by Mary Beesley
Tempest stood next to her sister, trying on the same pale pink gown. High neckline in front, but swooping very low in back. The fabric had no stretch or give. It was designed to fit a tall, trim figure. It flattered Tempest nicely.
“What is the other option?” Jo asked the store clerk hovering nearby.
The woman’s eyes went wide. “This is what Silvia Steele picked out for the three daughters to wear. She just said this one.”
Jo scowled at the way the fabric puckered around her waist. “And I’m still nursing! Did she not think about these ladies?” She cupped her huge breasts. “No way am I going braless for the wedding with nothing but a pink tissue of coverage for support.” She hadn’t even been willing to take her bra off for the fitting, and the cream strap cut straight across her exposed back.
“We’ll be in Mexico. No one will see.” Tempest grimaced. A postpartum mother and this unforgiving dress were not a good combo.
“I’ll see myself! And what about the photographs? There’s no way in hell I’m wearing this.” Jo turned to the attendant. “I’m going to need you to find me something else.”
The young woman nodded with a slight bow, the way she might have to a stern school principal. She darted out of the changing area.
“If you switch, it’ll just be me and Zena matching,” Tempest said.
“I don’t give a shit.”
“Okay.” Time to step back before Jo really lost it.
Tempest quickly changed into her jeans. Jo didn’t need to see that dress on Tempest any longer than necessary. Jo tried on every pink option in the store and nixed them all. While they waited for the harried sales associate to search every corner of the massive store for something acceptable, Jo stuffed her bra with tissues to soak up her leaking milk.
“I didn’t think this would take so long. I should have brought Harrison. My poor baby needs to eat.”
Tempest was getting hungry too, and she was not sorry the baby wasn’t here to slow things down even more. She resisted the urge to check her watch.
“Pretty cool we get to go to Cabo,” Jo said. “It’s so romantic.”
Tempest’s stomach twisted.
“I need more beach in my life.” Jo let out a wistful sigh. “This marriage is the best thing that ever happened to us. Think of all the amazing things we’ll get to tag along for. A billionaire brother-in-law.” She giggled. “Well done, Dad.”
The saleswoman appeared with another armful of pastel garments, saving Tempest from having to pretend to agree with Jo. This marriage was the worst. Tempest closed her eyes and leaned back in the tufted chair. Why did Mom have to die? And of all the other women in the universe, why did Dad have to fall in love with Leo’s mother?
Eighty-nine minutes and fourteen million dresses later, Jo picked a flowing, flattering piece that fell to her calves and draped loosely over her body.
“Thank you,” Tempest whispered to the heavens as she stood and shook out her stiff joints.
“I’ve put them on Ms. Steele’s bill.” The associate handed them each their tissue-wrapped dresses in familiar brown bags. “Goodbye.” She said it with such finality that Tempest chuckled.
The sisters strode toward the exit.
“Good,” Jo said as they stepped into the chilly afternoon. “I feel good.”
Tempest had a headache.
They would see what Silvia was really like when Jo showed up in that blue dress. Maybe she’d call off the wedding. Then Tempest could date Leo without any complications. But Dad would be so sad.
Jo looked down at her phone. “Oh crap. The babysitter has been trying to call me, and I am so late. I’ll see you Thursday at the airport.” She darted toward her minivan.
Two days. In two days, Tempest would be getting back on Leo’s private plane. She was going to a beach resort with Leo. At least this trip couldn’t go any worse than the last.
****
Leo triple-checked his garment bag. He had everything he needed for a wedding in Mexico, yet he felt completely unprepared. He was spending Valentine’s Day with Tempest Swan. But not really with her. How the hell was this happening to him? Oh, he hated this holiday. He’d loathed it ever since high school when all the cute people had flower grams delivered to their desks during class, the coolest getting dozens and the losers getting none. Obviously he was the latter. What kind of society supported such a terrible idea? It made the lonely kids in school feel worse about themselves and overinflated the popular kids’ already massive egos. Toxic and destructive. Why was the world so stupid sometimes?
