“Next!” We heard from a Hispanic woman behind a glass wall.
My feet felt heavy and I drug them to the counter.
“How can I help you?” She asked politely.
“Yes, we’d like to apply for a marriage license,” I said with a shaky voice, like she could see what a fraud I was.
“Alright, I need both of your driver’s licenses. Fill this out,” she said, sliding a single sheet of paper our direction. “It’s thirty-five dollars.”
Harper began to fill out our information as I pulled my wallet out to pay. The sections she had no idea what to put she left blank and I filled them out after handing over our cash. I got a kick out of the fact that she was memorizing all the information she didn’t already know.
“You’re middle name is Philip?”
The lady processing our application looked at us strangely, like ‘she didn’t know that already’? I couldn’t help but let the little part of my conscience that didn’t think this was a good idea come out screaming but it was brief and I stamped it back into its box. When I was done, I checked over our application and saw that Harper’s middle name was Lily. Beautiful, like her, I thought.
In less than fifteen minutes, we had a paper license that needed three days to be considered good in our hand, an appointment with a judge Saturday afternoon at three p.m., and a conscience full of tsk’s.
“So what now?” Harper asked, folding the license and placing it in the front pocket of her bag.
I took out my pocket watch and glanced at the time. Five fifteen.
“We’re a little late but we could try The Hope House. What do you say?”
“Yes, let’s at least try. We can tell the gang tomorrow of our plans?”
“I was thinking the same,” I agreed.
The line for The Hope House hadn’t yet grown the way we thought it might and that was a slight relief. We’d have a chance, at least. When they were shuffling people inside, Harper held on tightly to my arm thinking we’d be left out as usual but when we reached the doors we were just guided in with the rest. Harper’s mouth fell open wide and I couldn’t help but feel surprised myself. Well, surprise and relief. Relief until we realized that the boys and girls slept in two separate spaces.
“I’d rather sleep in the street than leave you,” she said, not realizing, I think, the honesty in what she’d said and giving me hope.
“Harper, it’s just one night. We’ll be fine,” I tried to soothe her but I wasn’t so sure myself. I’d gotten used to sleeping near Harper if not directly with her and my chest ached with just the possibility of her absence.
“Alright,” she said, sighing as a volunteer there tried to move us along to clear the area.
“Remember,” I said as she walked the other direction. “I’m right over here. I’ll see you in the morning. Sleep tight.”
Harper broke free from the volunteer’s light hold on her arm and ran to me, wrapping her arms around my neck.
“Thank you...for everything,” she whispered in my ear. “I don’t know what I’d do without you. You’re my family, Callum.” She broke away to join the volunteer, giving me one last look over her shoulder.
I could only stand there, my hand grappled at my chest. I could feel my heart beating furiously against my rib cage. Just marry her Saturday and you’ll figure it all out later, I told myself.
Chapter Ten
Joy of Man's Desiring
Callum
The next morning, Harper saw me and jumped into my arms.
“I missed you,” she said, making me smile.
“I missed you, too. How’d you sleep?” I asked.
“Terribly,” she teased and rolled her eyes.
We worked the entire morning at the docks, then the restaurant in the afternoon. In between jobs, Harper and I showered at Cherry’s and let her know we’d like to have a little get together that night. She asked us what it was all about but we told her she’d have to wait just like everyone else. Cherry said we could use Charlie’s, encouraging us both to come there after the restaurant to help her because she thought, and I quote, ‘Announcements always go better with dinner’. We didn’t know where she got the impression that it was an ‘announcement’ but Harper told me girls are freakishly intuitive and I left it at that.
We obeyed Cherry and showed up at Charlie’s around three-thirty. Charlie and Cherry were both there and Harper and I both noticed how friendly they’d become of late.
“So what’s this all about then?” Charlie asked in his impossibly English accent.
“You’ll see,” I said, holding plates in my hand, following Harper around like a little lost puppy as she placed them neatly on place mats around Charlie’s table.
The gang started trickling in around five-thirty and Cherry passed around glasses of wine around as everyone chatted. They were all gracious enough not to mention John for which, I think, we were both grateful.
Then it was time to eat, a few of us sat around the table and up at the bar, the rest on random cushions on the floor near the table and on the couch. Harper and I chose to stand.
“We have an announcement,” I said, extremely nervous. Harper placed a hand on my back, offering her support. “Harper and I are marrying.”
We were bombarded with absolute silence, a few forks and knives fell on plates in clangs as all turned to stare our direction.
“Now,” I continued, “I know this seems rushed but I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life and it was only a matter of time anyway. We thought it was stupid to wait.”