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Sure, I’ve always wanted to get married someday, for real, but truth be told, I’ve been more focused on my career than my love life. Who knows if I’ll ever find anyone? And if I do find that perfect someone one day, surely changes can be made in this arrangement. It seems like a small sacrifice compared to the livelihood of fifty people. Or more, if the local economy relies that much on the ranch. Which they probably do. If the ranch is a tourist destination, local attractions probably benefit as well.
I’m a city girl from Denver, but I’m still from Colorado. I’ve traveled around the state, and I’ve seen lots of small rural towns like I imagine this one is. Could I really just throw all of that away for a faraway dream of romance that might never happen?
No. Just the thought of it makes me sick to my stomach. Plus, if I say yes, the stipend would be a welcome relief to my financial stress. With that kind of money, I could do an apprenticeship somewhere or even one day open my own restaurant. Those are my real goals, where I’ve put my energy in adulthood. I’ve hardly spent any time dreaming of the perfect wedding and Prince Charming. It’s obvious what the right decision is.
“Okay,” I say. “I’ll do it.”
They both look shocked. “Really?” Mr. Burgess asks.
“Yes.”
He sits there, just staring at me, stunned. Clearly he thought I’d need more convincing. The lawyer, however, is already putting papers back in her briefcase and looking at her watch. She is all business.
“Excellent news,” Katie says. “Let’s go.” She starts heading toward the door.
“Where?”
“The Justice of the Peace,” she says. “He’s waiting in my office.” She waves at us from the doorway, but I don’t move.
I swallow. “You want this to happen now?”
With a heavy sigh, she walks back to the table. She’s smiling, and it isn’t unsympathetic. “Time is of the essence. Does it really make a difference whether we do this today or tomorrow?”
“No,” I shake my head. “It’s just…fast. It’s a lot.”
“I understand. Why don’t you two wait here, and I’ll go get the justice. You can get to know each other a little better.”
She disappears out the door, and I’m left sitting across from the devastatingly handsome man who’s about to be my husband. “This definitely wasn’t on my to-do list when I woke up this morning.”
“Thank you,” he says. The words are low and fervent. He’s more grateful than he actually wants me to know.
“What’s your name?” I ask.
“What?”
“We’re about to get married,” I say, trying to smile. “I think I should at least know your first name.”
He blinks, surprised. I guess he was so focused on securing my agreement that he didn’t even realize we weren’t officially introduced. “Clayton.”
“Nice to meet you, Clayton.” I hold out my hand and we shake again, the same spark of electricity setting off as our skin brushes. For a beat, we hold eye contact, before Katie’s voice booms in the room.
“All right, lovebirds, let’s get this show on the road.” A tall man in a navy suit walks into the room behind Katie. He has a huge smile on his face, as if he’s about to participate in the marriage of two actual lovebirds. For a moment I consider what Clayton and I look like. How must the justice see us? If I’d known when I got dressed this morning that my day would include my own wedding, I would have reconsidered wearing all black. It seems like a bad omen.
But that doesn’t matter. It’s not a real marriage, I remind myself. It’s only a contract. It means nothing.
Clayton and I both stand, as if synchronized, and walk around the table to the justice of the peace. He’s looking at us with a giddy expression in his eyes. I watch Clayton’s confident strides. He’s taller than I realized, and when we meet in front of the justice, I have to look up to meet his eyes. Up close, I see there’s a dangerous hunger in his eyes, and I’m not sure if it’s because of me, or the fact that I’m about to give him what he so desperately wants.
“You guys want the simple route? Katie here tells me that you guys are eager to get this done.”
“Yes,” Clayton says, finally dragging his eyes away from mine. “Simpler is better.”
I’m not sure what story Katie concocted for this man, but as we stand in front of him, I feel dizzy. I’m getting married. Married. Doesn’t it take time to get marriage licenses?
As if I conjured the answer from my own thoughts, I see Katie laying out documents on the table beside us, one of them a marriage license.
“Perfect,” the justice says with a grin. And he begins to marry us. This all has to be a dream. It’s all moving so quickly. I know it’s happening, and that I’ve agreed, but at the same time it feels like the entire world is moving in fast forward and I have no idea where the pause button is. I feel like I’m an actress in a movie. The words I’m repeating, I’ve heard dozens of times before. “Do you, Rachel. . .” “Do you, Clayton. . .” But from my lips, right now, they sound like a foreign language. And the man in front of me, the groom, he’s actually like a soap opera actor come to life. I stare at his face, so new to me and strange, and try to reconcile the fact that in just minutes, he will be my legal husband!
