Shielded by the Ruthless Military Boss novel · Chapter 5 of 24
Chapter 5: The Courthouse
Clover bought me a bouquet at the gas station on the way to the courthouse.
It was carnations in plastic wrap, and a price sticker was still on the stem.
"Something borrowed, something blue," she said, handing it over. "The blue is the dye they sprayed on the baby's breath."
"Clover, it's a paper marriage."
"Then it's a paper bouquet. Hold it up."
She took a picture of me on the courthouse steps. I was wearing my one good gray dress, with a scarf over the stitches.
Then she lowered the phone and her face changed.
"You're sure?"
"No," I said. "But I'm sure about the alternative."
She hugged me hard, careful of my neck.
"He'd better be a gentleman. Or I will end him, and I know where the pharmacy keeps the good stuff."
"Colonel Kerrigan can take care of himself."
"That's what I'm afraid of," she said.
The colonel was waiting inside the second-floor hallway.
He was in a plain dark suit instead of the uniform, with his captain beside him in a regular tie. He looked at the carnations and did not say a word about them.
"You came," he said.
"I said I would."
"People say a lot of things."
"I don't."
He nodded slowly.
The ceremony took six minutes.
The judge, a heavy man with a cold, read the words fast and asked for the rings. The colonel took two plain gold bands out of his jacket pocket.
I stared at them.
"I bought them this morning," he said quietly. "In case you wanted something."
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