"Dorothy," he said, "maybe nothing can stop him from getting that paper
back soon. It may be hours or days. But--would you marry me and make
the most of it until...?"
She began twisting her fingers together nervously. "I--I don't know
what to say," she hesitated. "It seems so wrong in a way. I don't mean
wrong. Unfair. That's it. Unfair to--to both of us. Like we were doing
this whether we love each other or not. It doesn't give whatever love
we could have had a chance."
Lin stared at her a moment. "Then let's turn around and go back and
give it to him," he said quietly.
"Let's--let's--" Suddenly she was in his arms, her face buried in his
collar, her body trembling. She lifted her head until her cheek rested
against his. Her voice was a whisper in his ear. "Let's--get married."
* * * * *
"Boy, have you two got it!" Phil Arnoff said. "You get me on the phone
and tell me to rush to town, and you can't wait five minutes. What's
the matter? Afraid you'll fall out of love if you don't plunge?"
"We wouldn't have waited for you to get here," Lin said, "only we
have to have a witness, they said when we got the license." He looked
pleadingly at Dorothy. "Please, honey. Let's skip the church. You don't
_have_ to be married in one do you?"
"It's got to be a church," she said. "That's the one thing I've always
been certain of."
"Why not?" Phil said. "There's a dozen churches that exist on weddings.
Don't even have a congregation. Just weddings. One of 'em ought to have
a vacant ten minutes today."
They found a phone booth and Lin began making calls. The third number
was answered by a man with an Irish brogue who blessed them for their
eagerness and agreed to perform the ceremony at once.
"Hah!" Lin said when he hung up. "We'd have got along without you
okay, Phil. Reverend O'Hara said he has a witness on hand all the time
for couples like us."
"I'll trail along anyway," Phil grinned, "What _is_ the rush though?
How long have you two known each other?"
"We ran into each other a few days ago," Dorothy said, taking Lin's
hand and leading him toward the sidewalk.
Phil followed them and noted silently the way they glanced anxiously
about when they were out in the open, as though afraid of being seen by
someone.
Lin flagged a cruising taxi again. The three of them piled into it and
Lin gave the address of the church.
Phil broke the silence after a few blocks. "I'm being nosey, I know.
But you two were obviously looking to see if you were being followed.
Why don't you tell old uncle Phil about it? Huh?"
"About what?" Lin said, turning innocent eyes on him.
"Nothing," Phil said. "Only, sometimes three heads are better than one.
If you two, or one of you, is in trouble, maybe I could be of help if I
knew what to look out for."
"I doubt it," Lin grunted. "In fact, if we told you you wouldn't
believe it, so skip it."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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