Chapter 10
CHAPTER 10
SAWYER
I didn’t ask what story Mama Flo gave to Rex Monaghan for why she needed to borrow his Boston Whaler. I wasn’t asking much of anything, because if I stopped to analyze what we were doing, I’d… Well, I sure as shit wouldn’t back out. Wren needed me. I was trying not to think about the wisdom of this decision and what the hell Jace was gonna say when he found out. I could think about damage control after the deed was done.
My brain helpfully conjured up an image of Willa’s long, tanned limbs splayed out for my feasting.
We’re not doing that deed, you cretin. You don’t get to really claim her as your wife.
Not that we’d talked about any of those details, either, since this plan had been hatched yesterday afternoon, but I’d sooner cut off my own arm than take advantage of her vulnerability. This was a business arrangement. I was going to be her live-in bodyguard. I’d have to be to sell this to everyone. But I couldn’t deny a deep sense of gratification at the idea of finally having the right to shield her from her asshole father the way I’d always wanted. If that made me the faithful dog Chet Banks and Marcus Hoffman had accused me of being, so be it.
There was no waiting period to acquire a marriage license in North Carolina, and the nearest place we could get one was from the Dare County Register of Deeds in Manteo, which was about sixty nautical miles north of Hatterwick, on Roanoke Island. Hence the Boston Whaler. We’d needed the speed. Conditions were favorable today, with the wind at our backs and a blue sky full of cotton candy clouds. We were already an hour into the two-hour trip, and Willa hadn’t said a word from where she sat beside me in the cabin.
I kept casting glances at her to gauge whether she’d hit the point of freaking out or wanting to call the whole thing off. Mirrored sunglasses hid those changeable eyes from my view. She seemed… not exactly relaxed, but not as if she was dreading what was coming. I wondered if the reality of it had even sunk in yet. She’d had to handle so much the past few weeks. Especially in the past few days. I wouldn’t be surprised if it hadn’t processed. That she hadn’t asked for more details herself spoke volumes. But when Mimi insisted she’d take care of booking things for the wedding, we let her. What else were we going to do?
Mama Flo spoke up from the seats behind us, raising her voice loud enough to be heard over the engine and wind. “Okay, you two, we need to discuss some things while we’re all in private, as the four of us will be the only ones who know the truth of what we’re doing today.”
I glanced over my shoulder from where I stood at the helm. “Such as?”
“There will probably be a challenge to the marriage because it’s new, and we need to discuss how you two can make it believable that you’ve been engaged and in a long-distance relationship for years, if that becomes necessary.”
“We’ve been friends for years. We wrote to each other during my entire career in the navy. Letters, emails, texts. We had phone calls. There’s history. Who’s to say it didn’t turn more intimate than it actually did?”
My brain conjured up an image of Willa’s hair spread out over my pillow.
Not a good enough reason to use the word ‘intimate,’ dumbass.
But it did make me think about what it would have been like if she really had been waiting for me at home all this time. No question, I’d have come back a lot more often. As often as I could’ve managed. She’d have been absolutely worth whatever headaches making the journey would’ve brought. I might even have elected to retire sooner by choice if she’d been mine, because I wouldn’t have wanted to be that far away from her.
Willa swiveled in her seat. “All of that is true, but what if we’re expected to produce some kind of documentation about all of this? We’ve talked about intimate things, but none of it is the ooey gooey and mushy or the kind of interactions you’d expect from two people in love and in a long-distance relationship. If they subpoena our email or text records, nothing in that correspondence is going to sound like more than friends.”
Intimate. There’s that word again.
I cleared my throat and tried to focus on the matter at hand instead of picturing her naked. “I know a guy who can help with backdating and creating an electronic trail, if needed.” Dax owed me for saving his ass a few years back, and he had a real soft spot for damsels in distress. He’d help.
She tipped up her sunglasses and stared at me.
