My heart's racing and he's only in the driveway. I tug at the sleeves on my dress in angst. I've never been so nervous in my life. He's definitely kept me waiting. We had decided five yesterday but now it's close to seven. Thatcher instructs me to take a deep breath.
"Cash and I will meet you guys there." He says, giving me a quick hug. "You got this honey. You've wanted this for a long time."
I nod at him and he disappears upstairs. Next thing I know Marshall's knocking on my front door. I take yet another deep breath and make my way over, pulling open the door. He stands before me in a white t shirt beneath a leather jacket. At least he kept the traditional color scheme of a tux.
His eyes widen when he sees me. We take a few moments to look at each other. It feels different now for some reason, today is so important. He sizes me up and his eyes lock on my abdomen. I glance down, I had forgotten that this dress shows off the baby. With that he walks forward with his hands extended, placing them over it.
"When did this happen?" He asks me. "I would've noticed."
"Last week." I tell him, putting one of my hands over his. "It's new, I wanted to surprise you."
He looks me in the eyes and offers a side smile. His hands slide around to the small of my back and he leans down to kiss me. I turn my head and he catches my cheek then looks at me confused.
"I want to wait." I tell him. "I want our next one to be the one."
"Oh Rach..." He says, looking at my stomach again and smiling. "I love you both so much."
It's all I can do not to drag him upstairs to my bedroom. We better get going, or else I'll never be able to hold out on kissing him. I suggest that we should leave and he couldn't agree more.
***
The drive there seems to go be remarkably fast. Thatcher and Cash aren't far behind us, and we all meet in the parking lot. Marshall holds my hand nightly and we walk into the building. The inside looks a lot like a law firm. We follow some directories to the 3rd floor where they issue marriage licenses and actually perform the ceremonies. Thatcher and Cash hang back as Marshall and I walk up to the window.
"Can I help you?" The young girl behind the counter asks us.
"We need some marriage licenses." Marshall says.
The girl nods and turns to a filing cabinet behind her. She turns back with two pens and two blank marriage licenses.
"It's going to be $50 for the licenses and I'm going to need to see a valid ID." She says.
Marshall hands her his credit card and we both pull out our driver's licenses. She takes them and double checks everything. Making sure we're of age, legal citizens, etc. She hands them back to us after filling out our names.
"Did you bring a witness?" She asks.
"Yes." I answer.
I turn around and signal for Thatcher and Cash to come over to us. They come up to the window and she asks Thatcher for a valid ID just as she did us. After he's legally identified she asks him to sign our licenses. Without skipping a beat Thatch signs them and takes a step back.
"Alright so you're going to bring these with you through that door over there." She points to a large oak door on the other side of the room. "Your ceremony will be performed and we will keep these copies after you sign and send you them after they're processed. Congratulations."
We thank her and I take both of the papers. Marshall takes my hand and leads me toward the large oak door. Thatcher and Cash follow us through and we see another couple at the desk with the notary, signing away their lives to each other. We watch them set their pens down and say inaudible things to each other before the man bends down and kisses his new wife. The two of them make their way towards the door together, without rings or anything else.
