“Don’t be,” Tempest said, letting her hand slide down Kensington’s arm so she could take ahold of her hand. “Geren, Janessa, and I are behind you one hundred percent. So is everyone down at the center.”
“Too bad my mother’s not,” Kensington blurted out angrily.
Tempest could make out a few tears trickling down Kensington’s left cheek, even in the dim lighting of the bedroom. “Still giving you a difficult time?”
“That’s not even the word for it.” She took her eyes off the baby and gazed at Tempest. There had been no more physical abuse. Tempest was sure of that. Apparently Pauline Sparks had taken their talk to heart but she still lashed out at Kensington with nasty comments from time to time. “She says she can’t sleep because of Sydney’s crying. I try to make her stop.”
Tempest tightened her grip on Kensington’s hand and rubbed the small of her back with her free hand.
“She says the baby’s things take up too much space, and she can barely walk around the apartment. I can’t help it if Sydney needs so much stuff.”
“It’s going to be okay, Kensington,” Tempest said, attempting to sound comforting. “Everything will work itself out.”
“What am I going to do?” Kensington let go of Tempest’s hand and wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her long-sleeved T-shirt. “I can’t keep up with my schoolwork. It’s impossible. The baby stays up half the night, and I’m always falling asleep in class. Sometimes I wish—”
“Sometimes you wish what?”
“Sometimes I wish I’d explored other options.”
“Like adoption?” Tempest asked, even though the answer was clear.
“Yes,” Kensington responded sullenly. “Like adoption.”
“We can still arrange that, if you like.”
“Really? It’s not too late?”
“It’s never too late. You never have to feel trapped Kensington. You always have choices.”
“But wouldn’t that make me evil? Giving her up like that?”
“What you would be doing is ensuring Sydney had a stable home and secure future.”
“But to hand her over to a couple of complete strangers like that? I’m not sure I could go through with it.”
“All of the couples are thoroughly screened. Their backgrounds and homes are gone over with a fine-toothed comb.”
“What if the fine-toothed comb misses a few hairs?”
Tempest didn’t have a feasible answer, so she didn’t attempt to give one.
“Seriously, Tempest,” Kensington prodded. “What if they turn out to be maniacs or child beaters or drug addicts on the down-low?”
Tempest diverted her eyes down to Sydney, still sleeping soundly in the crib.
“Can you assure me that wouldn’t happen? Huh? Can you?”
“No, I can’t,” Tempest finally responded. “There are never any guarantees in life, Kensington.”
“Now, it would be different if it were you and Geren.” Tempest was the one who started trembling then. She realized that Janessa was right. She would have to tell Kensington the horrible truth at some point. “I know you guys are going to be the perfect parents once you start having children. Heck, too bad you can’t adopt me.” Kensington chuckled.
That comment took Tempest off guard and left her speechless for a moment.
Kensington noticed that the baby was stirring a little in the bassinet. “Come on, let’s go back out before we wake the baby.”
“We’ll discuss this further later on when we can sit down and have a real heart-to-heart,” Tempest replied.
Kensington smiled at her. “As far as I’m concerned, every conversation we have is a heart-to-heart.”
Tempest returned the smile. “I feel the same way.”
• • •
“The show’s coming on!” Janessa shouted up the stairwell. “Hurry up!”
“We’re coming,” Tempest said, as she and Kensington descended the stairs.
They sat back down on the sofa next to Janessa and took turns grabbing handfuls of popcorn. Tempest picked up one of the glasses of cherry Kool-Aid Janessa had on a bamboo serving tray and did a close inspection for loose nail fragments. Janessa glanced over at her and rolled her eyes, knowing Tempest was acting stupid as usual.
“What is this mess?” Kensington asked as Raoul suddenly appeared on the screen in a pair of red, white, and blue bikini briefs.
“Raoul’s Midget Gladiators,” Janessa replied. “It’s the bomb!”
