Chapter 5 #2
“Then just keep clear of her until you turn eighteen Mel. I mean why marry the guy when you only have five months until your birthday?”
“Because it protects us both, I won’t find myself tossed into the system or juvie when it comes out that I’ve been on my own for over two years and Jordan doesn’t have to worry about people questioning his choice of hiring me, providing the car.
Can you imagine what would happen if he kept the truth quiet and it came out later?
Or if he simply offered to help? Can you say a huge scandal of the underaged mistress variety? ”
“So by marrying you it’s better if it comes out?” Tate questioned.
“He could spin it as a love story, whereas if I’m simply working for him, because you know I wouldn’t let him just pay the costs for the apartment, it would bring a huge, and I mean huge grey cloud over the place. This way we’re both protected.”
“And he won’t get arrested for sleeping with an underaged girl.”
“We’re not going to be sleeping together,” she said as they entered their next class.
“Oh come off it Mel, the guy’s had the hots for you since he saw you.”
“He has not but it doesn’t matter anyway. He’s changed his attitude from the first day I started working for him and now that he knows about the att…”
“Knows about what?” Tate asked as she cut off. He studied her face for a moment and swore. “You told him about being fourteen?”
“Yeah and he’s not going to do anything so can we lay off? I don’t think any of us wants it coming out, besides, he still has to find her first.”
“Mr. Tatum, Miss Taube, would you care to clue in the rest of the class to your conversation?” Mr. Grasse inquired looking between them as the others turned to stare at them huddled together.
“We’re finished Mr. Grasse,” she stated shooting Tate a ‘don’t you dare’ look.
“We are,” he agreed. “Just talking about Mel’s boyfriend.”
“Tate! Shut up,” she hissed at him.
“You were talking about yourself?” Andie asked.
“Nah we were discussing Mel’s real boyfriend, the one too cool to take her to prom, right Mel?” Tate said grinning at her.
“I swear if you don’t shut your mouth, I’ll be forced to Jo…” she whispered to him grinning when his eyes narrowed. The boy hated his first name. He was listed as simply J. Tatum in the school’s system even and wanted to keep his real name under wraps.
“You win,” he said nodding at her.
“Don’t I always?” she countered before slumping down into her chair and looking out the window.
She barely listened to the lecture though she was sure it’d seeped into her subconscious. She let out a silent sigh as she closed her eyes. When she opened them, she saw Jordan standing next to the Jeep and she covered her gasp with a cough that brought Tate’s attention to her.
“What?” he mouthed silently and she cocked her head towards the window. “What’s he doing here?” he added the question on the softest whisper ever.
She shrugged her shoulders widening her eyes to show her surprise at the turn of events. “What do I do?” she replied just as quietly to him.
“Go,” he said nodding towards the door.
“I can’t,” she argued.
“It’s you or the entire school,” he told her pointing at her and then gesturing to the rest of the classroom. “After class…”
She nodded watching the clock like a hawk. The second the bell rang, she was out the door and hurrying through the hallway to the parking lot. She slowed down once she hit the side of the building, and she took a moment to calm her wildly beating heart. She reached him praying no one was watching.
“Jordan, what are you doing here?” she asked cautiously.
“I thought you’d want to know I found your mom.”
“You did?” she asked taking a step back. “Where?”
“She’s in jail in Kentucky.”
“Oh my god, I half expected her to be dead,” she admitted leaning back against the hood of the Jeep. “So what now?”
“We can get married this Friday. I have a lawyer flying out to meet with her and she’s agreed to sign the papers.”
“How much? How much did she ask for to do it?” she questioned turning to look up at him, hearing the angry note in his voice on the word agreed.
“Nothing,” he told her, but she knew better.
“Jordan, if we’re going to do this there can’t be lies between us, so how much?”
“Fifty thousand,” he admitted and her face fell.
“Mel, it doesn’t matter, honey. I pay her, she signs the papers and disappears.
That all she’s getting and if she says one word to the press or anyone, she’ll be back in jail before she knows it.
