“All rise,” the deputy said.
Everybody stood, and heels and dress shoes clicked along the floor as people got their feet under them. The judge went to his seat, glasses perched at the end of his nose, and his eyes looked up from his bifocals, something Louis used to do. The judge wore a black gown draped over his shoulder, reminding me of graduation, and he had a headful of dyed black hair. I knew it was died because it looked unnatural with his wrinkled skin.
“You may take your seats,” the judge spoke clearly in the microphone. “We are here to discuss the matters of Jaxon Steel vs. The State of California. Mr. Steel? Please, come to the stand.”
I squeezed Jaxon’s hand, and he gripped mine in return. He stood, pulled the sleeves of his suit, and strolled forward. Damn, the man rocked a suit. He wore all black with a red tie. I’d never seen him wear a red tie, and he admitted that he only power and attention he wanted was him. He was power, not the color, but he said today was a special day, so he went out and bought a red tie.
All the women in the room were drooling over him, but I knew he didn’t see any of them, he only saw me.
“We are here because you said you never killed your sister and we have a confession on tape of the man named Brian Perkins saying he killed her, is that correct?” the judge asked.
“Yes, your honor,” Jaxon said.
We had no idea how today would go. Some judges wanted this process to be long, with a new jury and using the same witnesses. Our lawyer had us prepared and I was willing to go on that stand and tell the truth.
“Well, I’ve listened to the tape, Mr. Steel,” the judge tilted his chin to his chest and peered his old eyes at Jaxon. “I’m sorry that you served ten years for a crime you didn’t do. Consider your record clean. You are to be rewarded $511,280 from the state of California for your time spent behind bars. Now, I need to move on to other cases that deserve more attention. I hope you don’t mind.” The man’s eyes twinkled as he lifted the gavel.
During the swing of the piece of wood, time slowed. Jaxon’s eyes widened, and he stood from the stand. The judge held everything important to Jaxon in that swing. The gavel met the wood, and Jaxon collapsed back in the chair. “Case dismissed,” the judge ruled.
I bolted to my feet and clapped, the same with the guys seated to the right of me. This time when I cried, they were happy tears.
“Thank you,” Jaxon told the judge and leaned forward to shake the man’s hand. “Thank you.”
“No problem, kid. I hate that that happened to you. Live your life and marry that girl cheering for you,” I overheard the judge say.
“I plan on it, Your Honor.” Jaxon jumped out of the stand and ran to me, wrapped me in a tight hug, and spun me around. “I’m free,” he mumbled into my shoulder. “I’m fucking free!” he shouted, cheering a little too loudly as a man in an orange jumpsuit and cuffs around his wrist and ankles walked by us with armed guards. The guy curled his lip at us, annoyed that he wasn’t a free man.
“Let’s get out of here.” Jaxon dragged me out of the doors of the mahogany everything courtroom.
“Hell yeah. I hate courtrooms. They give me anxiety,” Heaven said with disgust.
“I think that’s the point, Heaven,” I told him and looped my arm through his.
“Well,” Jaxon said as he climbed the steps up the courthouse. “I say we get married right now. What do you think?”
I stopped so fast the guys didn’t have time to see me, and they rammed against my back. I fell forward, but Jaxon caught me. I wasn’t in a cast anymore, but I was in a boot. It was easier to get around in, but I still couldn’t put weight on my foot.
“What?” I blinked up at him, wondering if I heard him right.
“Let’s get married now, Quinn. I don’t want to wait any longer. It’s been ten years too long, and I can’t take it anymore. I need you to be my wife. I need you to have my last name. The time is now.”
Before I could answer, not that I needed to answer, he knew what I wanted to do. I was just shocked. He swung me up into his arms, something he did a lot of lately since I couldn’t walk as fast as he needed me too, and he ran up the steps. I laughed so loud, people gave me funny looks, but I didn’t care. I was finally marrying the man of my dreams.
I wore a simple black skirt and a white blouse. I wanted to look professional in court today. So we were dressed up and today seemed like the perfect day to get married, so why not?
“I can’t believe we are doing this,” I said as he set me down in front of the clerk’s window.
“I can. It’s been way too long. I’ve dreamed of this. I’ll give you a dream wedding, but I need you to be my wife.”
“Jaxon, do we even know if there is a waiting period? We might need document—”
He held up an envelope and grinned, shaking it at me. “You were saying?”
“You are so sly,” I poked him a few times, and then he bent over and grunted when I hit his healing rib. I gasped, cupping my mouth with my hands, eyes widening in guilt since I forgot about his injury. “I’m so sorry. I can’t believe I forgot. Are you okay?”
“You can make it up to me later.”
“Jaxon.” I tried to poke him again, but he moved out of the way and spun around me, wrapping his arms around my waist.
“You know you want to.” He nipped my earlobe right as the clerk yelled, “Next!”
“Saved by the bell,” Jaxon practically purred, and it made my nipples tighten in response. I was so sensitive to everything he did. Even when he was in the kitchen this morning, making coffee and I leaned against the wall to watch him, lust bloomed and made me wet.
With every week that passed, I couldn’t get enough of him. I wanted sex all the time.
“You want to get married?” the clerk asked in a monotone drowsy way, bored with his job.
“We do,” we said in unison.
“Great,” he sighed, annoyed by us. “Sign here, here, and here.”
We scribbled our signatures and handed the paperwork over to him. He stamped it and made a copy of one of the sheets. “Yay. Congrats. You’re married.” He pushed his glasses up the rim of his nose. “That will be forty dollars.”
Best forty dollars ever spent.
“Next!” the clerk shouted.
We didn’t care about who was next. Jaxon and I kissed, even if the clerk were unromantic, this was our first kiss as husband and wife.
And I knew it would be a kiss I’d remember for the rest of my life.
Epilogue
Jaxon
Ten years later.
Holland and Holt played in the sand as we sat on the beach. They were twins. Their faces looked alike, but the hair was how we told them apart. Holland, my beautiful daughter, she had my black hair and brown eyes while Holt, my son, had Quinn’s blonde hair and light brown eyes. They were our world. And when we had them, we knew our family had been completed.
No more kids for us. They were a handful. And we decided if we wanted more kids, we would adopt, something Quinn had been getting more and more interested in as the twins got older. They were turning nine this year. Time was flying by.