A few hours later, Tony sat in his friend’s office talking about his upcoming wedding. Wayne sat in the corner keeping his thoughts to himself. Tony felt trapped and thankful for being the one to come to her rescue. Opal had grown up into a beautiful young woman. At twenty she was so young, he wouldn’t dream of touching her. Ironic considering he was about to marry her.
Why had he stood up in church? His feelings have never gone anything past friendly care for the younger woman. What had happened from the time at the bottom of the church garden to seeing her being taken by another man?
For years he’d known she had a crush on him. Nothing embarrassing. At least not to him. She would sit and talk with him when they were younger, her blushes appeasing his ego. Opal was the girl, or woman, he always felt would be there forever. Seeing her at the front of the church had immediately struck a chord inside him. The moment she married that fucking jerk-off, all of her smiles and sweet kisses would be for her husband. Never would he walk into a room and be the first person in her world.
He couldn’t handle it, and what confused him the most was – why did he care?
She was twenty years old. Seventeen years younger than he.
“If you don’t marry my sister, you could ruin her reputation. The very fact you stood up in church and disputed it makes people wonder what went on between you,” Richard said cutting into his own confused thoughts.
“I’m going to marry her. I promised her.”
“Good. I want to know, and as my friend you better not fucking lie to me, have you touched or done anything with my sister?”
“No. For God’s sake, Richard. This is me you’re talking to.”
“And you don’t have the smoothest of reputations when it comes to women,” Richard said. “She’s a lot younger than you and in no way ready for your type of shit.”
“Younger than me. That’s a bit like calling the kettle black. Scarlet is a fucking baby, and you still took the time to fuck it.”
“Don’t you dare...”
“Clearly something is going on here, and you two arguing about your women isn’t going to get the job done. I, for one, want to go home to my wife and children. Instead our families are parked outside that door waiting for some arrangement,” Wayne said. “I don’t know what’s going on, and I don’t care. Tony has said he would marry her, and we’re supposed to be here to work out the details.”
“Where’s Opal? She deserves to hear us working out her life,” Tony said.
“She’s already been through enough. We’ll figure everything out.”
The next hour they came up with the prenuptial agreement. Tony knew from the way it read that it gave Opal an out whenever she needed. If at any time she wanted to leave, Tony would make sure she was settled. They called her in, and he watched as she twirled her hands in her lap.
She nodded and agreed, signing the form. Tony signed his bit and watched her leave.
Three weeks later they were married. The ceremony was held in a registry office. He didn’t take her on a honeymoon and spent as little time as possible with her.