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Derrick’s lips moved without saying anything, but finally he managed to say, “What?”
Taylor didn’t even hesitate in her response. “He is going to marry us, right here, right now, so that your dad can be with us,” Taylor said softly, but matter-of-factly.
Derrick looked to the good judge. He gave a small smile and nodded.
“Taylor, that is so great,” Marty said as more tears trailed down her face. Simon just smiled.
“Can I talk to you?” Derrick asked as he got up quickly and grabbed Taylor by the arm, dragging her across the room. “What are you doing?” he hissed at her as soon as they were out of earshot.
“I am marrying you,” Taylor said without any trace of emotion; no happiness, sadness, or anger came through.
“Taylor, you don’t—”
“Derrick, your father is dying. He is the last parent either of us has. If we are doing this, let’s do it and let him be a part of it,” she said back, again devoid of emotion.
Derrick looked over at his dad, and then looked down at the floor. This was so not the way he had wanted all of this to happen. “This feels like a business meeting called to order. I can’t just—”
“Please, Derrick,” Taylor interrupted him. She moved her head to get into his field of vision and seemed to swallow a lump in her throat. “Please do this for me, for your dad, for Marty, for—” she took a deep breath, “do it for us.”
She said all the right things. It was true that Derrick wanted his father to be part of this. And he would do anything for “us,” but it wasn’t the “us” he wanted. And that was the problem; he wanted to really be the “us” Taylor was referring to.
“Are you guys okay?” Marty asked, startling them both as she came up behind them, sending them jumping. “Oh geez, I didn’t mean to scare you, but Dad is really awake now, so we should probably …”
Taylor and Derrick looked back at Simon, who was practically beaming.
“Uh,” Derrick hesitated, turned to Taylor, and widened his eyes at her, silently trying to convey his question: “Are you sure?”
Taylor looked back at Derrick, gave a wavering, small smile, and nodded. When he didn’t move, she took his hand and pulled him back over to his father’s bed.
“Perhaps if you two could stand at the end of the bed, Mr. Fletcher could see you the best,” Judge Thompson suggested to Derrick and Taylor as they approached, and Derrick allowed himself to be dragged by Taylor and positioned as the judge suggested.
“Marty, will you stand next to me?” Taylor asked her.
Marty bit her lip and nodded, going to Taylor’s side.
“Oh wait,” Marty stopped and pulled her phone out of her back pocket. “Henry, will you take pictures for me?” When both Taylor and Derrick turned to her, Marty was quick to reassure them. “I won’t post them to anything, I just want to capture the moment,” she said rolling her eyes.
When everyone was situated where they needed to be, Judge Thompson began. “Dearly beloved …”
* * *
Taylor thoughtshe was going to be sick.
When she had called Todd after Derrick and Marty had spoken with the doctor and told him she wanted to marry Derrick, now, he and Charlie had moved faster than even Taylor knew was possible.
Now she had an immediate marriage license and a judge marrying her in a hospital room where her soon-to-be father-in-law was imminently going to die.
No pressure.
“Do you, Taylor, take Derrick to be your lawful wedded husband …”
Taylor heard the judge, and she was looking into Derrick’s eyes, and she really hoped he couldn’t see how unsure, nervous, and nauseated she was. She was totally scared. What if this was wrong? What if there was another way? What if …
The judge had stopped talking. “I do,” she said, hoping it was the right thing to say.
Derrick smiled, and the judge went on, “And do you, Derrick …”
She needed to just be in the moment; she needed to just remember what she had to do for Preston Corp. And maybe, just a little, she was doing it to fulfill a dying man’s last request; that was where the guilt came in to play.