Page 45 of Mr. Big Mistake
I swallowed hard. “Yes, Your Honor.”
“So, the two of you thought faking a lifelong commitment might make it easier for you to have sex.”
I grimaced. “Yes, Your Honor.”
Brenden jumped in. “Sir, if I may--.”
The judge held up his hand. “I’m talking to her.”
I sat up in my seat. “Your Honor, I know this sounds--.”
“Crazy? Reckless? Selfish? Asinine? Yes, to all of those.”
Brenden stood up. “Your Honor, if you could direct your frustrations at me, that would be--.”
The judge stood. “You don’t give the orders in this courtroom, I do. Mr. Hearthstone, do you know how many couples I see just like you? Who use chapels around here as some idiotic excuse to make a memory for a night before finding themselves right in front of me?”
“No, sir. I don’t.”
“Right. You don’t. I’ve spent my entire life’s work sorting out crazy schemes children like yourselves get into because all you can think about is yourselves.”
I stood. “Your Honor, we aren’t children. We’re grown adults--.”
He glared at me. “Who will take responsibility for their actions, yes.”
I felt my heart drop to the floor. “What?”
Brenden took my hand. “Sir, please. This wasn’t supposed to happen. I have a written note up there--.”
He held up the note. “I see your note. But that doesn’t mean you’ve learned your lesson. I’ll grant you your annulment. Once I know you’ve learned what there is to learn from this blunder.”
I blinked. “Which is?”
The judge picked up his gavel. “In one month, you come back and see me. And if you can tell me what you’ve learned from all of this, I’ll grant the annulment.”
“Wait, Your Honor, you can’t do this. This was never supposed to--.”
The banging of the gavel on his podium made me jump. Tears streamed down my cheeks as he gathered up our paperwork and walked right out of that courtroom. I felt the room spinning around me. I felt like I was going to be sick to my stomach.
Four weeks.
I had to stay married to Brenden for four weeks.
“Your Honor!” he exclaimed.
“Brenden, don’t,” I whispered.
The judge slowly turned around. “Yes?”
Brenden huffed. “What in the world are we supposed to do for a month? Just sit around and wait for our next court date to come up? We’re both busy people. I own the premier real estate agency in Vegas. Kelly here is starting her own fashion line. We don’t know if we’ll be--.”
“You want to fight my order? Fine. Let’s back it up a bit. Not only will you stay married for a month to make sure this really is what you two want, but now you get to live together and act like a married couple.”
I snapped back to reality. “You can’t do that.”
The judge glared at me. “Would you like to test that bet?”
Brenden took my hand and squeezed it hard to get me to shut up. And it worked.
