Page 94 of My UnTrue Love
“You can pay for the ceremony on the way out.” Tony groused. The Kitchen’s dour waiter and aspiring drummer was their officially-licensed, part-time officiant. He worked at the twenty-four-hour wedding chapel Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturday afternoons, clearly resenting every minute of it. “It’ll cost extra, if you want a picture.”
“Oh, I think we want a picture.” Bill glanced at his shell-shocked bride. “Don’t you think we want a picture, darlin’?”
“Um… I guess?” The kiss seemed to have stunned her out of her rant. Clem swallowed. “Hank will probably like seeing a photo.”
“Sure he will!” Bill enthused. “Why, we can get copies for all your brothers, as a fun surprise.”
“I really should have worn a cuter outfit.” She looked down at herself, like she wasn’t quite certain how she’d gotten there. “Maybe bought a veil at the general store. I just wasn’t expecting everything to happen so fast.”
“You look stunning, just as you are. Prettiest bride I ever saw.” That skirt showcased her luscious ass like the work of art it truly was. Bill couldn’t imagine why she ever wore anything else.
Tony glowered. The beaver wasn’t bothering to hide his irritation that Bill had married a muse. His huge, flat tail tapped against the floor in irritation. “Thisdoesseem fast. I thought Clem was just your manager. How long have you two been dating?”
“Oh, we’ve never dated.” Clementine shook her head, so her blonde curls swayed. “We were getting to that step, I think? But then I proposed and Bill sortahadto say yes. It was all an accident.”
“Accidents are just opportunities in disguise.” Bill opined.
Tony squinted at Clem, ignoring that bit of greeting card wisdom. “How do youaccidentallypropose?”
“I’m not really sure…?” She made a perplexed face. “But it happened this morning. Later, we were walking to the racetrack --for Bill’s job interview-- and somehow we got lost. We found ourselves right outside of this wedding chapel.”
“Camp Town Racetrack is on the other side of town.” Tony argued.
“Another fortuitous accident, some would say.” Bill shrugged expansively. “But me? I believe that everything happens for a reason.” This particular reason being that he’d dragged Clem right to the front door of the chapel.
“Bill suggested we come inside, just to see about pricing and stuff. And the next thing I knew we were standing in front of you, saying ‘I do.’ …Or whatever it was we said.” Clem wrinkled her nose. “So poor Bill was rushed through our datingandour engagement.”
Tony still looked dubious.
“I don’t favor long engagements.” Bill told Clementine. “We were getting hitched either way, so it might as well be right now.”
Before she changed her mind.
Clem mulled that over, some color returning to her cheeks. “I suppose you’re right. Dinah will insist on seeing a marriage scroll, before she lets you on stage.”
Bill didn’t like her reducing their wedding into some job opportunity. It was a blessed and long-awaited event. He’d been plotting how to become her groom since the second she smiled at him. “This isn’t about playin’ The Kitchen.”
Tony’s mouth dropped open in sudden understanding. “Dinah’s going to put Bill on stage, because you got married?”
Clementine nodded. “It’s all so sudden for Bill. He needs time to adjust.”
“I don’t need time to adjust.” Bill assured her. “I never need a thing. And our marriage is not about Dinah.”
Tony flashed Bill a bitter scowl, his aspiring musicianship all in a tizzy. “I guess this is a damn sight easier than working hard or burning your creativity out with Hasten-2. Fiddly-i-o, you get a career handed to you on a silver platter! A museandmusic connections, so long as you shackle yourself to Clementine.”
Clem winced.
Maybe she was recalling how Johnny used her for her magic. Maybe she was worried that Bill was just the same as that fuckwit. Maybe she was wondering if their transcendent wedding had been a mistake. Bill didnotappreciate Tony undermining his holy union before he and Clem even reached their one-hour anniversary.
He fixed the beaver with a dangerous look. “You just upset my wife.” He said quietly.
“You’re the one who married her under false pretenses.”
“I married her because she’s my mate.”
Beside him, tension eased from Clem. She believed Bill’s pronouncement. Good. He liked her understanding the truth about their bond.
“Coyotes don’t have mates.” Tony argued.
