A Five-Minute Life

He kissed me urgently, then slid off the bed, to get down on one knee.

“Oh my God,” I said. “You’re really doing it, aren’t you?”

He took my hands, a heartbreaking smile on his face.

“With no shirt on.” I was sniffing and laughing now. “That’s bribery.”

His expression became intense, his dark eyes holding mine.

“Althea Hughes,” he said, “will you m-m-marry me?”

His head bowed at hearing the stutter, and he murmured a curse. I lifted his chin in my palm.

“You stutter when it’s important,” I whispered, my eyes and heart full. “Yes, Jimmy. I’ll marry you. Nothing will make me happier than to marry you.” A watery laugh burst out of me. “I even have the white dress already.”

Now Jimmy laughed, and we kissed again. Happiness defeated fear, and we lingered in the victory as long as we could, kissing and holding each other until it seemed the ticking clock in the room grew louder and louder.

I showered while Jimmy looked up the requirements for getting married in New York State on his phone. I was lacing up the front of my white sundress when I heard him mutter a curse.

“We can get the marriage license today, but there’s a twenty-four-hour waiting period for the ceremony.”

“Do we need a ceremony?”

“The officiant has to sign the license for it to be legal.”

“Okay, so we wait one more day. It’s not like I’m in a huge hurry to leave New York and I feel fine.”

“You said you lost time at the coffee shop.”

“But I haven’t since.” I moved to him. “Let’s get the license and have one more night in the city. We’ll drive back to Virginia as newlyweds.”

Jimmy put his arms around me. “Delia is going to lose her shit.”

“Yes, she is,” I said with a laugh. “But after tomorrow, it won’t matter what she thinks.” I kissed his nose. “You make sure City Hall can take us tomorrow and I’ll tell her the change in plans.”

“Whatever you say,” Jimmy said, kissing me back.

“Spoken like a true husband already.”

I called Delia and, incredibly, my call went to voicemail.

Her wedding gift to us.

“Hi, Deel, it’s me again. Change of plans. We’re staying for one more day. I’m not taking the meds, I promise. I threw them away. But we want to do one more thing before we leave the city. We’ll drive out of here tomorrow morning and be back late tomorrow night. Or maybe the morning after that, if it gets late and we need a motel.”

Our road trip honeymoon.

“Please don’t call me or Jimmy a million times. I’m fine. We’ll keep you posted so you don’t worry, just like we have been this entire trip. Okay?”

I started to end the call, but happiness coursed through my veins now.

“I love you. Bye.”

“You didn’t tell her the plan,” Jimmy said, looking up from his own phone.

“She’ll know soon enough. Ready?”

“Let’s do it.”