“Say what?” Kensington couldn’t believe her eyes or ears as dozens of midgets flashed across the television in the background while Raoul explained the activities for the evening: midget mud wrestling, midget wall climbing, and midget boxing.
“Hello, ladies, what’s up?” Geren asked, walking in the front door and spotting the three of them propped up on the living room sofa.
“Shhhhhhh, baby!” Tempest yelled out excitedly. “Raoul’s Midget Gladiators just came on.”
“Great, I’m just in time!” Geren threw his coat on the banister and rushed over to grab a seat in his recliner. Raoul’s show was his favorite. In fact, he and Raoul had become good friends. Geren was even advising him on his investment portfolio. “Janessa, can you pass the popcorn, please?”
CHAPTER 30
beginnings
“janessa, I need to see Geren. Go get him for me,” Tempest demanded.
Janessa straightened Tempest’s ivory veil. She was almost in tears; she’d never seen Tempest look so stunning. “You’ll see him in a few minutes when you walk down that aisle. You look so beautiful. Makes me want to start boo-hooing.”
Tempest took Janessa’s hand, intertwining their fingers. “You better not start crying, because then I’ll start, and there’ll be mascara everywhere.”
Janessa started giggling. “Well, we wouldn’t want that.”
Tempest looked Janessa square in the eyes. “I really need to talk to Geren before the wedding.”
“Tempest, are you crazy?” Janessa protested. “It’s bad luck for him to see you in that dress.”
Tempest sat down on the vanity stool in the choir makeshift dressing room. “I’m not leaving this room until I talk to him.”
Janessa had an eerie feeling overcome her. “Uh-oh, you’re not getting cold feet are you?”
“No, of course not,” Tempest cackled. “I just need to ask him something important.”
“Whew, you scared me for a second!” Janessa exhaled the breath she’d been holding in. “I couldn’t picture you having second thoughts about marrying Mr. Wonderful.”
Tempest blushed. “He is wonderful, isn’t he?”
“I don’t even need to tell you. He’s your man, not mine.”
“I would never have second thoughts about Geren. I love him with all of my heart.”
“Then ask him the question after the ceremony,” Janessa suggested.
Tempest stood up and grabbed Janessa by the arm. “No, get him for me, please,” she whined. “I’ll hide behind something so he won’t see my dress, but I need to see him. I need to be able to look into his eyes.”
“How come?”
“So I’ll know he’s being honest about his answer.”
“His answer to what?”
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!”
“You’re not just doing this to please me, are you?”
“No, I’m not.” Geren was adamant. “I would be lying if I said the same idea never crossed my mind. It did several months ago, but I hesitated to bring it up.”
Tempest felt the first tear caravan down her cheek, and her knees almost gave in. “This is so wonderful!”
“No, you’re wonderful!” He flashed that sexy smile of his again. Too bad he couldn’t see hers. “Now would you please do me the honor of becoming Mrs. Geren Kincaid?”
Tempest was crying tears of joy. “Tell them to strike up the wedding march!”
“It’s about time.” Geren chuckled, heading out the door to take his place at the altar. “I’ll see you in the sanctuary, Mrs. Kincaid!”
“I love the sound of that!”
“I love the sound of you!”
Once he was gone, Tempest came back out into the choir room and looked at herself in the full-length mirror. Her ivory satin and lace wedding gown was perfect. The weather was perfect. Her man was perfect. Maybe it was a perfect world after all.
• • •
“Ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to present Mr. and Mrs. Geren Kincaid!”
The guests gave Tempest and Geren a standing ovation after Geren’s father, also his best man, announced their arrival at the reception hall.
The wedding had run extremely late, partly because of Tempest’s demand to speak with Geren first. It was less than ten minutes to midnight, the new millennium, when the wedding party finally arrived after taking tons of pictures at the church.
“Tempest, I suggest you postpone the receiving line and get ready for the New Year’s toast,” Mrs. Porter said, acting more nervous than the bride and groom.
