Save the Date! (6 page)

It was quite ironic that the Harrisons were currently looking at a church on a Sunday afternoon,
Dixon Black in tow.

A priest was showing the family around, pointing out the significance behind the glass stained windows, the confessionals
– more for show than for actual confessing, given that this was a Presbyterian church - and the many other statues and relics and symbols that made up most of the church.

The Harrisons were barely Presbyterian and not at all religious so
it was highly unlikely that Gemma and Dixon would even get married here. As logic would go, Gemma felt as though it was a waste of time for them to even be here. However, as Carlene would say when she would drag her daughter window shopping, "It's important to look so we can see what we want later and build some ideas."

Gemma just didn't like finding exactly what she wanted and then having her mother tell her she couldn't get it because they were only window shopping. In her mind, it wasn't fair.

And to have Dixon here with her? Goodness, could life get any more boring? At least if Gillian was with her, they would be scanning the crowds for hot guys, making stupid jokes, and distracting each other long enough to forget that Gemma was actually getting married to someone she really didn't want to get married to. But it didn't seem to matter. If her life was threatened…

Life just wasn't fair.

"You know," a crisp, familiar drawled said in a low voice from beside the young woman, "if you hold that scowl long enough, it will freeze that way onto your face."

Gemma rolled her eyes before glancing up at
Dixon. "Yeah, right," she muttered. "I think my mom told me that a few times while I was in fourth grade, but it's not true. Give me a little more credit."

"But it
is
true," Dixon continued, keeping his voice low so the priest and the Harrisons wouldn't overhear. "The CIA and FBI have been doing studies on it and we've found that people who make faces for a certain length of time begin to have their faces freeze that way permanently." The corners of his lips twitched as he tried not to smile.

Gemma realized what he was doing and tried to keep her laughter
as choked chuckles that were not allowed to escape out of her mouth.

"Oh
my gosh, did you just make a funny?" Gemma asked him, her voice incredulous. The couple was a good portion away from the parents and the priest, so it wasn't likely that they could overhear their conversation. "I never took you for a joker, Code Blue."

When he heard that familiar nickname slip out of her mouth, he rolled his eyes. "Yes, well," he began. "You give me so much material, it's hard not to indulge in a little amusing behavior."

"I'm not exactly sure if I should take that as an insult or a compliment," Gemma told him honestly, looking at him for clarification.

Dixon
shrugged. "Take it as you will," he murmured. He glanced around him, his hands loosely in his pant pockets. "Are you Catholic?" he asked, trying to make conversation. He would never admit it, of course, but Dixon was just as bored as she was.

Gemma shook her head. "Are you?" she asked, genuinely curious. Because if he
was
Catholic and it was easier for him to get married in a Catholic church (even if it was fake marriage) then she might change her mind and take some kind of test each couple was supposed to take in order to get married at a specific church. If there was such a test, of course.

She would never admit it aloud, least of all to him, but Gemma was actually growing used to
Dixon's presence. They had known each other for two weeks now, and though Dixon was kind of boring, he could make her laugh occasionally. And if it was easier for him to get married in a Catholic church, she would do it because she realized that Dixon was in the same boat as she was. Whatever she could do to make him comfortable, she probably would.

It wasn't like she was actually getting married to the man.

"No," Dixon told her. "But I find their churches beautiful. And each one seems to be unique in its own way. I am not a religious man, Gemma, but I find that each time I walk into one, I feel
something
beyond my own being."

Gemma nodded, allowing his words to sink in. She had to agree with what he had said, even though she wasn't very fond of the Catholic religion. They did build beautiful places of worship though.

"I just don't believe in the guilt they instill in their followers," Gemma told him, her eyes finally reaching Dixon again. "I don't think a person can get forgiveness from a man, even if he is a priest. I don't believe that having an abortion is the same thing as murder and I don't believe that homosexuality is a choice. I stopped going to church when I was a kid. I… I just couldn't go to a church where they believed that stuff – Christian, Catholic, Jewish. It doesn't matter. I also don't like some man interpreting the Bible and then telling me this is how I should live if I want to get into Heaven and avoid Hell."

"Are you religious then?"
Dixon asked, surprised they might actually have something in common.

Gemma thought about it for a moment. "To a point, I suppose," she replied.
"Maybe spiritual more so than religious. I believe in God and Jesus and Heaven and Hell. But I think that if you're generally a good person, there's no reason why you can't get into Heaven. If God is really our Father, shouldn't he love all of his children, regardless of sex, race, sexual orientation? At least, that's what I think. And I think a lot of the main religions share more similarities than differences so it's ironic that they seem to be in this kind of war with each other."

