Quadruplets on the Doorstep Read online

  Tina Leonard

  QUADRUPLETS ON THE DOORSTEP

  To Kasey Michaels, for being an inspiration and a friend

  and to my Mimi, because she’s cool.

  Lisa and Dean, you guys make me smile.

  Tim, I guess we’ve done okay so far—thanks for

  doing my classwork in the first grade.

  See what it got you!

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Tina Leonard loves to laugh, which is one of the many reasons she loves writing Harlequin American Romance books. In another lifetime, Tina thought she would be single and an East Coast fashion buyer forever. The unexpected happened when Tina met Tim again after many years—she hadn’t seen him since they’d attended school together from first through eighth grade. They married, and now Tina keeps a close eye on her school-age children’s friends! Lisa and Dean keep their mother busy with soccer, gymnastics and horseback riding. They are proud of their mom’s “kissy books” and eagerly help her any way they can. Tina hopes that readers will enjoy the love of family she writes about in her books. Recently a reviewer wrote, “Leonard had a wonderful sense of the ridiculous,” which Tina loved so much she wants it for her epitaph. Right now, however, she’s focusing on her wonderful life and writing a lot more romance!

  Books by Tina Leonard

  HARLEQUIN AMERICAN ROMANCE

  748—COWBOY COOTCHIE-COO

  758—DADDY’S LITTLE DARLINGS

  771—THE MOST ELIGIBLE…DADDY

  796—A MATCH MADE IN TEXAS

  811—COWBOY BE MINE

  829—SURPRISE! SURPRISE!

  846—SPECIAL ORDER GROOM

  873—HIS ARRANGED MARRIAGE

  905—QUADRUPLETS ON THE DOORSTEP

  HARLEQUIN INTRIGUE

  576—A MAN OF HONOR

  CAST OF CHARACTERS

  Caleb McCallum—When the ex-cop comes across a lovely woman and four babies he decides need rescuing, he goes from brooding loner to devoted family man.

  April Sullivan—The warmhearted neonatal nurse’s desire to keep the abandoned quadruplets prompts her to enter a temporary marriage with the sexy bachelor.

  Jenny Barrows—The teenage mother of the quadruplets wants to find a good home for her babies and knows April will give them the loving care they need.

  Jackson McCallum—The founder of the McCallum Multiple Birth Wing has a special place in his heart for the quadruplets born there.

  Adam and Maggie McCallum—Caleb’s brother and sister-in-law hope to be parents themselves in the near future. Read about their story in The McCallum Quintuplets, a 3-in-1 collection coming next month.

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter One

  Caleb McCallum peered through the glass window of the McCallum Multiple-Birth Wing Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Four plastic isolettes were marked Baby Barrow number one, Baby Barrow number two, three and four—the four abandoned children whose case he’d been sent to monitor. A nurse moved from isolette to isolette, touching each baby gently, tucking a blanket here, replacing a baby cap there. He was caught by her loving touch as she lingered over each small form.

  Caleb’s mind automatically went over a previous conversation with his father. Jackson McCallum, founder of the Emily McCallum Multiple-Birth at Maitland Maternity Hospital in Austin, had commanded him to “look” in on the situation and “find out what you can. Use some of your police contacts in Missing Persons, Caleb.”

  “Dad, the police will handle the problem fine.”

  He was an ex–police officer. Ex. Using his old contacts was something he’d prefer not to do, and he’d definitely not wanted any part of this latest request.

  “It’s my wing, son,” Jackson had replied. “I feel responsible. I want to know that this young mother is found, and quickly. There are four young lives missing the most important part of their world’s new beginning.”

  Caleb hadn’t reminded his father that he knew damn well what it meant to be raised without a mother. Jackson knew it, and was trying to pull Caleb into the situation, fully aware that Caleb wouldn’t want to relive any part of his former life as a cop.

  “Not to mention that a young girl who’s just been through a difficult birth shouldn’t be out of bed, much less running around town. She needs to be in the hospital where she can be cared for. I’m worried like hell about that.”

  It wasn’t so much that Jackson was worried about the wing’s reputation. His father would be reliving the moment his beloved wife had died in childbirth—the result of giving birth to Caleb.

  “All right, Dad,” he’d finally said. “I’ll go to the wing and do some asking around.”

  “Only right that you do,” Jackson said. “To him whom much is given, much is demanded. It’s your duty. You were the finest officer on the force.”

  “Were, Dad. Were.” And he’d hung up the phone, but the conversation lingered, refusing to be switched off replay.

  Dad did a good thing by building this wing, Caleb admitted reluctantly. Even if it did exist as a monument to the mother he’d lost, Caleb knew he should be proud of his father’s generosity. But to him it signified loss, not gain.

  The nurse hovering over the isolettes no doubt would disagree. He didn’t think the missing real mother could spend more time nurturing those babies.

  She glanced up, catching him staring at her. She’s cute, he realized at once—real cute. Big green eyes assessed him in a face surrounded by long, curly auburn hair. Creamy skin dotted with light freckles across a tiny nose was accented by full, rosy lips.

