Read Online His Motherless Little Twins by Dianne Drake - Free Book Online

having any kind of thoughts about him.
    As she began to hunt for the proper bowls, Eric motioned Paige and Pippa over to him. “Girls, Daddy’s going to sleep for a little while. Be good for Dinah. Do what she tells you to do, and come get me when the last batch comes out of the oven because I like my cookies warm.” With that, he kissed each one on the top of her head, then plodded down the hall. Seconds later, the distinct thud of a shutting door told Dinah she could relax. Suddenly, though, it was just her and two eager, ricocheting little girls. Sick children she knew how to deal with. But these girls…
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    It probably wasn’t the nicest thing for him to do, leaving her in the kitchen with the girls. They were high energy on a normal day and this wasn’t a normal day for them. But he couldn’t be there. Couldn’t watch the cozy scene going on. Back in the days when Patricia had been pregnant with the twins, she’d had so many plans, so many hopes and dreams for her family. And sometimes the cruel bite of how unfair life was simply got to him. Today was one of those days. It should have been Patricia teaching her girls to cook, Patricia and the girls in their kitchen, not in his sister’s. Seeing Dinah in there, doing something that should have been Patricia’s to do, tore at his heart, and it had nothing to do with Dinah. She was just being nice.
    But, damn it, the girls were all over her, so happy to be involved in such a simple thing. When Dinah had volunteered to do this, it had sounded like a good idea. But now the reality of it made him question why he’d wanted to bring Dinah closer to their lives. The girls had a hard enough time hanging on to a mother they’d never known, and this wasn’t going to make his task of keeping Patricia in their lives any easier. But something was nagging at him to move on with his life. It had been for a while, and Dinah only accentuated it.
    Just look at him! An adult with children, living in his sister’s home, making do. Postponing life. Refusing to move forward.
    Back in California, before he’d agreed to come to White Elk, he’d had his mother to help him. She’d swooped in to take care of the girls, and promised to stay as long as he needed her. Which had turned out to be until the time he’d moved to White Elk and allowed his sister to do the same thing. He’d taken an apartment here, hired a nanny for his daughters, planning on putting life on a permanent delay. Janice had come here, with his niece shortly after, solely to help him, once it had become clear he was struggling to manage without family. Once she’d got here, she’d found a real life right away. She’d bought a house, established a business, made friends everywhere. On the other hand, he’d moved in with her, at her request, to make her care of the twins more convenient, while he’d secluded himself at the hospital. His life on an even bigger delay.
    That’s exactly what it was, and most of the time he didn’t think about that because it worked well enough. The girls were happy, they didn’t feel the pressures. Right now, though, with Dinah assuming a mother’s duty… “Damn,” he muttered, dropping onto his bed. A single bed. For one. Grown men didn’t sleep in single beds, and this was just another reminder of how he’d allowed things to get out ofhand. It was his duty to make sure his daughters came first in his life, but what came after them? What was out there for him?
    â€œIt’s not easy, Patricia,” he whispered, looking at the wedding ring on his finger. For a few moments he simply stared at the glint of the gold and the plain contours of it, trying to empty his mind of everything. Yet for once his mind wouldn’t empty. It was chock full of memories…good ones like the day he’d met Patricia, the evening he’d proposed marriage, the afternoon