Page 5 of The Billionaire's Instant Triplets

“I don’t think so.” Caroline grabbed her purse, closed her laptop, and clicked in her tall heels to the door. There was a sticker of Mickey Mouse wearing a Santa hat on the back of her knee, beneath the hem of her pencil skirt, but Tristan decided it was better not to point that out.

“I have to be in this meeting right now,” Tristan hissed, hurrying after her. “It’s a major investor.”

“Well,Ihave to go home and take a shower. You can’t expect your employees to run a daycare for you.” With that, Caroline pulled the door open and disappeared down the hallway, leaving Tristan alone with the screaming Jamie in his arms. Jacob and Jasmine looked up at him with identical expressions of angelic innocence, their green eyes bright.

“There, there,” Tristan said to Jamie, bouncing the toddler in his arms awkwardly.

“Hungwy,” Jacob said, grinning wide enough to show his tiny teeth.

“Firsty,” Jasmine added, her grin matching her brother’s.

“Mamaaaaaa,” Jamie wailed, kicking his feet as tears squeezed from his eyes.

“I think I’d better come back another time.”

Tristan turned to see Aaron standing in the doorway, his briefcase in his hand.

“Just give me a minute to settle the triplets down, and we can continue our meeting,” Tristan said. “This is one of those times to roll with the punches that life throws.” He smiled in his best cool-CEO, go-with-the-flow way. As if in response, Jamie grabbed the glasses from Tristan’s face and threw them onto the floor in a fit of rage.

“Call me when this is sorted out.” Aaron waved vaguely at the triplets and the mess of Tristan’s outer office, which was covered in toys, half-open packages of snacks, and toddler-sized clothing.

“Certainly.” Tristan shifted Jamie into his other arm and held out a hand to shake. Aaron smiled tightly and didn’t take his hand. Instead, he disappeared into the hallway after Caroline.

Tristan slumped against his desk, bouncing Jamie and feeling hopeless. Caroline was right. His office, usually sleek, modern, and very efficient, was turning into a daycare center for three rambunctious triplets. Something needed to change.

“Come on, kids,” he said. “Let’s go home.” Clearly, no more work was going to get done today.

Loading the kids into the car was the equivalent of trying to get a flailing cat into a carrier to go to the vet. Only Jacob liked the car — his brother and sister would have done anything not to sit in their car seats.

Once they were home, things only got worse. Tristan’s beautiful home, his pride and joy, was strewn with toys and practically carpeted with crushed Cheerios and chunky child-safe Lego pieces that stabbed his foot when he tried to walk anywhere. His yoga studio had been turned into a bedroom for the triplets, his maid had quit, and his curving staircase was now bracketed by child gates.

Tristan changed all the triplets’ diapers, then set them up in their high chairs in the kitchen with bowls of toddler porridge and sippy cups of apple juice. Jamie had calmed down and now ate his porridge with his overlarge round-edged plastic spoon while Jacob sipped his juice, but now Jasmine was smearing handfuls of porridge into her hair.

At least all three kids were contained and none of them were crying.

Jacob took advantage of the moment to grab his phone and dial the final nannying agency on his list. He’d asked Caroline to put the list together months ago, and slowly, he’d worked his way through each. They’d send one nanny, maybe even two, and within a week, they’d always quit. The only one left on the list, Oh Pear!, charged exorbitant rates for nannies who were experts in international cooking, foreign languages, and art and music.

At this point, Tristan would settle for a nanny who didn’t immediately quit, but cooking, languages, and the arts couldn’t hurt.

He dialed the number for Oh Pear! and waited as the phone rang. As if on cue, the moment someone on the other end answered, Jacob spilled his apple juice and began to wail.

“This is Eloise Rice at Oh Pear! How can I help you today?”

“Hello. I’m Tristan West and I need a nanny. Urgently.” Tristan picked up the sippy cup, set it on the counter, and went to get a new cup of juice.

“You’ve come to the right place then, dear.” Although the woman on the other end used the word “dear,” it came across more like an insult than a compliment. It didn’t matter. “Can you tell me more about yourself and your children?”

“I have a set of triplets, a little over two and a half years old. To be honest, we’ve tried a couple of nannies before, but there’s never been a… good fit. The kids are a bit of a handful.” Tristan winced, convinced that Eloise would tell him she couldn’t help.

“Not to worry; I have just the nanny for you.” There was a smile in Eloise’s voice now. “Would you like live-in or day help?”

Jasmine threw a handful of porridge at the wall, where it oozed down the bamboo printed wallpaper like ectoplasm. Tristan winced. He’d need new wallpaper when the triplets were a little older. The border already bore brightly colored scribbles from when Jacob had found the markers while Tristan had been trying to calm Jasmine down.

“I think live-in would be best.”

“Of course.” Tristan heard the sound of a keyboard clacking. “I should be able to have a nanny with you first thing tomorrow — before lunch.”

“Really?” Tristan could hardly believe his ears. “That’s wonderful.”

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