Tempest yanked on Janessa’s arm, pressuring her toward the door. “I’ll explain it to you later. Just hurry up and go get him. I don’t want to keep everyone waiting for a long time.”
Janessa wanted to refuse, but she knew how stubborn Tempest could be, so she caved in. “This is one of the most convoluting stunts you’ve ever pulled, but I’ll go get him if it will get you down the aisle.”
Tempest gave Janessa a huge hug. “Thanks, sis!”
A couple of minutes expired before there was a knock at the slightly ajar door. “Tempest, are you in here?” Geren asked, inching his way into the room.
“Yes, hey, baby,” Tempest answered. She was strategically positioned in a closet reserved for choir robes. She could see him, but he
couldn’t see her.
“Why are you in the closet?” he inquired after targeting where her voice was coming from.
“Because you can’t see my dress!”
Geren shook his head. He’d tried not to panic when Janessa came speed-walking into the sanctuary to get him. Everyone asked him what the problem was as he made his way up the aisle. People always tend to assume the worst. He was hoping they were wrong. “What’s this all about, sweetheart? Janessa said you wanted to ask me something.”
“I do.”
Geren flashed his cinematic smile, and Tempest almost melted into the wood of the closet interior. She was so in love with him. “I’m glad to hear you speak those two simple words, but you’re speaking them in the wrong place. Let’s get hitched so we can start the honeymoon. I bought some new body oil at the Pleasure Palace I want to rub all over your body.”
Tempest wanted to dash out of the closet and tongue-whip his mouth, but she had to keep to the task at hand. “Geren, I need you to do something for me. Something for us.”
“I’d do anything for you,” he said, idly playing with the wedding band in his pocket. He let the ring bearer carry a costume one. The real ring was on his person and he couldn’t wait to place it on her finger. “Just name your request.”
Tempest decided the best way to say it was to blurt it out before she lost her nerve. “I know we decided we would spend the first couple years of our marriage making love morning, noon, and night and traveling the world but—”
“But what?” he asked, sensing hesitancy in her voice.
“I know we agreed to adopt a baby in about three years, but—”
“Just come on out with it, sweetheart! Nothing’s going to change my love for you.” Tempest had to search for her next breath. “Tempest? You there?”
“I want to adopt Kensington’s baby! I want to make Sydney ours!”
Geren had to take a step back and lean against the door. “Say what?”
Tempest could see the shock on his face. “Please don’t be angry with me. I’ll understand if you say no.” She waited for him to comment, but he didn’t. He just looked dazed and confused. “I’m marrying you regardless, but I wanted to ask you before the wedding, so you wouldn’t think I purposely waited until after the ink dried on the wedding certificate to throw this on you.”
Geren held his forehead and messed with his black bow tie, like it was strangling him. “I’m not upset in the least, but what about Kensington? Have you even discussed this idea with her?”
“In a roundabout sort of way,” Tempest answered. “I think she’ll be happy with the arrangement. She’s so young, and she really wants a chance to get a high school education. She hasn’t even really begun to live. I know how trapped she feels. I was there, remember? This is the perfect solution.”
Geren took a few steps toward the closet. He felt they really needed to discuss the matter face to face, but he reluctantly retreated. “It’s not that I exactly have a problem with your suggestion, but I was just hoping things wouldn’t get so complicated. In a regular adoption, the natural parents wouldn’t be involved with us in any manner. You and Kensington are so close. Does that mean she’ll still be coming over for dinner and staying over at the crib some weekends?”
“I haven’t thought all of that through yet,” Tempest admitted.
“What if she gets attached to Sydney and wants her back? Where does that leave us?”
“Geren, I wish I could promise you things would be perfect, but I can’t. This is not a perfect world. All I know is that I love and adore you, and if you are truly against this, just say the word and consider the subject permanently dropped.”
Geren thought about how much he wanted a baby—how much they both did—and how much Kensington didn’t. They already had Janessa and her impending miracle living in their basement. Could they really deal with another baby in the house so soon?
Tempest waited in suspense, eyeing him from her hiding place and watching the worry lines go up and down on his brow. She was about to tell him to forget the whole thing when he startled her by saying, “Let’s run it by Kensington together when we get back from our honeymoon and see what happens.”
Oh, my goodness, he’s considering it! “Really?”
“Yes, really!”