Page 63 of Exposing Adonis

But there I was, in a church. Geordie wheeled my brother in. Leo had a cane draped over his arm as he tapped it on the ground, his brows knotted in anger.

“How can we get married in the middle of the night like this?” I had asked.

“Getting married in secret in the middle of the night has a long time-honored tradition in my family.” Callum said it as if this wasn’t the most significant event that could happen in a person’s life. “A little under four hundred years ago, my great-great-whatever married an English lass in the dead of night, without telling anyone. No one knew for years until she gave him a son. I think a couple hundred years ago, a great-great-and-so-on grandmother married her lover in Gretna Green … there’s a few others, but I won’t bore you with the details.”

“Are we going to keep our marriage a secret?”

“If you like.” He turned to me, his eyes grave. “I’ll take you however you’ll let me. But I want to announce it to the world eventually.”

Geordie’s eyes landed on mine. He strode right up to me. My brother got up and hobbled after him, wincing in pain as he leaned on a heavy cane.

“What the hell are you doing?” Leo whispered, grabbing me by the forearm and yanking me down into a pew, away from Callum. His hair was matted, like he had been yanked out of sleep and hadn’t combed it.

“What’s happening?” I asked the two of them, and they had the audacity to look at me as if I was the one with the answers.

Geordie stepped into the row in front of us, and sat down in the pew. He twisted with his elbow over the backrest to look at us.

“I’ve been informed that this is a wedding.I was the one that got your ring, while he was in the hospital. I assumed he’d talked you about this.” Geordie’s acidic voice, with that strong Scottish brogue, drifted over me. The word “wedding” made me sit up as he asked, “Are you … consenting?”

The question hung in the air and I couldn’t say anything.

“Good lord,” Geordie turned to Leo. “She’s in shock.”

“What are you doing?” Leo asked again. “We need to walk away right now if this isn’t what you want.”

“I … I’m getting … married?” I leaned forward, putting my hands on the back of the pew Geordie sat in. “You’d tell me if this was a prank, right? If this was a sick joke …”

“I assure you, this is real,” Geordie said very slowly, carefully, as if speaking to a drunk. And maybe I was. “I backdated a marriage application. Everything that happens from now on is perfectly legal, and real … Lea, at the risk of betraying my friend again, I need to know if you want this or if you’re being forced into it.”

I couldn’t answer. I wasn’t being forced, but was I consenting? Everything in me said this wasn’t possible, but another part of me wanted to go down that aisle, to say those vows, to handcuff myself to him until the end of time. That sounded so freeing. To have someone of my own. Someone who chose me.

“Lea …” my brother said, soothingly, like he was trying to get the attention of a trauma victim.

A polite cough caught all of our attention as Callum stood at the end of the row, his eyes on me. He outstretched his hand, and beckoned me with a curl of his fingers.

“It’s time.” His tone was serious. Almost fatalistic. “Let’s keep the joke going, love. The laughs will be at the altar.” He winked. “Come on.”

His eyes didn’t leave mine, and with that fucking hypnosis of his, my hand ended up in his. He pulled me to him and put my arm around his elbow as he escorted me down the aisle towards the priest.

There was no music, just the steady rhythm of our synchronized steps on the stone floor.

“Wait.” I stopped walking when we were a few feet from the priest. I blinked at Callum. “I need …”

I paused, trying to think.

“What do you need, darling?” Patience radiating from his every pore.

“A veil and … rope.”

He cocked his head. “Why?”

“Pins too,” Leo said. “It’s a Pinoy thing.”

Callum looked to the priest who excused himself, Leo trailing after, the rhythm of his cane echoing against the walls. He ran his hand through his hair black hair as he looked at me from over his shoulder. He wasn’t going to dye his hair to match mine. Was it my idea for us to bleach our hair or his? I couldn’t remember anymore.

They came back with a large, lace veil and a rope that looked like it was used to tie up curtains. But it was long enough to work.

In front of the priest, Leo put the veil over my head, then pinned it around Callum’s shoulder. Then he put the rope around us, bonding us together so that there was a knot in the middle like an infinity symbol. My parents had a picture at their wedding like this. Would we have pictures? I wasn’t sure.

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