Page 83 of Dropping Like Flies
“You hide it extremely well.” I was grinning, all my earlier doubts gone now that he stood in front of me. We didn’t even live together, but after today we’d be married. We were counting on everything else falling into place. A place to live. Telling people. Family approval. Organizing a public ceremony.
“Why are you out here?” Griffin asked, his eyes full of concern. “I thought we were going to meet inside.”
“I needed some fresh air.”
“Are you sure you weren’t doing a runner?”
It seemed I wasn’t the only one concerned about something going wrong. “Never crossed my mind.”
“No? I wouldn’t have blamed you if it had. I treated you terribly and I don’t deserve to be forgiven that easily.”
I grabbed hold of his shoulders and held his gaze. “Don’t! We said we wouldn’t do that. No scab heals if you keep picking at it. If we’re doing this today, it needs to be a completely fresh start. No grudges. No what ifs. No pining for lost years.”
“If we’re doing this today?” Griffin questioned with a raised brow.
“You would home in on that part.”
“I could hardly miss it.”
I looped my arm through his and tugged him toward the door. “Shut up and let’s go and get married.”
“You old romantic.” Despite his words, Griffin was smiling, and he didn’t put up a protest as I steered him through the door. “Cade better turn up.”
“He’s already here. He got here before I did. Said he didn’t want to risk getting caught in traffic.”
“And did you find a witness?”
“Sort of.”
“Lou?”
I pulled a face. “It was too short notice. He’s at another wedding.”
“Who then?”
I let out a sigh. “I was at work. It was slim pickings.”
“Who?”
“Paul.”
Griffin bit his lip to stop from laughing. “The one who always does terrible impressions of your accent.”
“That’s the one. It was him or Baros.”
“Wise decision, then.”
“I thought so.”
The registrar was ready by the time we stepped into the room, Cade and Paul stopping their conversation to take up their required positions as witnesses. The registrar said a few words about marriage and then it was time to say our standard vows. We could have added our own words at the end, but we’d chosen to save that for the official ceremony we’d have for family. This wasn’t about declarations of love and promises. This was about righting the wrong that we should have married a long time ago and building on it. Which, granted, lacked a bit of a romance to it. But if we didn’t care, then nobody else should either.
I went first. “I do solemnly declare that I know not of any lawful impediment why I Bendigeidfran Andrew Weaver…”
Paul snorted loudly in the background and I cursed inwardly. Yeah, I hadn’t thought of that when I’d asked him to be a witness. That would make returning to work fun. I had years of being called Bendi stretching in front of me, all thanks to my parents, who’d wanted an authentic Welsh name. Griffin’s hand on my arm was a silent urging to ignore Paul.
I did, looking into Griffin’s eyes while I continued. “…why I Bendigeidfran Andrew Weaver…” No snort this time. Either Paul had remembered where he was or Cade had his hand over the other man’s mouth. “… may not be joined in matrimony to Griffin Ian Caldwell. I call upon these persons here present to witness that I Bendigeidfran Andrew Weaver do take thee Griffin Ian Caldwell to be my lawful wedded husband.” I slipped a ring on Griffin’s finger and he smiled.
The rings were temporary—something fairly cheap that we’d picked up online—and not required for a registry office wedding, but we’d wanted to have them, anyway. Or at least I had. It had been the one thing I’d insisted on. I needed something physical. Something I could wake up and look at the next day and know that this hadn’t been a dream, that it had really happened.
