by Zane
“I’m so sorry, baby.” Geren lay down on the bed beside Tempest, draping his left arm over her waist and burying his nose in her hair. It smelled sweet, as usual. “What happened once you found out? Did you tell him?”
“Hell, no. I panicked. The only person who knew was Janessa, but she couldn’t help me. It was like the blind leading the blind. I was too embarrassed and ashamed to even tell my parents about it.”
Geren brushed her hair with the fingertips of his other hand. “So what happened to the baby you were carrying?”
Tempest sucked in a deep breath. Geren could feel her heart racing through her back, which was pressed against his chest.
“Geren, looking back on it now, I realize I made so many crucial mistakes, but I was just a child myself. I’ve been dealing with the emotional and sometimes physical scars ever since.”
“Take your time, sweetheart.”
“I didn’t have enough money for an abortion clinic, and having the baby was out of the question. I would’ve died from shame if everyone found out, especially since the whole world, at least my whole world, knew about Kenny and Aunt Geraldine. Kenny made me feel like the dirt on the bottom of his shoes, and so—”
“So?” Geren didn’t want to press Tempest, but he knew from experience that getting things out in the open always helped to alleviate stress.
“Janessa found out about this place in Southeast where they did abortions dirt-cheap: just fifty dollars. I knew it sounded shady from the start, but that’s about all I had to my name after scraping together loose change from my mother’s dresser drawers and the little bit I had in mine.”
“So you had an illegal abortion?”
Tempest startled Geren when she flipped over suddenly. She was equally as startled to discover his face was just as tear-drenched as hers.
“Geren, you should’ve seen the place. It was absolutely horrid. We got to the building, and it looked like it should have been condemned. There were these huge rats everywhere, and the carpet smelled like urine. People were shooting up in the hallways, and girls, babies really, were sucking men’s dicks on the stairs for drug money.”
Tempest started trembling in fear. “You don’t have to finish,” Geren said, rubbing his hand up and down her arm and kissing her on the bridge of her nose. “This is making you too uncomfortable. I understand where this is going.”
“No, I need to tell you,” Tempest pleaded.
Geren sighed. “Okay, if you must.”
“We got into this apartment on the third floor, and it was the filthiest, most disgusting place I’d ever seen. This older, nasty-looking man with a mouthful of rotten teeth demanded the fifty dollars and then told me to lie on this table in the middle of the living room floor. The table was already covered with bloodstains.” Tempest wiped her face on the edge of the pillowcase before continuing. “I did it, and the entire time he was torturing me, Janessa held my hands. I kept my eyes shut. I didn’t want to see. It hurt like hell. Later, Janessa told me he used this rusty coat hanger and a pair of pliers.”
Tempest started weeping loudly, and Geren drew her tightly to him, kissing her lightly all over her face.
“I could barely walk straight when we left there. He didn’t even let me rest five minutes before he kicked Janessa and me out. I saw another girl coming up the stairs who looked even younger and more frightened than me. She was all alone. I wanted to tell her not to do it because I knew something was terribly wrong the second I got up off the table. My insides felt like they were about to fall out, and there was blood trickling down both of my legs.”
“Oh, baby!” Geren exclaimed, unable to keep his emotions under control. “If I ever find that butcher, I’ll kill him!”
“Somehow, Janessa managed to get me home. My parents were still at work. I passed out in pain. Janessa stayed with me and tried to keep my mother from coming into my room that evening, but she demanded to be let in. I guess it was her sixth sense or something. My mother’s screams woke me up. My entire mattress was soaked in blood. I remember my father barreling into the room and bursting out in tears. That was the first and only time I ever saw him cry. They called 911, and an ambulance took me to the hospital.
“They stitched me up and gave me all types of painkillers. The entire time, all I could worry about was the shame I felt. Now everyone knew, or they would know, and I just wanted to shrivel up and die.”
“I wish I could have been there for you, sweetheart. That must’ve been so devastating.”
“It was, but not half as devastating as when the doctor told me that my reproductive organs were damaged beyond repair, and that I would never be able to conceive another child.” Tempest reached down and rubbed her flat stomach. “I killed my baby that day and all the babies I might have had, all in the space of one afternoon.” Tempest gazed at Geren and felt like only half of a woman. How could he possibly still want to be with her? “So there you have it. That’s why I flinch in pain sometimes while we’re making love, and that’s why I’m so adamant about taking care of Janessa and Kensington and the rest of them.”
“And that’s why you work at the center?”
“Yes, I never want another young woman to feel like she has no one to talk to. I never want to see someone else go through what I did. But they do. Tens of thousands of them every year. I can’t stop it, but I can try.”
Geren kissed Tempest passionately on the lips. She hesitantly reciprocated.
“It’s okay, baby. You have me now. Everything’s going to be okay from now on. I promise you that!”
They lay together in silence for about thirty minutes. Geren was taken aback when Tempest straddled him and started kissing him hungrily. That was all the motivation he needed. They made love for the remainder of the evening, and in the morning, they went down to the Portland waterfront to catch the ferry to Nova Scotia.