I pulled some strings to get her out once she signs the papers and the gag order. ”
“Why are you doing this?” she asked as he pulled her into his arms for a hug.
“Because you deserve so much better than what you’ve gotten.
Hey, look at me,” he said lifting her chin.
“This is all going to work out I promise. Friday afternoon we’ll get married.
There’s this little gazebo in the back part of the park and I have a friend who’s a judge, he’s agreed to marry me and my special bride.
I didn’t tell him the whole story just that I’d fallen for a beautiful girl but she’s too young for me to marry without her mother’s approval. ”
“And he didn’t tell you to wait?”
“No, he figured if your mom was agreeable to it, it would be better for us to get married than be together than the other way around.”
“He’s a bit old-fashioned I take it?” she asked with a grin.
“Completely, which means you need a dress.”
“Well I’d go dress shopping, but I have this pesky little thing called school and I have a boss who doesn’t like to give me time off,” she joked leaning her head against his chest.
“Then I’ll just have to speak to your boss and make sure he gives you time off.
I’ll handle things this afternoon. Take it easy, okay?
I know this is a lot to process and you don’t have to deal with it all alone.
Talk to me; talk to Tate. Finding out your mom was still out there…
I know that hurts so promise me you won’t keep it all bottled up. ”
“Okay,” she agreed with a sigh.
“I should go; I’ll see you later?”
“Yeah,” she agreed and took a step back. He reached down and dropped a kiss on her forehead before walking away to get to the office. She gave another sigh before turning back towards the school. She saw Tate waiting for her at the side door and she hurried over to him.
The hallway was full of students, and she gave him a questioning look.
“We’re having an assembly, something to do with the internship and school-to-work programs as well as leaving the campus during the day,” he explained pulling her along with him. “You okay?”
“He found her.”
“What?” he said stopping suddenly almost getting them ran over. “This fast?”
“He has money Tate, apparently it can find things pretty quickly.”
“So where is she?”
“In jail at least until the lawyer gets out there and has her sign the papers so I can marry Jordan and then she gets released and fifty thousand dollars.”
“What?!” he shouted as they reached the door of the auditorium and she cringed when half the room turned to stare at them.
“Jesus Tate, why don’t you draw a bit more attention to us?” she said pushing him up the side towards the back of the room. They slid into a couple empty seats in the middle of the back row and waited for the others to stop staring.
“Sorry but come on Mel, I saw you two. You can’t tell me you’re going into this as just friends.”
“Fine, I like him, more than like him, but he doesn’t feel that way about me.”
“Bull, he likes you more than a friend. He told me himself the day we met up at the dress shop.”
“Speaking of dresses, how would you like to come wedding dress shopping with me this afternoon? Oh don’t give me that look, you know I can forge your dad’s signature like a pro.”
“Alright, just make up the note in case we need it; I’m pretty sure ditching class after this assembly isn’t going to put me in good standings.”
Mel grinned taking out a piece of paper and scribbling down the note. She folded it until it would fit into Tate’s shirt pocket and then slid it into it making it look as though they were getting close before the assembly started.
“Well,” Tate said, referring to the new rules regarding the school-to-work program as he carried their bags down the hallway afterwards, “if he didn’t already know he soon would.”
“Yeah, come on, let’s grab lunch in town. We can go have a steak at that place by the river.”
“Hmm, let’s see, steak or cafeteria food? Yeah that’s a real tough one there Mel,” he laughed. Her note was a success, and she assured the office staff that she’d have her paperwork filled out for both this year as well as next and into them by Friday before they left the premises.
They dropped off his bike at her place and took the Jeep into the city, calming her enough to not start freaking out about what was really happening. Lunch was great and they made their way towards the dress shop on a good note.
∞∞∞
“Jordan, please tell me this is a joke,” Nicole said as she adjusted his tie Friday afternoon. “When you called and said you were getting married, I figured you meant to Mel but this…”
“Nicole, lay off okay?”
“No, you’re marrying a seventeen-year-old, do you know how incredibly crazy that is? Not to mention the fact that she’s been lying to everyone for years.”
