I looked into his raging brown eyes and knew that I had to tell him my plans after graduation.
I looked back down at my lap and took a deep breath. “Because once I’m done with school here in a few months, I’ll have my inheritance that my grandma left me. I’ll be able to leave and not look back,” I told him. “But if I go to the police and have them thrown in jail, I’ll be thrown out on my own. I’d become homeless. Which meant in the end, I’ll have to drop out of school, leaving me with nothing.”
“Isn’t there a way to get it before school lets out?” he asked.
“No. My grandmother stated I could only get it if I finished school. I think that’s why my father left me, because she left me every little penny she owned and nothing to anyone else.” I’ve never told anyone about this, but I hope he would understand why I dealt with being abused so I could have a brighter future.
I felt the car start moving again as the buildings around me faded away. I didn’t know where we were going. I just hoped I was able to talk him out of reporting my stepfather. I didn’t want to be a burden to anyone. I knew that I would have to go back to that house and just pray I live to see the light of day again.
I looked out to see we were driving down some country road away from our town. Nothing else was said between us, as the radio noise filled the air. We seemed to be in our own little world.
I wasn’t sure what he was thinking, but I knew I didn’t want to go back home. That for once in the past eight years, I was glad that someone stepped in and helped me. I closed my eyes while leaning my head against the window, thinking about how I wished he was always going to be by my side and help me out, but I knew that wasn’t going to happen.
After what seemed like hours, I felt the car stop. I opened my eyes and saw what looked like a white church building with nothing but trees surrounding around it. “What are we doing here?” I asked and turned to face him, just about the time he got out of the car.
What was he planning? Why did he bring me to a church? It’s not like I didn’t believe in God, because I did, but I didn’t think they were going to be able to help me. Most likely they would tell me to go to the cops like Brandon had already insisted on doing.
He had come to my side of the car and opened the door for me. I unbuckled my seat belt and he grabbed my hand once again and pulled me out. He shut the door and looked into my eyes and I could see that he was undecided about something.
“I have an idea that might work, but I need you to trust me. That I would never hurt you, but I’m trying to keep you safe.” All I could do was shake my head in understanding when I was far from it. What was it he had planned? The only thing I was becoming sure of was that he was going to keep me safe from the evils in my life.
As we walked in, there was an old lady sitting at the oak desk. She looked up at us and smiled. “Hello, how can I help you?” Her gray hair was pulled up in a clip to keep the hair out of her eyes. Her smile faded a little when she took in my appearance.
I had forgotten to put on the hoodie to cover my face. When she turned her head back to Brandon, I tried to shake my head no, to let her know it wasn’t him, but it didn’t seem like she took the hint.
“Yes, we would like to get married please,” I heard Brandon say, wrapping his arm around my waist and pulling me closer to his side.
What had I just gotten myself into?
4
I looked over at Brandon thinking he had gone insane. Why in the world would he want us to get married? We had just started talking today and it wasn’t even in the direction of romance. I tried to pull out of his hold, but he just gripped my shirt to keep me in place as if he knew I wasn’t going to like this idea.
The lady looked over at us with shock written across her face, her eyes squinting at the way Brandon was keeping me in place. The way she had taken in my bruised face and now this, I’m sure she was thinking that I was being forced into marrying him. When I had agreed to go along with his plan, I didn’t know this was what he had intended, so in a way I was being forced.
“I’ll go get the paperwork,” she said, eyeing me one last time, pushing her chair back and walking into a room to the left side of us.
“Brandon, this is crazy. Let’s get out of here,” I said when he finally let go. I turned to walk out the door we had just walked through, only to have him grip my upper arm to keep me in place.
“No, Kami. This is the only solution I can think of right now. I know this isn’t the smartest idea, but we can figure all this out later on tonight,” he told me in a stern voice.
I looked back over at the room that the lady had walked in. “Brandon, I’m sure that the lady thinks you are the one who put this bruise on my face,” I said, pointing to the room as I looked into his brown eyes. “Let’s go before she calls the cops and gets you thrown in jail for something you didn’t do.”
“He didn’t do that to you, dear?” I heard the lady ask, coming back out with paperwork in hand. I shook my head, looking down now. “Can I ask who did?”
“That doesn’t matter. I’m keeping her away from them now,” Brandon answered for me. “So what kind of information do you need from us?”
“Well, first I’m going to need your identification cards,” she said, standing behind the desk now. Brandon went and pulled out his wallet from his back pocket, then went to his other pocket, pulling out mine, that he had grabbed before leaving my room, and handing it to me. We handed over our cards to her as she places a clipboard with paperwork for us to fill out on the desk. “I’ll go make copies of this so we can go file for your marriage certificate. When was it you like to get married?”
It wasn’t hard to miss the unsettledness about us getting married in her voice. Then with the way she kept her eyes on Brandon, it seemed she was still unsure if he was the reason I have the bruise on my face.
