Page 13 of Marrying the Accidental Groom
Q: Is my Tealuan marriage ritual legally binding in the United States?
A: Under current US law, marriages solemnized in Tealua, when performed in accordance with Tealuan tradition and properly filed with the Office of External Records, are recognized as legally binding by the United States. This includes ceremonies designated as part of the Sacred Union Experience. If you participated in a ceremonial rite and your documentation was filed with Tealuan officials, your marriage is considered valid under U.S. law.
This wasn’t a cute souvenir for her travel scrapbook.
This was alegal document.And she had signed it. With her actual, grown-up name.
How had this happened?
“No,” she whispered. “No, no, no.”
She wasn’t just the woman whose fiancé left her. No, that would’ve beentooeasy.
She was the woman who accidentally married a complete stranger at a beachside ceremony—and apparently, it stuck.
Her hands clenched around the paper, fury rising in her throat like bile. At herself. At Tealua. At this whole absurd tropical mess.
She wascareful. Always. That was her thing. She organized her sock drawer by color and style. She made itineraries for shopping trips. She had a Google spreadsheet for gift-giving.
But not this time.
This time, she’d let down her guard, followed her feelings...and signed a freakingmarriage certificatewith a man she’d known for two days and kissed once.
Her vision narrowed. She pressed a hand to her temple, like that might stop her brain from short-circuiting.
She was married.
To a man she’d met at asnack bar. A man whose job title might as well have been Charming Island Interruption.
Juliana sat frozen, knees locked, brain spinning. She wanted to scream. Or throw something. Or rewind time to the moment Gideon had pulled her into that pineapple truck. What kind of idiot got fake-married and accidentally turned it real?
She shoved the certificate back into the envelope and stood, spine straightening as she marched to the closet. She tugged a carry-on suitcase from the shelf, unzipped it, and began tossing clothes inside with clipped, efficient movements. Slacks. Blouses. One casual dress, in case she needed to appear approachable. Flats. Toothbrush. Chargers. Folder.
Everything folded. Everything rolled. Everything controlled.
This would not define her. It was a mistake—a ridiculous, inconvenient, off-itinerary mistake.
And yet.. .she couldn’t pretend it didn’t mean anything.
Juliana paced once, then dropped into the chair beside her breakfast table, heart pounding. Her Bible sat open there, half-buried beneath a stack of unopened mail, the words blurred by the weight of everything crashing down at once.
Marriage was supposed to be forever.
Not a fluke. Not a loophole. Not an accident you erased with paperwork and a shrug. She’d believed that her whole life—that marriage was sacred, binding, unbreakable. A covenant, not a contract.
And now?
Now she was married to someone she barely knew. A man who made her laugh. Who made her furious. Who saw through her too easily.
She folded her hands slowly, her voice tight but honest. “Lord, I don’t know what You’re doing,” she whispered. “But I know You don’t waste things. If there’s something in this I’m supposed to learn...help me see it. And if it’s just another mess I made, then please help me clean it up.”
She paused, her gaze drifting back to the certificate. Whether they knew it was legal or not, something had been spoken aloud between them. Promises she hadn’t intended—but hadn’t taken lightly, either. And wasn’t that what made this harder? An annulment made sense. That was the logical choice.
But she didn’t believe in running from vows. Even ones she never meant to make.
She stood, zipped the suitcase shut, and slung the folder into her tote. It was time to learn firsthand about the Redemption Ridge Ranch Gideon had told her about. Because if she was going to handle this, she had to do it face to face.
She needed to know whether this was really a mistake… or something God had allowed for a reason.
