Page 103 of For All It's Worth
City hall was busy and our group took up most of the waiting room. It was slightly overwhelming how quickly everyone had dropped everything to come and celebrate with us.
Mom and Matty both looked gorgeous, though Mom had to stop sneering at the venue. Matty kept giving her side looks and inching away.
“Hey,” Alex approached, with his girlfriend, Sarah and Joe. “Congratulations, I’m happy for you both.” Alex leaned in for a hug, followed by Sarah and Joe.
“Thanks for coming, glad you could make it.” We shared a smile and I moved to greet the next group. Two years had made quite the difference with my eldest brother. We’d never be close friends, but we were something like it now.
Andy rushed me, clasping my hands after a fierce embrace. “I’m so excited for you both! This is such ayouway to do it, too.”
I laughed. “Thanks, I think.”
“You and Max are as committed to each other as me and Will are. You don’t need the marriage certificate to prove it, but it’s great that you are putting those kids you want to foster before your ideas about marriage. I know how important it is to Max, to give a stable home to teens that have similar backgrounds as him.”
“Is that why?” Mom cut in, she’d slowly gravitated towards her favorite son-in-law.
“I haven’t said much about it at our family dinners, but Andy knows we’ve been going through the process to get approved to foster,” I told her with a shrug. “We thought that not being married might be a stumbling block and Miriam confirmed it today. There’s never going to be anyone for me but Max, he’s been there for everything, so a piece of paper is meaningless to us. The city and the state, not so much.” I shrugged again and Mom sniffled before folding me into a hug.
“Oh darling, this makes so much sense now! We’ll have dinner at the house after. We can order in. All your friends can come.” She moved away to make some calls, probably to the house staff to get everything prepared and I looked after her retreating back with a smile.
Henry and Pete approached and we shared hugs before Henry whispered in my ear. “You owe me fifty dollars.” A reminder of our bet over two years ago.
I laughed. “Got it right here!” I handed over the bill before hugging my best friend again. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“Holly says she’s sorry that she couldn’t get away, there was no other management cover with me here, but she’ll come see you guys soon.”
Before I could reply, we were called into the room. The guests all went ahead of us to take seats and then I took Max’s hand and walked in behind. Asher and Izzy had been busy taking photos of people as they arrived and both captured us as we walked down the makeshift aisle to the clerk that would officiate our wedding.
The ceremony passed in minutes, punctuated by either me or Max repeating the clerk’s words, and finished with our solemn I do’s.
The moment weighed heavy on us. We may not have wanted to get married before, but now it was happening, it felt so very real and important.
All the eyes in the room watched as we were pronounced husbands, and the clerk notified the room of Max’s name change to soft exclamations from my mom and cheers from our friends.
Flashes surrounded us as we shared our first kiss as husbands, our arms wrapped tightly around each other, smiles on our faces as our lips touched.
I’d never been more sure of my place in the world; at the side of my best friend and husband.
The End