Once they were on board and standing at the helm, overlooking the ocean, Geren decided to go for it. “Can I ask my question now?” he inquired, reaching into the right pocket of his denim carpenter pants.
“Please, Geren. Not right now,” Tempest replied adamantly, holding a finger up to his lips. “If you ask me now, I’ll feel like you’re only doing it because you pity me. Because you think I’m pathetic.”
“How can you say that, baby? After the way we made love last night?”
“I just want you to take some time to think about this.”
“I don’t need to think about anything.”
“I want you to think about the things I told you yesterday, because they will influence the rest of your life. I know you want kids, Geren. Don’t even try to pretend otherwise.”
Geren removed his hand from his pocket and ran his fingertips over Tempest’s cheek. “I do want kids, and just because you’re physically incapable of having them doesn’t mean we can’t adopt.”
“I realize that, but it wouldn’t be the same. I can’t give you a child with your own flesh and blood.”
“Listen to me very carefully, Tempest. I can live without having a child, but I can’t live without you. I have no intention of living without you.”
“Please, just think about it,” Tempest pleaded.
Geren reluctantly postponed asking her the question, even though he didn’t want to wait one more second. He didn’t want her to have any doubts about his intentions, so he decided to wait. They went back to watching the ocean.
CHAPTER 26
the proposal
“you know, these quarter-ouncer burgers from Raoul’s place aren’t half bad,” Geren commented, plopping another miniature burger into his mouth.
“For real!” Tempest agreed. She washed down the remains of one, taking a long sip of cherry cola through a straw. “If you can get past the way they look, it’s all good!”
Geren chuckled. “Well, they have to make them small. Most of the clientele are midgets.”
Tempest slapped him gently on the arm and giggled at his remark. “You’re so silly!”
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“I’m serious. The place is so far out of the way.” Geren picked up his own soda out of one of the built-in cup holders in his car and drank some. “How many people do you honestly think pass up Burger King, McDonald’s, and Checkers to get food at Raoul’s?”
“I don’t know,” Tempest answered, pondering the question. “Maybe a bunch of horny women hunting for midgets with huge dicks.”
Geren looked at her suspiciously out the corner of his eye. “You sure you don’t want a big-dicked midget?”
“All I want is you,” Tempest replied without hesitation.
“That’s my sweetheart.”
“Why are we out here in the boondocks?” Tempest asked, surveying the dirt road where they were parked and the surrounding area. “We’re not trespassing on personal property, are we?”
“No, not really,” Geren responded, growing more nervous about coming clean than he had been when he suggested they drive out there. Dvontè was right about one thing. He hadn’t been totally honest with Tempest, and it was time to fess up.
“Okay, if you say so. As long as we don’t get locked up in the county jail,” Tempest joked.
Geren pointed to the north. “You see that building over there on the hill?”
Tempest’s eyes followed the direction of his finger. There was a big black glass building with a high security fence all around it. Being the weekend, only a few cars were scattered around in the parking lot. “The Phoenix Corporation building? What about it?”
“You know how you’re always commenting on all the Phoenix electronic equipment I have?”
“Yeah.” Tempest giggled. “Sometimes I think you single-handedly keep them in business.”
“There’s something I need to tell you, Tempest.” Geren took a deep breath. “Before I ask you my question, and I fully intend to ask it today—no matter what.”
“What do you need to tell me, Geren?” Tempest asked, taking another sip of her soda.
“Well, for starters, most of the Phoenix equipment in my home and office, even this stereo in my car, is not available on the open market yet.”
“But how can that be?” Tempest inquired, totally confused. “Are you part of a beta testing program or something?”
“Beta testing!” Geren said with a hint of sarcasm. “I guess you could call it that.”
Tempest didn’t like the way the conversation was heading. She hoped he wasn’t about to confess to being an electronics dealer—“hot” electronics, that is. Even with all the money he was making at the investment firm, some things still didn’t quite add up to her, and it had been bothering her for some time.
“The fact of the matter is that I’ve been less than truthful with you, sweetheart.”
Oh, shit, Tempest thought to herself. He’s a damn criminal. I might see his ass on America’s Most Wanted or some shit. “About?” she asked calmly, trying not to show her true attitude.
“My past. My future. Our future. Everything.”
She liked the way he said “our future.” “Geren, I’m not quite following you. You’ve got me confused like a whore in church.”
“These business trips I keep taking to New York are not all related to the brokerage firm. I am a broker. That’s strictly legit but—”
“But?” Oh, God, I hope he’s not about to tell me he’s a drug dealer or something, Tempest thought, working herself up into a panic. “Please tell me you don’t have a woman in New York.”
“Oh, baby, it’s nothing like that.” Geren reached over for her hand and gripped it tightly. “You’re the only one for me.”
Tempest didn’t respond. She just stared at him with a clueless expression on her face.
“This is very difficult for me,” Geren whispered. “Let me start from the beginning.”