“Today, please,” Brandon answered, holding my hand to keep me in my spot next to him. With me rocking back and forth as they spoke, I must have given off how nervous I was about this marriage thing he had come up with.
The lady went bug-eyed at how soon he wanted us to be married. She shook her head, perhaps to shake the shocked feeling as she took in this information. “I’m sorry, son, but the law states you have to wait seventy-two hours before you get married after filing for your marriage certificate.”
“Isn’t there a way to bypass the system?” Brandon asked with annoyance behind his voice. With the way he was gripping my hand, I could tell he was trying to control his anger. “I know a couple who came here about sixteen years ago who got married the same day.”
“There is a way, but it’s illegal,” the lady said, looking around the empty room. “We could hold a wedding ceremony for you today, but indicate that the date is this Saturday. We will just send in for your marriage certificate and then have you come back to pick it up and sign, but you must not tell anyone about this.”
I looked over at Brandon, not wanting to cause problems for this woman. “We don’t need to do this. I’m sure there something else we can do,” I whispered to him. As I looked into his eyes, I could see the concern in them. He was probably thinking about me going back to that evil family.
“Do what you must, but I like for us to be married by today, please,” he said, not tearing his eyes from me. I could hear some rumbling going on as Brandon let go of my hand, only to wrap it around my waist and pulled me to him, so our chests were touching. He tucked some of my hair behind my left ear as he leaned down and whispered, “You’re not doing this alone anymore. I’m in this now and I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you safe.”
The lady interrupted by saying, “Ok, then we’ll get everything ready while you go to our dressing area to change into more suitable clothing.” She handed us a paper to fill out. “We’ll do the ceremony in a few minutes, but you must not tell anyone about this. We’ll just send in for your marriage certificate and you can come back on Saturday to sign a few papers and then everything will be final
.”
As she handed us the paperwork, Brandon took it and sat down to fill it out. After handing over our IDs, she had disappeared back into the side room she went in, to get the paperwork from. Nothing was said as everything got filled out and put away, making me more nervous about the situation I have gotten myself into.
As I was brought to the back to change into a wedding dress, I took in how this was all happening too fast. Why was Brandon so set on getting married when we knew nothing about one another? A part of me knew it was because he wanted to keep me safe, but there had to be another way.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can do this,” I told the lady who was standing in the back waiting for me to pick a dress to change into. “Do you think I could talk to Brandon for a moment?”
The lady didn’t say anything as she walked out of the room. I sat down in the chair and tried to control my rollercoaster of emotions as I waited.
“What’s wrong?” I heard Brandon ask as he walked into the room wearing a pair of dress pants and a white tux shirt.
“This is wrong. We can’t get married,” I said, looking down at my hands not wanting him to see how nervous I was about this. “There has to be another way to keep my step-father away from me.”
“There’s always going to the cops, like I said before,” he stated, kneeling down in front of me. “Look, I get it you’re nervous, but I promise to protect you. I don’t want to have to worry about you being in danger and being beaten. Try not to think of us getting married, but more of a safe haven to keep you out of danger.” Tears started falling down my face as I listened to him talk about the reason why he wanted to marry me. “Now, please, let’s walk down that aisle and say some silly vows, then we will try to figure out the rest of this later.”
“Okay,” I said as he grabbed my hands to pull me up to my feet. He let go and I turned to go back to the dressing room to pick a dress, but I still saw worry in his eyes as I walked away from him. Was he really that worried that something terrible was going to happen to me at all times? It should bother me, but there was also that hope that I could rely on Brandon to keep me safe from my stepfather till we figure the rest of the marriage thing out.
I looked through the dresses thinking about how people would take the news about us being married. It was like the whole girl population was mad when he mentioned me being his girlfriend for the day, but marriage was a different story. Could this affect his reputation of being the guy who didn’t seem to care about anything since he was showing that he really did care for something?
That was when I stopped and thought about the fact that he was showing me a different side of him. He was letting down his guard and letting me see who he was, someone who was against abuse and would do what was needed to keep me safe.
“Sweetie, that dress would fit you perfectly. I don’t think that boy would be able to keep his eyes off you if you walked down the aisle in that,” the lady said as she walked into the room.
I looked down at the dress I was holding and examined it. It was almost designed like a strapless dress, but had small sleeves that hung down the arms starting at the armpit area that could cover up the bruises on top of my arms. The dress was long enough that it would cover my feet and was made of lace with little flower designs on it.
“Come, we need to fix you up a little,” she said, pulling me to sit in front of a mirror with makeup and hair products on it. “Don’t worry, leave this all to me.” Then she started to put stuff on my face to cover up my bruise.
I sat there for I don’t know how long till she finally said she was done and brought me to a mirror and I took a look at myself. Who I saw looking back at me didn’t look like me. The girl looking back at me was someone different. Her blond hair was wavy and some of it was on the side where my bruised cheek was but you couldn’t see it. Her blue eyes looked back at me with the same shock I felt going through me.
