Married While Intoxicated (4 page)

The thorough examination he gave her sent her
heart into overdrive once more. “Maybe you should,” she said,
smiling. She hadn’t meant to say her coquettish thought out
loud.

“Yes,” he said thoughtfully, “maybe I
should.”

She turned away from him.

“Do you own your own business?” he asked.

She looked at him again. “Yes, I do. I opened
my shop four…no, four and a half years ago.”

“That’s wonderful. I’ve been in business
almost six years.”

“Excuse me,” Sheila called as she entered the
room, “but I could use some help in the barn, Matthew. Would you
mind?”

He looked at Melinda with a trace of
disappointment in his eyes. Looking back at Sheila, he said, “No,
Mother. I don’t mind helping.”

She nodded toward him. “Wonderful. You come
along too Melinda. There’s plenty that needs doing.” She sent her a
mischievous grin. “Maybe when we’ve finished working,” she said as
she started to move out of the room, “the two of you could take a
little roll in the hay.”

“You’re incorrigible!” Matthew shouted at
Sheila’s rapidly retreating back. He looked at Melinda, his cheeks
as rosy as a pair of ripe tomatoes. “I’m sorry, Melinda.”

The sound of the back door closing indicated
Sheila had returned to the outdoors.

“Forget it, Matthew,” she said, waving away
his apology and his mother’s colorful cliché--which she was certain
was still hanging in the air.

He stepped toward her and pressed his hand to
the middle of her back. “You’re wonderful to be so generous with
her. She doesn’t deserve it, you know.”

“She deserves a lot more than generosity from
me. I shudder to think what would have happened to me if you and
your family wouldn’t have taken me in. I’ll never be able to repay
you.”

“Don’t be too sure of that. When Mom finds
out you’re a mechanic, she’ll have you working on every machine on
the farm. She’ll keep you constantly busy until you’re able to
leave if you let her.”

“She will?”

“Absolutely,” he said as they entered the
kitchen. “Ever since Dad died she’s been without anyone to maintain
the machinery in the way she thinks it should be cared for. She
practically treats Dad’s tools and the machinery he left behind as
though they were living beings, like they were an extension of him.
That being the case, she’s very fussy about their care. Since she’s
already terribly fond of you, she’s probably going to want to take
advantage of having a mechanic available whom she can trust
implicitly.”

“Thanks, I think. I mean, it’s flattering to
hear that your mother thinks highly of me.”

Sheila, dressed in her winter gear, opened
the kitchen door which led to the back porch and bobbed her head
inside. “Shake a leg, you two. We’ve got a ton of work to do.”

“We’ll be ready in a minute,” Matthew
said.

Sheila looked at Melinda and smiled. “We’ll
find something for you to do, dear. I hope you don’t mind working
for your keep. Everyone who visits works while they’re here. That
policy cuts down on long-time visitors.” She wiped a drop of melted
snow from her cheek. “Not that I don’t want you to stay a good,
long while. I do. Daughters-in-law are always welcome, but they do
have to work too.”

“I love to work,” Melinda replied. “You just
tell me what to do, and I’ll do it.”

Sheila quirked a brow and sent another impish
grin Melinda’s way. “Know anything about carburetors?”

Matthew chuckled.

Sheila waved a hand imperturbably. “Ah, I’m
just teasing a little. I know you’re too pretty to know a spark
plug from a manifold, Melinda, but that doesn’t mean you’re not as
smart and as capable as anyone I’ve ever met.” With a flourish, she
hustled out the door.

Matthew helped Melinda into her winter
outerwear, put on his own winter coat and led her into the
outdoors.

The Pottaski family and Melinda spent the
remainder of the day working on various chores.

The storm subsided by evening, and Matthew
and Derrik worked to clear the snow in the yard. The next morning
Melinda and Matthew would attempt to go into town.

* * *

Melinda felt someone gently shaking her as
she slept. She opened her eyes and saw Matthew looking down at her.
“What time is it? Why are you waking me?”

“It’s about six, Melinda. We’ve got to leave
within an hour if we want to arrive at the courthouse before it
opens.” Matthew took her hand, and she sat up.