  Before he realized what she was doing, she’d left the nursery and come to stand beside him. She’d just reach his midchest, if she took a deep breath and stood poker-straight.

  “Aren’t they sweet?” she asked him.

  Caleb stared at her, lost for just a moment, his gaze locked on her beautiful smile.

  “They smell like…like new spring,” she said dreamily. “Sometimes soapy-clean, and sometimes formula-burpy, but precious beyond words. I think of spring when I hold them, even when they smell like formula.”

  “It’s only late December.”

  She gazed through the window. “You’d have to hold them to understand, I guess.”

  He cleared his throat, uncomfortable with the emotions the petite nurse was setting off inside him. “Has anyone heard from the mother?”

  Slowly, she turned to face him. “I’m afraid not.”

  Her eyes were so sad he wanted to comfort her—and yet, he was here in a more or less official capacity. The cop in him went into command. “I’m Caleb McCallum,” he said, putting out a hand for her to shake.

  “The son of Jackson McCallum who dedicated this wing?” she asked, sliding her hand into his. “Bri’s brother?”

  He nodded, registering with all his old sensory training that her skin was soft, her touch gentle, her fingers small-boned, like the fragile bones in a mourning dove’s wing.

  “I’m April Sullivan. It’s nice to meet you.”

  Her hand withdrew from his, and he shoved his own into his jeans pocket. “How well did you know the mother?”

  “
Jenny Barrows?” Auburn eyebrows lifted quizzically. “She was here for about two weeks before she gave birth. I suppose that she preferred me to the other nurses. But I certainly didn’t know her well enough for her to leave her children to me, not that I would have suspected that she was even considering such a thing.”

  “How did she let you know she wanted you to have them?”

  “I’d laid my sweater on my chair when I went to prep a patient. Jenny left a note in my sweater pocket asking me to take care of her children. I was…shocked. I still can’t believe it.”

  “How many hours after the birth did you find the note and realize Ms. Barrows was missing?”

  She stared at him, her eyebrows drawing into delicate crescents. “The questions you’re asking are so official. You sound like the officers who’ve been interviewing me.”

  “I used to be on the police force.”

  “I see. And now?”

  “I work as a security consultant and troubleshooter at McCallum Enterprises. Dad asked me to see how the situation is progressing.”

  “That’s nice of you. And him.”

  “Why?”

  “Well, to be so concerned.”

  “He has a strong affinity for this wing, and if he thinks there’s anything he can do to help the mother once she’s found, believe me, Dad will do it.”

  “That’s kind.”

  If living in the past was something to be proud of, maybe. But Caleb didn’t say that to April.

  “I have to get back to the babies. If you’ll excuse me—”

  He really didn’t want her to go just yet. “You didn’t answer my question.”

  It seemed to him that she set her jaw with a tiny bit of defiance. “I found the note in my pocket at eight a.m., which would have made it four days past the delivery on Friday. She left four days before Christmas, the babies’ first Christmas,” she said softly. It seemed she straightened suddenly to stare at him. “Anything else you’d like to know concerning the particulars of this case?”

  Spunky, and cool when riled. Red hair definitely a warning of some warmth in the temper zone. “You don’t like me asking you questions?”

  “I don’t mind you asking questions,” she said, passing him. “I mind you questioning me in that detached-cop voice, like you’re recording data. These babies aren’t data, Ex-Officer McCallum. They were left in my care, and like your father, I have a vested interest in seeing that they are treated with the utmost devotion.”

  A fierce guardian she apparently planned to be. “I would guess Ms. Barrows chose pretty well when she picked you for surrogate mother.”

  “I didn’t ask to be the stand-in mother to these children. But until Jenny is found, I plan on doing as she asked.”

  She returned to the nursery, keeping her back to him as she ministered to the infants. He shifted uncomfortably. White pants trimmed a tiny little tush–the woman was made like a doll. Even her shoulder blade-length curls seemed like doll dross.

  Well, he couldn’t stand here and stare at her posterior all day. She’d clearly noted the lack of warmth in his soul when it came to children, so it was best to move along.

  But then the devil seized him, and he tapped on the window. She turned, clearly aware that it was him by the raised eyebrow she shot him as she neared the glass.

  “Coffee at 2 p.m.?” he asked.

  “Help yourself. The cafeteria’s open then.”

  But he saw the challenge in her gaze, and he knew she’d be there.

  Because she wanted Jenny Barrows found. And she’d made her point clear about the human element being the key to finding a scared young girl.

  He really admired April Sullivan’s grit.

  APRIL LEFT CALEB sitting in the cafeteria for ten minutes past two o’clock before she slid a doughnut over his shoulder onto the table in front of him. “I heard police officers love doughnuts. This one might be a bit stale.”

  He fake-frowned at her as she took the plastic chair across from him. “You didn’t see the sign that says, ‘Don’t feed the cops’?”

  “But you’re ex, right? So I’m free to ignore the sign.”

