More Than a Temporary Family by Marie Ferrarella

Author:Marie Ferrarella
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2021-12-16T21:12:31+00:00

* * *

“C’mon,” Bethany coaxed once the meeting was over, “I want to introduce you to Ian Parson.”

Hooking her arm through Josie’s, Bethany drew her best shelter volunteer over toward a slightly frazzled and exhausted-looking young father. The brown-haired, brown-eyed man was holding on to twins that looked to be approximately three years of age. Both girls, one who looked withdrawn and one who gave the impression that she was a regular live wire.

“Ian,” Bethany greeted the young man, “I’d like you to meet Josie Whitaker.”

The athletically built father turned toward the woman he had just been introduced to. Since each of his hands was attached to one of the twins, he could only nod his head by way of a greeting.

“Hello, sorry my hands are a little occupied,” he said. There was a note of wistful envy in his voice. He clearly loved his twins, but one way or another, they appeared to definitely be a handful for him.

“It’s okay. I’m used to the way twins take up both hands,” she explained. “I spend a lot of time looking after my twin niece and nephew.”

“Brave lady,” Ian commented. “We’ll be leaving in a few minutes, Abby,” he said to his more rambunctious daughter. “Calm down.” He looked back to Josie. “What do your brother and sister-in-law have?” he asked, struggling to keep Abby still.

The other little girl, Josie couldn’t help noticing, didn’t give the impression that she was listening at all. She stood gazing off at the people leaving their seats.

“Lucas and Lily. A boy and a girl,” Josie added after the fact.

“You might think I have a matched set,” Ian told her needlessly. “But their personalities are worlds apart,” he added, looking at Bethany. “As you can tell, one daughter is very outgoing while the other is almost terminally shy. Right now, I’m hoping that they wind up rubbing off on one another at least a little,” Ian confided.

The squirmy one had enough energy for two people, Josie thought. “Does it get any easier with time?” she wanted to know.

“Sure,” he answered without any conviction. “People tell me that’ll happen in another twenty-five years or so, but then another whole new set of problems will probably settle in. My advice to your brother and sister-in-law is to take it one day at a time,” Ian told her. “Getting through a whole day in one piece is an accomplishment in itself. The only thing I managed to learn in all this time,” Ian confided to the two women, “is that one and one do not make two. It makes a crowd. Tell them the sooner they get used to that, the better.”

“Oh, you know you wouldn’t trade places with anyone else for the world,” Bethany told him.

“You’re right,” Ian agreed. “But that’s because by the end of the day, between my engineering job and the twins, I’m too worn out to put one foot in front of the other to get away, so trading places is completely out of the question.

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