The memory of her marital predicament came
rushing back to her. She brushed her hair off her face with her
fingers. “Yes, of course. Thanks for waking me.”

Matthew sat on the bed next to her. “It is my
pleasure.”

She looked up at him and tried to rub the
sleep from her eyes. “What are you smiling at?”

“You,” he said, broadening his grin. “You are
absolutely amazing. Not only did you get the tractor in tip top
shape, fix the hydraulics on the scoop, and the hiss in the motor
on the milk pipeline, you also managed to set Mother back on her
heels with your mechanical prowess. She wants to hire you full
time.”

Melinda ran her fingers through her hair and
smiled. “I’m glad I could help.”

Matthew touched her cheek with his fingers.
“And on top of all of your accomplishments, you manage to awaken in
the morning after a very rough day looking as beautiful as
ever.”

Her cheeks began to burn. “Matthew, don’t say
that.” His intimate words made her uncomfortable. No matter how
attracted she was to him, they were virtual strangers--even if they
had a marriage certificate which indicated otherwise.

He drew back his hand and stood away from the
bed. Mischief settled into his gorgeous, brown eyes. “But you are
beautiful, Melinda. You’re so beautiful, in fact, that I have half
a mind to dismantle the engine on the snowmobile so we can’t make
our trip to the county seat. A man would be a damn fool to let a
woman like you get away.” He smiled at her and casually turned to
walk to the door. When he reached the doorway, he turned back to
her. “The problem is, if I did fix the engine so it wouldn’t work,
you’d have it repaired in no time, and we’d still be on our way to
intercept that paperwork.” He nodded toward her. “I’m going make
some bacon and eggs. I’ll see you in the kitchen in a few
minutes.”

Melinda lay back on her pillows when he left
the room. If only he weren’t kidding when he said what he’d just
said. The more time she spent with Matthew, the more she liked
him.

It wasn’t long before the scent of bacon
forced her from the warm sheets. She dressed quickly, ate with
Matthew and joined him on the snowmobile ride to the county
seat.

A few of the streets in town had been plowed,
but none of the roads they’d crossed in the country had been
opened. Drifts ranged from four to ten feet high.

They arrived at the courthouse thirty minutes
before the offices were scheduled to open.

They decided to use their extra time to make
a plan of action. They’d talked a bit at the house before they
left, but they didn’t have a lot of time to make plans. Sheila and
Derrik had gone to the barn to help the hired men with the milking,
but Matthew had feared they’d return and catch them preparing to
make their clandestine trip into town in order to undo Sheila’s
errors.

Consequently, they’d needed to eat as quickly
as possible and leave.

They went to the café across the street from
the courthouse and laid out a plan of action over cups of
coffee.

At two minutes before eight Matthew and
Melinda, confident they had devised a fool-proof strategy to
retrieve the fateful fax before it was filed, went to the
courthouse.

They’d decided if the clerk on duty at the
hall of records were a man, Melinda would distract him. If she were
a woman, Matthew would do the distracting while Melinda searched
for the offending fax.

Melinda was pleased to see the only worker on
duty at the hall of records was a man. She much preferred being the
distracter to being the hunter.

She quickly got the attention of the
forty-something fellow with the male-pattern baldness and the
dark-framed glasses. She opened the conversation with a discussion
of the terrible snowstorm.

He seemed to enjoy their engagement so
keeping his attention away from Matthew was very easy.

When Matthew let her know via signals that
he’d completed his search, Melinda told the clerk she’d enjoyed
their conversation but she’d come to his department by mistake. She
claimed she’d meant to go to the county treasurer’s office.

He immediately gave her directions to the
office on the second floor and wished her safety in returning home
through the snow.

Melinda thanked him again before she left the
courthouse and returned to the café to meet Matthew.

She went straight to the booth when she saw
Matthew. “Did you get it?” she asked as she slid into a seat across
the table from him.

He shook his head. “I looked everywhere. I
found a few male magazines, a drawer full of Twix bars and a file
filled with women’s nylon stockings, but I couldn’t find the fax
among any of the papers or in any of the files or drawers.” He
gritted his teeth. “I think we’ve been had.”