“I want to help her, and this is the best way for that to happen.”
“So you’re not mad that she lied?”
“I was furious, you commented on it even the night of Alana’s engagement party, but after hearing her out…she’s more amazing than I ever imagined.”
“Because she managed to lie for two and a half years?”
“Because she did something no one should ever have to, Nic. She took care of herself from the minute she was fifteen. She had one person to rely on, none of us would have been able to last a week let alone two years.”
“You’re more in love with her now than you were,” Nicole said as a smile slipped onto her face. “So tell me little brother, finding out she’s only seventeen does that deter your admiration for her?”
“If you’re asking if I’ve slept with her the answer is no and I don’t plan on it anytime soon.”
“Because she’s seventeen?”
“Yes…no…” He paused letting out a small sigh.
“Did finding out she’s only seventeen cool my lust?
A bit, but I still feel the same way about her as I did before learning that she wasn’t really twenty-one, I can’t look at her and not see the person she already is, what she’s matured into, and I don’t mean her body.
You could put her next to some of these women that are twenty-five, twenty-six, and she would still make them look immature because she’s not a regular seventeen year old.
Yes, getting married might seem absurd but she was never going to take a handout, and I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if something happened to her because I let it slip, and having her just work for me now really doesn’t feel right.
She’s been through more in her life than any of us could begin to handle.
Being on her own, making a living for herself—she’s not pretending when she’s at the office.
She is brilliant at everything I’ve seen her attempt, and I want her to have the chance to do it all. ”
“So. you’re marrying her and what, after she graduates high school, you’re going to annul it?”
“No, this marriage is going to last at least for the next five to seven years.”
“Five to seven? Until she’s done with college? You think that you’re going to be able to resist her for up to seven years, be her friend, boss, and roommate, while being hopelessly in love with her and then just let her go at the end of it?”
“If I have to, yes. What I really want is for her to finish school then go to college around here so I can convince her to fall in love with me.”
“What if she doesn’t? What if she decides she wants to be with you before she’s finished with high school and then once she starts college, she discovers she wants something else, someone else?”
“Then I’ll fight for her. Yes, I’m in love with her. I already was and despite everything I learned, I can’t stop the way I feel. You can’t fight what the heart wants.”
“I guess not and I supposed it’s not that crazy for our family. I mean look at Mom and Dad, they got married when she was seventeen because Dad was too impatient to wait another year to have her as his,” Nicole teased. “You could be looking at an extra-large family if you’re not careful Jordan.”
“I’d forgotten about that,” he admitted as they left his apartment and headed to the park. He shook hands with the judge and fidgeted a bit as they waited for Mel and Tate to show.
“Relax Jordan,” Norman stated. “She’ll be here.”
“I’d say she already is,” Nicole added glancing over his shoulder at the two people coming towards them. She slipped past her brother and gave Mel a hug. “You look gorgeous.”
“You know?” she asked looking between her, Jordan, and Tate.
“I do, then again that’s supposed to be your line. Welcome to the big crazy family Mel,” she said as Tate helped her up the stairs of the gazebo and kissed her cheek before they took a step back and let Jordan and Mel have center stage.
The ceremony was short and before Mel knew it Jordan was kissing her lightly on the lips. It was their first kiss, and it stole her breath away by its gentleness and power all at the same time.
Jordan pulled back letting his hand cup her face.
“Are you okay?” he whispered.
She nodded and the judge gave them both a congratulatory hug before heading back to his office while Nicole pulled out a camera and insisted on having pictures.
“Come on, in fifty years you’ll want to remember your first wedding,” she teased.
They relented and allowed several pictures including some taken by a stranger walking through the park.
A week later they deemed one of them the best of the bunch and Mel had to agree.
She and Jordan were looking at each other and the pull between them was too much to deny, and though she was staring up at him with one hand on his waist her other was firmly within Tate’s, and she knew she now had two men who would never let her down.
She just wished she knew how long she could keep Jordan with her.