The Manning Brides: Marriage of Inconvenience / Stand-In Wife

Four

Jamie was too confused to think clearly. Surely Rich didn’t mean what he’d just said. It made no sense. “Married … but … you can’t be serious.”

“I’ve rarely been more serious in my life,” Rich answered, stalking to the far side of her kitchen. He removed two dinner plates from her cupboard and set them on the table. “Naturally, this wouldn’t be a conventional marriage.”

“Naturally,” Jamie echoed, still too bewildered to understand his reasoning. “Then … why are you insisting on a wedding?”

“I want the child to have my name. I don’t care if that no longer matters to most people. It matters to me.”

“Oh.”

“We’ll continue to maintain our separate residences. For all intents and purposes, nothing will change, at least not outwardly. Except that we’ll be sharing the care and custody of a child.”

Jamie stood in front of the silverware drawer and closed her eyes, trying to force her heart to stop pounding so hard. Rich had made it plain this wasn’t any love match—not that she’d ever suspected it would be. Nevertheless, her heart had reacted fiercely to his insistence on a wedding. Because she couldn’t help associating marriage with love, despite a great deal of evidence to the contrary.

“What about the pregnancy? I mean … how do you think I should get pregnant?” By the time the question was complete, her voice had dwindled to a whisper.

“You could always seduce me.”

Furious, Jamie whirled around and glared at Rich. She could feel the hot blush warming her cheeks, “I should never have admitted that. You’re going to throw it in my face at every opportunity, aren’t you?”

“No,” he denied, but his eyes were sparkling with the blue light of laughter. “I agree with you. Sex between us would ruin everything. I don’t want to risk our friendship any more than you do.”

The tension eased from between Jamie’s shoulder blades.

“We’ll need to keep the marriage a secret.”

“For how long?” If their child was to have his name, they’d eventually have to tell their families. Jamie wasn’t keen on facing her mother with a surprise marriage to go along with a pregnancy. Doris Warren wouldn’t take kindly to being cheated out of a wedding any more than Rich’s mother would.

“We’d only stay married until the baby’s born,” Rich explained, revealing no hint of indecision, and certainly no doubts. He apparently had the whole situation worked out to his own satisfaction.

Unfortunately, he’d completely unsettled Jamie. She’d had everything organized and none of her plans included marriage, even a marriage of convenience. The questions were popping up faster than she could ask them.

“What are we going to say after the baby’s born?” she demanded.

“That we’re getting a divorce.”

Jamie felt the sudden need to sit down again. “That we’re getting a divorce?” she repeated. Already she could imagine her mother’s shock and dismay. Not only would Jamie have married without telling her, but she’d be obtaining a divorce.

“It makes sense once you think about it,” Rich continued with matchless confidence.

Maybe it did to him, but Jamie felt as though she were wandering through the dark, lost and confused, bumping into walls she didn’t know were there. It had all seemed so simple the night she’d approached Rich.

He pulled out a chair and placed his foot on the seat, resting his right elbow on his knee. “We’ll get married at the courthouse as quietly as possible. There’s no reason for anyone to know.”

“That much I understand…. I’m just not convinced it’s necessary.”

“I am,” he said adamantly.

“All right, all right,” she muttered, swiping one hand through her hair. What had seemed such an uncomplicated idea had suddenly taken on more twists and turns than a country road.

“You’ll agree to the wedding?”

“I don’t know yet.”

“Don’t sound so enthusiastic.”

“I’m not.” She sighed loudly.

“As soon as the ink’s dry on the marriage certificate, we can make an appointment with the gynecologist….”

“Good grief, what are we going to tell him?” Jamie didn’t relish that task. If Rich wanted to explain why two healthy, normal, married adults who wanted a baby would choose such an unconventional method, then more power to him.

“We won’t tell him anything. He’s a professional—he isn’t going to ask a lot of questions. It’s none of his business, anyway.”

“Rich … I don’t know about this.”

“If you have doubts, then I suggest you spill them now.”

“I’m not sure getting married is the right thing. We don’t have to go through a wedding ceremony for the baby to have your name. Couldn’t you legally adopt him or her after the birth?”

“Why complicate everything?”

“And marriage isn’t going to do that?” Jamie cried.

“Marriage will accomplish the same thing now without the legal hassles of adoption later. As I said, it’ll be in name only.”

“Yes, I know, but …” She hesitated, trying to shape her objections in the form of a reasonable argument. When she spoke, her eyes met his. “You’re going to think I’m terribly old-fashioned.”

“The woman who asked me to be a sperm donor? Hardly!”