Tempest lifted his hand to her mouth and kissed it gently. “Take your time.”
“My mother died of leukemia when I was in elementary school. I told you that before.”
“Yes, you did.”
“But my father—”
“Your father lives in Seattle, right?”
“No, he has a home in Seattle, among many other places, but his main residence is in New York.”
“New York?” Tempest asked, taken completely by surprise. In all the time they’d been dating, Geren had never mentioned his father having a place in New York, rather less a main residence, as he put it.
“Yes.”
“So why did you lie to me?”
“I didn’t lie,” Geren stated avidly. “Not exactly.”
Tempest wondered what a not exactly lie was.
“My father’s name is Phoenix Kincaid.”
“I thought you said his name was Ralph?”
“Technically, it is. Ralph was his given name, but he legally changed it when he was in college.”
“Why did he change it to Phoenix?” Tempest asked. Things were getting more complicated by the second. “Granted, Ralph is not the most exciting name in the world, but Phoenix?”
“My mother grew up in Phoenix, Arizona. He fell in love with her the second he laid eyes on her. Kind of the same way I fell in love with you.”
He kissed Tempest’s hand, but the expression on her face said it all. She was pissed and not even trying to hide it.
“Anyway,” Geren continued, “Momma wouldn’t have a thing to do with him. She thought he was the most arrogant man that ever walked the earth. At least, that’s how the story goes.”
“You take after him,” Tempest snidely remarked. She had thought Geren was arrogant when she first met him, too.
Geren sucked his teeth. “Very funny.”
“Finish telling me the story,” Tempest prodded.
“He tried everything to get her, from tattooing her name on his chest to serenading her in the college cafeteria. Nothing worked, so finally he changed his name.”
“To Phoenix?”
“Yeah, well, he couldn’t change it to Angelica like hers, so he did the next best thing. He changed his name to symbolize the place she was born.”
“That’s deep!”
“Want to hear something even deeper?”
“Sure!”
Geren braced himself and then blurted it out before he lost his nerve. “My father owns Phoenix Corporation.”
Tempest gawked at him. “You’re kidding, right?”
“No, not at all,” Geren said hesitantly. “All of my business trips to New York were really board meetings. My father makes me come because he believes I need to keep abreast of everything so that once he retires, I can step right into his shoes.”
Tempest didn’t say a word. She just pulled her hand away and moved as far over on the seat as possible.
“Does this change things between us?”
“Should it?” Tempest asked with a raised brow.
“I don’t know,” Geren replied. “Look at your body language, though. Obviously, it does.”
“Why didn’t you just tell me?”
Tempest waited patiently while Geren tried to concoct a viable answer, one that wouldn’t make her cuss him out.
“Because all of my life, once a woman found out about my father, she would become obsessed with getting me down the aisle so she could get my money. His money.”
“Is that what you thought of me?” Tempest rolled her eyes and looked down at her lap. “Never mind, don’t answer that.”
“Tempest—”
“No, this explains a hell of a lot. Like the conversation we had in your office about gold diggers.”
“Can I please make a comment?”
“No, but what you can do is take me home.”
“Absolutely not! Not until I do what I came here to do!” Geren reached for her, but she knocked his hand away. “I just wanted to tell you everything about me first, so you would know what you’re getting into.”
“I’m not getting into anything. I just want you to take my gold-digging ass home.”
“After the weekend in Maine and eve
rything we’ve been to each other, you still think this comes down to money?”
“Like you said before, obviously it does. If it didn’t, you would’ve told me this months ago.”
“My opinion of you has never faltered. I knew you were strong-willed and independent from the day we met. And you’re right. I should’ve said something months ago, but I just didn’t know how to.”
“It’s simple. Just open your mouth and speak.”
“Tempest, if I can forgive you for not telling me about your inability to have children before we got involved, can’t you forgive me for this?”
Tempest frowned, and Geren could tell she was fighting back tears. That was a low blow, and he immediately regretted it.
“I’m sorry. That came out wrong.”
Tempest wiped her eyes with a napkin and shoved all the hamburger trash into a bag. “Can you just take me home, please?”
“You are so damn stubborn!” Geren blared out in frustration.
Tempest sighed and rolled her eyes in disdain. “Today!”
“Not until you answer a question for me.”
“What question?” Tempest replied, not particularly interested in anything he had to say at the moment.
“Will you marry me?” Geren whispered, saying a silent prayer. The moment wasn’t perfect, but he’d held off on proposing long enough. “Will you marry me, Tempest?” Geren reached for her hand again. This time she let him take it. She was in shock. “I love you. I adore everything about you, and I could search the earth for a million years and never find another woman like you.”
“Geren, I—”
“If it’s about the kid situation, like I said before, we can adopt.” He could tell from the expression on her face that he’d hit the nail on the head. “There are tons of children out there who need loving parents. You know that from working at the center.”
No response. Tempest’s hand started trembling something fierce, and he held it tighter.
“We could wait a couple of years after the wedding to adopt, if you want. Whatever you want. I just want you.”
