The lawyer was bewildered. It was carefully obscured by his
dry professionalism, but Renee could tell. The quick looks to Colton as the
estates were outlined, the barely noticeable hesitation before each ‘Mrs.
Savage.’ Renee felt sorry for the man, more than anything, since Colton had
noticed as well and was giving his best glower. That made the man, no doubt
urbane and shrewd before a judge, visibly sweat.
“Are there any questions?”
Renee shook her head; she would never have understood it
even if she had been paying attention.
“Then sign here, Ma’am.” The lawyer commanded, proffering a
sheath of papers. “And here, here, here, here, and here.”
“Good thing I trust you,” Renee said with a weak attempt at
humor. “Not that I have any money to sign away.”
Colton followed her example and inked his spiky signatures
next to hers. He didn’t even half-smile. “I want notarized copies of this made
and the original sent to my holding box. This as well.” The tattered,
bloodstained paper declaring their marriage slipped into the lawyer’s
briefcase. “There is to be no ambiguity as to the validity of this marriage,
understand?”
The lawyer’s gaze flicked between them. “Yes, sir.”
“I’ll be ready in a minute.” Colton announced once the
lawyer had left with the mound of papers.
Renee was dreading this afternoon. She felt stupid, since an
afternoon of shopping at the choicest retailers in London with basically
unlimited cash should be a dream come true. She wasn’t even into fashion and at
first was thrilled at the idea. Now she felt sick.
Colton was back in a fresh shirt. Renee summoned up the
courage everyone kept saying she had.
“Colton, I don’t want this.”
He looked up from his phone. “What do you mean?” He asked in
sharp voice.
“Please, I really don’t need much. I can pay for some new clothes
myself. And I don’t need estates and trust funds and things.”
He relaxed a little, it seemed like. “Oh. It’s nothing.”
“It’s not nothing.” Renee insisted. “You father worked hard
for you and I don’t want to take it just because I am your wife.”
Surprisingly, he smiled; a real smile, wide and showing his
teeth. “I never thought to hear those words from a woman’s mouth.”
“What, you expected your wife to be gold digger?”
“I never expected to get married at all.”
Renee flinched and did her best to hide it by leaning to
retie her shoelace.
“Come on,” he said. “I know some places you’ll like.”
Her uncomfortable emotions made her sarcastic. “I’m sure you
do.”
He had moved to help her to her feet and held her from
walking away by gripping her elbow.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
She tried to recover. “Have you seen the way Alice dresses?
I don’t think she gets that stuff at Sears.”
He didn’t quite believe her, she could tell. But nothing was
going to induce her to bring up Felicia’s name or mention any other previous
girlfriend. He examined her for a moment, then let it go.