  Gabe cleared his throat, suddenly looking as emotional as Susannah felt. “It’s possible we could figure something better out...” he said gruffly.

  But Susannah was unwilling to make promises they couldn’t keep or burden Gabe unnecessarily, to the point he would regret having come to their rescue and asking her to marry him in the first place. She gathered her children in for a consoling group hug, then walked them over to the picnic table out back, where they could all sit and enjoy their treats. She knelt down to their level, looking each one of them in the eye. “Listen to me, kiddos.” She smiled reassuringly, knowing together she and the quints had faced much tougher things without Gabe’s aid. “We’ll work it out. It will be good for us. We will have time together. And time apart. And it’ll all be fine. And you know why?”