Not Yet Yours

Chapter 34

Chapter Thirty-Four

Liam

“ T hey really should make it clearer that the marriage isn’t real,” Harriet says. “I mean it doesn’t look like a fake certificate. It looks real. I get that’s kind of the point, but still.”

“It will have been clear at the time,” Alan says. “They even make people sign a disclaimer to say they understand it’s just for fun and not legally binding. But, of course, if you were drunk…”

He doesn’t finish the sentence. He doesn’t have to. It’s obvious that I was just too drunk to really take in what was going on around me and I somehow didn’t even think to question the validity of the marriage after the event. My only defense afterward is that I would have had no idea what a real marriage certificate would look like to compare the two.

“Well, I thought the stupidest mistake I would ever make was the Vegas wedding. But apparently, I was wrong because this right here tops it,” I say.

“Let’s just pretend this didn’t happen,” Alan says. He grins. “Except for my bill of course.”

“Of course,” I agree and smile back at him.

I stand up and both Harriet and Alan follow suit. Alan and I shake hands and then he shakes Harriet’s hand.

“Well hopefully next time I see you, it’ll be with something else as easy as this was to fix,” Alan says.

“That would be good wouldn’t it,” I say with a laugh. “Thanks, Alan.”

“Anytime,” he says.

Harriet and I leave the office and head back along the long corridor. I’m waiting for Harriet’s reaction, but she isn’t giving anything away. At least until we reach the end of the hallway and stand alone, waiting for the elevator. Then she bursts into laughter.

“Well, I never would have guessed that would be the outcome of today’s meeting,” she says.

“Me neither,” I say and although I’m still a bit embarrassed about my mistake, I can’t help but laugh. I mean how can I not see the funny side of it at this point?

“You realize I blame you as much as me for not knowing the marriage was fake don’t you,” I say.

“Umm no. How do you work that one out?” she says.

“You saw the certificate too and you thought it was real,” I say.

“But in my defense, I hadn’t been somewhere that clearly wasn’t a wedding destination and signed something to say I understood I was getting a real wedding before being given that,” she says.

“You say that like that should really give the game away,” I laugh.

“It’s funny though, when I first went to Max it was obvious her and Cullen both believed that I believed I had seen a marriage certificate, but they still didn’t really believe you were married. I said I wished I’d thought to take a photo on my cell phone in case you tried to say it didn’t exist. Now I wish I had taken one because if I had shown it to Max and Cullen who recently got married, they probably would have seen it wasn’t a real marriage certificate,” Harriet says.

“Well, that’s great in hindsight,” I say, and we both laugh again. “And as if I would try to deny it existed.”

“Well, at the time I thought you were actively married, and I was your side chick so there was a chance you would have in my mind then at least,” she laughs.

The elevator car arrives, and Harriet and I get in. There are a couple of people already in it and the ground floor button is already lit up so at least I don’t have to play the role of the elevator guy again. The elevator car stops a few more times and some more people get in but it’s not long before we’re back in the lobby. We cross it going back outside and head back to the mall’s parking lot.

We reach it and Harriet starts toward my car, but I shake my head.

“No, this way,” I say, nodding toward the mall itself.

“Oh, do you need to pick something up?” Harriet says as we head for the mall.

“Well now that I am officially a single man, it means that our engagement is official, I thought it was time I got you an engagement ring,” I say. “And of course we need wedding bands to take with us if you’re still up for us getting married in the Maldives.”

Harriet makes a squeaking sound that she always makes when she’s excited. It’s so cute and it always makes me want to just hug her, but obviously, we’re walking so I can’t right now.

“Yes, I am most definitely still up for that,” she says.

Suddenly, the smile vanishes from her face, and she looks a bit sad.

“The only problem is I don’t know if my mom will be able to come,” she says. “I mean I’ll give her everything I’ve saved up, but the Maldives isn’t cheap, even the flights are a couple of thousand dollars each way and she isn’t exactly loaded.”

“That won’t be a problem,” I tell her. “We’ll be flying out on my plane and the resort I’ve booked us into is an all-inclusive resort, so she won’t need much spending money. And I will be covering the hotel costs.”

Harriet starts to open her mouth to argue but I shake my head.

“Harriet I’m not doing this because I think your mom can’t afford it or whatever. It’s the polite thing to do if you have a wedding somewhere expensive, don’t you think?” I ask.

Reluctantly, Harriet nods.

“I guess so,” she says. Her expression gives way to a beaming smile. “My mom will be so excited when I tell her.”

“Mine too,” I say. “And I can’t even begin to imagine my Aunt Dorothy’s reaction.”

“Oh, she will burst with excitement,” Harriet says. “Maybe we should invite her too?”

I shake my head.

“No,” I say. “It’s nothing personal that I don’t want her there, but if I invite her, then it becomes a thing of where do we draw the line? I like the idea of something small and intimate. I think it means more than putting on a show for everyone. But don’t worry. The party we will throw for everyone will be a show and a half.”

“That’s ok if that’s what you want. I guess I feel like your Aunt Dorothy was kind of instrumental in us getting together, even if she doesn’t know it,” Harriet says.

“Yeah, I guess she was. God don’t tell her that, she’ll think she’s some sort of matchmaker extraordinaire, and who knows who her next victim will be,” I say, laughing.

Harriet laughs too and she links her arm through mine as we go into the mall, and I lead her toward the jewelry store there that I like.

“So how long will the others be staying?” Harriet says.

“We’ll have to work out the exact details depending on what wedding dates are available, but I was really hoping that we could all fly out together on Thursday and we could get married on Saturday or Sunday and have our guests stay until Tuesday so they can clear their hangovers and then we can take the rest of the time as a honeymoon,” I say. “Unless you’d like them to stay longer?”

“No, that sounds perfect,” Harriet says.

“But don’t worry, that won’t be our only honeymoon. You will still get the surprise romantic one after the party at home too,” I say.

“What? No,” Harriet says. “I don’t need two honeymoons.”

“Ah but really, the Maldives wasn’t planned to be a honeymoon,” I say.

“All the same though,” Harriet says. “It will be more than enough.”

“I think there’s something we need to clear up here,” I say. The jewelry store is right in front of us now, but I think we need to have this conversation first or Harriet is going to be grubbing about looking for the cheapest ring for herself. I nod to a bench. “Let’s sit down a moment before we go in there.”

Harriet sits down and I sit beside her. I notice she looks a little bit nervous.

“Don’t worry,” I say. “It’s nothing bad.”

She smiles at that, and I’m glad I reassured her before I start to explain this.

“I don’t really talk about money because I don’t want to sound crass or braggy, but I am rich, Harriet. Obscenely rich. Like a multi-millionaire level of obscene. I worked hard for that money, and I deserve some joy from it I think,” I say. Harriet nods her agreement which is good. “The only real enjoyment I get out of it is being able to spoil you.”

“But I don’t need spoiling,” Harriet says. “I…”