Page 42 of When Love Takes Over
We’d been in my car for about ten minutes, headed to the Orland Park courthouse. The conversation with my father kept replaying in my head, so I was very distracted.
“My father was waiting in my office when I returned.”
“You argued?”
“I wouldn’t say we argued, but the conversation wasn’t great. He’ll be all right, though. Once we get married, they’ll have what they want, and I won’t have to worry about being paired with someone I’m not even attracted to.”
“I’m sure I’m not the kind of woman your family envisioned you marrying. How do you think they’ll react to the news?”
“I don’t know, and honestly, I don’t particularly care. They want me to get married, so that’s what I’m doing.”
We were quiet for a few minutes before she asked a simple question that carried a lot of weight.
“How long?”
“How long what?”
“How long do you want to stay married? We should probably add that to the contract.”
I knew what we’d agreed to, but the fact that we weren’t married yet, and Malyah was already thinking about when the marriage would end, fucked with me.
“If you find being married to me to be insufferable, you can divorce me whenever you’re ready.”
“Unless you completely switch up on me, I doubt it will ever be insufferable,” she said with a laugh.
“What about a baby?”
I glanced her way for a moment to catch her reaction before turning back to the road. The first time I mentioned a baby, she almost ran for the hills. It was pointless to revisit it until now.
“Kenzo, don’t you think it would be irresponsible of us to bring a child into this situation, knowing it’s temporary?”
“It doesn’t have to be temporary.”
“Huh?”
“This doesn’t have to be temporary, but we’ll talk about it later. We’re here.”
I got out and went around to the passenger side to open the door. We held hands until we entered the building. After going through security, we followed the directions to the clerk’s office. The process took about thirty minutes since we didn’t complete the form beforehand.
“That was easy,” she said when we stepped outside.
“Were you expecting more?”
“I was, but it was painless. Where to now?”
“To the jeweler to pick up our rings. You want to handle the dress shopping alone, or would you like some company?”
“Isn’t there a rule against the groom seeing the bride in her dress before the wedding?”
“If you’re superstitious.”
Our conversation paused briefly while we got into my car.
“If you are, you can go shopping alone,” I continued.
“I don’t have time for superstitions. My luck is bad enough without them. Where are we going?”
“I have a few places in mind.”