I shrugged. “I know a lot of people who can do a lot of things.” And I’d call in every single favor anyone owed me to keep her safe. This was my chance to finally do what I’d wanted to do for her all my life. And, yeah, maybe it was temporary— how things would officially end, and when, were more details we hadn’t discussed—but the threat wasn’t going to pass quickly. Her dad was absolutely the type who’d circle like a shark, waiting for the faintest hint of blood in the water. People had to believe this marriage was legit, and that meant we had to make it for more than a few months. I staunchly ignored the part of myself that was grateful for that because it meant I got to spend more time close to her, even if it would be a marriage in name only.
“I don’t know if a judge would grant a subpoena for your personal correspondence, but it probably wouldn’t be a bad thing to lay the groundwork there,” Mama Flo said.
“You also need to lay the other groundwork for the questions people will ask as soon as they find out,” Mimi added.
“Like what?” Willa asked.
“Like, how did he propose? How long has this been going on? Why didn’t you tell anyone? You’ve lived on Hatterwick almost all your life, sugar. You know how everybody is.”
I glanced at Willa again, checking her reaction. Her face was screwed up in a wince.
“I know you hate having people up in your business, Wren?—”
“But they’re not wrong. We’ll decide on a story. If I know what I’m supposed to say, I should be fine.”
“We’ll stick to the truth as much as possible. That makes for fewer details we have to remember.”
Truth: I’ve been willing to do anything for you pretty much from the time you first took my hand when you were four and looked up at me with those big, trusting eyes.
Willa probably didn’t need to know that.
“There’s also the matter of when and how you’re planning to get the news out,” Mimi continued. “I had some ideas on that front.”
Willa glanced at me, and I didn’t need to see her eyes to catch the trepidation now. “Can’t we just sort of drop it in the island grapevine? It’ll spread like wildfire.”
“You could, but you want to be seen, honey. Out and about and happy. Y’all are eloping because you just couldn’t wait any longer, and you want everybody to know.”
“You mean some kind of party.”
I didn’t blame Willa for the flat tone. She’d been massively over-peopled already in the past week.
“Just a little one. Friends and family. The ones who matter. You won’t have to do a thing but show up. I’ll take care of the rest,” Mimi assured us.
I reached out to lay a hand on Willa’s shoulder and squeezed. Much as she had at the memorial service, she reached up to curl her fingers around mine.
“Okay. I’ll do the thing. Even peopling isn’t worse than dealing with my parents.”
The rest of the trip was taken up by talking about more minutiae of the plan. I wasn’t sure if we ought to be worried by exactly how much thought and preparation these two women had managed to put into this in less than twenty-four hours. Either way, I was grateful they were on our side.
Once we reached the marina at Manteo, a car was waiting to take the four of us to the Register of Deeds. We didn’t look much like a wedding party. We’d dressed for a morning on the water, though we’d each brought garment bags with more dressy attire for the actual ceremony. There’d be a bathroom or something where we’d change at the courthouse. But even in beach clothes, Willa was gorgeous. And for a little while, she’d be mine. At least on paper. That made me an incredibly lucky bastard, because I definitely didn’t deserve her.
As it was late morning in the middle of the week, there was no line. It took less than fifteen minutes to present our documentation and get the paperwork to sign. Easy sailing. Not until her pen hovered over the dotted line did Willa hesitate. Maybe all the discussion of the details was finally making this real for her. Or maybe standing here in this official setting, signing very real legal documents to perpetrate a lie in the name of protection, was activating her conscience.
I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and, under the guise of pressing a kiss to her temple, murmured, “It’s all gonna be okay.”
She relaxed into me with a sigh, then signed her name with a flourish.
The clerk did whatever she had to do, and we paid the fee. Then the marriage license was in my hand.
We’d officially declared our intent to marry. Me, the wrong-side-of-the-island son of the town drunk and the legitimate island princess who’d soon be taking the helm of her family’s little empire.
This was really happening.
Mimi clapped in delight. “Okay, you two, let’s go get married.”