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“Well, I just want to get this done and over with so I can have what my grandmother left for me.”
“Your grandmother left you an inheritance?”
She shifted her weight. It wasn’t really an inheritance. It was the one object from her grandmother’s estate that she wanted. The only thing that had any value to her. She tried to think of a better way to say it, but when none came, she just nodded. “Yeah. And pops said he’d give it to me if I did this thing. So, let’s get to it.”
“Are you sure?”
She huffed. “Shut up before I change my mind. We’re getting married and that’s final.”
Man, this day was getting stranger and stranger. When had she ever thought those words would come out of her mouth?
Chapter 2
Derek ducked inside the chapel, following after Nara. It was the kind of unique building he might photograph under different circumstances. But not today. He didn’t want photographic evidence of what was happening today.
Guilt rose in his throat, and he coughed into his fist. This was all his fault. Him, and his stupid rambling that one late night at the office, five years ago. But he couldn’t back out of it now because Mr. Claymore was so set on everything. He was determined to see the two of them married. And once Mr. Claymore got something in his mind, not the devil himself would be successful at making him change it.
Nara fidgeted, smoothing down her t-shirt. She stared at her flip flops, looking uncomfortable.
He stepped toward the woman behind the front desk. “Do you have a wedding dress we can rent?”
Nara’s head snapped up. “I don’t need a dress.”
“Yes, she’s fine how she is,” Mr. Claymore said.
The guilt inside Derek grew. Today Nara was going to get married. Didn’t girls dream of their weddings, planning and primping, thinking of their dresses and flowers and stuff? She wouldn’t want to get married in her travel clothes, would she?
The woman behind the desk shook her head. “We don’t have dresses. Sorry.” She handed Mr. Claymore a clipboard. “We’ll need to see the happy couple’s ID’s, and they will need to sign these papers.”
The paperwork took ten minutes. Then Derek found himself standing at the front of the chapel facing Nara. He felt like he towered over her. She’d always been short, but as kids he hadn’t cared that much. When he hit puberty and experienced a sudden growth spurt it left him feeling gangly and awkward around her. At least he had more muscles now.
She pulled a band out of her pocket and tugged her hair up into some kind of half-ponytail, half bun looking thing. Hair stuck up from it, like he was sure she wanted. This was just another silent protest against what her father was asking her to do. It actually made her look adorable, but he wasn’t about to tell her that. He’d get kicked in the shin.
The minister said a few things that sounded flowery but well-rehearsed, and then he paused and looked at them. “Have you prepared special vows for each other?”
“No,” he and Nara said at the same time.
“That’s not a problem. For another twenty dollars you can choose from several custom vows, or we can go ahead with the simple package.”
Sweat beaded up on Derek’s forehead. He hated making decisions like this. What did Nara want? He glanced at her and she gave him a withering look. “Let’s go with the simple package.”
The minister nodded and glanced down at the paper in his wrinkled hand. “Do you, Derek Marshall, take this woman to be your wife, to live together in holy matrimony, to love and honor her, to comfort her in sickness and health, forsaking all others, for as long as you both shall live?”
Derek looked into Nara’s brown eyes. “I do,” he said, the words causing a swell of emotion in his throat. He swallowed it back. This was not real.
The minister nodded and turned to Nara. “Do you, Nara Claymore, take this man to be your husband, to live together in holy matrimony, to love and honor him, to comfort him in sickness and health, forsaking all others, for as long as you both shall live?”
Derek held his breath as he waited for what Nara would say. A look had crossed her face as the minister spoke that he couldn’t quite read. He wasn’t sure if she was about to explode, or if she was going to behave. When she finally said, “Yeah, sure,” he let out a silent sigh of relief. And then he saw reflected in the window that she had her fingers crossed behind her back.
“Do you have the ring?”
Heat rose to his face as he pulled out the box from his pocket. He quickly plucked the ring from the velvet and slid it on her finger.
She stared down at the three-carat diamond. “What drug store did you get this thing at? It looks real.” She held it up and squinted at it.
He didn’t say anything. He was too embarrassed to admit he’d wanted to get her a diamond ring. Instead of answering her, he slid his own gold band onto his finger. This might not be a real marriage, but that didn’t mean they had to wear junk that turned their fingers green for the next two years.
“Would you like to light a unity candle?”
