Page 54 of Lovers' Dance: Vol. 2

“And I promise to keep your interaction with my parents to the absolute bare minimum. Once a year-”

“Deal.” I agreed in an instant. What’s in a name after all? In my head I’ll always be Madison DuMont, and if taking his name meant he’d keep his snotty parents away from me…yeah, I could live with that.

“Deal?” Matt wanted verification it seemed.

“Deal,” I confirmed. “But I’m only changing it on the electoral roll and by changing it, I really mean hyphenating it. Ok?”

He kissed the tip of my nose before pulling back with a pleased smile on his face, his ‘got my own way’ smile. I wanted to renege on the deal right then to teach him a lesson, but, and this was crappy having to admit to myself, but a part of me did want to be Mrs Madison Bradley. Ah, DuMont-Bradley, that is. A part of me truly wanted to belong to him completely. Fuck. I should be ashamed. It was the 21stcentury, not the 19th.

Matt’s coat pocket rang. “One moment, poppet.” he said before retrieving his cell and glancing at the screen. He gave me another quick kiss, this time my cheek. “I’ll be right back, my driver is outside. He’s brought our documents.”

I watched as he answered the call and stood up, walking off to go meet Dan.

It felt weird not needing to have a license to get married, but it was the Church of England and we held British passports so it was no problem. I thought banns had to be posted, but it seemed it didn’t matter. Or maybe Matt’s donation to the church played a part in the vicar’s willingness to marry us on such short notice. It had been asubstantial donation and I wondered what Matt would do if ever there came a time when his money couldn’t solve a problem.

Were we really doing this? I mean, this wasn’t Vegas! Or Gretna Green, which is where people went to elope in the olden days over here. Why was Scotland always popping into my head at the oddest times? I shook my muddled head and began to reason with myself.

Point 1: we loved each other.

Point 2: we were intending to get married anyway. Why not today?

Point 3: Bella said planning a wedding was stressful. I didn’t want that sort of stress.

Point 4: I liked the fact it was just us. I mean, yes, I had always imagined my family being there on the day. Uncle David walking me down the aisle while Aunt Cleo cried happy tears. Jenny would be a bridesmaid and Sol my maid of honour. Dante and Bret would be groomsmen. And I actually had a groom now…in my fantasies the groom had been faceless, or it was Dante as the groom and Bret as best man. Now I had my very own knight. And my family didn’t like him, so they wouldn’t have been here anyway.

Point 5: it wasgoodit was only us. The thought of dealing with Matt’s family, ugh. Well, his parents mainly, I wouldn’t put it past them to sabotage the wedding.

Point 6: it wasgreatit was only us. There would be no one to protest when the vicar asked if anyone objected to our union. No media trying to sneak in and get pictures of my ass. No hundreds of guests wondering if Matt had lost his mind in the jungle, yeah, a jungle fever reference.

Point 7? I couldn’t think of another point so I twisted my engagement ring around my finger nervously. We were doing this. We were doing this today. This was a good idea. A great idea. This way I wouldn’t have to deal with Matt’s unvoiced recriminations about not setting a date. This was a fantastic idea. This was freaking me the hell out. A dose of calm from my rock was needed. I pulled my cell out of my bag and called Dante. It would be 5am in New York, hopefully D wouldn’t cuss me out for waking him.

It rang and rang until finally, “Hello?” It was a groggy hello, a touch annoyed too.

“Hi, Dante, it’s me.”

“Do you know - (I heard a yawn) - what time it is, sweet cheeks?”

“Yeah, ah, sorry to wake you but,” The words got stuck in my throat. I heard another yawn then a sharp intake of air on Dante’s side.

“But what? Are you ok? Did something happen?” he sounded much more alert now and I could hear the loud creaking of his bed as he moved about.

“I’m fine,” I hastened to reassure him. “Um, look, don’t freak out, but,” I paused to take a deep breath. “Matt and I are getting married today.”

There was silence from Dante then a low, “Girl done lost her goddamned mind.” Then he got loud. “You are kidding me? Right? This is a fucking joke. I’ve only been gone 10 days! What the fuck is going on over there? You’re joking, right?”

I winced at the increasing decibels of his voice. “I’m not joking. We’re in the church right now-”

“You get your black ass the hell outta there.” he yelled. “Are you serious right now? This is a wind up. Liam put you up to this? You guys think this is funny?”

“Dante,” I raised my voice a bit to be heard over his curses. “We’re engaged and-”

“For all of two minutes.” he shouted. “Was this his idea? That fucker. He’s making you do this, isn’t he?”

“Calm down.” I hissed before standing up to pace in front the pew. “It was my idea-”

“Your idea?Youridea? Why? Why are you doing this?” His confusion came through loud and clear.

I shouldn’t have called him, this was not calming me down. “I love him and what’s the point of waiting? I thought you were happy for me? You said you were.” The accusatory note I finished with drew another expletive from my best friend.

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