“Keep up the pretense?” Nancy asked. “But you got out before anything happened.”
“Well, that was the plan, but things went a little crazy.”
Nolan piped up. “Yes, and that’s why you sent me in. We just adapted to the changing situation and went with a new plan.”
Rita’s eyes were impossibly large, and she cocked her head to the side, moving closer to the computer screen. “What new plan?”
“We were unable to get into the office because they got to us before our allotted time. Errol had to stand in as the witness because the photographer was late. So, with him, Junelle, and the officiant all waiting, we went through with a sham ceremony and then, when Errol left the chapel, we snuck into the office and got what we needed.”
Rita hip-bumped Nancy to move her over and plopped into the chair with her daughter. “Sham ceremony? What exactly did you do?”
“Don’t worry, it wasn’t real. We didn’t even use our real names. I knew you had only given the middle names for the wedding license and the rest of the info was fake. We made sure we didn’t use our full legal names when we said our vows,” Nolan declared.
Rita gasped, and Nancy’s head swung around to stare at her mother. “Vows!”
As Lynn stared at Rita’s shocked expression, she could have sworn she saw a twinkle mixed in with shock in her eyes. She turned toward Nolan as he continued to explain.
“Uh, yeah. We just did the really quick ceremony. You know, the ‘I do’ part and the rings. But it didn’t mean anything, and without our real information on the marriage license, it’s not a real wedding.”
“I don’t know how to tell you this,” Rita began, drawing everyone’s attention to her. “But when two people pledge marriage vows to each other, even if they’re using false names, they’re still legally married. Nolan, Lynn… you two are really married!”
“What?” they both gasped at the same time. Or, rather, she gasped in disbelief, and he shouted, causing her to jump.
“Yes. A marriage license is only needed up until the wedding. Then it doesn’t matter. The only legally binding contract is the marriage certificate. It didn’t matter what I put on the marriage license because you two were never going to actually go through the ceremony. That wasn’t in your plan! If you’re of legal age, not siblings, have sufficient mental capacity, sober, and not currently married… then the marriage certificate is real. You’re legally married even if you didn’t use your real names!”
“No fuckin’ way!” he shouted again.
Lynn jerked her gaze from the computer screen to Nolan, watching his anger grow. A rush of mixed emotions hit her. We can’t be married. Her stomach plummeted as the heat of his anger scored through her. This really was a sham… all just sex and nothing more.
“Well, at least it’s not consummated. Right?” Nancy said, her gaze hopeful.
Nolan’s face turned to stone and his head slowly turned to Lynn still sitting next to him. She opened her mouth, but no words came forth.
“Oh, my God. You two slept together!” Nancy cried out. “Mom and I always thought you two would be good together!”
Lynn heard her, but her gaze was locked onto his face, no longer able to read his thoughts. Icy fingers crept over her and she shivered. She slowly shook her head back and forth, still lacking the ability to voice the tumultuous thoughts running through her mind.
“You. You did this.”
His voice was a deep, rumbling thunder of words. He was still staring at her, indicating the ‘you’ he was referring to was her. He cocked his head toward the computer screen and continued. “I should’ve known you were involved when my sister concocted this ridiculous scheme. You’ve been hot for me since you were a teenager.”
“You’ve got to be kidding! Jesus, that was almost twelve years ago! I assure you that I have not been sitting around pining for you all this time!” Lifting her hand where the wedding ring nestled at the base of her finger, she shook it in front of his face. “You can’t possibly think I did this on purpose! I wasn’t even going to go through with this! You were the one who agreed to her scheme before I even came on board! This is not on me!”
“Nolan, Lynn, stop this.” They swung their gaze back to the computer screen. Rita’s lips were tight as she shook her head. “You both need to step back and take a breath. We can figure this all out, but you two getting angry with each other is not going to help.”
“I can’t believe you.” As Lynn spoke, her voice was soft but shaky as Nolan pierced her with his gaze again. “I had no ulterior motive when I agreed to this scheme to get information. I had no idea her simple plan was going to have to change. And I certainly had no idea that we would spend time together as we have in the last couple of days. I knew it was only for now. I knew it was only temporary. But I thought we’d gotten to know each other well enough that you’d know that I would never stoop so low as to try to trick anyone into marrying me! How you can even accuse me of that, I cannot imagine.”
He leaped to his feet and paced. Finally, he whirled around, snatched the key card from the coffee table, and stalked toward the door. With his hand on the knob, he looked over his shoulder and growled, “Right now, I don’t know anything other than I need to figure out how to get out of this mess.” With that, he left the room, his heavy footsteps disappearing down the hall.
Forgetting Nancy, Rita, or the conference call, she stared at the closed door for a long moment, her stomach clenching as she blinked back the tears.
“Lynn?” Nancy’s soft voice called out.
Jerking her head
