Page 6 of Jude's Story

My phone immediately starts ringing again with Mom’s name after I let it go to voicemail, and I give it a second, dragging in a deep breath before answering her. “Hi Mom, what’s up?”

“Good, you are there,” Mom says, a smile in her tone that makes one want to appear on my face as well. You can’t be angry when Mom’s happy, it’s just not possible.

“Yeah, I’m here. You need something?” I ask hoping she says no.

“I need you to go by the store and pick up some boxes of diapers for us. I was going to do it last night, but since Daddy had to go up to see why Jeffery was pulled over and detained by the police, I forgot to do it and Eden’s down to the last box of diapers.”

“No one else can do it?” I ask, before my brows furl and I add, “Wait, who’s Eden?”

“The girl that saved Maddie from falling down the stairs at her appointment a couple weeks ago. Maddie had another episode this morning, so Jesse took her to the doctor, and they wanted her to do an IV supplement to hopefully stop them from happening again. Eden has a doctor’s appointment as well so I’m watching the babies while she’s there. The girls are still in classes and Johnnie isn’t going to want to leave Carly to run into town to get the diapers then come back out here.”

“Can’t you just do an overnight order or something?” I ask, rubbing my forehead to stave off the growing headache.

“Jude Elliot Cartwright, this girl saved Maddie and possibly the baby’s life, which means she saved your brother from losing his mind because something happened to Maddie. She’s taking care of babies all on her own and has her own health to worry about,” Mom states, her tone telling me I fucked up more than any words she might use. “I am not going to have her fretting over how many diapers are left for the babies or when a delivery might get here or wondering how much she has in the bank to get them. So, you get your butt up out of your chair and you go pick up diapers for these babies, do you understand me?”

“Alright,” I concede, not about to anger Mom further. “What size?”

“I’ll text you the sizes and brand. You get exactly what I tell you to get, understand?” Mom warns and I agree before hanging up and letting out a groan of annoyance.

I stop at my assistant’s desk, letting the grandmotherly woman that takes care of me and Johnnie know I have to run an errand for Mom. Joan knows her well, so she simply smiles at me and nods. “If anyone from Johnnie’s house stops by, tell them to call him and not come to me. I have my own shit to do, and financials are not my responsibility.”

“I keep telling them you’re not going to like the interruptions but you’re going to have to put your foot down a little harder. Shouldn’t be too hard with the way you’ve been acting lately,” Joan says lifting a brow at me and I grumble under my breath as I leave the office to head to the nearest store.

I grab two carts when I see just how many boxes Mom said to get, unsure if they’ll all fit in one. The looks I get as I reach the check out reminds me of when we were younger and the babies in diapers. We couldn’t go anywhere without those looks—the ones that said ‘don’t you have enough kids’ from assholes that simply want to judge others. It’s not like our family couldn’t afford to take care of all of us. We each have trust funds that would be more than enough to see us through if we didn’t want to work, so it really wasn’t any of their business if we Mom and Dad decided to have all the babies they wanted.

“New dad?” the woman asks as she rings everything up. “You know the baby will probably outgrow these before you use all of them.”

“My brother has a four-month-old, my other brother is expecting another, and a friend has multiples that are six months old. They won’t go to waste,” I state, swiping my card for the total without a flicker of discomfort.

Someone on a budget would definitely be feeling the strain of spending over three hundred dollars on diapers. From the fuming Jesse did when he learnt the girl was being illegally evicted because of crying babies, I know she is, so I’ll keep my mouth shut when I get there.

I pull up to the front of the house and unload the boxes, parking behind Mom so I don’t block the girl in when she gets back. I honestly can’t believe that Jesse put her in the house here. It’s one of the nicest ones that we bought and remodeled, then didn’t sell when the market took a downturn, and it wouldn’t have been worth the money we put into it.

Thankfully with all the commercial work we do, it’s never hurt us. We can carry the cost of the house, vacant or occupied, and not have to worry about it.

Mom opens the front door with a little girl in her arms. She’s wearing the cutest pink glasses, and her wispy blonde hair is a mess, but she’s absolutely adorable.

“You can take half of them upstairs, and the rest can stay down here,” Mom tells me, and I move the lot into the house first. When I get the last of them inside, I stop in my tracks finding not just two babies now in highchairs, but four.

“I thought she had twins,” I state, as Mom starts to feed two of the boys from jars of baby food, while the little girl and the last boy have bottles. It’s no wonder the girl has her own health issues after having four babies at once, and the amount of diapers definitely isn’t surprising now.

“No, Eden’s mom thought she was having twins, but it turns out the boys were identical triplets,” Mom says and my head swivels back to her in more confusion.

“Eden’s mom? I thought she was alone with the babies. Where’s her mom?” I ask before joining them, lifting the little girl out of her highchair when she can’t quite hold onto her bottle to eat. She gives me a grin, her eyes blinking as she stares up at me, before sucking away on the bottle.

Fuck, I’m definitely a sucker for little dolls like her. You can’t belong to this family and not like babies, I just never wanted any of my own until I met my kitten. Now…I’d definitely take little girls like my kitten, and not solely because it’d mean I have her back with me either.

Mom explains the accident and then Sawyer and Emma’s health issues, reasons why they’re not starting the baby food yet, versus River and Tucker who are. It’s beyond my understanding of babies but if it’s what’s best for them, then it’s good enough for me.

I can’t help but wonder who the babies’ father is and how he could be such an utter shithead to not even contribute to the babies he helped make. Man’s a fucking coward but it also explains why Jesse and Mom are so insistent on helping Eden.

“Was Eden hurt in the accident? Is that why she has another doctor’s appointment?” I ask as we clean up the babies from their meals.

“She’s pregnant. She hasn’t wanted to talk about the father yet though,” Mom says making my brow rise in shock. “She’s a sweetheart. I’m certain the man was a smooth talker that made promises he didn’t mean when she was in a vulnerable spot. She’d only had the babies home with her for a month at that point. I’m sure she was overwhelmed and willing to take whatever help she could get, only it didn’t end up that way, and why she’s been so surprised that our offer of help wasn’t just a line.”

“I take it the house is a permanent thing, not just temporary hand then,” I state and Mom nods, taking the babies back to the family room I can tell Serena had a hand in putting together.

I drop off half of the diapers there, then take the rest upstairs, seeing more of Serena’s handywork in the space. Something about the master bedroom pulls at me and I don’t understand my body’s reaction to the sweet scent lingering in the space. My dick hasn’t woken for anything other than thoughts of my kitten, so the semi-chub that’s hit is surprising as hell.

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