Chapter 6
"What do you mean, it's a fraud?" Josh practically screams at the woman.
"I mean, it's a fraud," she snaps back at him, having learned early on how to handle Josh Lyman. If I ever quit, I'm calling her and offering her my job.
I put my hand on his arm to calm him down, but talk to Lara. "So we need to find out where we were married and get the correct copy, right?"
She looks at me like I'm in some sort of shock and calmly says, "There is no correct copy. You're not married."
"What?" Great, now I sound like Josh.
"Of course we're married, we have rings," he says, waiving his hand in front of her.
"This happens," she says casually. "We get a few of these a month. Two completely drunk people get in a cab and ask to be taken to a chapel. The cabby tells them he has a friend who's a judge and can do it cheap if they pay in cash. They agree and he takes them to a friend's house, sells them crappy rings, performs a fake ceremony and prints out a certificate. The people are too drunk to remember the details."
"This happens?" screams Josh. "And you don't do anything about it?"
"This isn't the police department. And no, they don't do anything about it. What can they do? Can you i.d. the guy?" she asks sarcastically. He opens his mouth to yell at her, but then shuts it and looks to me for help.
I turn to Lara. "Are you sure we weren't legally married and just given the wrong certificate?"
"Married by Arthur Van Delay? Haven't you ever seen Seinfeld?"
"Seinfeld?"
"Art Van Delay. George and Jerry made him up in the first season. He's an architect, then he owns a latex company, then he's an importer/exporter. And in the last episode, he's a judge."
"What in the hell are you talking about?" Josh asks her like she's lost her mind.
"I'm talking about the fact that your marriage certificate was signed by a non-existent television character and you were ripped off and you're not married and you haven't quite seemed to grasp it."
"Listen Lady, we're married. We've got rings, we've got a hotel room, we've consummated…twice."
"Josh!" I yell.
"Sorry," he says, taking my hand. Then he looks at me and talks so quietly that I'm sure even Lara can't hear him. "I just…"
"I know," I whisper back, squeezing his hand.
He stares at me for several seconds and then turns back to Lara. "I'm sorry. It's been a confusing day."
She nods and offers him a small smile. "I'm sure it has."
"So, we're not married," I say quietly, looking down at our joined hands.
"No," she replies, looking at us holding onto each other. "This is good news, right?" she asks.
I look up at her. "Good news?" I ask quietly, in a daze.
"You're not married, so you don't have to have an annulment."
"Right," Josh says sadly. "Good news." She hands us our fake certificate and we leave the courthouse.
Neither of us says anything as we wait for a cab, and once we're inside, we just sit close to each other and stare out our respective windows, fingers still laced together. Finally, the silence becomes too much and Josh says in an overly cheery voice, "We're gonna get back in time for you to get some of your spa day in."
"Yeah," I say, still looking out the window.
He keeps up the cheery pretence. "We're having dinner with CJ and Toby tonight, right?"
"At eight," and even to myself, my voice sounds a million miles away.
"Donna," he says in a gravely voice, and I close my eyes. I can't look at him; looking at him right now might just kill me.
So instead, I try to sound cheery too. "And I can't wait. All we've had to eat today is toast, I'm getting hungry."
"Donna," he says the same way, breaking my resolve.
I shake my head but keep my head turned away. "It's stupid." I can hear my voice starting to quiver and I try to take a deep breath.
"It's not stupid."
"We we're going there to annul the damn thing anyway," I say angrily as the first tears escape and run down my cheeks.
"But…" he says quietly, prompting me to say something. I just shake my head and look at my lap. He leans over and picks my chin up so I'm looking at him. "But…"
"But now it's like none of it happened," I whisper as the tears fall down my face. He pulls me into his chest and rocks me back and forth.
"It happened," he says quietly, stroking my hair.
"But…"
He takes my face in his hands and pulls me up so I'm level with his face, wiping my tears away with his thumbs. "It happened, Donna."
I stare down at his chest. "I feel like I lost something I never even had," I whisper.
"I'm right here," he says, bringing my hand to his lips and kissing it softly.
"But you're not mine," I says through sobs, looking back at his face.
"I've always been yours," he whispers, looking me directly in the eyes. I look at him for several seconds, then put my head back on his chest and he holds me close, neither one of us talking for the rest of the ride.
When we get to the hotel, I walk up to the front desk. Josh doesn't question; he just follows. "I need a room, please."
The man at the front desk looks at me and then behind me at Josh. If I look as bad as Josh does right now, this guy must think someone died. "For how many nights, ma'am?"
"Two." I hand him my credit card and fill out the appropriate information, then take my key and Josh and I head upstairs, still silent.
When we get to his room, I start gathering my things together and Josh goes into the bathroom. He comes out a few minutes later and I go in and look at myself in the mirror. My face is red and blotchy, and my eyes are puffy and bloodshot. I wash my face, then get my toothbrush and shampoo and go out to the bedroom, put everything in my bag and walk to the door.
Just as I reach the door to leave, Josh takes my garment bag from my shoulder and my carry on bag from my hand. "I'll walk you to your room," he says quietly.
I look up at him and try to smile, but I can't manage it. "Thanks," I finally whisper.
We walk back down the hall to the elevators, and once we're inside, I look down at my hand and stare at my ring. I take a deep breath and take it off, putting it in my pocket. Josh watches me the whole time, then sets my carry-on bag down and does the same thing. Then he picks up my left hand and kisses my ring finger lightly.
When we get to my floor, we both get off the elevator and walk down the hall towards room 5645. When we get there, I open the door and take a step inside, then turn to get my things from Josh. I take them from his hand and sit them down inside the door, then turn back and thank him once again.
"You're welcome," he says quietly, staring at me.
"I'll see you at dinner."
"Yeah," he says and turns around to go. But then he turns back and puts his hand on my cheek and I have to close my eyes to keep from crying again. "It happened," he whispers and I turn my head and kiss his palm, keeping my eyes closed.
Then his hand is gone and I lean my head back against the door, assuming he's left, until I feel his lips touch mine so softly that I think for a second I must be imagining it. But then I feel his breath on my face and his hand cupping my cheek again, his thumb running over my cheekbone. And then he kisses me again and I feel myself floating or falling or something, and I'm kissing him back.
This kiss is so different, so chaste, so innocent, so pure. And we stand there in the hallway where anyone could walk by and see us, kissing that way for what feels like an eternity. His hands are on my face and my hands are on his face, my thumb in the crevice that becomes a dimple when he smiles.
And then he pulls my bottom lip between his, and it's still so slow and tentative, and my hands leave his face and wrap around his neck, and his hands leave my face and go to my waist, and he's pulling me as close to him as possible, squeezing me so hard that it feels like he's afraid I'm going to escape.
After several minutes, he pulls away and looks at me, our faces no more than an inch apart. Then he kisses my cheek and then my ear, and then, leaving his mouth against my earlobe, he whispers to me. "I want to make love to you, Donna. Not because we're married and not because we're not. I want to make love to you because I love you and I need you. Please let me show you that."
And all I can do is turn my head and kiss him, kiss him deeper and harder than I've ever kissed anyone, because there's nothing else to say. He loves me and although I've always known that to a point, he's never said it before. And right here, right now, I don't care what tomorrow brings or how hard I'm going to cry when he gets up and leaves. I just want to feel him on top of me and inside me. I need to be that close to him now. He said he loves me, and as much as I know it, I need him to show me.
