by M. C. Cerny
“I had it made custom.”
“Hmm. It’s heavy.”
“Platinum but the setting is weighted to balance so you can wear it all the time and not worry about it even at the gym.”
“It’s beautiful and thoughtful. Thank you.”
I don’t have a chance to respond further when Johanna and Jax join us rushing inside.
“Sorry I’m late. My boss is a prick.” Johanna picks up the wine menu ordering a bottle of something we’ll both drink.
“I wish you would quit that job.” I tell her but we don’t have time to talk about her employment woes because Jax is here too.
Jax leans in for a hug and to shake Milo’s hand. “Jax Holden. The best friend. I’m guessing you’re the fiancé?” He greets Milo eyes glinting.
I scowl.
“Stop being so domineering Jax.”
“Sorry love old habits. Besides if the doctor here isn’t good to you I’m going to beat his ass back to whence he came.”
I cringe looking at Milo whose eyebrows have risen.
“I’m guessing you finally told them?”
Shrugging I explain,“I had to tell someone besides Diana.”
“Gosh look at the sparkler!” Johanna grabs my hand approving twisting it up and down letting the diamond catch the light from every angle possible. Jax nods approvingly.
Milo smiles big and takes a drink of his wine before answering. “Don’t worry Jax, I’m a eat dessert first kind of guy. I’ll take care of our girl here.” I wish my eyes could set him on fire right now.
“Glad to hear it. I like him Pip.” Jax chuckles and before I can decide who to kick first the waiter comes to take our order.
Dinner goes well. I suspect my sister is keeping her own council about this. We still have to call my parents and tell them. Johanna let me know I owe her because now mom would set her sights on her for a big family wedding. We had a fifty dollar bet what color the bridesmaid dresses would be. I said pink. Johanna said violet and Milo joined in doubling our bet saying turquoise. Jax wisely sat this wager out saying black goes with everything especially funerals when my dad found out.
I was relieved to get along and when dessert came Johanna used her phone to dial our parents. It rang once before they picked up.
“Hi girls! Jax, and oh who is this, Piper?” Mom is shrewdly asking.
I point to Milo and speak. “Mom and Dad this is Milo.”
“Hi.” Everyone chimes in exchanging pleasantries. My parents glance at each other and before I loose my cool Milo takes over holding my hand.
“I’m so glad we were able to catch you, Mr. and Mrs. Scott. I’ve fallen for your incredible daughter. I know this quick but–” My breath hitches with his pause. Should we do this? We agreed to do this, but still. Nerves silence me watching for their expressions.
“I would like to ask you formally for her hand in marriage. I know this seems quick and I haven’t been able to properly meet you. My mother would be so mad at me right now but I simply can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with her.” Milo finishes by kissing my hand. My hand sporting a two caret whammy which my mother’s keen eyes don’t miss for one second.
“Are you sure about this Piper Jane?” Dad asks. I only seem capable of nodding.
“Honey, it’s so quick.” Yeah, understatement of the year, Mom.
“I know but we just can’t wait.” I say close to choking on the words. Johanna who is sitting next to me grabs my hand under the table to squeeze reassuringly. She knows our parents are stabile, loving people who just happen to have really rigid roles about marriage.
“Feenie…” my dad uses my mother’s nickname for Josephine stopping her protests. “They’re young. In love.”
“I know. When did this all happen?”
“A week ago.”
“Six months ago.” Clearly our simultaneous answers don’t match making them frown.
“Silly me. I meant six months ago.” Mom narrows her eyes and Milo saves me filling in the details.
“I met her at the hospital over Christmas. Things only now escalated and when a man knows what he wants… well I can’t wait. I’m sorry.” Milo is appropriately apologetic. My dad seems fine, my mother does not.
“Don’t worry Scott family. I’m watching him like a hawk.” Jax chimes in with a smile walloping Milo on the back for show and Johanna winks.
“This is so rushed.” My mother bemoans. This is the same woman who tried setting me up on blind dates and has bought a trunk full of baby clothes with little Native American moccasins from their travels. My mother is weird like that.
“I feel better already Jax.” My dad says knowing my childhood and completely plutonic best friend would have to approve of Milo to stick up for him. He just doesn’t know how fresh this is or that they just met tonight. Thank god for Jax.
My mother is tapping dad on the shoulder and he waves her away like a buzzing bee. “Honey don’t you think we should go home?”
“Nonsense dear.”
“You don’t think…” I hear my mother whispering through the phone. Of course she would jump to the obvious conclusion.
“No mom, I’m not pregnant.” My face burns with embarrassment.
“Well of course not sweetheart. We’re saving babies for when the gym stabilizes and you can take more time off.” Milo smiles hugging me under his arm. I swear his accent thickened and he grins through the kick I give him under the table. Amazing man that he is. He would probably pat my stomach in some romantic gesture if I let him. I don’t.
Jax and Johanna ignore us drinking their wine.
Deserters.
The whole thing seems quickly forgotten. Mom and Dad plan to stay in Arizona and promise to bring back plenty of Navaho and Pueblo artifacts for our home as honeymoon presents.
Awesome.
