Chapter Thirty-Five
It had been two weeks since her abduction and Tempest was still out of sorts. It hadn’t fully hit her until she’d gone to the police station to give her statement. That’s when people started calling her “the victim.” She’d never been a victim, and the label sucked. She’d suddenly developed a new understanding of what the women she worked with felt. The term made her feel powerless. Ivy told her she needed to move from feeling like a victim to feeling like a survivor. She was also having a hard time coming to grips with her guilt over the women who had died because of Brian’s sick obsession with her.
At first, she’d tried staying at the center and just seeing Aiden a few nights a week, but it hadn’t worked. She wasn’t ready to return to work, and she didn’t like being away from Aiden that long. So, she’d moved most of her stuff into the two bedroom apartment Aiden was renting until they could build their house. Aiden had grumbled about how he’d have rented a bigger place if he’d known he was going to have to share closet space. His complaint would have been more convincing if he hadn’t already saved drawer space for her in the bathroom and left the largest closet in the master bedroom free for her.
They’d hired a nurse practitioner to handle most of the medical care until Tempest was ready to return to work full time. After that, the nurse practitioner would stay on to help lighten Tempest’s load. She’d spent too many years obsessed with her work. It was time to build a life outside of the center.
That morning she was at the center for a group therapy session, something Ivy had been trying to talk her into for more than a week. As she watched the other women leave the room, she had to admit she felt better.
“Did you test today?” Ivy asked when they were alone.
“Yes,” Tempest replied.
“And?” Ivy prodded.
Tempest shrugged. “I’m sure it was negative. I really don’t feel pregnant. The only reason I even took the test was to make Aiden happy. Can you believe he actually wanted Justin to come over and do a blood test last night?”
Ivy covered her mouth to stifle her giggle.
“I refused, so the man bought every pregnancy test he could find and made me pee in a cup this morning so he could dip a dozen sticks.” The memory made her smile. “I left him to it. Since he hasn’t been calling me over and over again, I suppose I was right.”
“You really left him to do the tests on his own?” Ivy asked.
Tempest shrugged. “I would have been willing to do one test, but he insisted we do more than one just in case the first one was wrong. It’s crazy since I thought he wanted to wait on the baby. We agreed if I’m not already pregnant, we’ll wait a year or two to try again.”
“Are you okay with that?” Ivy asked. “I know how much you want a baby.”
“We’ll have one,” Tempest told her. “For now, we’re happy to wait a little while.”
“The truth?” Ivy asked.
“Okay, I was kind of hoping I was pregnant, but I’m fine waiting a little while,” she insisted.
“Oh, there you are,” Jenna, one of the other counselors interrupted. “These came for you.” She handed Tempest a bouquet of flowers and a box of chocolates.
When Tempest took the box, it rattled.
“Something tells me those aren’t chocolate,” Ivy said with a smile.
Tempest almost fell over when she opened the box to reveal more than a dozen positive pregnancy tests, each carefully wrapped in a plastic bag. There was also a sheet of paper folded inside the box. When she unfolded the paper she found a sketch of herself, holding a sleeping baby in her arms.
“Oh my God!” Tempest gasped.
“Do you like it?” Aiden asked from behind her.
Tempest spun around and put a hand over her heart. “You scared me! How did you get back here?”
“I hid him in an office down the hall during the session, and I got Jenna to deliver the flowers at just the right time,” Ivy explained.
“You two planned all this? In the short time it took me to get to the center today?”
“Nah,” Aiden replied as he hugged her close. “We planned all this last week. What do you think we’ll have, boy or girl?”
She shrugged. “What are you hoping for?”
Aiden smiled and placed a hand over her belly. “I’m hoping for a sweet little girl with a fiery temper like her mam.”
Her eyes widened with surprise. “I would have thought you’d be hoping for a boy so I’d live as long as you.”
“About that,” he began. “According to Roman, it might not be necessary.”
“Really?” She looked intrigued.
“He won’t go into details, but how much do you want to bet this has something to do with his mystery guest?” he asked.
“What the hell is my grandfather hiding?” Tempest asked.
Ivy snorted. “What isn’t he hiding?”
“Now that you’re part of the family, you’ll have to get used to the secrets,” Aiden said as rubbed Tempest’s flat belly.
Tempest snorted. “I don’t think so. My grandfather has spent way too many years acting all big and scary so everyone is too afraid to approach him. I think we should start going over to visit more often.”
“News flash, luv,” Aiden told her with a patient smile. “Your grandfather is pretty damn scary, and that wasn’t the only crossbow he owns.”
“I don’t think he’ll shoot me with a crossbow,” Tempest argued.
“No, he’ll shoot me in the balls when he learns I got you pregnant,” he corrected her. “The last time I talked to him, he made it clear my intentions had better be honorable toward you.”
Tempest laughed and leaned into him. “I’ll protect you from my grandfather.”
“You are such a sexy little badass,” Aiden praised with a grin. “Wanna go see the office I was hiding in?”
“Stop projecting,” Ivy told him as she hurried out of the room.
Aiden chuckled as he pulled Tempest against his body. “Now, where was I?”
“Contemplating doing something less than honorable with me?” she asked sweetly.
“Definitely,” he replied as lifted her in his arms. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” she told him. “About that office you wanted to show me . . .”
Safe Hex With a Vampire Page 35