SIXTEEN

Trip and Annaliese had a garden wedding that summer. She wore an empire waist dress that cinched just below her breasts and though she wasn’t very big yet, the maternity wedding dress was chosen on purpose. All of which surprised the salesgirl who sold them the dress. Annaliese bought a dress intended for a pregnant woman when she was still slender as a willow branch. She also brought her groom to the bridal boutique and asked his opinion about which dress to buy, but they had a hoot as she tried on dresses and he thumbs-up or thumbs-downed them. They also didn’t shop around. They found a dress they liked on their first shopping trip and bought it without visiting over and over. It was all very perplexing.

The wedding vows they spoke in front of their family and friends were not overseen by someone with legal authority. They had her father pretend to marry them, saying all the flowery words and giving all the blessings they needed to hear. After he proclaimed them husband and wife, several lawyers stood up to clap and then rushed Annaliese’s father to say that what they had witnessed was not a legal wedding ceremony. He told them to calm down. They knew it wasn’t legal. Trip would explain everything. The lawyers stomped off to the reception in a collective huff.

At the reception under fairy globes, Trip got up and said, “It says on your program that this is the toast to the bride. I’m giving it. I would like to thank my darling wife for becoming my darling wife… five and a half years ago.”

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The gasp from the attendees was one of the rewards Trip got for enduring all the hardships of being married to Annaliese.

“As some of you noticed, what you witnessed in the clearing just now was not a legal wedding. We know. Annaliese and I have loved each other since we were children and had to wait a long time to turn eighteen. As many of you know, we were both born in January, so as soon as we’d both had our birthdays, we got ourselves to the courthouse and got married without any kind of parental consent or knowledge.”

Trip beckoned for Annaliese and she joined him in front of their family and friends to come clean.

He went on. “We had a weekend away skiing to celebrate our wedding and then went back home to our own beds on Sunday night. The next day, we got up and went to school. I know a number of you have fantasized about what this kind of relationship would look like or feel like. I wouldn’t recommend it. We managed to convince everyone we were best friends and nothing more. It feels like I have waited forever to come in front of all of you to say what I have always dreamed of saying. I love Annaliese. She is all I ever wanted and I have waited so long for the chance to say it.”

They kissed and their crowd of well-wishers clapped, hooted, and whistled for them.

“Annaliese has an announcement to make,” Trip said into the microphone before handing it over to her.

“We’re expecting a baby… in January.”

The End