“Cheyenne?”
Her eyes snapped open to find her two sisters staring at her. “Okay, his name is Quade and I met him on a beach in Egypt. It was a one-night fling.” She saw the latter statement didn’t seem to shock her sisters, possibly because they may have done the same thing at some time during their lifetime.
“And what’s this Quade’s last name,” Vanessa asked, staring at her over her glass of cranberry juice.
Cheyenne hunched her shoulders. “Don’t know. We were more interested in getting into each other’s bodies than we were last names.”
Neither of her sisters said anything at first and then Taylor asked, “And you’re sure he wasn’t married?”
Cheyenne inhaled deeply. “He said he wasn’t, but I wasn’t completely truthful about everything with him, so he might have fibbed a little about one or two things with me. However, I believe he was telling the truth about not being married.”
Vanessa raised a brow. “And just what did you lie about?” she asked.
Cheyenne moved away from the refrigerator and crossed the kitchen to the cabinet over the sink to pull out her teapot. “My age,” she said, turning back around to face her sisters, wanting to see their expressions when she answered. “I told him I was twenty-eight instead of twenty-three.” She saw the tightening of both of their features.
“And you think he believed it?” Taylor asked.
“Yes, on that particular night I’d gone for a walk on the beach after a long day of doing a photo shoot. My makeup was still on, which probably made me look a little older.”
Vanessa snorted and rolled her eyes. “Or he figured you were ripe for the picking and didn’t even care.”
Cheyenne laughed softly and said, “If he figured that, then he was absolutely right. I saw him and wanted him just as much as he wanted me.”
She couldn’t help but remember that night. Every single detail was burned into her memory. Never in her life had she desired a man as much as she had him, and on first sight. Her attraction had been immediate, her surrender had been ultimate and the ten hours that followed had been breathtaking, absolutely the best hours she had spent in any man’s bed. And although her experience was limited compared to some women, with those she could compare the difference was beyond measure. Quade had made her beg, scream and become a captive to passion of the most intense kind. She had literally been at his mercy the entire night.
“Cheyenne?”
It was only then that she realized that one of her sisters had been trying to get her attention. “What?”
“I know I asked you this before; it was during the time you were in your seventh or eighth month, and I inquired whether or not you felt you should try and find this guy and you said no. Have you changed your mind about that?” Vanessa asked.
“No,” Cheyenne said, shaking her head. “It was a one-night stand and he didn’t expect anything out of it, except what he got...what we both got that night—extreme pleasure. I don’t blame him for getting me pregnant. He used a condom each time. I saw it. I guess one must have malfunctioned.”
Taylor chuckled. “I think that’s an understatement, don’t you? Must have been one hell of a night to produce triplets.”
“It was.” She crossed the room to stand in front of them. “I finally got Mom to go home after convincing her I could handle things on my own tonight, and now I want the two of you to do the same. Dinner was great and I appreciate the two of you joining me, but I want to get some rest before the babies wake up. They’re still sleeping and if they stay on schedule, I’ll only have the six o’clock feeding to deal with.”
“But what if they want to eat at the same time?” Vanessa asked, seemingly alarmed at the thought of her sister caring for the babies alone. Someone had been there with her on a rotating basis since she and the babies had come home from the hospital. Even the wives of Chance, Sebastian and Morgan, had taken turns. Both Sebastian’s and Morgan’s wives, Jocelyn and Lena, were expecting and used the same excuse Taylor had—they were getting some practice time in.
“If that happens, then two of them will have to wait their turn. They have to start accepting the routine sometime,” Cheyenne said with a smile. The one thing she was blessed with was the fact that at least her daughters had begun sleeping through the night. Her son, however, was another story.
“Come on, Taylor, let’s leave since she’s determined to get rid of us,” Vanessa said with a laugh. She helped a very pregnant Taylor out of the kitchen and through the living room.
“Only so I can get some sleep,” Cheyenne said. “Besides, if I keep either of you here any longer, your hubbies will come looking for you.”
All three of them knew that was true. Because Vanessa’s husband traveled a lot, whenever he was home Cameron rarely let her out of his sight. And since Taylor’s baby was due the first week in January, her husband, Dominic, also kept her on a tight rein.
After her sisters had left, Cheyenne went into the nursery to check on her babies. Each was in a crib and the room had been beautifully decorated with a Noah’s ark theme, compliments of Sienna Bradford, an interior decorator who was also Vanessa’s best friend since grade school. Sienna, who had given birth to a beautiful baby boy last year, had offered to decorate the nursery.
Cheyenne’s announcement that she would be having triplets had sent excitement spreading through the Steele family, since there was no record of multiple births in the family. More than once Cheyenne had wondered about her babies’ father. Did he have a history of multiple births in his family?
The doctor had asked her a number of questions about the man who had fathered her babies, and she hadn’t been able to answer any of them. It probably hadn’t taken her doctor long to determine she had gotten pregnant by a man she hadn’t known for long.
Stealing a few quiet moments while the babies slept, she decided to stretch out on the sofa instead of on the bed. Cheyenne kicked off her shoes to lie down, feeling confident she could handle things just like she had told her mother and sisters. The baby monitor was sitting on the coffee table and would alert her when they awakened.
She had spoken with Roz Henry, her agent and good friend. Roz had fully understood Cheyenne’s decision to put her modeling career on hold for a while until the babies got older. Right now the thought of leaving them with anyone while she traveled didn’t sit well with her; and she just couldn’t see having their nanny travel with her just to take care of the babies. She wanted to be a stay-at-home mom for at least two years, and with her wise investments she would have no problem doing so.
The house was quiet and Cheyenne felt her eyelids getting heavy. Today had been laundry day. She had washed the babies’ laundry earlier and would fold it later. Her mother had encouraged her to get out and do something while volunteering to stay there and watch the babies. Taking her mother up on her offer, Cheyenne had gone to the hair salon and had planned to pay a visit to a nail salon, as well, but she had begun missing her babies and had rushed back home.
Cheyenne’s eyes drifted closed and automatically she thought about her babies’ father.
“Quade.”
It was an unusual name and she couldn’t help wondering if it was real. Whether it was real was not important now, but it could possibly be later when her children grew up and asked about their father. What on earth would she tell them?
The truth, her mind suddenly interjected. She would tell them the truth and would even assist them in finding him one day if that’s what they wanted to do. With only a first name to go by it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack, but she was certain even with the