The Texan's Reluctant Bride

“When I was showing him a house with a beautiful kitchen he wanted to know what I would cook first in that kitchen. I explained I didn’t cook.”

“Tommie, that’s not true. You can cook a lot of things.”

“Yes, but I’m not a cook like you are. Or even Mom.”

“So you told him you wouldn’t cook anything?”

“No, I said I’d order Chinese takeout.”

Teresa gasped. “You didn’t!”

“I did. He might as well know up front that I’m not the type of woman he’s interested in.”

“I suppose you’re right about that,” Teresa replied.

She was. Wasn’t she?

That evening, when Pete introduced Teresa and Tommie to his mother, Evelyn Schofield clapped her hands in delight. “You didn’t tell me they were twins, Peter.”

“We’re not,” Tommie said hurriedly. “We’re triplets. Our sister, Tabitha, isn’t here tonight.”

“Oh, how amazing. I thought I had my hands full with twins. However did your mother manage?”

“It wasn’t easy, especially since she held down a full-time job,” Tommie said.

“She did? Oh my, I didn’t want to work. My first priority was my children.”

Teresa and Tommie remained silent. It was Pete who explained to his mother. “Their father died before they were born. Their mother didn’t have a choice, Mom.”

“Oh my, how sad.”

Jim looked at Teresa. “I didn’t know that, Teresa.”

She shrugged her shoulders. “It happened a long time ago.”

“Tommie is such a strange name for a girl. How did you end up with that?” Mrs. Schofield asked.

Tommie gritted her teeth. She hated that question.

Teresa answered for her. “Mom wanted to have a son and name him after Dad. But she had three girls. So she named the oldest Thomasina, after Dad, who was named Thomas. Then she found T names for the rest of us.”