Chapter 10

As soon as I agree to marry Josh, he kisses me. Actually, he takes my face in his hands, whispers, "You're amazing," to me, and then kisses me very gently. I'm so amazed at this Josh. He just says the most wonderful things, and this makes me wonder where in the hell he's been. I mean really, this is not the Josh Lyman I'm used to, so it leads me to wonder, is this romantic Josh the Josh I'm going to get from now on when we're alone? Because that would be awesome! Or, is this Josh Lyman only here to win the prize, the prize being me, of course. And once we've signed the wedding certificate, the real one, are we going to go back to the same old Josh from before? Not that I don't love and adore that Josh, I do. But this Josh whispers and touches and compliments, and well... is incredible in bed.

Although I'm guessing the other Josh is incredible in bed too. And that answers an age-old question. No wonder Amy came back for more.

Anyway, as I'm thinking through all this Josh vs. Josh stuff, I'm not really noticing that Josh is getting a little ahead of himself. "Uh… what'ya doin'?" I ask him when I notice that my dress is unzipped and pooled on the floor at my feet.

"Celebrating," he says, his mouth far too concerned with the dip in my collarbone to answer in a complete sentence.

I, of course, can't help smiling when he says this. "We haven't actually gotten married yet, you know."

"It's a pre-marriage celebration," he says as he continues nibbling on my shoulder and neck and his right hand comes up to my breast.

"I see," I say laughing. Then I pull his face up to mine and kiss him once before pushing him away from me and pulling on my dress. "We don't really have time for a pre-marriage celebration," I say matter-of-factly.

"But…" His mouth opens wide and he stares at me like I've stolen something from him.

"Josh, we're getting married in an hour. I have things to do."

"But…."

"I have to redo my hair and touch up my make-up and pack my things and bring them in here, and I should call my parents and you should call your mother and…"

"Donna!" he interrupts.

"Yes?" I say, stopping my little rant and looking at him.

"I was… and you….and then you were almost naked…and then…and now…" he's gesturing around and pointing to my body and the bed and he looks very flustered and very cute.

I smile at him. "I'm sorry, but we don't have time."

"I can be quick!" he says with pleading eyes.

"All evidence to the contrary."

"But…" I'm trying very hard not to laugh at him, but he's absolutely adorable.

"I tell you what," I say seductively and walking up very close to him. "I'll let you zip my dress back up." I turn around, giving him a view of my entire back.

"But…" and he starts kissing my neck and running his hands up and down my back. "I don't want it zipped up," he says in somewhat of a whiny voice.

"I know, but I'm about to walk out that door and go back up to my room. Do you want me walking around the hotel like this?" As soon as I say that, I hear the zipper. I knew that would do it. Josh is not such a fan of other men seeing my body.

Five minutes later, we're standing in my room and I'm putting my hair up like I had it earlier. I looked very bride-like earlier, which was bad. But now it's good. Every time I pick a section of my hair up, Josh comes up behind me and kisses my neck at that spot. "Josh…" I say, again.

"I'm trying to help," he says. It's kind of hard to tell what he's saying, what with the fact that his lips don't actually leave my skin when he talks.

"Yet, you're not being very helpful."

"Donna," he whines and stands upright so he can look at my face through the mirror. "Ten minutes ago you let me take your dress off you. I'm a man. Naked bodies affect me. You took yours away and that's not fair."

"I know, and when we get back here, I promise to be naked for the rest of the night, but I need to get ready right now. I'm getting married in forty-five minutes."

He kisses my neck one more time and steps back. "You're no fun. All night?"

"And well into tomorrow morning. Now, you could put my things into my garment bag and take them up to your room. That would be helpful."

"Fine," he huffs and starts wondering around the room.

A half hour later, we're sitting in a limo on our way to whatever chapel Josh booked. I'm a bit scared that it's going to be decorated in an Elvis theme or something equally as tacky, but Josh has assured me that's not the case.

We've been in the limo for a few minutes, when out of the blue it hits me. "We're going to have to live together."

"Have to?" he squeaks, snapping his head in my direction.

Oops. "I worded that badly," I say, giving him my sorry face.

"You think?" he says a little loudly.

I put my hand on his knee and my head on his shoulder. "What I meant was… we're going to need to talk about our living arrangements."

"Well, I'm not living in the ghetto."

I sit up and look at him. "I don't live in the ghetto, Josh."

"No, because as of 8:30 tonight, you live in Georgetown with your husband."

I ponder this for a few seconds. "We can get a new comforter for your bed?"

"Our bed? Yes."

