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We both lit candles.
We both slid into a pew, crossed ourselves and said silent prayers facing the altar and the statue of Jesus mounted on the cross behind it. My prayer was longer than his and he waited silently for me to finish, my forehead wrinkled, eyes closed and my fingers folded so tightly together, my knuckles were probably white. My prayer was serious and he knew why.
I was the one to take his hand as we stepped out of the church and into the warm early summer sunshine, and I squinted as he looked over at me. “What was it that had to be done, Adam?”
He smiled at me, like it was going to temper whatever reaction I fed back to him once he answered my question.
“Well…really, there aren’t many things left to do. The sisters have already conducted the necessary background search and I’ve provided them with the additional information they requested.” We reached the truck and he followed me to the passenger side to unlock the old girl with the set of keys he held in his hand. Then, making sure I was settled and shutting the door behind me, he rounded the front and unlocked his door before crawling in behind the wheel.
“What else?” I pressed. There was more, I could feel it, and the way he rolled his lips in told me that he didn’t want to say the words out loud.
“You know what else,” he said gently, and instead of starting the truck he reached over to take my hand. “We have two and-a-half days to get married.”
12
Adam
Imanagedtodosome quick scheduling swaps with a couple coworkers, which was a real blessing because there weren’t more than a couple of us and as of this morning I’d committed myself to a very different life path than the one I’d been on just yesterday. I needed a few days to get things sorted.
Madelyn didn’t explode or protest like I’d expected. She’d just taken a stuttering breath, clipped her seatbelt over her lap with her free hand and leaned back against the seat.
In the interest of passing the devoted couple with a stable and loving home test, I brought a few of my things over that afternoon to leave out on the other bedside stand and put into the closet. Once the home study was completed and we were cleared to bring Daniela home, I’d move those things to one of the other rooms or back home. I wasn’t sure where she’d want me to stay just yet, and I hadn’t asked her, and my mouth had gone and made a really big promise without consulting her or my brain.
For an extra-real touch, I threw a few pieces of my laundry into the open hamper in her bathroom and left the cap off my tube of toothpaste.
She was sitting in the living room when I finished, her back to me as she stared at the dark TV, Bailey at her feet. I could almost hear her brain whirling, plotting and planning, and I thanked God the house had been so recently completed. The arrival of a baby would put everything else on hold for some time.
“I need to buy some baby things,” she said quietly. “I have to look like I’m serious about this. I have to be prepared for her…” She looked completely freaked out, clearly shell-shocked by the fact she’d gone fromNotoProbablyin the space of an hour.
“Call Kenny and Steve first,” I said and she gasped.
“Adam, what are they going to say? This is crazy. How can we pull this off before the home study?”
Settling onto the sofa next to her, I took her hand and squeezed gently. It seemed to calm her, reminding her to breathe.
“They’re going to be completely shocked and Kennedy will tear around here like she’s off her meds, which is to be expected. She’ll be overjoyed.
“Your mother will flip her shit and demand that her baby girl have a proper wedding–which we can arrange later if you’d like.”
“Your parents,” she said weakly, and I felt a smile pulling at my face.
“Yeah…my parents. They’ll lose their shit too, but in a good way. Hailey’s been telling me for years…” I bit off the end of that sentence real quick, because it was something she wasn’t ready to hear.
“Telling you what?” she asked absently, pulling at her bottom lip with her other hand.
“Oh, you know…that I needed to get married and I was running out of time.” My smile had grown tight on my face, because that was only half of what Hailey had told me.
You’ve been in love with that VanBuren girl since you were kids. She’s a good woman, Adam, and I’m not out of line when I tell you I know she feels the same way about you. Do something about it. Do something before it’s too late, because another man’s not going to be half the fool you are–he’ll snap her up.
I knew that to be true. I’d watched the way men’s eyes followed Madelyn and though she didn’t belong to me, I had to work to keep my lips from curling into a threatening sneer or my eyes from narrowing, because I wanted to jump in and shout “Hands off” every time, even though she wasn’t mine to claim.
“Tomorrow we’ll get a license from the courthouse and I’ll make an appointment with the JP,” I said matter-of-factly. “You’ll remember him…that kid who used to blow up his lunch bag on the bus and pop it every day? Scared the shit out of you.”
“Fucking Gary Torvald,” she answered with a wrinkled up nose. “That kid was disgusting. He used to pick his nose and wipe his finger under his desk in homeroom. The teacher made us switch assigned seating three times that year and no one wanted his desk. Mr. Balantine made him carry it with him to his new spot each time.” She chuckled as she remembered. “Are you really telling me Gary’s a Justice of the Peace these days?”
“Afraid so,” I answered. I’d had no idea about the boogers. “Hopefully he doesn’t pick his nose anymore–at least not in public.”
She made a face. “I’m not shaking his hand.”
