I Married a Stranger to Ruin My Groom novel · Chapter 2 of 24

Chapter 2: Eleven Fifty-Seven

They reach the courthouse with minutes to spare, and Cory and Mallory arrive to watch the signing.

The county courthouse closed at five, but Harvey's grandfather's lawyer had a judge waiting inside.

It was eleven twenty-one when we walked in.

I was still wearing the wedding dress.

The night clerk looked at the gown, the stranger beside me and the clock, and decided not to ask.

"Mr. Lorne," said the lawyer, a thin man with a paper cup of coffee. "You have thirty-nine minutes."

"I know."

"The judge has agreed to perform it here, in the rotunda. We need two witnesses and a signed license."

"I have a witness," Harvey said. "You."

"And I'm the other," said the clerk, and went to find a pen.

I stood on the cold marble and tried to remember why I'd said yes.

It wasn't love, and it wasn't only the surgery. I wanted Cory to see my face when it was done.

My phone had been buzzing since the ballroom.

Thirty-one missed calls from Cory. Nine from Russell. Eleven texts from Mallory, and I didn't open any of them.

The only call I answered was from the hospital.

"Your mother's resting," said the night nurse. "She saw the whole thing. She said to tell you she wants a divorce lawyer for you, and a good one."

I laughed so hard I had to sit down on the steps.

"What's funny?" Harvey asked.

"My mother," I said. "She's about to meet her new son-in-law."

He looked at the phone in my hand, and for a moment something moved in his face.

"Tell her I'll bring flowers," he said.

"She hates flowers."

"Then I'll bring something she likes."

The lawyer cleared his throat. "Eleven forty-four."

The judge came out of a side door in a robe over a sweater, holding a thermos.

"Which of you is the bride?"

"I am," I said.

"Do you have a license?"

"I have it," Harvey said.

The judge studied the gown and the folder under Harvey's arm.

"Mr. Lorne, is this a hostage situation?"

"No, Your Honor."

"Miss, is it?"

"No," I said. "It's a favor."

"Hm." The judge unscrewed the thermos. "Let's get you married."

The clerk set the license on a stone ledge, and I picked up the pen.

My hand was shaking. I could see my own name wobble on the line.

Harvey's hand came over mine.

He did not squeeze it. He only held the pen still while I wrote, his fingers warm and dry over my knuckles.

"Callanan," he said quietly. "Two r's."

"I know how to spell my own name."

"Then you're doing better than I am. I've spelled mine wrong on three contracts."

I signed.

He signed under me, in a fast, flat hand.

It was eleven fifty-one.

That was when the front doors banged open.

Cory came through them first, in his wedding tux, his tie gone and his hair wet from the rain.

Mallory was right behind him, still in the red dress, holding her heels in one hand.

They were both running.

"Til!" Cory was breathing hard. "Til, stop. You don't know what you're doing."

"I know exactly what I'm doing."

"You can't marry a stranger to get back at me. That isn't a marriage, it's a tantrum!"

"Harvey," Mallory said. Her voice cracked on his name. "Harvey, baby, please. The date was a mistake. I misread the paperwork."

Harvey did not look at her.

"Judge," he said. "We're ready."

The judge raised his eyebrows, set down the thermos and opened a small black book.

"Do you, Harvey Lorne, take this woman?"

"I do."

"Do you, Tilda Callanan, take this man?"

Cory stepped forward. "Til."

I turned and looked at the man I had planned my life around for six years.

"I do," I said.

"By the authority vested in me by the state, I pronounce you married."

The clerk stamped the license.

The clock over the stairs said eleven fifty-seven.

Mallory made a small sound, and then she sank down onto the marble steps.

Cory stared at Harvey.

It was the first time I had seen the two of them side by side, and the resemblance was in their jaws.

"You," Cory said. "You were never supposed to make it."

"I know," Harvey said.

I heard it clearly, and I was too tired and too angry to ask what it meant.

Mallory looked up at me from the steps, mascara running down both cheeks.

"You think he's a hero?" she said. "Ask him how long he stood outside your door before you opened it, Til."

I looked at Harvey.

He was looking at the floor.

"She'd say anything," I said, and I took my husband's arm.

← Chapter 1 · All chapters · Chapter 3 →

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