“Well as soon as we get back we are having a family dinner. And another wedding ceremony. We can meet Milo’s parents.” Insistent my mother is chatting away and mentions teal dresses which is close enough to turquoise making us laugh except me. I’m wondering how the heck we’re going to get through two family ceremonies on opposite sides of the Atlantic. Milo seems nonplused about the whole thing which makes me freak out even more.
“I agree Mr. and Mrs. Scott.” Milo is charming, perfect, and without a doubt winning my parents over. I hate lying to them and wonder how they’ll feel a year or two from now when this all falls apart.
Milo drives us home leaving me on the doorstep with a kiss that leaves me breathless and Johanna my nosy sister staring from the porch window like she’s watching a video on tumblr. Jax texts me to say we’ll talk at work. I feel like a train ran me over and it’s only going to intensify from here on out.
6
Milo
I adjust the cuffs of my sleeves and straighten my suit jacket inside the parish office. I’m early. I can’t help but wonder if Piper, my wife to be will be late. I have no idea if she’s an early riser or a girl who sleeps in. I do know she can organize the hell out of my desk papers. Our impromptu date the other night consisted of Visa documents… she found them and after I filled them out she made triplicate copies and sent them off with a notarized letter. The marriage certificate would be next.
“You sure about this?” Turning I glance at my friend Beck Nichols. He’s been nothing but upfront and honest with me about this whole marriage thing. He doesn’t like it because I’m not signing a prenup, but he doesn’t know Piper. She’s not after my money. At least I don’t think she is considering she’s never seen my bank statement. If she wanted my house in return for this I’d happily give it to her. She wants me to save her goddaughter and that’s a different kind of incentive.
“Are we really ever sure?” I brush lint off my sleeve. Besides, the who’s who of doctors hasn’t come out yet and I don’t think she subscribes to their publication to know I’ve won an award from them each year for my research. It would feel weird and boastful to tell her because I keep my award
s in the closet and not on the mantle in my house.
“Milo, I told you I could look into this immigration issue further, but you didn’t give me a lot of time to work with.” He paces running his hands through his unruly hair and scruff.
“Beck you’re a glorified accountant, not a lawyer and besides we had friend’s of Piper’s check into everything.”
Beck snorts.
“I’m a fucking actuary asshole.” We fake punch each other and he knows I’m kidding. Beck has always been far too serious.
I adjust my suit again.
“You might of heard of them. Isaac Harvey and Natalie Croix from Harvey Croix Law Firm.” I look over my shoulder and Beck’s eyebrows raise a fraction.
“So you had some fancy pants lawyers review everything, is that supposed to make me feel marginally better?” Beck flicks lint off my sleeve. I can tell he’s not going to let this drop until he gets used to the idea, well too bad. It wasn’t like I had more time to waste doing nothing.
“I’ve accepted that this is what it is.” I have to file something by Monday or buy a plane ticket to go home. Home. A place I hadn’t considered in well over a decade and wouldn’t go back to kicking and screaming if I had any say in the matter.
“Don’t blame me when she turns around suing you for alimony and all kinds of ridiculous support when I warned you about this.”
I put my hands on his shoulder shaking him gently, “Beck, relax.”
“I don’t know how you’re so calm about this. I feel like I should be telling you to relax.” Beck takes out a stack of documents from his leather portfolio we’ll both have to sign so he can submit them to the immigration officer on my behalf since I’m taking my bride on a short honeymoon this weekend. A little surprise I cooked up hoping to get to know more than just her lips better.
“I’m fine. You’re the one worked up over this.” I chortle.
“Please, any excuse to get out of my office. We’ll have to get together for dinner once the ink dries on this certificate.” Beck grumbles.
Thinking about her is a distraction and I almost miss the click of the office door and Father Lassiter entering.
“You ready, son?” Father Lassiter and I found ourselves together on many a long night watching patients take their final breaths. I suppose we were bonded that way. Me being the doctor and he being the administrator of God’s will. I like that he’ll be the one guiding me into the next chapter of my life here.
“I am.”
“No need for council then?” He grips my hands squeezing gently.
My other hand clasps his confidently. “I know where to find you if I do.”
He smiles letting go. “You’re a good man Milo.”
I hope I can be a good husband.
We enter the chapel through the side standing close to the alter. The pews are empty except for small bouquets of flowers lining the aisle. Music plays and the doors open to Diana carrying Maisy who is dumping pink rose petals over the center aisle. The girls went shopping for dresses and for the first time in months little Maisy is wearing something besides a hospital gown. Her dress looks like something a fairy would wear. A headband with a big pink bow covers her bald little head. The bright pink lock didn’t make it, but I vow she will.
Maisy speaks, “Are you going to be my Uncle Doctor now?” My heart pangs and I grin. Nothing could have been cuter.
“Shh. Maisy Elizabeth.”
Beck grunts and Father Lassiter grins. This little girl is so precious and innocent when I answer her. “Only if you want me to be.”
“Oh I do, I do.” She pumps her arms until Diana hands her over to me for a hug. Some doctors might shy away from personal contact with patients, heck as interns we’re told to do so, but something about working with kids changes that. I want to scoop them all up in my arms and keep them safe from the cancers and illnesses that don’t discriminate and ravage their little bodies robbing the best years of their life.