She paused in her speaking and looked at
Dixon with a look of utter surprise. The only person she had deep conversations with about things like this had been Gillian. Occasionally she would share her views with her parents, but they didn't like talking about controversial things at the dinner table. And she had just said all of that to Dixon in five minutes, give or take.

"I'm sorry," she said, avoiding his eyes. "You probably didn't want to hear all of that."

"That's all right," Dixon said. If she had actually looked at him, she would see that his lips were curled up into a soft smile. "You know, I believe you have actually exceeded my expectations just now." Gemma gave him a dry but partly confused look. His smile broadened. "I mean, your parents are obviously Christian. I always find it's rather admirable for a child to pull away from what their parents instill on them and do their own research on the subject. If it brings them back to the original conclusion, so be it. But if not, you've chosen something for yourself."

"I take it your parents are more religious than you?" Gemma asked, slightly amused by this.

Dixon cocked a dry smile, his blue eyes rising up to the ceiling. "Yes they are," he told her. "As well as my sisters."

"You have sisters?" Gemma asked, a slight, wistful tone tainting her question.

"Two younger sisters," he said with a curt nod.

"That's amazing," Gemma said with a smile. "I would love to have had an older brother or sisters. I wouldn't care. I would just have loved to have some siblings. But my parents said they had only ever wanted one child and I was the lucky one."

It would appear as though Carlene's ears had been trained to pick up Gemma's sarcastic tone, especially when they were in houses of worship. She politely excused herself from the pastor until she reached her daughter, completely ignoring Dixon.

"You know, I shouldn't be surprised to hear your voice in that tone," Carlene whispered in a hushed tone. "You need to take this more seriously, Gems. This isn't just a joke. This is your life we're talking about."

"Mom," Gemma said flatly, looking at her mother with hooded eyes. "None of my friends are ever going to believe I would ever get married in a church. This isn't window shopping anymore. This is a wedding, and even though it's a fake one, it's still my fake wedding. I don't care what you say, but I'm not getting married here."

Without warning, Gemma spun on her heel and left the church. Carlene threw a helpless look at
Dixon, who nodded at her before going after her. He managed to catch up with her in the parking lot. She didn't appear to be crying, but she seemed distressed, and Dixon could probably understand why.

"Where are you going, exactly?"
Dixon asked, curiosity tainting his tone.

"I needed to get out of there as fast as possible," she said, tilting her head in the church's direction. "Do you want to come with me?"

It was quite a switch of roles when
Dixon grabbed Gemma's wrist and led her to his car. He opened the door for her, an act which had surprised her. And here she thought chivalry was dead. Maybe it was only alive in the south. She would have to go to go there one day… As she was buckling her seatbelt, Dixon slid into the driver's seat and started the car.

"So where are we going?" she asked as the Rolli
ng Stones began to fill the 1967 cherry-apple red Ford Mustang. Of course Code Blue would be a driving a car like this one. He couldn't be a redneck agent from the south without a super cool car to go with his persona.

"It's a surprise," he said in his usual crisp tone.

Gemma refrained from rolling her eyes and instead glanced out the window. "You're not the guy threatening my life, are you?" she asked him, her brows perked.

"What are you talking about?"
Dixon asked, giving her a blank stare.

"Like in the movies," Gemma said in a tone that said it was the most obvious thing in the world, meeting his eyes. "It's always the person you least expect, you know. How genius would it
be if you were really the man who had threatened my life. And now that you have me alone…" She gave him a wary glance.

Surprising Gemma, he let out a wolfish laugh. It was the first time she had ever heard him laugh so fully, and Gemma felt her lips twitch up. It was a nice, pure sound. She silently decided he should laugh more often. Whenever he smiled genuinely, his whole face lit up and he kind of resembled an angel. It was the same when he laughed.

"You really like movies, don't you?" he teased, making a left at the light. "But, I can promise you that I am not threatening your life in any way, and if I was, I would tell you."

Gemma smiled at this. She had never really believed
Dixon was the man behind the threat, but if her life was a movie, it would have definitely been a good possibility. The young woman had always had a strong sense of intuition and she believed it more so than she believed logic. And when she was with Dixon or thought about the man, she didn't get any sense of foreboding. In fact, if she was completely honest, Gemma felt safe with him. Sure, he could be annoying and the reason she might have high blood pressure at such a young age, but that didn't take away from the fact that she trusted he would keep her safe.

She trusted him.

Huh.

That was interesting.

Gemma was very guarded unless she had known someone for a while. She had many acquaintances, but she only had one best friend and that was Gillian. Code Blue was definitely not her friend, but she already trusted him. The fact didn't scare her as much as it interested her, but she wouldn't question her own feelings. If she couldn't trust herself, who could she trust?

