“I brought food,” she said and crossed between them to place the food and drinks on the table. “What are you two discussing?”
Madelaine kept her gaze on Jack when she said, “We’re about to go to the courthouse and get married. Want to be our witness?”
Seraphina didn’t seem the least bit fazed. “Sure, but can we eat first? I’m about to be really cranky.”
“Sure. We can’t have a cranky witness,” Madelaine said with a grin.
Meanwhile, Jack was wandering through a dream. Must be a dream. He was about to marry the love of his life, Madelaine Archer, in a secret Justice of the Peace ceremony in downtown Alienn, Arkansas, at the courthouse, with only her proxy bidder, Seraphina, as witness. The marriage would be in place for an undetermined length of time before she moved to annul this madness.
Apparently, he thought wryly, there was a fine line between madness and a dream come true in this particular case.
Jack had been clear that he was not going to be party to an annulment, but that didn’t mean Madelaine wouldn’t disappear on him once her errand was complete, which would break his heart forever.
However, he was living for the now. He loved Madelaine and he was about to marry her so he could help her, because she trusted him. Everything else was going to have to reside on a back burner. He hoped he wasn’t making a colossal mistake. His heart might not recover another break of the magnitude losing Madelaine a second time would render, but it didn’t change anything for him.
His bride-to-be started pulling food out of the bags Seraphina had brought, dragging him out of his daydream. He hadn’t realized how hungry he was until he smelled the food.
They shared a quick meal and then the two women went into the bedroom to find an outfit and disguise for Madelaine for their courthouse adventure.
He’d wear the jacket from his go bag that didn’t need ironing after being crammed in the bottom of the bag for months. It really was miracle fabric.
Jack wasn’t certain what Madelaine and her friend were coming up with for a bridal outfit, but that didn’t matter to him. They were essentially eloping, with no family or friends present for the ceremony. It wasn’t far off from what they’d planned to do before Madelaine left Earth.
In high school and college, they had not spent a lot of time discussing the perfect wedding. Madelaine mentioned once or twice that she only wanted a small backyard wedding with a close circle of family and friends in attendance. He’d been grateful she didn’t want extravagant. Then again, she’d always been down to earth and practical.
Was she still that way? Likely.
They had both agreed that a cool, lively reception would be in order, but he surmised they’d have to forego that for this elopement, at least until her errand was complete.
And honestly, it would probably never happen, since she wanted to annul this marriage from the get-go, once she didn’t need a husband anymore.
Whew. Heart blow.
I should set up an early warning system to stop torturing myself.
Madelaine had always tried to be practical, but her inner girly-girl was ecstatic that she was about to marry the man of her dreams and would not shut up or be put down. It was all she could do not to squeal in delight, given what was about to happen.
She was going to marry Jack Grey.
The one.Herone.
Even as she knew she didn’t get to keep him, it was difficult to keep the bounce out of her step when the three of thementered the courthouse and headed for the Justice of the Peace’s office. They had stopped by Jack’s house to pick up the rings. Jack wouldn’t let her see them yet.
“I’d like it to be a surprise, okay?” he’d said, hopping back into the car.
“Sure.” Madelaine had secretly been glad. She wanted to be surprised by the ring he’d selected for her back when they’d been wildly in love and the wicked ways of the world hadn’t yet intruded on their blissful ignorance regarding their future.
Even though Seraphina had helped her don yet another disguise, she was glad there weren’t many people milling about in the main corridor of the courthouse. For this adventure, she chose to be a redhead, with loose waves falling to her shoulders. She wore a sleeveless, torso-hugging dress in an off-white print with small blue flowers. The skirt flared out and fell below her knees. Her plain, off-white denim jacket complimented the dress.
Madelaine thought the thin black wire-framed glasses made her look like she was a teacher or at least someone smarter than she was. The dress was old, the glasses were new and she’d borrowed a set of blue sapphire earrings from Seraphina.
She was all set.
Jack had on a casual dark gray jacket, a light blue collared shirt and black pants. He managed to look amazing even as simply as he was dressed.
They perused the building’s office directory, posted on the wall by the entry, and found the correct room number. The three of them said nothing as they headed toward the Justice of the Peace’s office.
