"They didn't grant Lyssa permanent guardianship."
"What? Why? I thought he'd said it would be fine. They gave her temporary guardianship." And why the hell hadn't Lys told him it had been denied?
"He did. But the social worker that came out wasn't very impressed with Lyssa's job. Her hours. And the fact Mrs. A will be living with us as of next week didn't help like we thought."
"Okay. So, what would make this happen? Did the lawyer give any advice?"
Penny bit her lip and nodded.
When she didn't elaborate, he prompted, "And?"
"If-Lyssa-was-married-they’d-do-it-in-a-heartbeat!"
The words burst from Penny's mouth in one long flood and it took his brain a second to process the syllables and work out what she'd actually said. "If Lys was married, they'd sign off on it? Without a question?"
She nodded. "Yes. Well, some questions maybe, but yes, the lawyer said it would be a slam-dunk because I'd be getting a stable family environment with two parental units instead of one."
Fuck. He hated that the system thought there was a difference in a stable home because of the number of adults in it. But that wasn't his fight. His fight was keeping Penny and Lys together.
He rolled an idea around in his head; if a two-parent household would get Lys permanent guardianship of Penny, he could make that happen. If marriage was the way to get what he wanted while giving Lys what she wanted, he'd marry her in a heartbeat, without a second thought.
She wanted Penny. He didn't know the full story about their mother. Even Penny hadn't revealed much about the woman. What he did know was that Alyssa's childhood had not been a good one and so far, Penny's hadn't either.
The goal was to make sure the rest of Penny's childhood was stable and secure, and he was onboard with helping make that happen. By any means necessary. He'd already proved that, although neither of them knew about his involvement in them finding Mrs. A or their new house purchase. And marrying Lys wouldn't be a hardship. Not when it kept her and Penny together.
"All right. When Lys wakes up, you and I are going to convince her the best thing for both of you is for us to fly to Vegas and get married."
"Maybe we should just sneak her onto your plane and fly there now? If we're already there, she might be easier to convince."
"That sounds like kidnapping." And while that was breaking the law, especially taking her out of state, he couldn't help the grin that tugged at his lips.
Penny arched an eyebrow. "She's drunk, right?"
"Yeah..."
The smile that stretched the girl's lips lit up her whole face. "Then she won't remember agreeing. Ornotagreeing. And if we both have the same story, that it was her idea and we both agreed with her..." She trailed off with a devious look he made note of for future reference. The girl was a force to be wary of in the future.
"Jesus." He scrubbed a hand down his face. Could they do it? Lys had been super easy to get in and out of his car then into her house and bed, and she couldn't have sobered up much yet.
"Neither of you have work tomorrow, well today now, and aren't there like, drive-thru chapels? We could hire a car when we get there, drive straight to the chapel, and then right back to your plane. We could be home in time for lunch?" Penny grinned.
Christ. This kid could take over the world if she wanted. She'd already proven her intelligence by traveling across the country on her own to find the sister she'd never met without getting stopped by any of the adults she'd come into contact with.
But she was right. What she'd laid out could work. And it wouldn't be the first time Lys had gotten drunk and come up with some harebrained thing to do. The last time she'd let loose, she'd ended up dancing on the bar at Davenport's and initiating a wet t-shirt contest. This time she'd be getting married because he had to admit, Penny had come up with something that could definitely work.
For all of them.
"I don't want to leave." She grabbed his forearm. "They'll make me leave and go back to Mom or put me in foster care and I don't want either of those to happen." Tears glistened in her eyes. "I want to stay with Lyssa."
Fuck. The kid was diabolical. She was tugging at his heartstrings while giving him the solution to her dilemma—and his. He wanted to get closer to Lys and what better way was there than marrying her? How much would she hate him for this?
He wouldn't force her but if he got them to Vegas…if he could come up with the right words to convince her to go through with it once they were there…
He sucked in a deep breath and surged to his feet. "Okay. Let's do it. Pack a bag for the two of you. Enough for two days. I'll get her dressed. We've probably got just enough time to get to Vegas before she wakes up."
Penny jumped to her feet, a huge smile on her face. "It will take me five minutes. Tops."
He watched her sprint from the room.