Jamie had the feeling it would take a long time to live that down. “Yes,” she said vehemently, “I suppose it has to do with my upbringing, but I’ve always considered marriage sacred. Somehow, it just doesn’t feel right to sneak off and get married and … and then arrange for a divorce nine months later.”

Rich was quiet for a moment. “I agree,” he finally said, “but this isn’t a normal marriage.”

“What marriage is?” Jamie asked, thinking of all the friends she’d known over the years who’d married. Each relationship was different from the others. She’d stood by and observed how some couples had grown closer in their love and commitment. Others had drifted further and further apart until it was too late.

“Nothing’s going to change, at least not outwardly,” Rich tried to reassure her once again. “We’re doing this for the child’s sake. And for yours.”

“For mine?”

Rich’s eyes narrowed slightly, and when he spoke his voice was cold. “I won’t allow your reputation to be damaged by an out-of-wedlock pregnancy.”

That was all well and good, but it was her reputation and if she had no objections, then he needn’t be concerned. “But Rich—”

“Furthermore,” he said, interrupting her. “I refuse to allow my son or daughter to be born a bastard.” He raised his hand. “Before you argue with me, I feel the same way about this as I do about the baby having my name. I don’t care if it’s important to anyone else. It is to me. Besides, why make a kid’s life any harder than it has to be?”

“You’ve got a point,” she whispered.

“Still, I can understand your hesitation.”

Jamie lowered her eyes. “It’s just that I expect you’ll want to marry someday. Sooner or later a woman’s going to come into your life and this marriage is going to complicate everything for you. What are you going to tell her about me—and the child?”

“The truth.”

“But Rich—”

“It’s not going to happen. If I believed I was eventually going to marry, I wouldn’t have agreed to this.”

Any doubts Jamie entertained were wiped out with the certainty of his smile.

“So you’ll marry me?” he asked.

Jamie nodded. She still wasn’t convinced it was the right thing to do, but he’d insisted on it so she felt she had no choice.

“One last thing,” Rich said, placing his foot back on the floor.

There was more? Jamie’s head was still reeling from his last announcement. “Now what?”

“You’re important to me. Our friendship’s important. For the sake of that friendship, I think we should have everything drawn up legally. I don’t want any misunderstandings later on.”

This seemed logical to Jamie. “Okay, but most of the lawyers I know through work handle real estate and wills and business mergers. This isn’t their kind of contract.”

“I know an attorney who’ll do it. One I trust.”

“Who?”

“James Wilkens, Christy’s ex-fiancé.”

James Wilkens’s office reminded Rich of his youngest sister, Christy. She used to work here, and he’d stopped by a couple of times over the past year to take his sister to lunch. He half expected her to come around the corner at any moment.

Christy was married to Cody, however, not James. Sheriff Cody Franklin. Rich wasn’t likely to forget how he’d interrupted their wedding night, nor was Cody going to let him forget it. Rich had arrived at her apartment soon after he’d found out about Pamela’s little fling. He’d been disgusted and disheartened, convinced women didn’t know the meaning of the word faithful. He hadn’t included Christy in that, though. Not his little sister; she’d always been so sweet and virtuous. Then, not knowing they were married, he’d stumbled upon her in bed with Cody, and his opinion of women had fallen to an all-time low.

Sitting in the plushly decorated waiting room next to a five-foot potted philodendron brought back an abundance of memories. The plant was on one side of him, with a fidgeting Jamie on the other.

He glanced at her. She was flipping through the pages of a magazine so fast she’d created a draft. She was on her third issue of Good Housekeeping and they hadn’t been seated for more than five minutes.

She remained ambivalent about the idea of marriage, but she wanted the child enough to agree to his terms.

Unlike Jamie, Rich felt comfortable with the plan, for all the reasons he’d given her. He wasn’t sure what anyone else would think, especially his family—if they ever found out—but frankly that was their problem. He was doing his best friend a favor.

Rich had the almost overwhelming urge to laugh. Never had he thought he’d agree to anything like this. According to Jason, women gravitated naturally toward him. In some ways that was true, but they were usually the wrong women. What he wouldn’t give to have fallen in love with a woman as genuine and compassionate as Jamie.

The need to touch her, to reassure her, even in the smallest of ways, was as strong as the urge to laugh had been a few minutes earlier. He reached for her hand, entwining her fingers with his own.

She looked up at him. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“I … I can’t seem to sit still.”

“We aren’t at the courthouse, you know. This is a meeting with James. He’s a decent guy, and a darn good attorney. He isn’t going to laugh or make snide remarks.”

“I know…. It’s just that …” She let the rest of the sentence fade.

