AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Fake marry. Whatever.
“If you’re having second thoughts,” he said. “I get it. I do. I mean, it’s one thing to talk about this, but actually doing it?”
“Are you having second thoughts?” she asked him. But he shook his head. That was Jack, once his mind was made it up it was made. “Me neither,” she said.
What she didn’t say was that this ceremony, the land, the ranch, their pretend marriage – it was comforting to her. It was a string that would connect them no matter where in the world he went. And she believed, she honestly believed some day he would see her. Really see her.
And he would love her. The way she loved him.
“Come on,” she said. Pulling her best friend, the love of her life and her fake husband back into motion. “Let’s go get married.”
The courthouse was quiet and their boots as they walked were so loud it made her laugh which made him laugh. And then he tried to tiptoe which was the ridiculousness she needed.
We’ll be okay. If nothing else we’ll always be friends.
Jack had gotten the special licence and the clerk’s office was empty. The justice of the peace was waiting for them and when they walked into his book lined office all her laughter stopped.
This was real. It was marriage. They could pretend it was fake or whatever, but it was real. Legal and binding. They would be married in the eyes of the law. She squared her shoulders again, lifted her chin.
“I couldn’t imagine doing this with anyone else,” Jack murmured as the justice and his assistant got all the paperwork together.
“Me neither,” she said, though she knew it was for different reasons.
When the ceremony started she listened to every word he said, etching it all into her brain.
Marriage is a commitment. Cherish each other as special and unique individuals; respect each other’s thoughts and ideas; and live each day that you may share it together.
“Mia Alatore, do you take this man to be your legal husband?” he asked, his bearded face, smiling.
“I do,” she said.
“Jack McKibbon, do you take this woman to be your legal wife?”
“I do,” he said, his solemn voice filling her with shivers.
“Do you have rings you would like to exchange?” The justice asked and Mia looked at Jack, blankly. She didn’t even think of it. Rings?
Jack smiled at her and pulled from his pocket a thin gold band. For her.
“I didn’t get you one,” she whispered. And from his pocket he pulled another ring. Wider. For him.
They slipped the rings on each other’s fingers and there was nothing pretend about how she felt. This is the beginning, she thought. The beginning of us. Of everything we could be.
“I now pronounce you man and wife,” the justice said. “You may kiss the bride.”
It was their first kiss and she’d dreamt of it a million times in the years they’d known each other. She closed her eyes and leaned towards him. The press of his lips was dry and fast and over before it seemed to start. Her yearning for him embarrassed her the way it always did.
And someday he’ll see what we could be and this marriage will be real. I know it will.
1
Five Years Later
The maps were…wrong.
Jack McKibbon flipped through the latest topographical charts and compared them to last year’s. They were building the permanent compound too far away from the new drill site. His crew would have to take a damn bus between the two. He’d been staring at these maps for an hour and there was no other way to look at the new information.
Someone had screwed up, and considering they were heading back to fix the pump and redrill in El Fasher next month, these kinds of errors could cause serious problems.
He patted through the files, the aerial photos of the well site that needed repair and the embassy report on the recent cease-fire between the Sudanese government and the JEM rebel forces in the Darfur area, until he felt the hard edge of his cell phone. He hit speed dial without even looking.
“Jack?” Oliver, his partner and friend answered. “Is Mia—”
“Have you looked at the maps?”
“The maps? You brought the maps?” Oliver, a little more jolly than the average hydroengineer, laughed.
“Of course. I had all the files couriered. They arrived a while ago. I thought you’d want to get a jump on things.”
“I can’t believe you brought your work to the hotel. One night is not going to make a difference, Jack. How about you take a break. We’re going to party. Mia’s coming—”
“I’d hardly call it a party,” Jack said, sorting through the mineral reports. He needed to recheck that silver count. That could change the water table information.
“There will be food and booze. By most standards, that actually is a party.”
