“You’re beautiful,” he said, his voice husky as he looked her up and down. “We’ll take it,” he said and nodded to the blond. “Let’s go,” he said and took her hand. “I’m sorry that you can’t get your hair and nails done, Marissa. But we really need to hurry.”
Marissa was almost running behind him, trying to pull his hand to slow him down, but he ignored her feeble attempt and rushed her out of the boutique. “I can’t take this dress, Zeke,” she gasped when he didn’t even stop to pay for the dress. “I can’t…” she wasn’t sure what she was going to say but he stopped her by pushing her back into the limousine, which quickly sped off once again as soon as he was in the car as well.
She pushed her hair out of her eyes and looked up at him, pushing the skirt of the dress down so he could see her angry expression. “Zeke, what’s going on?” she demanded, hoping he would understand her frustration at being kept in the dark.
He shook his head and pulled out his cell phone once again. “We’re on the way. We’ll be there in less than five minutes.” He waited, nodded his head at whatever someone was telling him and his mouth compressed with frustration. He glanced at her only once before he turned away and nodded. “I understand. Make sure everything is ready. Matt understands what’s going on, correct?” Another pause and he nodded. “Good. We’re almost there.”
“Zeke,” she started again, only to be interrupted by another phone call. She tried to wait patiently for him to finish, but she felt extremely silly sitting in the elegant car in a gorgeous wedding dress when it was barely even eleven o’clock in the morning. When they pulled up to a large, sandstone building, a side entrance that seemed vaguely familiar, Marissa was becoming downright agitated. She tried to hide it while he spoke on the phone, but when he once again pulled her out of the car, she became angry that he was treating her like this and not telling her anything. “Zeke, I’m not taking another step until you tell me what’s going on!” stated firmly and dug her heels in to stop their momentum. They were standing in the middle of the hallway, the sun shining through the lone window behind him while her eyes revealed her frustration and impatience.
In response, Zeke glanced at his watch, then looked both ways down the hallway. “If you could just hold your questions for another thirty seconds, we’ll be in Matt’s office and you’ll understand.” He waited for her to briefly nod her acquiescence before proceeding down yet another hallway. When they finally came to a door marked “Judge Matthew Johnson” Marissa felt her stomach muscles tighten with fear.
“Why are we here?” she asked, but a part of her knew. The wedding dress should have been a tipoff, but she simply couldn’t believe that Zeke would hurry through any sort of marriage ceremony in this manner.
As soon as they entered, Zeke nodded to an older man, presumably “Matt”, who was standing in the middle of his office along with two older women, one on each side of him.
Zeke nodded to the older, stately gentleman. “Give us just a moment,” he said and turned to Marissa. “We’re getting married,” he stated with absolute finality, then waited to see her reaction. When her eyes widened, he took both of her hands in his and held them steady. “We have to, Marissa. And you know exactly why.”
Marissa was already shaking her head. Less than an hour ago, she’d been laying on her bed and had come to the decision that she would marry Jimmy Traveri just to protect Zeke from her father’s retribution. Now she was standing in front of a federal judge in a wedding dress and Zeke was asking…no, telling her, that they were going to be married?
“We can’t,” she said with finality and tried to pull her hands away.
Zeke wouldn’t release her. He pulled her closer and rubbed her freezing hands to try and warm them up. “Marissa, I’m not letting you go. And you know exactly why we have to be married. It must be quick. Don’t worry about the rest. We can work out the details later. Let’s just get this over with and we can talk, okay? I need to make sure you are safe and this is the fastest way I can think of right at the moment.”
Marissa didn’t agree, but Zeke turned to the older man and nodded.
Matt smiled reassuringly. “Good morning, Ms. Berutelli. This is my wife, Olivia Johnson, and my administrative assistant, Rosemary. They’ll act as witnesses for the ceremony if that’s okay with you.”
“She’s fine with that,” he said before Marissa could even open her mouth to agree or disagree.
Marissa was about to grumble something impolite about rude men making assumptions, but she noticed the distinguished looking judge was having a hard time suppressing his amusement. The older women also had laughter in their eyes so she stood there quietly in her gorgeous gown, trying to figure out how to stop this insanity.
“Let’s begin,” Matt said with a general nod to the group.
Zeke agreed but Marissa shook her head. “I need a private word with you,” she snapped up at Zeke.
He didn’t even bother to look down at her but took her hand in his and nodded to Matt. “We’re ready to begin.” Without looking at her he bent lower and said, “We’ll talk privately later. I know this is strange, but a marriage certificate will keep you safe.”
The judge chuckled at their identical, belligerent expressions but looked down at a book he was holding in his hands. “Marissa Desiree Berutelli, do you take Zeke Randolph Vaughn to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, forsaking all others. If so, say ‘I do’.”
Marissa looked around as four sets of eyes turned and looked down at her. She even looked behind her and realized there were two bulky men standing behind her. Those two men weren’t looking at her, but one peered out the door, then back in the office.
“She does,” Zeke said when she continued to hesitate.
“Really?” Marissa asked with sarcasm dripping from the one word. “I do?”
Zeke winked at her. “There, she said it. Let’s move on.”
Matt laughed and shook his head. “She has to sincerely say it, Zeke. You can’t railroad her through this ceremony.”
Zeke sighed heavily and turned to face Marissa. “I know this is confusing to you, but you’re going to have to trust me. Everything will be fine. We won’t make any lasting promises today. Just get through the ceremony and we’ll figure out the rest later on. Okay?”