He loaded his bag into his Aston Martin. Anxiety and the engine power of approximately five hundred and three horses sped his drive. At the airport, he valeted his car, passed his bag off to the attendant, and climbed into his jet. He was the first one here, and he did not go back outside to wait for the others. He pulled out his laptop and connected to the internet. He had a long list of work to do. He put on his noise-cancelling headphones and got to it.
When the rest of the wedding party arrived, he tugged down his headphones and welcomed them all with a smile. “Come in. Help yourselves to the snacks. Nice to see y’all again. Wow, Jo, Harrison’s gotten so big.” He nodded to Tempest, one hundred percent ignoring the reaction seeing her caused to his heart. The conversation blockers went back over his ears. She sat behind him again. Good, easier to pretend she wasn’t here, that she didn’t look like heaven in her tight blue jeans with her curling dark hair. He didn’t look up for the duration of the two-hour flight.
Leo didn’t pack away his computer until after they’d landed and taxied. He kept his back to her as they deplaned. Hannah slipped her hand in his as they walked into the hot fug of the Cabo San Lucas Airport. She looked up at him, the foreign smells and unfamiliar faces clearly making her nervous. He sent the little girl a genuine smile, grateful for the anchoring feel of her small fingers.
“Don’t let go of her,” Jo said at Leo’s side. Her forehead already glistened in the heat. She tightened the strap of the baby carrier on her chest.
“I’ve got her.” Leo tugged Hannah closer to his side.
“Thank you.” Jo hitched a duffle onto her shoulder.
“You mean gracias,” Hunter said from where he walked holding Benji’s hand.
Leo gave the boy an appreciative head nod. “De nada.”
“What does that mean?” Hannah asked.
“It means you’re welcome,” Leo said.
Hannah muttered the words over and over to herself as they worked their way through passport control. She held his hand tighter as they entered the crowded lobby. He exhaled with relief when he saw the two men holding signs that read Christopher Swan.
He looked over his shoulder, his gaze catching on Tempest. She’d taken off her sweater, revealing a ribbed tank top and lean arms. What was he going to say? Oh yeah. “Our drivers are here.”
“Thank goodness,” Mom muttered, fanning her face with a brochure.
“Hola, Mr. Swan,” the first man said. “Everyone is here?”
Leo nodded to him and turned, still holding fast to Hannah. “Mom. You and Christopher go in the first car. Take Tempest and Zena with you.”
Tempest opened her mouth.
“You should come with us too,” Silvia said.
“I’ll go with the Prestons. I know where we’re going and can make sure they don’t have any trouble.” He glanced down at Hannah. “Besides, we’re in this together.”
She beamed, softening his aching heart just a little.
Jo sent him a look of utter adoration. Being helpful was the lesser reason for doing this, but he was still happy to stay with these kids. He could feel Tempest’s focus on him, but he didn’t look her way. He spoke to the second driver. “Lead the way. Estamos listos.”
He sat in the back row of the van with Hunter, looking out the window and enjoying the boy’s delighted discourse on the differences between Cabo, Mexico and Plano, Texas. Not all that different, it turned out. They practic
ed all the important Spanish phrases they might need like: dónde está el baño and quiero muchos tacos and habla usted Inglés?
Mom and Christopher had rented two houses next door to each other. Christopher and his daughters in one, Leo’s family in the other. Mom’s sister, Aunt Penelope, would arrive soon from Miami. She would bunk with Mom until tomorrow, when, after the wedding, Christopher and Mom would move to a romantic suite at a resort nearby. Gag. Then all the kids would be left to enjoy another two days together, along with Aunt Penelope and the other half-dozen family members that made the short invitation list, before everyone would finally be allowed to return to the land of the free. Mom assumed that once people had made the trip down to the beach that they would want those extra days to relax and enjoy the sunshine and spending time together as a new family.
Why would she think that?
Chapter Twelve
The Night Before
Tempest sat at the end of the table, facing the ocean. Moonlight flickered over the lapping waves. She breathed in warm oxygen and salt. The soft breeze kissed her bare arms and danced with her thin dress. The long table had been set up on a carpet on the edge of the sand. Candles lit the many dishes of fish tacos, fresh guacamole, jicama salads, and mango salsas. A server set a tray of steaming churros with chocolate dipping sauce next to her mimosa. This was paradise.