“What do you mean?”

“I think Mother never faxed the license at
all.”

“You think she lied?”

“Frankly, I don’t know what to think.”

Melinda started laughing.

“What’s so damn funny?” Matthew asked, giving
her a hard look.

“Your mother. She’s hilarious. She is a real,
honest-to-goodness genius when it comes to pulling pranks. I bet
she and Derrik are at home right now laughing their heads off at
us. Look at how far we’ve gone, how gullible we are!”

Matthew’s lips began to curve upward. “You
really think this is all a joke? That she never did fax the license
to the hall of records?”

“I think if she’d have faxed it, you’d have
found it.”

He seemed to be giving what she said some
thought.

“I suppose there is only one way to find out
just what Mother did. We’ll have to go home and ask her.”

“We probably should have spoken to her before
we left.”

He slid out of his seat, took her hand and
helped her out of the booth. “Knowing what we know now, I’d have to
agree with you. However…”

“Yes?” she said, looking up at him.

He rubbed his free hand over his jaw line. “I
swear…the look on her face when she said she faxed the license…I
swear she meant every word she said. I know her, and I don’t think
she was lying.”

Melinda squeezed his hand. “Let’s go talk to
her and see what she says. I’m sure we can clear everything up with
a good old-fashioned conversation.”

He lifted their clasped hands and patted them
with his free hand. “Maybe you’re right.”

“I’m sure I am.”

They walked toward the door of the little
café, still holding hands.

Matthew stopped abruptly a few feet away.
“What if…”

“What if what?” she asked, looking up at
him.

“What if the clerk showed up early for work?
He could have already filed the certificate, and we could be
legally married.”

A mixture of fear and delight coursed through
her veins. “What if indeed…”

Matthew took her to his snowmobile. Within a
few minutes she was behind him once more, wrapping her arms around
him as they rode back to the farm.

Sheila met them at the back door when they
arrived. She appeared to have been returning from the barn. “Where
in thunder have you two been? I could have used some help with the
milking this morning. Lefty’s got a terrible cold, and Derrik’s bad
shoulder is acting up. I had to send Lefty back to the bunk house,
and I made Derrik return to bed with a heating pad and some pain
reliever.”

“We had an errand to do, Mother. We’d like to
discuss it with you.”

“Certainly. Come on in. I could use a cup of
coffee, and I bet the two of you could too.” Sheila opened the door
and let them inside.

In a few minutes three cups of coffee sat on
the table ahead of three people who eyed each other carefully.

Matthew sat forward and took a sip of coffee.
He stared at Sheila who sat directly across from him. He opened his
mouth, but Sheila spoke before he could say anything.

“Did you go into town?”

“Yes.”

Sheila grinned broadly. “I was hoping you’d
gone to town. Let me see the ring,” she said, reaching toward
Melinda.

“What?”

“The ring, dear. Your wedding band. That’s
what you went to town for, isn’t it?”

“Certainly not!” Matthew exclaimed. “We went
to the courthouse to try to intercept the fax you sent before it
was recorded.”

“Oh?” Sheila’s expression was impossible to
read. She didn’t seem surprised or hurt or disappointed or
confused.

“It wasn’t there, Mother. Either it’s already
been filed, or you lied about faxing the license. Which is it?”
Matthew leaned forward a little farther. “Did you lie about the
fax?”

Sheila shook her head. “I didn’t lie. I sent
the fax just as I said I did.”

“You sent the fax?”

“Yes.”

He let out a sigh and leaned back in his
chair. “Then I guess the paper’s already been filed. That
complicates everything.”

“Not really,” Sheila said. “If the paper is
already filed, it simplifies everything. Instead of going through
the rituals of dating and taking months to learn what I already
know, that you two are perfect for each other, you skip right to
the part where you can start giving me grandchildren.”

“Mother, you are absolutely impossible.”
Matthew turned to Melinda. “As soon as the road is clear, you can
get out of this madhouse and on to your sister’s wedding. I’ll find
out the legalities of our situation and arrange to dissolve this
relationship if indeed it is legal in the first place. You have my
word on that, Melinda.”