Willow

Chapter 2

Christopher Evans looked up and smiled when his fiancée, Amber, walked into the kitchen. He immediately jumped to his feet and poured her a cup of coffee.

“Thanks.” She smiled at him. “You’re up early.”

“Yeah, I’ve been up since five. I’ve got the morning off, but I have to be in the office by noon.

I thought we’d head to the courthouse and find out where and what we have to do for the marriage license.

I’ve lined up appointments next week for the florist, caterer, and cake testing.

” He pulled his pad of paper to him, and Amber saw several lists.

“You and your lists.” She laughed as she finished her coffee.

“I like organization, less chaos then. That is why I’m so good at my job. Without a list, you’re swinging in the wind, and that’s not a feeling I abide by.”

“How much time do I have to get ready?”

“I’d like to be at the courthouse when they open at nine. We can go to brunch afterward, but then I have to get to the office.”

“Okay, I’ll go shower and get ready. I’m supposed to meet Mother this afternoon. You’ll call me if you’ll be working late?”

“Like always.” He kissed her forehead and watched as she left the kitchen.

He couldn’t be happier. He had a great career, which he loved, was engaged to a wonderful woman.

If he didn’t feel the deep, gut-wrenching love for her that he’d heard others speak of, he could live with what he felt for her.

Deep affection was enough. He didn’t know if he would ever feel what his father felt for his mother, but this was as close as he was going to get. He would take it.

The biggest thing about his affection for Amber was that she got him, she understood his long hours at the office, and that he might have to call and cancel at the last minute.

She never pitched a fit, never complained about his job, or his long hours, or his penchant for making lists.

She always told him it was cute the way he organized not only himself, but her.

It was rare not finding someone who complained about everything.

“Ready?” he asked an hour later when Amber walked back into the room, all done up to the nines. She wore a silk dress, her hair and makeup were perfect, and she wore four-inch heels.

“Ready.” She smiled as he put his lists in his briefcase and made sure everything was in perfect order before they left.

He hated anything out of place. He was borderline OCD, or so he told himself, others would say he was full-on OCD.

As long as he was organized and could plan for everything, he was fine.

If not, then it led to chaos, and that he couldn’t tolerate.

By the time they fought rush hour traffic, it was well after ten when they reached the courthouse, and he took a deep breath and held Amber’s hand as they walked in.

Fifteen minutes later they stood outside the correct door and took a deep breath.

Christopher opened the door and was surprised that only two people were ahead of them in line.

“May I help you?” the woman behind the glass asked.

“We’d like to apply for a marriage license,” Christopher said in his firm voice.

“Each of you need to fill out this form, then stand back in line. I’ll also need your driver’s license and social security cards.

” She passed out the forms, and they went over to the chairs and filled them out.

Once completed they were able to get right back in the front of the line.

The woman did Amber’s information first, and everything went through with flying colors.

Christopher handed over his information and watched as the woman’s hands flew over the keys and then saw her facial expression change from indifferent to frowning.

“Do you have a copy of your divorce papers?”

“What? I’m not married, never have been.

” Christopher felt his palms begin to sweat, he felt the telltale sign of his world being thrown into chaos, and it took everything for him not to panic.

After wiping them on his pants, he drew in a deep breath, held it, then let it out slowly before he demanded, “What gives you the idea I’m married? ”

“It says so right here,” the woman said as she pointed to her computer screen. “You are Christopher Burke Evans?”

“I am. Can I have a copy of that?”

“It’ll be five dollars.”

“What’s going on, Chris?” Amber asked, and he cringed by the shortened version of his name. That was the only thing that was wrong in his relationship with Amber. He hated any shortened versions of his given name.

“I don’t know,” he said as he passed over five dollars, got a receipt then finally a copy of his alleged marriage.

“Oh my god, I was five-years-old when this happened, it was over twenty years ago. It wasn’t legal, I was only freaking five.”

“Sorry, everything here says it’s legal. We can’t issue you a new marriage license until you’re either divorced or get an annulment. But to do that, I can tell you now that you’re going to have to find your wife and have her sign it.”

“Don’t call her that.” Christopher took the paper and stared at it. “I can’t read this, can you make it clearer?”

“Five bucks.”

“Fine.” He threw a twenty at the woman and ended up with four more copies.

“What’s going on Chris?”

“According to this I’m already married, but its bullshit, trust me, I’ll get to the bottom of this.”

“Oh no, this isn’t going to fly. I can’t tolerate this lie you’ve been living.

The wedding’s off!” She took her ring off and threw it at him.

“And don’t bother coming home tonight. Find your wife and be with her.

I can’t believe you’ve been lying to me all these months.

What will my friends think, Mother and Father?

I will not have you disgrace me like this.

” She turned on her heel and walked out, leaving a stunned Christopher in her wake.

He looked over at the woman behind the glass and saw her stunned expression.

*****

Back at his office, Christopher sat at his desk dumbfounded. Gobsmacked. He looked up when his friend walked in.

“Hey, are you okay?” Sean asked when he saw his friend’s expression.

“No, the wedding’s off.”

“Did she finally come clean?” He laughed, then stepped back with his hands in the air when Christopher turned his glare onto him.

“Excuse me?”

“Amber has been stepping out on you for weeks. A bunch of us guys went out one weekend, you were working the Brown case, and couldn’t come with us, we saw Amber there with some guy. Sam took pictures with his phone and looked into it. I’ll call him in if you want.”

“Tell me what you know!”

“I know Sam opened an investigation case for her, she’s met with the guy we saw her with whenever you work late.

” He walked over to his desk and pulled a file.

“Sorry, man.” He laid the file down, and Christopher slowly opened it and saw his fiancée in several very compromising positions with a guy he didn’t know.