"And what about your bathroom?"

He smiles and shakes his head at me. "No flowers and no pink. That's all I ask."

I smile back and nod at him. "Ok, your place will be fine."

"Our place," he corrects me as he kisses me softly on the lips. A new husband and a new townhouse. This is getting fun.

Twenty minutes later, I'm walking down the isle of the small but nicely decorated chapel. There's an elderly woman sitting in the back row acting as our witness, but other than that, it's just the Justice of the Peace and us. I never would have thought about it, but I like that it's just us. I like that this is a very private moment.

I'm about five feet from Josh when I start to panic. We haven't discussed all the stuff you discuss when you're dating, and suddenly I'm worried about a few things. Josh notices the look on my face immediately and pulls me close to him when I get to the front.

"What's wrong?" he whispers.

I smile at the Justice of the Peace and then turn to Josh. "What about kids?" I ask quietly.

"What about them?" he asks me, obviously confused.

"Do you want them?"

He looks around our surroundings and then back at me. "Do we have to do this now?"

"Yes!" I shout. I'm sorry, but I already told you I'm panicking.

His eyes open wide and he looks back at the elderly man waiting to marry us. "We just need a minute," he says to him. The man nods and Josh looks back at me. "Yes, I'd like to have children. But not until we're out of the White House; I don't want to be a part time dad."

"That's fine. How many?"

"How many?"

"Kids. How many kids?" Pay attention!

He shrugs a little. "Well, not a ton. I don't know. Two, maybe three?"

I nod and smile, releasing a deep breath. "Good answer."

"Anything else?" he asks me, laughing a little at me. I'm losing it and he can tell. And… he's having fun with it. The love of my life, laughing at my nervous breakdown.

"I don't want to be a stay at home mom." I've thought about this a lot, and I really admire women who choose to do that, but it's not me. Maybe for a year, but after that, I've got to have some sort of life outside diapers and carpools.

"Ok."

"I want to be a good mom, but I'd lose it if I stayed home and watched Barney everyday."

"That's fine. Are you ok? You're not about to bolt, are you?"

"No I'm not about to bolt, but we haven't discussed these things, and they're important things. This isn't a date, it's a lifetime." He smiles at me when I say that. This is a serious matter and he's smiling? "What are you smiling at?"

"The thought of a lifetime with you," he says, smiling even bigger, which in turn makes me smile. See what I mean when I say "this Josh?"

"I don't want our kids in private education. Public schools. They offer more classes and multiculturalism that you don't get in private education," I continue.

"Ok, but that means we find good public schools. Even if we have to move to a better district."

"I don't have a problem with that."

"What about college? My dad and I both went to Harvard. It's kind of a family tradition."

"That's fine, but only if they want to go there. I don't want to pressure them."

"No pressure, as long as they do their best."

I nod. "And I'm a Christian. I know you're not and that's fine, but I am and I'm not going to change what I believe."

He leans in and kisses my forehead. "I'd never ask you to."

"And after the administration ends I might want to go back to school."

"Not a problem. When my mom gets older, I think we should move her closer to us. She doesn't have anyone else."

"I'd love her nearby. Are you gonna change your mind and want to run for office some day?"

When I ask this, his eyes get big again. "You don't want me to?"

"I want you to be honest. If you want to run, I want you to come to me and talk about it. Don't pretend like it's no big deal because you think I'll be upset."

"Ok. I don't want to live in Wisconsin."

"Wisconsin?" Where did that come from?

"I know your family's there, and we can visit whenever you want, but I don't want to live there. I want to stay in or near DC."

"That's fine. I want to take your last name. I know it's not the feminist thing to do, but I want to have the same name as you and our children."

"I'd love that."

"We should've signed a pre-nup."

"Why?" he asks in a very serious tone.

"I know about the trust, Josh." Josh has a trust fund from his grandparents on his father's side. He's never mentioned it, but I've seen it on his tax returns, and it's quite a bit of money.

"So."

"So, a pre-nup would protect you."

He smiles again and kisses me on the nose. "I don't need protecting from you."

I look into his eyes and I can tell it doesn't worry him. I nod slowly. "Ok."

"Anything else?"

I shake my head and smile at him. "No, I think that's it. Thank you for humoring me."

He gives me a glance of his dimples. "I like humoring you."

"Why?"

"Because you get this funny look on your face and your eyebrows crinkle together and you look cute."

"I love you, you know that?"

"Yep. And it's a good thing, 'cause I love you too." He turns back to the Justice of the Peace. "We're ready now."

Ten minutes later, I'm Donnatella Lyman.