Ranch Manny - B.A. Tortuga Page 0,9

voice was warm, teasing, so that was good. He was tracking what they were doing, not losing the thread.

Trace headed to get the water warm and make sure the oatmeal powder dissolved. Those kids were clearly in misery. He could hear sobbing.

“Is there another bathtub? I can get the second bath ready.” Poor babies. Poison ivy was a bitch.

Brent called right back to him with, “There is, yeah. Over in my room. It’s big enough for both girls.”

“Okay. Pop one in there and bring the girls to me.” He had this. He did. Dammit.

“Will do.” Brent sounded pretty calm, which was good. But then, he’d been great with Susannah.

“Who’s that, Daddy Brent?”

“He’s Trace. He’s here to help out.”

Brent’s bedroom screamed cowboy. There were even different brands burned into the wood of the four-poster bed. He had a jumbled impression of Pendleton-style rugs and bedding, knotty pine, and a row of buckles on a dresser, but his focus was on the kids, so he headed to the big bathroom. He filled the deep double tub with warm water and ground-up oatmeal.

“Okay, girls. We’re ready in here!” Poor kids—what a way to have to meet him.

“Coming.” Brent came in with a baby and a little one who was crying and scratching her face. “I have no idea if anyone got Daisy exposed, but Caroline here is raw. She managed to get it up under her damn jacket and sweatshirt both.”

“In the tub, girlfriend. Put your clothes on the floor, and we’ll wash them separate.” He took the baby, who blinked at him. “Hey, Daisy. A dip in the tub will help, huh? Just in case.”

“I hugged her. Miss Lisa yelleded at me.”

“I’m sure she was worried, honey. I won’t yell, I swear.” He needed to establish that now. He could be firm, but he wasn’t one to fly off the handle.

She sniffled but nodded, sitting on the floor to take off her tiny clothes. Lord, she was cute as a baby kitten. Just adorable, but yes, already showing classic signs of poison ivy.

“There’s oatmeal in the tub, and that’ll help the itching. I promise.” Trace winked at her. “When you’re done, you can sit and color with my little girl, okay?”

“You have a little girl?” She looked up at him, her tears drying a little as curiosity crossed her face. “What’s her name?”

“Susannah. She’s four years old, and she loves making friends.” Trace helped her get in the tub, and eased the baby in the bath, making sure not to get the water in her face.

“There’s a little bath seat for her. Be right back.” Brent trotted out, and Trace had a feeling Brent was checking on the other kid too. He was back in a jiff with a little inflatable bath seat with hippos on it. It worked like a charm, as it boosted Daisy up and gave her a place to sink into. That would keep her from gurgling and slipping when he was busy with Caroline.

Nice.

“Can you watch them while I get all these clothes in a hot washer? They’re going to be able to spread the poison.”

“You got it.” Brent rolled his eyes dramatically, but there was a hint of a smile hiding there.

He figured Brent could handle two of them with one hand tied behind his back. Not that Trace would want to try it. Kids could be fast. Superfast. Like that little guy from the Incredibles movies fast.

He knocked on the other bathroom door. “You okay, man?”

“Fine. It helps a lot. You Daddy Brent’s new hand?”

Daddy Brent, huh? Cool. “In theory, yessir. Are your clothes on the floor where I can grab them?”

“Uh-huh.”

When he ducked into the room, he saw a boy with a flotilla of soon-to-be oatmeal waterlogged boats. Was oatmeal-logged a thing? “I’m Trace.”

“Jakob. Thank you for the oatmeal bath.”

“You’re welcome. It’ll help.” It had better help, or he was going to be in the doghouse for life.

“Can we have lunch after this? I’m hungry.”

“I’m sure we can.” He had no idea what there was in the pantry. Besides a mostly used-up can of oatmeal. But he would look. “Hang out, okay? It takes a while to really do its job. I’ll go start laundry and see what we can do about food.”

He hid his grin until he was out of the room. He loved being busy, loved feeling as if he was actually helping. He’d loved teaching, he’d been good at helping Taneshia, and he had been damn good at taking care of