Page 6 of Betrothed To Love

“I don’t know how that’s relevant. You saw the recording. We both looked incapacitated and unable to make the decision to enter into a binding marriage. As you know, Counselor, being under the influence of alcohol or drugs is a lack of consent and valid grounds for an annulment.”

“You’re right and I do know but it is just us. You can kill the legal jargon so we can talk and you can tell me the last thing you remember,” he says.

“I’m assuming you remember being at the Masquerade Ball?”

“I was. So you don’t remember me buying you a bourbon Manhattan?” he asks and I try to recall the night.

“I remember getting to the hotel. I dragged myself there. I mean, I had to drink an energy drink just to get my ass out of the house. I got to the hotel, up to the rooftop, and to the bar. I ordered my drink and kind of remember someone joining me,” I ramble, then look up. “That was you? Did you put something in my drink?” I blurt.

“Ay. Come on. I don’t do no shit like that,” he says, clearly offended and angry.

“My bad. That just came out. I’m sorry; I really am,” I add quickly. “This whole thing just has me all over the place. I drink but I have never been so drunk that I’ve lost hours, hell, a whole night, and let’s not forget, I woke up with no clothes on,” I say and hold my damn breath.

“But I had on boxers,” he says and I exhale loud as hell, relieved. “Besides, I’m pretty sure if we had sex, you would know,” he says smugly and I just shake my head.

Choosing to intentionally ignore his insinuation, I roll my eyes and ask, “What’s the last thing you remember?”

“After your second Manhattan, we found a table and left the bar. They had food coming around but you only wanted the cups of shrimp.”

“I do love a good shrimp and grits and hate to shell them,” I utter then sigh.

“We danced and…”

“I danced?” I question, unintentionally cutting him off. His words surprise the hell out of me because dancing in the heels I had on last night is a hard no.

“You did after leaving your shoes at the table.”

“Lord! Barefoot in a room full of my colleagues. Great!”

“I don’t think anyone noticed. Besides, we only danced for a few minutes. After that, I remember going back to the table, getting some food, and that’s it. I woke up this morning in the room.”

“So we actually went and booked a room for the night?”

“No. I already had it. My practice and my home are in Diamond Falls and I knew I didn’t want to drive home late and be back in court this morning.”

Diamond Falls. That’s why I’m not familiar with him.

“At some point though, we decided to get married. Only two lawyers would figure out how to get legally married online in the middle of the night. We weren’t that drunk,” he says with a grin.

Although waking up married to a stranger is no laughing matter, his observation is, so I find myself laughing too. It’s only interrupted when I hear knocking.

“That’s Kenya with my tea,” I say, then turn to the door. “Come in.” Kenya has not only my matcha but a cup for him as well. When she holds it out to him, he thanks her and nods. “What’s that?” I ask him but she answers.

“A black coffee. I asked when he walked in. I didn’t know how long this was going to be,” she says before placing a small pastry box on the table.

“Oh okay. Thank you,” I tell her and she walks out and closes my door. After taking a long sip from my delicious cup, I nod toward the pastry box. “Help yourself. We’re basically done now. I’ll have Kenya draw up the annulment and we can sign it so it can be filed.”

He sits up, places his cup on the table, then leisurely rests his elbows on his legs. He raises one hand to his trimmed beard and slowly rubs it. He sighs then peers into me.

“We can’t do that,” he says.

“Can’t do what?”

“Get an annulment.”

After closing my laptop and placing it on the table, I peer back at him. “We can’t stay married either,” I counter sternly.

“From a legal perspective, we have to. It’s on record that the defendant in the case you just recused yourself from is your brother-in-law. You’ve already referred the case to another judge. Ending the marriage now doesn’t look good at all. Questions will be raised, and with the reelection, questions won’t be a good look. It’s going to look like an improper relationship between a judge and a defense attorney just to get off a case.”