Ten Acres and Twins Read Online Free PDF

off the hook, and he needed her advice.
    â€œYes, Jack. What do you need?”
    â€œI finally got this formula mixed and heated, and then the phone rang and I didn’t get Wyatt fed for thirty minutes. Do I have to start over completely?”
    â€œHang on,” she said with a long sigh. She spoke to someone in the background. The string of babbling that followed must be Rosie, playing. In his five hours with Wyatt, Jack had heard nothing but wailing.
    â€œHe’s been waiting for his bottle for thirty minutes?” Abby asked abruptly. She sounded as if she was right there beside him. He could picture her with her hands on her hips and that preachy look on her face. “What’s he doing?”
    â€œLying on the floor, sucking on a pacifier.”
    â€œFor thirty minutes? What did you do with the bottle?”
    She made a tsk-ing sound, which was totally unnecessary.
    There was no possible way for Jack to feel any more inept than he already did.
    â€œIt’s on the counter, in the kitchenette.”
    â€œFor Pete’s sake, feed the kid. Why didn’t you do it while you were talking on the phone?”
    â€œSometimes I need to get on my laptop to figure out how to solve a client’s problem. I needed my hands free.”
    â€œJack, wake up. You’re a parent now,” she said, her tone implying exactly how dim she thought he was.
    â€œYou may have to call a client back now and then.”
    After hanging up, Jack retrieved the bottle from the kitchen and settled down with Wyatt on the hotel sofa. He poppedthe pacifier out of the baby’s mouth and watched in horror as the tiny back stiffened and the tinier mouth opened wide to shriek.
    Frantically, he stuck the bottle in. And relaxed. Once that first taste of formula hit Wyatt’s tongue, he quieted quickly. “That’s my boy,” Jack said, feeling as if he’d conquered a major obstacle.
    He was going to get this baby business down and get back to Kansas City. Back to his life. Things would go much better there—he’d have his speakerphone, his main computer and his girlfriends to ask for advice. They might not know as much as Abby, but they’d never make him feel unfit, either.
    Under the circumstances, Abby’s snappy attitude made sense, but he was certainly not dim. He loved a challenge. He could make this work.
    Wasn’t he the same guy who’d managed to finish high school a full year early? In spite of having little help from a mother who was busy running through boyfriends.
    Jack had to keep Brian occupied and fed on many nights, and he’d still been able to attend college, keep a string of girlfriends happy and start his own business. He could learn to care for a person too young to walk or talk.
    Besides, for all practical purposes he’d already raised a boy. Although Brian had been older by the time he had taken over the chore, Jack knew that if he could just persevere until Wyatt was about school age, the job would be old hat.
    The most important thing, he thought, was a desire to do the job well. Motivation was half the battle with anything.
    He could always deal with the guilt later.
    But a few minutes after Wyatt finished the bottle, he started fussing again. Jack changed a diaper that was only slightly wet, but the baby kept screaming. Jack couldn’t figure out why. He’d have to call Abby again.
    â€œHullo?”
    â€œAbby, he’s been crying for fifteen minutes straight,” he hollered above the noise.
    â€œDid you feed him?”
    â€œYes,” he said in horror, thinking there must have been something terribly wrong with the formula. “He drank the whole bottle.”
    â€œDid you burp him?”
    â€œOh…uh, no. I didn’t. Hang on, I’m picking him up. Talk me through it,” he implored. “Talk loud.”
    He held Wyatt out in front of him, hoping against hope the child simply needed burping. The baby howled