Page 18 of Baron in Check
Arnold pierced him with a death stare and crossed his arms. “You’re speaking about my wife.”
“And Hermy will be mine.” Greg jerked his head back when he realized how easy it was to say the words.His wife. Hermy.
He rubbed his neck, trying not to burst with glee. The circumstances didn’t matter if he could finally, after all this time, live his life with the love of his life. He’d pay any price, no matter how high. He’d overcome any obstacle, no matter how absurd his victory may be. He wanted nothing as much as a life with Hermy.
“What he’s trying to say is that marriage is not just a move. You can’t take it back,” Fave said.
“Touch and go,” Greg referred to the rules in a tournament, where one had to move a piece if he touched it. “Well, I touched. Now I go to the altar. That’s my move.”
“Last time, you didn’t get to go.”
“This time, I haven’t touched yet, but I have my moves mapped out,” Greg said. “I’m ready.”
Arnold and Fave looked at each other and then at Greg. Their eyes were the same and their expression identical. Sometimes, they were more like fraternal twins than cousins.
“If you marry Hermy,” Fave started, “and I’m not saying that you are?—”
“But I am. I’m marrying her.”
Arnold cleared his throat and blew his cheeks out like a bull provoked by a red cloth in a Spanish arena.
“Greg, if you make this move, it’ll determine the rest of your life … ahem … all your games are mapped out,” Fave said gravely.
“I’m not stupid. I know that marriage is forever.”
“Do you really still love her?” Arnold asked.
Greg wanted to mention in protest that love matches were for young girls’ dreams, not Barons, but these two people knew him better than he knew himself. “Yes.”
Fave deflated.
A pause followed.
Then, Fave pulled up the corner of his mouth as if sunshine returned to his face. “I’ll sketch the ring.”
“Come and pick the bands,” Arnold said.
He’d won them over. There was a chance to achieve the impossible.
“There’s something else,” Greg said.
Fave and Arnold gave him identical deadpan looks.
“Per her brother’s will, I’m still her guardian until she’s married.”
Fave pivoted to hide his frustration.
“You need to pass the guardianship for long enough to get a special license and wed her.” Arnold pulled Fave back by his arm. “You or me?”
“Neither. It’s a conflict of interest.” Fave pinched the bridge of his nose, a gesture he reserved for utmost frustration. “She needs to have autonomy. She’s a person. An adult.”
“And yet, the law created this bridge toward autonomy via the husband, which is a role I cannot take on unless her guardian, which cannot be me, will give consent for her to marry me.” Greg knew this was absurd; it sounded like twelve-year-old girls playing a he-says-she-says game.
“Unless the bride gives her consent,” Arnold said. “That surely means something.”
“You’re first in alphabetical order, Arnold. Do it.” Fave walked to the door. “I’ll speak with Prinny about the abeyance when we present the golden orb. Perhaps he’ll let us do it.”
Greg knew he meant “perhaps we can do this even though we’re Jewish and the law won’t give us equal footing.” There wasno need to dwell on the idiotic injustices, stripping women of their choice to wed and Jewish men of their legal footing.