“That’s fine,” Tempest said, holding Geren’s hand tightly, thoroughly elated about being his wife.
By the time everyone received a flute of champagne, there was only a minute left. The band was instructed to stop playing, and the ballroom at the Washington Hilton fell silent until the ten-second countdown.
“Ten-nine-eight-seven-six-five-four-three-two-one Happy New Year!” everyone shouted in unison as hundreds of black-and-gold balloons were freed from the suspension nets on the ceiling.
The band started playing “Auld Lang Syne” while everyone spread love and cheer around. Tempest and Geren intertwined their arms and sipped champagne. Their lips were mere centimeters apart when Janessa rammed into Tempest’s back, practically spilling champagne over them both.
Tempest and Geren stared at Janessa, confused by her behavior. There she stood glassy-eyed, holding the remains of a gold balloon in one hand and her flute of apple juice in the other.
“It burst!” Janessa screamed over the music.
Tempest looked down at the balloon, wondering if Janessa had lost her mind. “So what? We’ll get you another one.”
Janessa frowned and threw her apple juice all over the front of Tempest’s dress. “Not the balloon, dufus! My water broke, dammit!”
Realization dawned on both Geren and Tempest after they spotted the puddle of clear liquid surrounding Janessa’s feet.
“Oh, shit!” Geren shouted at the top of his lungs. The music halted while people speculated about whether or not the marital problems had started before the reception even jumped off good.
“Get the limo!” Tempest exclaimed, pushing people out of the way to make a clear path to the door. “We’re having a baby!”
Geren picked up Janessa and carried her out to the car. His father carried Mrs. Porter, who had fainted at the news.
The limousine with “Just Married” on the trunk pulled off from the hotel entrance with a screech, headed to
the hospital so Tempest could do her Lamaze coaching in her wedding dress.
CHAPTER 31
startin’ over
eight months later
“janessa, are you completely sure about this?” Tempest asked, seemingly more nervous and agitated by the current situation than anyone else. She was pacing the floor in Janessa’s basement apartment and biting her nails. “If you have any doubts whatsoever, you shouldn’t go through with it.”
Janessa struggled to get Brendan’s suede boot onto his left foot. He was sitting up on the couch, smiling and cooing, obviously amused with the hard time she was having. He looked so much like his father that it was downright scary sometimes.
“I’m not positive this is the right move, Tempest,” Janessa replied in a near whisper, not even glancing in Tempest’s direction. “But like you’ve told me buku times, there can be no progress without discussion.”
“Hmph, true,” Tempest reluctantly admitted. She was still hoping Janessa would change her mind at the last minute, so she could have the honor of telling Dvontè to fuck off before slamming the door in his face.
“Don’t get me wrong. I was just as shocked as you, more even, when Dvontè called here out of the blue.”
Tempest stopped pacing, abandoned the idea of gnawing her nails, and opted to place her hands on her hips instead. “What do you think he wants?”
“How should I know? Do I look like a psychic?” Janessa asked with a tinge of sarcasm in her voice.
“No, actually you look like a fool,” Tempest snapped back at her. Ever since Dvontè had called a few days before, Tempest had desperately tried to keep her composure, but enough was enough. “How in the world could you even agree to see him, even for five seconds? Where was he during the pregnancy? Where has he been for the past eight months since Brendan was born?”
Janessa sucked in air to prevent herself from going off on Tempest. “Look, Tempest, I really don’t need this crap from you today. Aiight? I’m stressed enough as it is.”
“Whatever. It’s your life.”
Tempest walked over to the playpen and wiped formula off Sydney’s mouth with a bib. She was so elated that Kensington had allowed Geren and her to adopt the baby girl. Tempest had her already lengthy hair in small cornrows and had requested the doctor pierce Sydney’s ears during her last immunization appointment. Tempest loved the way the diamond studs brought out the hazel in the baby’s eyes.