But it felt like hell.
Silvia had directed Leo to sit by Tempest, but he’d abrasively maneuvered himself to the other end of the table. He’d claimed he needed to catch up with his cousin George. They apparently hadn’t seen each other in weeks. Maybe it wouldn’t have been so offensive if he had the decency to come up with a good excuse. But that wasn’t true. It would have hurt no matter what. Tempest wanted to sit with Leo. She’d been looking forward to this time with him, this excuse to be together when they couldn’t be together. And he was avoiding her. Disappointment weighed her down like a lead blanket.
The seat across from Tempest was empty now that Hannah had run down the beach to hunt for seashells. Benji, on her left, was talking to Leo’s Aunt Penelope about fishing in Miami. Tempest didn’t even try to participate in the conversation. Zena and her boyfriend were on her right. She couldn’t bear to look at them; they were mushier than the guacamole.
Leo was ignoring her. So that’s how it was going to be. It wouldn’t hurt as badly if he weren’t being so relaxed and kind to everyone else. The contrast was pure cruelty.
She exhaled. Okay. Putting distance between them was a good idea. She could deal with this. After this mandatory trip, she would only see him on holidays, at the most. Over time, maybe those get-togethers would diminish. She could start traveling over Christmas. Or more likely, he would. This weekend was the worst of it. His coldness was easier to handle than his charm. If she kept telling herself that, would it start to be true? He’d been impossible to resist on New Year’s Eve. The way he’d found her in the bar. He’d waltzed in and eclipsed the man who’d been working so hard to flirt with her. She imagined his hands on her waist. His lips on her fingers. She leaned forward and glanced down the table at Leo. He seemed riveted by something Jo was saying, her sister’s smile bigger than the moon. The hole in Tempest’s belly yawned wider. She couldn’t take it anymore. If it weren’t her own father’s wedding, she would’ve faked sick and left.
Dad stood, clinking a knife against his wine glass. He smoothed his graying hair back with a nervous hand. “Humor an old man, would you? I have a quick toast.” As the table quieted, he smiled down at Silvia. He put a hand on her shoulder. He didn’t speak for a moment, and when he did, his voice came out hoarse with emotion. “I’ll never forget the day I first saw you. I rounded that grocery aisle, sidestepping the pyramid of crackers and dip.”
“And there you were.” Silvia’s gaze locked on Dad.
“And there you were.” A pause as they stared at each other.
Tempest pushed away the thought of her mother. When was it going to stop feeling a little like they were all cheating on Mom?
“I asked if you knew were the ketchup was.” Dad chuckled. “You said no.”
“You didn’t even need ketchup,” Silvia said.
“I don’t know why that was the first thing that came to mind. I think I reverted to a twelve-year-old boy.”
Silvia’s sister, Penelope, snorted.
“I moved right on past you.” Dad looked up at the rest of the table. “I’d completely forgotten at that point what I’d stopped at the store for. It wasn’t my usual route, but I’d come into Dallas for a lunch and needed to pick up something on my way home.”
“Probably a bag of almonds and a gingersnap,” Silvia said.
He chuckled. “You know me so well.” He leaned down and kissed her brow.
Tempest’s heart squeezed at the sweetness of it, at her dad’s total joy. He turned his focus on the table. He grinned at Tempest. She smiled back, her eyes heating.
“I never did get it because I couldn’t stop thinking about the blond on aisle twelve. I stalked her, contriving to pass her another three times, still with nothing in my basket. And then she checked out. I watched her from two aisles down, faking like I was looking at a magazine. She smiled to the clerk. Said thank you. And then she walked out those double doors.” He looked back down at Silvia, his eyes watery and soft. “She was so beautiful. So kind. Radiant. And I was rooted to those dirty tiles. I couldn’t do it. Just walk up to a woman. I’d hadn’t done anything like that for forty years. It was too scary. Too hard. She would turn me away faster than a rotten pear.”