“You’re nervous.”

“I’m nervous,” she said. “I don’t understand why, exactly, but my stomach’s in knots and I can’t seem to read, and I keep thinking of everything that could go wrong.”

“Like what?”

Jamie turned from him and stared down at the open magazine in her lap. “I … You wouldn’t understand.”

“Try me.”

“Marriage shouldn’t be taken lightly. I know I’ve said that before, but I can’t seem to explain it in a way that you’ll understand. Something happens to a couple when they marry—even when it’s only a marriage of convenience. Something … spiritual. I know you don’t agree with me, but we’re both going to be affected by this. I can’t shake the feeling that deep down we’ll regret it.”

“We aren’t going to have a physical relationship.”

“I know all that,” she said, “but it doesn’t change what I feel.”

Her hand was trembling in his, and he could tell from the way her voice quavered that she was close to tears. “Do you want to call it off?” Rich would accede to Jamie’s wishes, but he hoped she wouldn’t back out now.

“That’s the crazy part,” she said, her expression even more anguished than before. “I want this marriage and our child more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life.”

“So do I,” Rich admitted, realizing how true it was. “So do I.”

“Rich,” James greeted him as he came into the waiting room. Rich stood and they exchanged handshakes. “It was a pleasant surprise to find your name on my appointment calendar this morning.” The attorney looked from Rich to Jamie, and he smiled warmly.

“This is Jamie Warren,” Rich said.

“Hello.”

“We met briefly … a while back,” she said, suddenly biting off her words. She cast an embarrassed glance at Rich, as though she’d made a dreadful blunder. Fortunately James didn’t react at all. It wasn’t until they were inside James’s office that Rich remembered the two of them had been introduced at James and Christy’s engagement party.

“Come on in and sit down,” James said, motioning toward the two upholstered chairs positioned on the other side of his desk. James, who was of medium height with broad shoulders and a hairline just beginning to recede, had a rather formal manner and a natural reserve.

Rich knew from mutual acquaintances that he’d taken the broken engagement hard. He’d loved Christy and been deeply wounded when she’d married Cody instead. Rich had heard that James rarely dated. If so, that was a shame. James had a lot to offer a woman. He was a junior partner with the firm these days and his talents were in high demand. It would take one hell of a woman to replace Christy, and Rich could only hope that James would find someone just as special.

“So,” James said, reaching for his pen and a yellow pad, “what can I do for you?”

Rich leaned back in his chair. “Jamie and I would like you to draft a prenuptial agreement.”

The attorney’s gaze flew to Rich’s. “Congratulations! I’m delighted to hear it. I didn’t know you were engaged.”

“We aren’t … exactly,” Jamie said hurriedly. When James focused his attention on her, she shifted in her chair and gestured at Rich. “You’d better explain … everything.”

“This will be a marriage of convenience,” he announced.

“A marriage of convenience,” James echoed, as though he wasn’t sure he’d heard correctly.

“There are … extenuating circumstances.”

“We’re going to have a baby,” Jamie inserted, then as she realized what she’d implied, her eyes grew wide. “I’m not pregnant, at least not yet, but if everything goes according to schedule, I will be in the next couple of months.”

James lowered his pen. “This doesn’t sound like a marriage of convenience to me.”

“We aren’t going to destroy a perfectly wonderful friendship by having sex,” Jamie declared vehemently, slicing the air with her hands. “We agreed on that first thing.”

The pen was carefully placed on the polished mahogany desk. James frowned at Rich, then cleared his throat. “Let me see if I understand this. You plan for Jamie to become pregnant, but there isn’t going to be any sex?”

“Before we go any further, I want the details of the divorce clearly spelled out,” Jamie added, sliding to the edge of her cushioned seat. She slipped her hands under her thighs, but continued to fidget, crossing and uncrossing her ankles. “They should be as explicitly drawn up as the particulars of the marriage. And by the way, we won’t be living together. But that shouldn’t matter, should it?”

“You’re planning the divorce now?” This time, James made a few notations on the pad, frowning again.

“You don’t expect us to stay married after the baby’s born, do you?”

“Rich?” James gave him a stern look. “Would you kindly explain what’s going on here?”

“We’re getting married, having a baby and getting a divorce. A, B, C. Points one, two, three. It’s not nearly as complicated as it sounds.” Rich found he was enjoying this. James, however, obviously wasn’t.

“A prenuptial agreement—okay, fine. We have several forms already drawn up that you can read over. The two of you can decide which one suits you best and amend it as you see fit. But—”

“But what about the baby and the divorce?” Jamie asked nervously. Turning to Rich, she added, “I don’t think James understands what we’re planning.”

