"I guess you could call me Sneak. That's what everyone calls me the most."
Taylor was appalled and horrified, but she hid her reaction from the child. She didn't want to embarrass him. Most of the nicknames he rattled off were grossly obscene. He was too young to understand their meaning, of course, and she counted that fact a blessing.
Both Lucas and Hunter were listening to the conversation. When Lucas heard the nicknames, he became infuriated. Hunter wanted to kill someone.
"We will never say those words again," she instructed the child. She kept her voice a gentle whisper. "I want you to forget you ever heard them."
"Then what will you call me?" he asked. He sounded as worried as he looked.
Lucas and Hunter weren't helping matters. They were both scowling like bandits. She didn't want the child to believe he was the reason for their foul moods. She gave both men a quick glare she hoped they would interpret to mean she wanted them to quit looking so dour, then turned back to the little boy.
"You don't remember a name your mother or father used to call you?"
"Mama died. I try, but I can't remember her face anymore. I didn't have a father."
Hunter leaned forward to question the boy then. He began by telling him not to be afraid of him, then asked him what happened after his mother passed away.
The child lifted his shoulders in a shrug. "I slept in a crate behind Stoley's store."
"You didn't have family to go to?" Hunter asked then.
The child shook his head. He straightened up in his seat and smiled. "I'm not afraid of you, not since she told me…"
Hunter glanced over at Lucas. "Told you what, son?" Lucas asked.
"You know," he whispered.
"Tell us anyway," Lucas encouraged. His curiosity was pricked, of course. The boy was staring at him with a look of adoration on his face. He wanted to know why.
"She said you two look scary, but it's all right. You're supposed to," he explained.
He turned to smile up at Taylor. She nodded.
"We're supposed to look scary?" Hunter repeated.
"Why?" Lucas asked.
The boy answered him. "Cause you come in all shapes and sizes."
He acted as though Lucas should already know that important fact.
Both men turned their gazes to Taylor. They obviously wanted her to explain. She didn't say a word. She simply looked back at them and gave them a sweet smile.
The riddle intrigued Lucas. "What comes in all shapes and sizes?" he asked.
Hunter shrugged. "I'm still trying to figure out why we look scary."
The child answered their questions, his voice whisper soft. "You're my guardian angels."
"Helpers," Taylor reminded the little boy in a whisper only he could hear.
She was too embarrassed to look at her husband or his friend. She patted the child and turned her attention back to the matter of a suitable name to call him.
Lucas coughed to cover the laughter he was suppressing. Hunter shook his head. "We are not angels," he muttered.
The boy brightened up. "She told me you would say you weren't."
"Now listen here, son…" Lucas began. Taylor interrupted him. "I happen to have two fine names in mind to call you," she announced. "Daniel and Davy, though I would imagine we would use the formal David in this instance. Yes, Daniel or David." Lucas leaned back. "Here we go again," he whispered to Hunter.
Taylor immediately defended her choices. "They are both proud, honorable names, aren't they?"
Lucas nodded. Hunter looked confused. He didn't know about Taylor's obsession with the mountain men and their legends.
"Daniel and David," said the little boy, trying out the names.
"Yes," Taylor said. "You must take your time to decide which name you want. It's an important decision, you see, because you'll carry the name for the rest of your life. I shall be happy to help you decide."
"How?" the boy asked.
"I'll tell you a story about each courageous man before you go to bed at night. One story will be all about Davy Crockett and the other will be about Daniel Boone."
"Will I be David or Davy Crockett then or Daniel Boone?"
"David," she corrected. "It's a bit more proper. Your last name is going to be Ross."
"It is?"
She smiled. "Yes, it is."
"Will the men be mad if I borrow their first names?"
"No, no, of course not," Taylor replied. "They're dead. They won't mind at all."
Taylor told him who the famous men were and that they were so admired that books had been written about them. The child became enthralled. She couldn't have hoped for a better reaction. She wanted him to love the mountain men as much as she did. More important right this minute was the fact that the little one wasn't wringing his hands together any longer.
"Family isn't about blood," she explained. "It's about making a commitment to one another."
He didn't understand what she was telling him. Taylor didn't try to explain further. She understood, and in her mind, that was all that mattered.
Two hours later, everyone was bedded down for the night. Lucas and Hunter were forced to take over the duty of bathing the little girls. David Daniel had already had his bath and his hair trimmed. While he played in the tub, his clothes were washed and dried by the hotel's laundry service. The twins' clothes were also cleaned. Taylor was kneeling on the floor washing the babies when Victoria demanded her attention. She had started to violently throw up again.
Since neither Hunter nor Lucas wanted to get near her, Taylor made them take over the chore of scrubbing the babies. She ordered them not to let them drown, then went running with a wet cloth to Victoria's side in the other washroom.
The two-year-olds were wide awake and talking up a storm. Lucas lathered up one of the twins, then realized his mistake. He lost her under the water. She came up sputtering and giggling. The soap made the babies as slick as greased piglets, and both Hunter and Lucas were drenched through by the time they got the pair out of the tub.
They dried them with towels, put their clean drawers back on them, and then sat them on Victoria's bed.
They stayed there less than a second. They weren't at all tuckered out. Lucas and Hunter were exhausted. They sat side by side on the settee, feeling helpless and weary, while the babies climbed all over them.
Georganna was the more talkative of the two, though Alexandra certainly held her own. Both girls asked question after question, and if they didn't get an answer, they just kept repeating it over and over and over again.
They called each other Georgie and Allie. Hunter still couldn't tell them apart, but Lucas could.
While the men kept watch over the babies, Taylor ordered a day bed for the adjoining bedroom and secured yet another room on the same floor for Victoria. She was finally feeling fit again. Her things were moved down the hall into the room next to Hunter's. David Daniel, wearing one of Lucas's undershirts, was tucked into the day bed and told a story about Davy Crockett and another about Daniel Boone. By the time Taylor leaned down to kiss him good night, he was sound asleep.
The twins were winding down as well. They had both squeezed themselves between Lucas and Hunter. Their eyes were droopy and their thumbs were in their mouths. They were being lulled to sleep by the men's conversation.
"Did you hear her tell the boy his name was Ross?" Hunter asked in a low whisper.
"I heard," Lucas replied. He grabbed hold of Georgie's foot before it slammed into his groin.
"She know what she's taking on?" Hunter asked then.
Lucas yawned. "Seems she does," he drawled out.
"The boy won't have anyone looking for him," Hunter remarked. "But what about these two? Are there any relatives waiting or wanting to take them in?"