Silvia glowed.
“On the borderline of having a heart attack, I dropped my empty basket and darted outside. I tried to look cool as I jogged around the parking lot, my mind already torn to bits with regret. She was just closing her trunk when I finally found her. I was awkward, and I might have stuttered.”
“Only a little,” Silvia said.
Everyone chuckled.
“But she, with her generous heart, gave me a chance anyway.”
“And when he took me to dinner the next day,” Silvia said, “he didn’t stutter once.”
More polite chuckles.
Dad held out his glass. “Having the courage to talk to you before you slipped away—it’s the best risk I’ve even taken.”
Tempest looked at Leo as those words sank deep into her soul. Candlelight lit his face, intensifying the angles and shadows. His gaze found hers for one heart-stopping moment before flicking away, leaving her unmoored.
“The reward is all mine,” Silvia said.
“I love you.” Dad tugged her to her feet and kissed her.
Benji whistled, and Jo hooted. Tempest had gone quiet as her father’s words broke through her meager defenses. He’d given voice to her truth. And her fears.
When the beaming couple broke apart, they all drank to love. Tempest drained her glass.
“And to both of you.” Dad looked to Leo and Zena. “I’ve always wanted more children. I hope we can grow to be a real family.”
Zena smiled up at him. Leo looked frozen. Tempest felt as if a grenade exploded in her chest.
Dad sat down, but the conversation stayed on a recap of their whirlwind romance. Their love and joy gushed over the table, and Tempest couldn’t stop herself from being very glad for them.
The group didn’t leave the beach until the kids were practically falling asleep standing up. The rest of the small wedding party went to their rooms at the adjacent hotel. The Swan and Allred families separated on the street in front of the two rental houses. Dad and Silvia were spending their last night with their own kids. Something was said about it being unlucky for the bride and groom to sleep together the night before the wedding. Dad and Silvia kissed, again. Tempest was looking forward to this wedding being over so she didn’t have to watch all the public displays of affection anymore. When would they get to the regular old-married-couple stage?
“See you in the morning, darling,” Dad said to Silvia.
/>
“Bye, y’all.” Zena waved with the arm that wasn’t glued around Jake’s waist.
“Night,” Jo said. Benji had already taken Harrison inside.
Dad draped his arm over Tempest’s shoulders and turned toward the house with his daughters. He went straight to bed. He’d had enough to drink that even nerves wouldn’t keep him up. Lucky.
“Want to watch a movie with me and Benji after we get the kids in bed?” Jo asked.
“Maybe tomorrow night,” Tempest said. “I’m turning in.” Turning in? Who talked like that? “It was a long week at work, and I’m tired.”
“Lame.”
“I know.”
“Kinda weird about the wedding.” Jo didn’t move from her stance by the couch. She held strappy heeled sandals in her hand. She might have been stalling so Benji had to put the kids to bed without her.
“She’s nothing like Mom.”
Jo shook her head. “No.”
It was weird. It felt like a betrayal to the woman who’d given thirty-seven years of her life to Dad. But Mom was gone, and she wasn’t coming back. “Dad seems truly happy,” Tempest said.
“I hope she doesn’t break his heart.”
Tempest nodded. That was for sure.
“And I have to say, he chose very well,” Jo said. “I mean we could have been stuck with total weirdos. Benji and I are stoked about family vacations with Leo and Zena.” She looked around the rental. It was nicer and bigger than her home in Plano. “I could get use to this.”
Tempest chuckled. “I think you already have.” She leaned over and hugged Jo. “Love you, sis. See you in the morning.”
Jo pulled back at Tempest’s tone. “You okay? Is this wedding bumming you out because Dad’s getting married before you?”
Tempest blinked at Jo. She hadn’t considered that. Dad was on marriage two before she’d started on one. She didn’t want to start worrying about that now, but Jo had planted the seed. Was it the truth? Was her pain less about Leo and more about her loneliness?
Jo pursed her lips in pity. “I’m sorry, sweetie. That sucks.” She ran a familiar hand over Tempest’s shoulder and down her arm. Jo squeezed her fingers.