“You look lovely, dear. Now come, it’s time to get you down to your man,” she said, with a giggle.
She pushed me to the glass doors and handed me a bundle of white lilies. I smiled up at her as a thank you as the glass doors opened and I could hear soft music coming through. I stepped into the room and walked down to see Brandon standing at the end, waiting for me with an older man dressed as a minister.
My nerves almost had me walking back out to turn and run the opposite way, but I fought them and kept my eyes on Brandon till I finally got to where he was waiting for me.
He grabbed hold of my hand as I stood next to him after the lady took the flowers away. I’m sure I had fear in my eyes as I heard him say, “Everything’s going to be fine. Just trust me.”
When he smiled at me, I just knew I had to put some trust in him, for it was the kind of smile that made me smile back at him.
As the minister talked, I faded into my own thoughts, thinking how the last twenty-four hours had turned out. How just last night I was beaten to the point of blacking out... Now I was standing here with with this guy that came into my life just this morning, and who was vowing to protect me from anyone harming me.
“Hmm, Kami,” I heard Brandon’s voice come through my thoughts. I looked up at him as he started laughing. “Are you going to answer him?”
“What?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at his question and looking at the lady and the minister.
He let out another chuckle as he shook his head. “Always lost in your own world,” he said between laughs. “He asked you if you want to take me as your husband.”
I felt slightly embarrassed that I hadn’t even paid attention to the wedding ceremony to know that we had gotten this far. Looking around the empty room at all the seats and not seeing anyone in them brought a smile to my face.
Brandon had said this marriage was just between the both of us and now seeing the bare room, I knew he was right. I had been on my own for so many years that I felt nice to have one person I could count on just a little and not have a crowd of people watching us. I turned back to him and smiled. “Yes, yes I do.”
“Then I pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss your bride,” the minister said, shutting his book and making me jump.
I looked at Brandon now in a state of horror. I had never kissed anyone before and this wasn’t how I pictured it happening. I always imagined it with someone I love and have a deep passion for, not someone who was only vowing to keep me safe. When I saw him start to lean in, I turned my head a tiny bit just as his lips landed on my cheek, missing my lips by a centimeter, which made him laugh a bit.
“Oh, she’s a shy one,” I heard the minister say as he patted Brandon’s shoulder. “You take care of her, son,” he told him.
“I plan to, sir,” Brandon said, taking my hand and walking out of the room back to the lobby. He turned me around to face him. “So what was that?”
“What was what?” I asked, wanting to get out of this dress and back into my baggy clothes, trying to forget what just happen.
“Why didn’t you let me kiss you?” he asked, acting a little hurt and he put his hand over his heart. “The man said I had the right to and you didn’t let me.”
“Ammm, I don’t know,” I said, looking down at the floor not wanting to tell him the reason. I didn’t want my first kiss to happen just because of an agreement.
I felt him bring two of his fingers up under my chin to make me look back up at him. “Kami, there’s no reason to look down at the floor when I ask you something, okay?” Not trusting my voice, I shook my head in understanding as he wrapped his other hand into my hair.
“You look lovely by the way. At first, it took me a moment to notice it was you. I’m glad I was able to pay them to let us keep the clothing because this dress is perfect for you,” he spoke, letting go of my chin but wrapping his arm around my waist. “When I finally did notice it was you, I could see your true beauty and not the girl who hides away from everyone. That’s the girl I want to see from now on. No more hiding.”
“That might take
some time, Brandon. I’ve been used to being invisible all these years.” I spoke in a shaky voice. “I can’t just change overnight.”
“I know, but at least try. I promise to keep you safe, but I need you not to hide from me and try to let me in when something is bothering you.”
“I’ll try, but that is all I can promise.”
“And that’s all I’m asking.” Then he let go of my waist and gripped my hand. “Now, come on. We need to go tell my parents what I just did. They’re going to have a field day about this.” He laughed as we walked out of the building, only making me more nervous. How were his parents going to take this?
5
Pulling up to Brandon house, I could feel my nerves start working against me. How were his parents going to take us getting married when we barely knew one another? The only thing we did know about each other was just the things that happened in school. Besides the fact that Brandon knew about me being abused and my plans after graduation, we were still strangers to one another. This just convinced me that this marriage wasn't that great of an idea.
“Brandon, I can’t do this,” I told him as we pulled up his semicircular driveway. I took in a deep breath, looking out my window at the two-story white house in front of me.
I saw the step that led to the front door with pillars where the porch began. Along the top level above the door stood a balcony where I could make out flowers growing along the panels. The house was twice as large as the house I grow up in.
“Kami, there’s no need to be scared. I understand this is all shocking, but just think that this will all be over in a few months,” he said, turning the car off and opening his door. “Now come on, let’s go talk to my parents. I’m sure once they meet you, they will love you. There’s nothing to worry about. Come on.” I didn't want to get out of the car and make this more real than it already was.