“Why do you sound like that?” my mother questioned me with a scoff.
“It’s nothing, just if he didn’t want to hear what was going on, why did he get on the line?”
“Anya.”
I heard rustling from the other end of the phone until it became completely silent. Then my mother started up again.
“Your father is a very particular man. He doesn’t show much emotion. Never has, probably never will, but don’t ever let that fool you into thinking he doesn’t love you, Anya.”
“Mom.”
“No. Listen. We might have our disagreements, Anya, but it’s different with your father. After you left for New York, something changed. We didn’t tell you, but he retired. He’s been home every single day with me. We’ve been traveling a lot too. I have no idea what went through his head that day, but something about seeing you chase after love brought back the man I married thirty years ago.”
“What?” I was pacing in the small space around me, completely unaware of Law’s conversation now. All of this was happening with my parents and I knew none of it.
“I don’t think he ever thought this day would come. Not even after you left, but now that it’s here, I think he just needs some time to process it, Anya.”
“I can do that.” I sat down at a bar stool. “And for the record, I didn’t think this day would come either, Mother.” I turned toward Law who was facing the wall as he talked. I just kept hearing him sayone month. If he thought this wedding was going to happen in that short of time, he had another thing coming to him. I was pretty sure my mother had magazines saved up for this specific date. I looked down at my hand where the ring Law had put on it rested easily.
“So, let’s say a year,” she started to say, but Law was next to me instantly, disagreeing with words I didn’t know he could hear.
“One month.” He slapped his hand down on the counter next to me. It wasn’t a question, but a demand.
“You tell that crazy man that this wedding can’t happen in one month.” My mother tried to shout through the phone.
“Oh.” Law leaned in closer to me. “I promise. It will happen in one month. No longer.”
He looked me in the eyes and my insides melted. I could feel that even the one month was a compromise. I was sure that’s what he was arguing with his mom about. I was certain that if it were up to Law, we would have the wedding today. I was actually surprised he wasn’t whisking me out of the house right now, but then again, I was grateful he couldn’t move too much. Even walking from the table to the counter you could see the pain in each step and that he was already out of breath.
“Absolutely not. There is so much that will need to be—”
Law grabbed the phone out of my hand while my mother tried to object, making sure not to make any quick movements.
I watched as he held the phone to his ear. I could hear my mother yelling over the phone and once she was quieted, Law began to speak, but he didn’t do it in front of me. He walked back over to the table and talked in hushed tones. When I tried to get up from the stool to come over to him, he held a finger up to stop me. This wasn’t a conversation he wanted me to be a part of. He turned his back to me and continued to talk to my mother. It wasn’t until he held the phone out to me that I moved and when I picked the phone out of Law’s hands, my mother’s whole attitude had changed.
“Well.” She sounded defeated. “I guess we’ll be having the wedding in a month.”
I had no idea what Law had said to my mother that day, nor what he had even told his mother, but whatever it was, it had everyone around us agreeing to let us get married in one month.
I hung up the phone and glanced at Law, who had a huge smile on his face. He reached for my waist and pulled me into his lap. I made sure to sit down as gently as I could and when I wrapped my arms around his neck he leaned in for a kiss.
“One month, fiancée.” His words rang out and I didn’t care to argue.
Whatever Law wanted, Law could have, as long as it meant I could have it with him.
-----
There was something about having an overbearing significant other, and that was how he was always two steps ahead of me. I had found out later the day Law proposed why I couldn’t get ahold of Leah or Axel. It was because they were already on a plane down to Alabama to celebrate with us, and a celebration it had been.
In fact, within the last month it had been a whirlwind of everything happening all at once. It took two weeks for Law to fully heal and in those two weeks we tried to get as much as we could prepared for the wedding, from choosing wedding bands to the colors, the invitations, the invite list, the venue, all from the comfort of our home. It had been a hard one, both of us having different views for the entire event, but somehow each time, Law won out. I wanted yellow and purple and he wanted white and peach. I wanted a simple church wedding, but he chose an undisclosed location. The more time we spent on choosing different things I kept getting this feeling that Law already had this whole wedding planned out. He had an input into everything, even my bouquet, but yet no one would tell me anything.
The only thing he did let me choose without argument was my wedding band. I just wanted a plain band, nothing to take away from the beauty he had personally chosen to propose to me with.
Not only had things been crazy for the wedding, but once the doctors cleared Law to race again, he was back out on the road immediately. I had opted not to go with him in order to get the wedding in line, but I made sure to watch every single race and since Leah and Axel had stayed in Alabama, along with my family, us all got together, even Law’s folks, and watched the races in the theatre room.
It had become a weekly occurrence that each of us had always made sure to dress up in our Kane racing attire in order to be race ready for the weekend. We had watched as a family Law win a race and come in the top ten. I was so proud each time I watched him, wishing I were there to cheer him on.
At one point, Cary had pulled me to the side with my mother and we’d had a conversation about me being there for his wreck.