He immediately stood and only said, “Thanks, Sean. I’ll be back.”

Thirty minutes later Christopher let himself into his condo and stopped short when he saw Amber’s parents there.

“What are you doing here?” her father demanded. “Haven’t you done enough damage to my little girl? She told you not to return to her apartment.”

Amber walked in then and stopped short. “What are you doing here? I told you not to come home tonight.”

“In case you forgot, this is my home. I came here to tell you to pack your shit and get the hell out.”

“How dare you?” She acted outraged. “You’ve been married all this time we’ve been together. You’ve lied to me.”

Christopher laughed, “Now, isn’t that calling the kettle black.

Since you won’t listen to me, how about I show you.

” He walked over to the kitchen island and spread ten eight-by-ten color photos out on the counter and Amber tried to gather them up, but her parents grabbed several of them before she could.

“You told us you stopped seeing him,” her mother blurted, then slapped her hand over her mouth.

“You knew your daughter was cheating on me?” Christopher demanded.

“One hour, you have one hour to get your stuff and get out. And don’t even think of fighting me on this.

The condo is in my name, the utilities are in my name.

Hell, you don’t even pay for anything in this home.

No utilities, no groceries, and no mortgage.

You’ve been using me while you’ve been fucking someone else behind my back.

So, you don’t have a legal leg to stand on.

” He paused long enough to see if they would contradict him, and when it looked like Amber would say something he only glared at her.

“If you recall, we were going to add your name to the lease when we married, but not before then. That was your idea, not mine. You have no one but yourself to blame for this shit happening now. God, I hate chaos.” He shook his head and stopped short of running his hands through his hair to pull it.

“What’s this about you being married?” her father demanded as Amber and her mother went up to the bedroom.

Christopher grabbed a cup of coffee and sighed. “Not that it’s any of your business, but it was so long ago, and it was bogus. I never thought something like that could become legal. We were both underage. I mean like really, really underage.”

“What happened?”

“Dad was in the service, stationed near Silicon Valley out in California, at the time. I made friends with several people, got to know the kids in the neighborhood. Everyone was always at everyone’s house.”

“What’s so wrong about that? Sounds like a good place to grow up.”

“It was. I was five at the time. There was this cute little girl in the neighborhood. She always ran after her older brother, he was seven. She was three. She was a tomboy through and through, always made mud pies and threw them at us if we didn’t include her in any of our games.

She started getting sick, it took almost three months to find out what was wrong.

” He sighed and thought back to that little girl. “Leukemia.”

“Shit.” Walter sighed. Suddenly, not so mad at Christopher.

He helped himself to a cup of coffee, and sat at the island to drink it, allowing Christopher to talk about his past. This was the first time in all the time he dated his daughter that he was able to get a glimpse of the real Christopher.

He knew his daughter would never be with him again, and he was actually sad to be losing the younger man as a future son-in-law.

“Yeah. The little girl was in the hospital for months. It was almost a year. I only found out this because the local minister came to our house. The family called him in for last rights. But she, and I’m sorry, I can’t even remember the little girl’s name.

This was twenty years ago. But she had a dying wish, and she wanted to marry her best friend before she died. ”

“Let me guess, you were her best friend?”

“I was. After the minister came and talked to Mom, Dad and me, I had them take me to the hospital. She was a shell of herself. I didn’t even recognize her.

She had no hair, she’d lost so much weight, and she was all skin and bones.

Without saying anything, I bent down on one knee and asked her to marry me.

I told her I’d plan everything out, but she had to live long enough to make it to the wedding. ”

He was lost in his memories as he continued.

“The wedding took place two weeks later, on Easter Sunday. We had it at the church we all attended. She was able to receive special permission to leave the hospital, and the doctor and nurse had to come with her. After Sunday service, with the whole congregation there, she walked up the aisle on her father’s arm, and the nurse had to wheel her IV pole behind her.

Don’t quote me on this, but I vaguely remember that her father either had to carry her, or he picked her up and carried her the rest of the way up the aisle.

” He heard a noise and looked up and saw the horror on Walter’s face.

“Yeah, she was that sick, but she made it. We did the ceremony. Her mother was the Matron of Honor, my dad was the best man. The minister did the ceremony. Afterward, we had cupcakes and Kool-Aid for the reception.” He grinned as he remembered.

“Thirty minutes after the ceremony began, she was taken back to the hospital.

“The next time I saw her was three weeks later. I went to tell her goodbye. Dad received his orders to transfer, and we were leaving. That was the last time I ever saw her. I heard years later that she’d died.”

“How are you married to her? I understand about the ceremony, but like you said, you were both really young. I’m asking how something cute like that could turn into a legal marriage?”

“Someone at the church filed the ceremony with the courthouse, I’m not sure.” He held up the paperwork he’d gotten earlier.

“So why don’t you sit down and discuss this with Amber?” Walter still wanted Christopher in his daughter’s life, and wasn’t afraid to admit it.

“Because she cheated on me when we were engaged. If she did that, what’s she going to do if we were married?

Is she going to sleep with someone behind my back, get pregnant, and stick me with some other man’s kid?

No, if I can’t trust her before the wedding, I’d never be able to trust her after. Once that trust is gone, it’s over.”

“What are you going to do?” Walter knew from Christopher’s response that it was over between the younger couple. He agreed about the trust issue, he was just sorry to see that it happened to be aimed at his daughter.

“Probably take a leave of absence from work and go back to California. I haven’t been back since I was five.

Maybe I can look up some old friends and get to the bottom of things.

If she did die, maybe I can get a copy of her death certificate and clear this up.

” He watched as Amber and her mother came down with several suitcases, and he didn’t even acknowledge her when she left.

He was too reflective on his memories of the past.