he’d been married before, so he knew how all this worked.
“Join hands,” the judge instructed.
Seth held out his broad, calloused palms and he gave her a small smile. There he was—the best friend. It almost felt like a joke, an act they were putting on, two collaborators once more. Normally, she was the one who lured him into drama, and maybe that hadn’t changed. His hand was warm, and he gave her fingers a reassuring squeeze.
“We’re here together today to join you in marriage. Have you both come of your own free will?”
Gabby nodded.
“We need you to answer aloud with a yes or a no,” the judge said.
“Yes,” they said together.
“As expected,” the judge said with a soft chuckle. “So let’s just get right into the vows then. Seth Straight, do you take this woman to be your wife from this day forth and for the rest of your life?”
Seth’s dark gaze met Gabby’s, but only briefly before he cleared his throat and looked toward the judge instead.
“I do.”
“And Gabrielle Rogers, do you take this man to be your husband from this day forth and for the rest of your life?”
Gabby licked her lips. “I do.”
“Rings?” the judge asked brightly.
Gabby picked up the ring box, which she’d set on the desk, and cracked it open. They’d bought very simple, cheap wedding rings. Gold, but barely, Gabby had joked earlier. But now, they seemed weightier, more important. She started to put the ring on Seth’s finger, though he had to shimmy it the rest of the way past his knuckle. Then he slipped the matching slim band onto her hand.
“Repeat after me,” the judge said. “With this ring, I thee wed.”
“With this ring, I thee wed,” they murmured together.
“Then by the power vested in me by the state of Colorado, I now pronounce you husband and wife.” The judge smiled warmly. “If you would like to share a kiss to commemorate your marriage, now would be an appropriate time for that.”
And that was the moment that Gabby realized she’d never kissed Seth before. Not when they agreed to this wedding, not when they first saw each other all gussied up. Even when she’d broken up with boyfriends and Seth had been the one to let her cry on his shoulder… They’d never crossed that line because they’d never been attracted to each other.
She’d never kissed the man that she’d just married!
“Brace yourself,” Seth murmured, as if reading her mind, then dipped his head down and caught her lips with his.
SETH DIDN’T KNOW what he’d expected kissing his best friend to feel like, but perhaps a little less wide-eyed shock on her part would have been nice. Her lips were tense at first, but after a moment, her eyes fluttered shut and they softened under his own.
Married. He hadn’t thought ahead to the kiss after the ceremony, but with a judge and two witnesses expecting something, he felt he’d better oblige. He didn’t want to embarrass Gabby on his very first day as her husband, after all.
He pulled back and Gabby’s eyes opened again, and they exchanged a serious look.
“Congratulations!” the judge said with a smile. “This is a big day. We’ll all just put down our signatures here—”
“I got that shot!” the older woman said with a brilliant smile, her phone held up in front of her. “Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Straight!”
A surge of guilt swept through him, and he attempted to push it back. He’d sworn he wouldn’t take these vows again, but this was different, wasn’t it? Bonnie had been his first love—his first kiss! He’d been a late bloomer in that respect. While the other guys were dating around, he’d been the serious one, focused on his career and not wanting to waste his time with the wrong girls. His parents had gotten divorced when he was twelve, and he’d never wanted to endure that kind of misery in his own romantic life. He’d always been cautious to a fault. And when Bonnie died in childbirth, the light of his life blinked out. He’d been prepared to keep their marriage healthy and strong for a lifetime, but he had no control over mortality. He’d lost a baby girl and wife all in one day, and he’d been in a fog of depression for two years.
Seeing Gabby again had flicked a light back on, scattered the fog and given him a bit more clarity at last, though he was determined to keep to his resolution to never fall for anyone again. But now, he’d just given his name to another woman for some very logical reasons, but it still felt like a betrayal to his wife’s memory.
What exactly had he gotten himself into?
The paperwork was quickly dispatched, and the older lady had already emailed her snapshots to Gabby’s account. They thanked her, thanked the judge, and headed out of the office, all without once looking at each other. The ring felt funny on his hand, and he fiddled with it with his thumb.
“Congratulations!” the young couple next in line said in unison. They got up from the bench and moved toward the office. “How does it feel?” the woman asked.
“Great.” Gabby smiled and nodded. “Congrats to you, too.”
Did she really feel great about this? He eyed her uncertainly. The judged called the next names, and the young, pregnant couple disappeared into the office.
Gabby shot Seth an annoyed look when she noticed his scrutiny. “What?”
“How does it really feel?” he asked, his voice low.
“Weird.” She shrugged. “But a good weird. We’ll be okay.”
Seth sure hoped so. He’d done it for her, and for those three little babies. They were so small, and when they cried, his heart clenched in his chest like he was the one causing their distress. They’d reminded him of his own baby girl—Hazel Marie. She’d been too tiny to make it, but he’d had the opportunity to hold her, at least.
He pushed back the memory. He was doing this for those babies. They needed two things: food and their mother, and this time around, he was going to be able to protect a mother and her babies—make sure they had the long and healthy life that Bonnie and Hazel had deserved.
“I know I didn’t speak up when she called us Mr. and Mrs. Straight back there,” he said. Did he dare take that back? “It’s no pressure. I was just… I don’t know, acting the part for the audience, you know?”
“No, I get it.” She put a hand on his arm. “I was, too. But I think I’ll keep my own last name for now. It’s simpler. My sons have Rogers as their last name, so—”
“No, no, that’s perfectly fine.” A wave of relief crashed over him. His last name was something he could hold back for himself…for Bonnie. He looked down at Gabby again, and she gave him a tight smile.
What was with them? They’d known each other for decades, and here they were dancing around each other like painfully polite strangers, discussing what last name she’d have now that he’d married her. Gabby had always been the irreverent type, and here she was meeting him toe-to-toe with manners. He went over to the coatrack and took down their jackets.
“What do we tell people?” she asked, as she pulled her puffy, cream-colored coat around her shoulders. A few people passed them in the tall main entrance of the building, and Seth caught the smiles cast in their direction.
What would they tell people? Everyone had a “how we met” or even a proposal story, and people loved to hear it. But their story wasn’t exactly romantic, and that wasn’t going to go over well, was it?
“Well, uh…” Seth swallowed. “Why don’t