“You’re right about that. The marriage I understand—at least I think I do. Unfortunately it’s everything else that’s got me confused.”

“There’s a logical explanation for all this,” Rich assured him.

“No, there isn’t,” Jamie said sharply. “Rich insists we marry and I don’t feel it’s necessary, but nothing I say will convince him. If I didn’t want a baby so much, I’d never agree to this.”

“Rich?” Once again, James looked at him, clearly more baffled than ever.

“It’s not as confusing as it seems,” Rich told him a second time. “A bit unconventional, perhaps, but not confusing.” He spent the next ten minutes explaining their plans and answering a long series of questions from the attorney.

“It sounds crazy, doesn’t it?” Jamie said when Rich had finished. “You probably think we both need appointments at a mental-health clinic. I don’t blame you, I really don’t.”

James took his time answering. He continued making notes, then raised his head to look pointedly at Rich. “Are you sure this is what you want?”

“I’m sure.” Rich shared few of Jamie’s concerns regarding the marriage. It was merely a formality. She kept talking about it as though it were a deep spiritual experience. For some couples, marriage might well be that. But not for Jamie and him.

“What about you, Jamie?”

Her head came up sharply.

“Are you sure this is what you want?”

She hesitated, then nodded emphatically. “I’m sure.”

James paused, rolling the pen between his open palms as he collected his thoughts. “Does your family know about your plans?” The question was directed at Rich.

He gave a short, scoffing laugh. “You’ve got to be joking. I don’t intend to let them find out, either. At least not right away. They’ll learn about the marriage and the baby eventually—that much is inevitable. But the longer I can keep this from my parents, the better.”

“On that, I can agree.”

“So you’ll write up an agreement for us?” Rich asked. He hadn’t missed the subtle note of concern in James’s voice.

“I’ll have one drawn up within a week.”

“Good.” Rich took Jamie’s hand. They both stood, and she tucked the long strap of her purse over her shoulder. “Then we’ll go off to the courthouse now and apply for the wedding license.”

“Might I offer you two a bit of advice?” James asked, standing himself. He rubbed the side of his jaw as if he hadn’t decided exactly what he wanted to say.

“Please.” Jamie’s tone suggested that she hoped someone would talk her out of this scheme. If that was the case, Rich would be the first to remind her that she was the one who’d started the whole thing.

“I’ll write up whatever you want me to,” James said thoughtfully, “but I don’t believe there’s any reason to rush into anything. You’ve both waited this long to have a family—a few more months isn’t going to make any difference.”

Rich looked to Jamie for confirmation, but he couldn’t read her thoughts. “We’ll talk about it,” he promised.

James nodded. “I’ll give you a call later in the week and you can stop by and read over the agreement.”

“Great.” Rich steered Jamie toward the door, although she didn’t need any encouragement. She seemed downright eager to escape. “I’ll be talking to you soon then,” Rich said over his shoulder.

“Soon,” James promised.

Jamie was quiet on the way to the parking lot. For that matter, so was he. Although James Wilkens hadn’t explicitly stated his misgivings, they were all too apparent—from the questions he’d asked and the hesitation Rich had heard in his voice.

Rich unlocked the passenger door and held it open for Jamie. He waited until she was inside, his hand on the frame. “Do you want to take some time to think this over?”

“No,” she said instantly. “Do you?”

He shook his head. “No.”

Their eyes met and held until they were both smiling broadly.

Rich woke early Tuesday morning, before the alarm went off. He turned on the shower and stepped under the plummeting spray, enjoying the feel of it against his skin. He was whistling cheerfully when the tune slowly faded, one note at a time.

He quickly finished showering, reached for a towel and headed directly from the bathroom to the phone at his bedside. He punched out the number from memory and waited impatiently for Jamie to answer.

“Good morning,” he said enthusiastically.

“Good morning,” came her groggy reply.

“You know what today is, don’t you?”

“Of course I do. It isn’t every day a woman gets married.”

“Second thoughts?”

“Third and fourth if you want the truth, but now that I’ve had a chance to think it over, I’m more certain than ever.”

“Good.” He’d grown anxious in the shower, convinced Jamie would change her mind at the last minute. He had to be assured one final time, although they’d talked of little else in the past week.

James had contacted him Friday afternoon, and Rich had stopped at the attorney’s office on his way home from work. The agreement was several pages long, but when he asked for the bill, James had insisted it was a wedding present. The gesture took Rich by surprise. James was the only person who knew what they intended, and he was acting as though this was a conventional marriage. Of all people, James was well aware exactly how unconventional it was going to be.