I simply gave her a small smile, hoping to just hurry this up and get it over with.
Kenna, sensing that we were in a hurry, was able to get everything needed to take off the dirty, faded, white cast that was on my arm. It was a bit noisy as she got the saw, and began to cut through the cast. When it was finally off, my skin was wrinkly, but yet it felt so much better. It was like my arm could breathe in new, fresh air.
“You have to be careful,” she warned. She cut her eyes to Zachariah as she spoke. “Do not put too much pressure on it, since another week would have been better. If it wasn’t for this man here, it would have been on even longer, most likely.”
I could hear the unsaid words about taking our bedroom activities too far to cause my arm more damage. Little did she know that we hadn’t done anything of that sort—yet. I was ready for that step. Ready to fully give myself to the man that I loved.
“It’s only half a week, by the way,” Zachariah pointed out. “And I’ll take care of her.”
“That I have no doubt about,” she said before taking herself out of the room and leaving the door open.
“Ready?” Zachariah asked, a pleased, excited smile on his lips.
“More than ever,” I returned his smile, glad that one thing was out of the way.
By the time we got to the courthouse and parked, it was just a little past noon. My palms began to sweat as we both got out of the car and met Jonas and Travis on the sidewalk.
“Ready for this to be over with?” Travis asked, shooting me his happy grin.
I had been shocked to find out that I had a half-brother, and now I couldn’t be happier. I wished that things were different, but I was happy with how things seemed to be working out.
“Yep,” I answered without a beat. I was ready to get this over with. I was ready to become Zachariah’s wife and be tied forever to him.
Ready to start becomingmore.
I knew that there would be things that would be difficult for both of us to overcome, but that was all part of being married.
Somehow, Zachariah was able to get ahold of a bouquet of mixed roses tied with a simple dark blue ribbon.
“A bride should always have flowers on her wedding day,” he said, handing them to me before we began the walk up to the front doors.
Zachariah had made us an appointment, so there wasn’t much waiting time, luckily. We only had to wait about ten minutes before we were allowed into the small room that had four rows of seats on each side.
There was no walking down the aisle, no music or fancy decorations. It was just the judge, Travis, and Jonas as well as us two who would be married within minutes.
Simple.
Just like what I wanted from the start. This here, was more me than some fancy gathering that was overdone and overpriced.
Travis made us stop and took a few pictures of Zachariah and I together with a mumbled explanation that we may want pictures to look back on later. He seemed happy enough to not be a part of the actual picture taking.
I knew I should have felt the need to have my mother here, or even my best friend if she was still alive. But I didn’t. I didn’t need anyone but Zachariah beside me. Sure, maybe Zachariah’s parents would have enjoyed being here, but just the ones here today were more than enough.
There was no talk of why we’re here. Apparently, the Judge didn’t care as he got right down to business. I had a good guess that Zachariah had paid him off to keep this quiet and to get it done as fast as possible. I definitely wouldn’t put it past him.
Zachariah and I stood facing one another, hands clasped together, repeating our vows when prompted. There was a smile permanently plastered on my face as we stared at each other, mirroring how happy we both were.
When the judge spoke the words, “You may now kiss the bride,” Zachariah didn’t waste any time to crush his lips to mine, claiming me as his own.
He now officially had tied me to him forever.