“Of course I’ll be your Uncle, doctor, and best friend as long as your mother says its okay.” I give her a wink and Diana mouths, thank you, to me taking her daughter back to sit her down in the front pew to watch.
I watch the doorway for my bride. Jax fills in for Piper’s dad to give her away and stands next to her shoulder to shoulder. Damn she looks pretty and my excitement grows with each step she takes closer to me, to our future whatever that maybe. We’re both flying blind into this but we’re flying together.
The music changes and instinctively we’re all turning toward the aisle looking at my wife to be. Piper wears a flowing sundress that stops at her knees. We didn’t talk about what we would wear for the short ceremony. We only planned on having it at the hospital chapel so we could have Diana and Maisy present to witness. I felt bad that Piper isn;t getting a big to-do, but she assured me that something small is perfectly fine. It wasn’t what I envisioned for myself either, but my parents couldn’t get a flight out of London in time and here we are marching to a recording of Pachbel’s Cannon. Piper’s dark hair is pulled to the side with a diamond clip brushes her shoulders. The straps of her dress are thin and the fabric looks like it’s barely holding on. For a fake marriage on paper I am pretty excited to start our life together.
The original plan was to take her out for lunch, just the two of us so we could spend more time together, but Piper insisted she needed to hit the gym, meet with clients and suggested I make rounds. I felt confident most married couples took at least a little time off. She wanted to spend the weekend moving into my place before we went back to work on Monday saying we could make use of the time organizing our household. I had a few ideas on how to make this look as official as possible, part of that would be living together, but I also wanted something just for us. I only planned on getting married once despite Piper’s offer to make this a time sensitive deal. I just didn’t plan on spending the time filing papers and organizing sock drawers all day Saturday. I needed to convince her to stay, hence my honeymoon getaway. My patients were covered and I enlisted Diana’s help with Jax so Piper’s clients at the gym were covered.
“Is there any reason why these two should not be joined in marriage, speak now or forever–” A bang of doors behind us made us all turn toward the back of the chapel.
“Wait, I’m here!” Johanna rushes the alter carrying flowers jogging breathlessly toward us.
“Oh god.” My wife to be groans, her cheeks turning pink.
I squeeze her hands drawing her attention back to me.
“Piper?”
Whispering she leans in to explain. “Sorry, it’s Johanna. I didn’t think she was coming. She had to work and well, never mind. Her boss is a jerk and she must have skipped out during her lunch.”
The explanation briefly put my mind at ease. At least it wasn’t the immigration officer, right? I glance at Beck who looks pissed for some reason and then back at Johanna who is staring at the floor picking at her bouquet. They’ve never met before but this is weird even for them and I make a note to ask Beck about it later. Father Lassiter continues with our vows enlightening us about the joys of holy matrimony.
“Do you Piper Jane Scott, take thee Milo Aleksander Dimas Lazare to be your wedded husband.” Ah, so that was her full name. She certainly pulled off Jane nicely.
“I do.”
I slide a platinum band onto her finger. The matching band is thinner and has small diamonds laid into the metal flush. Her hand is cool and the metal warm from being in my pocket. Her eyes soften and Father Lassiter tells me to kiss my bride.
And do I ever.
7
Piper
“Ready to go wife?” The timber of his dark voice has me turning from my conversation with Jax and Diana .I look over my shoulder at Milo. His white dress shirt is crisply pressed under his navy suit and pink tie. It’s unexpected and stylish. My husband is without a doubt a handsome man, one whose dark eyes like my own haven’t stopped staring at me. I have to force myself to stop staring at him les
t my cheeks set on fire.
“Go?” I find myself stuttering in the new status of our relationship. I can’t explain why I feel so unsettled. Sure it’s only on paper and barely twenty minutes old but what else is there to do after conversing with our meager wedding party? I need to call my sister and find out what crawled up her ass that had her acting so weird during the ceremony and had her rushing to leave. She at least owes me an explanation. Johanna left immediately after the “I dos” and the kiss that still has my toes curling inside my sandals.
“Yes, I uh arranged a little something.” A nervous Milo isn’t something I ever thought to see. His cheeks darken under his tan skin and his hand runs through his hair while he diverts his eyes from mine. Impishly I wonder if he’s thinking about later when we’re alone. We’ve been alone before but somehow this is fundamentally different.
“You should go. Have fun.” Diana winks at me while my goddaughter is draped over her shoulder snoring loudly, tummy full from cake. She will sleep soundly tonight and maybe Diana will rest a little easier.
The plan was to finish up the work week and jump into married life with me moving in organizing utensil drawers and my boxes in a spare room. It seems my new husband took it upon himself to make other plans. Kind of like the extravagant ring weighing my hand down like a ten pound dumb bell weight.
“I’ve got the gym covered, love.” Jax busses me on the cheek taking his leave and leaving me speechless.
“The gym?”
“No worries, Will is flying up. He’s going to help me and run a 10k race while he’s here.” Jax waves his hand practically skipping out on me.