What's gotten into you, Gemma
? a voice asked inside her mind. She shook her head as subtly as she possibly could, hoping to rid her thoughts of trust and Code Blue and everything else she didn't want to think about out of her head.

"Thank you," she told him suddenly, her voice quiet but his words sincere. "For this, I mean. Taking me away from the church, the
pastor, my parents…"

"I have a question,"
Dixon said, cocking his head in her direction but keeping his eyes on her. "I get the feeling that you don't want to get married in a church, and while I respect that, I can't help but wonder, then, where
do
you want to get married?"

Gemma pressed her lips together, deep in thought. She had never actually spent time on the location of her wedding when she was musing about the trivial day. But now that she thought about it, a picture was starting to take place.

"I want a small wedding," she told him. "I would love to get married on a ship on the ocean at sunset, with the ship completely decorated in sunflowers."

"That’s right,
" Dixon said, the left corner of his lips curling up in amusement.  “Your love of sunflowers.” 

"You know, sun
flowers are the happiest flower," Gemma said, despite how illogical it sounded. She didn't care; this was what she felt, no matter how silly it sounded. "They're big and yellow and they reach out to the sun, despite how far away it is. They're not roses, or anything elegant, but they make me smile and that's what counts."

Dixon
said nothing, but he smiled, as though he was proud of her answer. He finally turned off the road and pulled into a familiar parking lot.

"Hey," Gemma murmured, her brow furrowing slightly. "We're at the docks."

"I was planning on taking you here when we left the church," he explained, clicking the button that released his seatbelt. "You just happened to mention the fact that you wanted to get married on a ship… Well, that was purely a coincidence."

"There are no such things as coincidences," she told him, and though her eyes were teasing, there was
a seriousness about her words.

The two exited the car and
Dixon led her down to the wooden docks. It was a small part of the larger arena where people housed their various types of boats all throughout the year. The smaller section was for smaller boats, and as Gemma looked around, she felt a flutter of excitement in her heart. Ever since she was a kid, she loved boat rides. She never got sea sick, never worried about the sea…

She always had an interesting outlook on life and death. If it was her time to go, Gemma knew she couldn't exactly stop it. Might as well go doing something she loved. And she loved sailing.

"A sailboat?" she asked when she saw where Dixon had stopped.

Dixon
snapped his head in her direction, checking to see if she was mocking him or even disappointed. However, a brilliant smile eclipsed her features and her brown eyes were sparkling. Dixon had to blink; she was shining so bright. He had never seen her look so… beautiful, and he smiled because of it.

"I love sailboats," she told him, meeting his eyes with hers. "I mean, yachts and speedboats and everything else are fine, but
it's sailboats and ships – real, actual ships – that are the best kind. You feel this whole sense of accomplishment; it's just you and Mother Nature working together to get to your destination."

Dixon
smiled at her, surprised by her evaluation. "I agree," he told her. "I don't think it counts if you're on any other vessel other than something you actually have to do manual labor on, and steering a wheel doesn't count."

The two hopped on the sailboat which was relatively small. Besides the two of them, they could probably fit two, maybe four more people maximum.
Neither of them seemed to mind the size. Oddly enough, the two worked incredibly well together, unfurling the sail and getting out of the harbor and into the actual ocean.

While Gemma looked at the sea as though it was the first time she had seen it,
Dixon looked at Gemma, almost in a new light. There was something remarkably endearing about the way she spoke, the way she looked at the sea the boat was sailing on, and she definitely knew her way around a boat. In fact…

"I've never met a girl who had as much passion about all things relating to the ocean besides you," he stated. Though his voice was crisp, it was not condescending. He was serious.

Gemma turned her head away from the ocean and looked at him. Her expression was enigmatic but her cheeks were tainted red. "Then you haven't met many women," she told him as flatly as she could, but her voice wavered, indicating to him that his words meant more to her than she was letting on.

He smiled at that. Yet another thing the two shared in common; pride.

"How do you know so much about boats and ships and whatnot?" he asked, deciding to change the subject, if only slightly.

"When I was a kid, my parents owned a sailboat, and they both loved it, especially my dad," she explained, though her eyes refused to look at him. "We would go out practically every day in summer and my dad would teach me everything he knew about boats, the ocean, even pirates. His passion kindled my own. But as I got older, we stopped going as much. Things came up, we were too busy… But I never got tired of it."
She looked at him then, and he practically fell over upon seeing that she was looking at him with what appeared to be a shy look. "So thank you again. For this. It brings up fond memories."

It took
Dixon a couple of minutes to respond only because he wasn't sure what to say. "My pleasure," he finally murmured, and when he said it, he actually meant it.