Page 67 of I Knew You
“Sleep well?” I asked her.
She bit her lip but didn’t take her eyes off me. I leaned against the white stone countertop and gripped the edge behind me while the eggs sizzled.
“I woke up a few times, but my back feels good today,” she replied. “I can’t tell you how glad I am you’re letting me sleep in your bed. It’s just the right firmness for me. So a million times, thank you.”
“My bed is your bed until the end, sweets. Case closed.”
She opened her mouth to speak, but I didn’t give her a chance to argue. I turned around from her and grabbed the coffee pot. “Ready to get married today?” I tried not to sound too eager, but I failed.
“I think so. I don’t have anything nice to wear. Is that okay?”
“Is it an option for you to go unclothed? Because that’s what I’m rooting for.” I turned around with full mugs of coffee and winked at her. She tilted her head, and she watched my face—and my naked chest—as I handed her the coffee I’d doctored up with cream.
“I’m serious.” But she was smiling, and a blush rosied her cheeks. It was everything for me to watch her melt under my truths.
“I’m serious, too,” I replied with a chuckle. “But southerners don’t take well to public nudity, so I think anything you’ve got will be fine unless you want to dress up fancy. If that’s the case, I’ll take you wherever you want to go and buy you whatever you want.”
She shook her head. “No, I don’t want to do that. I have never considered what I’d wear to a fake marriage. Feels anticlimactic to go in my regular clothing, but I guess anticlimactic is kind of the point.” She looked at the floor.
She was trying to separate the intensity between us and what was happening today.
Keeping those thoughts separate was wise. But for me, I was marrying Julianna East, and whether it lasted one month or the rest of my life, I would greedily take what I could get, no matter how fake it was.
She was worth every piece of my heart that I would lose and never regain.
“Let’s color coordinate,” I suggested, flipping the eggs with a spatula. “Your favorite color is olive green, right? Let’s wear that.”
She looked up quickly, her eyes sparkling and bright.
I’d do everything I could to keep that look right at that moment on her face.
“That’s perfect,” she beamed and sipped her coffee.
We were marriedin our jeans and matching olive shirts. Mine was a plaid flannel, hers a soft knit sweater that hugged her curves perfectly. We hadn’t spoken much on the way to the courthouse. During the two-minute ceremony, I’d done what I couldto soothe her, caressing her hands with my thumbs as I held them during our vows. She didn’t look at me much while we recited sacred words, but I couldn’t take my eyes off her. The only time they did was when I saw my sister, Melanie, dressed in her green ranger uniform, slide into the back seat of the courthouse.
Julianna noticed as well. Her eyes went wide.
“The girl from the picture,” she whispered forcefully.
“What picture?” I frowned. “That’s my sister, Melanie.”
“Sister?” She’d exclaimed, and the judge stopped speaking whatever nonsense he was reading out of a small book.
“Sorry,” Julianna said to him when he looked bothered. Then he continued. She didn’t say anything else, but I caressed her hands more thoroughly and whispered, “You’ll meet her. I’ll explain everything.”
Sliding a thin, hammered gold band on her finger near the end was my favorite part. I’d picked it up over the weekend, and it was a little snug, but the gamble had been worth it when her face transformed from apprehension to delight. At the end, when a kiss was expected, I looked at Julianna’s hesitant face, leaned over, and quickly pressed my lips to her warm cheek. She exhaled and whispered a faint, “thank you” under her breath for only me to hear.
The judge who married us looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t place him. Regardless, I shook his hand and said thank you. Mel ran up to us the second we were done, her ponytail swishing with every hurried step.
“Eeek! I am so happy!” She hugged me first, her slight arms tightly wrapping around me, before moving onto a shaken, wide-eyed Julianna.
“Julianna, this is my half-sister, Melanie Richardson,” I said. “Mel, this is Julianna.”
“Ma’am, we need you to sign this,” the clerk interrupted, holding out a pen and the marriage certificate to Melanie. Shesigned on the adjacent desk and gave it back to the awaiting clerk before swinging back to us.
“We share a father, unfortunately,” Melanie announced without preamble. “Bram will have to tell you all about it because I have to get back to work.” Her eyes swung to meet mine. “Do you know how lucky you are, Bram? She’s beautiful.”
“The most beautiful woman in the world,” I replied without hesitation.
