Christine hugged her son and then grinned. “You’re going back to where it all began.”
“What’s that mean?” Christopher asked.
“You’re moving to Arizona to be with Wanda and the baby, right?”
“Yes.”
“And she lives in Yuma.”
“Yes,” they both said.
“There’s a huge Marine base in Yuma.”
“That’s right. My husband’s stationed out of there,” Gypsy said. “He’s currently on deployment, but he left from there and god willing when he returns, he’ll be returning there. But what does that have to do with Christopher?”
“His father was in the Marines for twenty-five years. Both of us were born where we currently live. His first deployment was in Yuma. We were there for three years. That’s where Christopher was born. When he was three, we were transferred to California. Andfrom there all over the world and back. You settling in Yuma, you’re going back to your roots.”
“Wow, I never knew. I thought I was born in California.”
“Nope.” They sat around and discussed the baby and Wanda and Christopher’s marriage. Shortly after Christine put the Thanksgiving dinner on the table and they were all thankful that their lives were moving forward in positive directions.
*****
“Let me get this straight.” The judge looked at the two people standing in front of her. “You want me to throw your legal separation out so you two can stay legally married?”
“Yes.” they both answered.
The judge studied the two before her intently. She had to say they made a good-looking couple. Miss Perkins practically glowed, and Mr. Evans had a huge grin on his face, and when he looked over at his wife, he glowed also. But she had some questions that needed to be answered first.
“What steps have you made to make this a real marriage?”
“In the last month.” Mr. Evans began. “I’ve sold my condo in New York and my business partner, and I have moved to Yuma. I’m living with Wanda in every sense of the word of being married. Like we share the same bed, live in the same location, share meals, split the bills, go out to dinner, everything. My business partner is converting the space above our business into an apartment. He’s currently staying with us until the work is done.”
“And you agree with this arrangement?” The judge looked over at Wanda for her confirmation.
“I do. I have six bedrooms available, Sean isn’t in the way, and I have my own work downstairs. Both Christopher and Sean help me when they’re not working on their space. They’ve already gotten several clients, and it’s working out well at this time. I don’t see anything that would upset it.”
The judge was silent for a long time, trying to get her thoughts together.
“Your Honor,” Wanda said, and when the judge looked at her, she put her hand over her small baby bump. “I don’t know if this will help you decide. But I’m almost eighteen weeks pregnant. Christopher is the father. You’ve read our case and see that we haven’t been together as husband and wife since the ceremony took place. The only time we consummated the marriage was back in July the weekend before we were here. Christopher is the single man I’ve had sexual relations with.
“This pregnancy is a miracle in itself. I know you don’t know my whole story, but you know the circumstances of our wedding.”
“Go on.” The judge was fascinated by the woman before her.
“I had seven rounds of radiation at the age of three. A round is once a day, six days a week for seven weeks. I went through those seven different times in a year. On top of that, I had about fifteen rounds of chemo. After I had the bone marrow transplant, I was told the likelihood of conceiving a child was less than two percent.” When it looked like the judge, wanted to say something Wanda held up her hand.
“When I was thirteen, I had severe lower back pain and lower abdominal pains. After extensive testing, it was found that I had one bad kidney. To this day, they don’t know if it’s a result of the radiation and chemo, or the donor marrow DNA, or what. But I was in the hospital on dialysis for over a year before I received a donor kidney. My fifteenth birthday was spent in the OR getting the new organ. Afterward, and to this day, I’m on medication for life, so I don’t reject the kidney. I was then told my chances of conceiving were slim to none. This is a miracle baby. It belongs to my husband. I love him, deeply. We would like to stay married and bring our miracle into this world together.”
Wanda didn’t realize she’d been crying until Christopher walked over and used his handkerchief to wipe her tears and hug her. With his arm around her, they looked at the judge. “Your Honor, I would like to stay married to my wife and be with her as any married couple. I love Wanda with all my heart and welcome her and our child into our lives.”
The judge studied them for all of thirty seconds then picked up her gavel and banged it once. “Case dismissed. I’ll make an order to tear it up and put it in your file that you’ve satisfied the court about staying married.” She went to stand then grinned at them. “But check back with the court periodically. Knowing your guys’ luck with the court system, some idiot will file it so that you’ll be automatically divorced at the end of the year.”
“I’ll check diligently,” Tony Harris, Wanda’s lawyer, said. “Thank you, your honor.” They left the courthouse and Tony declined their invitation to lunch saying he had another case coming up. Christopher andWanda walked hand in hand to the parking lot, and before he helped her into his SUV, he kissed her soundly.
“Let’s go pick out our wedding bands, Mrs. Evans.” He grinned then paused and frowned hard. “Do you want another ceremony? Now that we’re older and wiser we can have another ceremony.”
“No, I kind of like the one we had. Look at the stories we can tell our grandkids. We can say that the first twenty years of our marriage was perfect. If you wanted me to wear your ring, I wouldn’t say no, but know that you have to wear one also. I don’t care if I have a diamond, because I won’t be able to wear it while I work, but I think I can get a plain band.”