  “I couldn’t help noticing the sign you’re wearing says, ‘Questions can be directed to the appropriate department, but not necessarily answered. And all in my own good time.”’

  “Glad you can read.” She popped open a soda can. “I’ll do anything I can to help find Jenny, but I don’t want to be questioned by RoboCop.”

  “I got it, I got it. There is a heart behind my bulletproof vest.”

  She gave him a stern eyeing, noting that his chest was broad, but not thick enough that he was wearing a vest. “Do you wear one as a security consultant?”

  “Not usually. If I’m on the golf course with Dad, maybe.”

  That earned him a smile. “Now you’re sounding more human.”

  “So, do you have any idea why Ms. Barrows—sorry, Jenny—might have disappeared like she did?

  And left those adorable bundles of joy to a virtual stranger?”

  April drank some of her cola before answering.

  “Believe me, in the last several days, I’ve tried to put myself in Jenny’s shoes. She was too young to be a mother, really, and certainly to quadruplets.

  Seventeen, widowed, her husband killed in a construction accident, no family support…” She shrugged. “It was a lot for her to handle, without even mentioning the stress of finding out what all had to happen to care for quads.”

  “If she doesn’t return or isn’t found, the children will go into foster care.”

  April froze. “Not if I have anything to do with it, they won’t. Not for one damn minute.”

  “Hey, it’s okay—”

  “Not to me, it isn’t. I don’t even want to think about Jenny not returning. For goodness’ sakes, she needs medical care herself! Surely one weak girl can be found. And these children deserve a true home.”

  “What’s your beef with foster care?”

  She bristled. “I simply…would not want that, considering that Jenny entrusted her children to me. A home isn’t a home unless it’s built on love, and a family isn’t a family unless it’s based on love. The babies should be ready to go home in a month. In that time, a lot can happen, like the mother being found by you, if Austin’s finest can’t do it. Isn’t that why your father sent you? He wouldn’t want them to go into foster care, either.”

  “Hey,” he said, gently putting his hand over hers. “Chill, lady. I didn’t mean to get you all upset. I’m beginning to think maybe you don’t like me too much, kind of like oil and vinegar naturally repel each other.”

  She snatched her hand from under his. “It’s good on some things.”

  “But it has to be shook real hard to stay together, and even that’s not for long. Let’s me and you work together on this without a lot of shaking, okay?”

  “I don’t want to talk about the babies going into foster care,” she said stubbornly. “I want you to say you’ll do your best to assist the officers and everyone else who’s looking to find Jenny, since that’s why you’re here.”

  “You’ve got a lot in common with my dad.”

  His grim tone caught her ear, but she didn’t heed it. “The man dedicated a wing to helping children and mothers who need extra attention. If you’re putting me in the same category with him, I call that a good thing.”

  He sighed, looking at her with some admiration. “Beneath that delicate appearance, you’re wearing steel determination, lady.”

  “What would you do in my place? If you’d been left a heartbreaking note asking you to take care of someone’s children?”

  “I’d be scared as hell, if you want to know the truth.”

  “Well, I am, Mr. Troubleshooter. I’m scared. I want to see the happy ending to this fairy tale right this minute.”

  She stared at him to see how he was taking her brave words. But she wasn’t exaggerating. She was frightened out of her wits, for Jenny’s sake. The babies we
re fine, loved and stroked by everyone who was admitted to the neonatal nursery. But Jenny might be in pain, and she was most certainly frightened to have left the way she had. She had no money, nothing of value. She could be putting herself in danger, and the thought of it was more than April could bear.

  Caleb looked at her, his hazel eyes dark with compassion and empathy. Okay, maybe he wasn’t all data-seeking ex-cop. He was tall and well filled out, no doubt in shape from his days on the force. She suspected his story would be a tale of heartache, because he didn’t strike her as an easy quitter. Witness how he’d overridden her cold shoulder and enticed her into a coffee break. “Are you going to eat that doughnut or not?”

  He shoved it toward her. “You want it?”

  “Never touch them. I watch my fat grams carefully.”

  That brought a laugh from him. “Why? Afraid to weigh more than ninety pounds?”

  “I’m afraid to coagulate my bloodstream and arteries with sludge when I work twelve-hour shifts. And I weigh a very healthy one hundred five, thank you.”

  She stood, and he did, too.

  “Then I’ll pass on it as well.” He tossed the doughnut into a nearby trash can. “Since I’ll be working around the clock to find the missing mother of those babies.”

  “Thank you,” she said quietly. “I would appreciate anything you could do. Not that I don’t think the police won’t find her eventually. But they have lots of cases and I’m afraid, Caleb. It’s been nearly a week since anyone has heard anything.”

  She looked up at him, unwilling to think that maybe Jenny wouldn’t be found, especially if she didn’t want to be. The girl wouldn’t have credit cards which would leave a paper trail. No family she might run to.

  “Do you know anything at all about the husband?” Caleb asked. “Did either of them have family?”