Page 18 of Married in Misty Mountain

When we pull away from the kiss, the magistrate congratulates us and shakes our hands. My head is buzzing.

I barely register leaving the courthouse on Hurley’s arm, or walking down Evergreen Way. But I’m grateful for a comfy chair at the Pine and Petal Cafe, where Hurley has decided we need to have cake to celebrate. I’ll take any excuse for cake.

“Why are you two so dressed up?” Clara asks, cutting into the strawberry cake that I’ve chosen.

I don’t know how much we want to tell her. I’m still deciding what to say when Hurley spills the beans.

“We just came from town hall. We got married.”

Clara’s cake knife pauses in mid-air. “Excuse me?”

Hurley puffs out his chest. She looks from him to me.

I nod. “It’s true. We’re married.”

Clara stammers. “But I…I didn’t even know you two knew each other!”

“We met at the general store,” I say.

Clara’s perfect eyebrows are drawn together in astonishment and thinly veiled concern. “Mildred! That is…such a surprise! I don’t know what to say.”

Hurley clears his throat. I don’t know if it’s a signal, but I decide to come clean.

“Before you say anything, there’s something else I should tell you, Clara.”

I quickly explain the circumstances, and the fact that I lied about my real name.

She blinks at me and repeats it back to me. “Shenna. I…I’m just so shocked.”

“Bad shocked or good shocked?” I ask.

Still holding the knife, Clara bustles around the counter and wraps me up in a hug.

“Good shocked.”

She gives Hurley an awkward side hug. “Jack always spoke highly of you, Hurley. I’m so glad you’re as protective of our Mil—I mean, Shenna, as the rest of us are.”

“I had no idea Jack talked about me,” Hurley mutters.

“Everyone talks about you, big guy,” Clara replies, “even if you don’t talk to any of us.”

If my new husband seems a bit thrown off at that statement, he’s soon distracted by the huge slices of cake that Clara brings out for us, free of charge.

I don’t know what I’ve gotten myself into, but I take a mental picture of him devouring that strawberry cake like it’s the last slice of cake on earth.

He might love to give me shit, but. Hurley is a simple man, and easy to please.

He eats his cake, demolishing it in two bites.

That’s my husband.

I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to this new normal.

But maybe, just maybe, it’s not going to be terrible.

Chapter Eight

Hurley

---