Page 58 of Stronger Than Blood

“I’m just saying you should keep that room available,” Dupris said. Kalinda stood behind her, nodding.

“What is it you’re seeing?” I asked, and Dupris turned toward her aunt, who shook her head.

“Ugh, you two are so frustrating. If Rory can’t use this room as his office, you should at least give me a clue why.”

Kalinda came farther into the room and, taking my elbow, drew me over to the bed.

“Listen, some things you shouldn’t know about until it’s time, but you’re about to spend a lot of money to retrofit a room both Madam Baptiste and I believe will be needed for something else.

Can you trust us?” she asked, and I sighed but nodded.

“Okay, can you help me set up the front room for Rory’s office then? I mean, it won’t be as easily accessed, nor will it have its own bathroom.”

“Sure, we’ll help,” Dupris said, interrupting me. I’m not sure why I was being so argumentative. When they both glommed onto something, it would be pure ignorance to ignore them.

Rory was at a microdistillery conference with Bev for the week, so I only had a few days to set up his office, and I wanted it to be perfect, which was why I was being a bit of a perfectionist about the room.

It’s not like we didn’t have a bunch of rooms to choose from, but I loved the idea of him being able to get out of bed and work without having to go into town.

Just like I could do a lot of prep work in my commercial and recently Health Department-approved kitchen.

When Rory came home, he told me he loved the office, despite it not being exactly where I had wanted it to be located. Two weeks later, the reason why Dupris and Kalinda didn’t want me to put Rory in the bedroom next to ours became clear.

The Methodist pastor had stopped by the house to visit, mostly to check on our progress, but she also brought some life-altering news.

“They are kids, too young to raise a baby on their own, but… the young lady was one of the people we gave your Granny Ida’s furniture to. She recognized your name and said you stopped once while they were stuck on the side of the road and helped them out.”

I turned to Rory, who shrugged. Neither of us knew where the conversation was going. “I-I have helped a few people, but Pastor James, that’s what folks do around here.”

“Be that as it may, it made an impression on these two. Rory, Mick, they want you to adopt their babies.”

I know my eyes must’ve bugged out of my head. “Come again?” Rory said.

“They’re pregnant and are expecting twins.

John was released from jail a few months ago.

He was falsely accused of robbing a truck stop in Georgia, but they held him for just under a year before the real culprit was apprehended.

They barely have enough money to pay for their own needs, and of course, Julia was off her birth control…

well, that’s a lot of information you don’t need.

The point is they know they can’t afford to raise the babies, but they don’t want strangers to raise them either.

They specifically asked me to speak to you before they go to an adoption agency. ”

“Twins?” I asked. “Like, two babies? Um, when is she due?”

Pastor James face lit up as she filled us in. “She’s due the middle of May.”

I sat down on the seat across from her. “That’s a lot to think about,” I said, looking at Rory, who appeared very pale all of a sudden.

“Well, you have time. However, if you aren’t interested, please let me know as soon as possible. They will need to find an agency that will help them, if you aren’t.”

Rory got up and escorted the pastor out of the house, then came and sat next to me. Neither of us said anything for several moments. Then Rory asked, “Do you want kids?”

I shrugged. “To be honest, I-I just assumed it wasn’t in the cards. Do you? Do you want kids?”

He nodded. “I always thought one day I’d be a dad, but never thought much about the when or where or how, even.”

I paced the room, chewing my fingernail. “I mean, I think we’d be good with kids. We have this big house, and they’d have Kalinda and Jonah right across the street. Brenda and Joann would probably be there for them.”

“What about the parents being involved? Does that scare you?” Rory asked.

I shook my head. “No, having been raised by my great-grandmother and cousins, it really was a community that raised me. Kids need that, so if they have more people to love them, so much the better, as long as there’s good boundaries.”

“True, I grew up similarly. I also had the church family, which… maybe, we would need to get involved with. I like Pastor James.”

“I always went to church with Granny Ida, and yes, Pastor James is wonderful, as is the congregation. They don’t have the same hateful ideas about gay people that other churches do.”

Again, we fell quiet as we pondered our lives and what it would mean. Finally, I said, “We have the room.”

“We have the love,” Rory added, smiling.

“So what? Are we in?”

He laughed. “I think we both knew the moment Pastor James brought it up that we were in.”

“Oh fuck, wow… This is a lot.”

Rory, chuckling, reached over and took my face in his hand, turning it toward him. “You will be a great mama.”

“Um, no!” I squealed and went for him, totally intending to tickle him, but he dashed away, and I had to chase him down the hall and up the stairs. We were both laughing as we paused next to the room just outside the primary suite.

I could see it as a nursery now; it made perfect sense, especially since it had its own bathroom. “Kalinda and Dupris saw this coming. I was going to turn this into your office, but they talked me out of it, but of course, they refused to tell me why.”

Rory came over and took me into his embrace. “They can be mean like that. But if they saw it and told you not to make this my office, they must already have known we were going to say yes.”

“Probably, but we can play them and say we said no, just to confuse them.”

Rory shook his head. “Not a good idea. One should never mess with a powerful psychic, much less two of them.”

“You’re probably right, but… Rory?”

“Yeah?” he said, kissing the top of my head.

“You are totally gonna be the mama!”