I Married My Fiancé's Uncle novel · Chapter 3 of 32

Chapter 3: Objection

Laurence and Evangeline crash the courthouse wedding, Dess says the vows anyway, Felix kisses her in front of him, and tells his nephew to congratulate his aunt.

"Works for her how?" I asked.

"He's a private investigator. She's had him on me since my father died."

"Six years?"

"On and off." Felix handed my phone back. "He isn't subtle. Once I bought him a coffee."

"Why would she put him on me?"

"I don't know yet."

"Felix."

"I'll find out." He stood and folded the contract into his coat. "And I'll tell you when I do."

"Term four," I said.

"Term four."

He went out onto the landing. Then he stood there, in the frost, until I'd shot both bolts.

I heard his steps go down only after the second one clicked.

Thursday came up gray and windy.

The Cook County clerk's office was on the second floor of the Daley Center, between a line for parking appeals and a line for passports.

I wore my mother's green wool dress. I'd taken it in on her sewing machine at two in the morning.

Bex Ferris wore her one clean flannel shirt and her tool belt, because she'd come straight from the workshop.

"You look like a librarian about to commit a crime," she told me.

"Thank you."

"It wasn't a compliment. It was a warning."

Felix was already there. Dark suit, dark overcoat, no tie.

Beside him stood his head of security, a big gray-haired man in his fifties who looked at everyone.

"My witness," Felix said.

"Mine," I said, and pointed at Bex.

Bex looked Felix up and down. "If you hurt her, I have a nail gun."

"Noted."

"I'm not joking."

"I didn't think you were."

The clerk was a tired woman with reading glasses on a beaded chain. She called our names off a list and walked us into a small room with a flag, a fake ficus and a podium.

"Rings?" she asked.

Felix looked at me.

"I didn't bring one," he said. "I didn't think you'd want one from me."

"I put the last one in a cake," I said. "That's fair."

Bex sighed and dug in her tool belt.

She came out with a brass bushing from a reindeer motor. A little brass ring, smooth and warm from her pocket.

She held it out to Felix on her open palm.

"Don't say I never gave you anything," she said.

He took it.

The door banged open behind us.

"Dess. Come on."

Laurence stood in the doorway in a navy suit, his hair still wet from a shower. Evangeline stood behind him in cream cashmere, her phone already up.

"Sir," said the clerk.

"Just a minute." Laurence spread his hands at me. "He's a year younger than me, Dess. He's a kid with a chair."

"I'm thirty," Felix said.

"You're doing this to get back at me." Laurence laughed. "That's all this is. It's sad. Everybody can see it."

Evangeline turned her phone slowly toward me.

"I object," Laurence said.

The clerk took off her glasses. "Sir, this is a county office, not a church. Sit down or leave."

Bex snorted so hard she had to turn around.

Laurence didn't sit down.

He didn't leave, either.

The clerk put her glasses back on. "Go ahead, Miss Faulkner."

I turned my back on him.

I said the words to Felix. The plain county ones, to have and to hold, from this day forward.

My voice only shook once.

He said them back to me, low and even, without looking anywhere but my face.

He slid the brass bushing onto my finger.

It fit better than the emerald ever had.

"By the authority vested in me," the clerk said, sounding like she'd said it nine times already that day, "I pronounce you married. You may kiss."

Felix bent his head.

"Yes?" he said, very quietly. Only for me.

"Yes."

He kissed me.

I'd expected something polite. Something for the camera.

It wasn't.

His hand came up along my jaw, and his thumb tipped my chin up, and his mouth opened mine.

He kissed me slowly.

His other hand found the small of my back and pulled me flat against him.

The pencil fell out of my hair. My hair came down over his wrist.

I grabbed his lapels to stay standing.

Then I pulled him closer by them.

He made a sound low in his chest, one I felt more than heard.

Somewhere behind us Bex said, "Okay. Okay. Wow."

Somewhere behind us Laurence said, "That's enough."

Felix didn't stop.

He stopped when I did, when I had no air left.

He stayed close, his forehead nearly on mine, his breathing as ragged as mine.

The fake ficus was shaking because I'd backed into it.

Then Felix straightened, turned his head, and looked at his nephew.

Evangeline's phone was still up. Laurence's face was blotchy red above his collar.

"Laurence," Felix said pleasantly. "Say congratulations to your aunt."

← Chapter 2 · All chapters · Chapter 4 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend