Gen. 5.10-Matthew

The next morning I ran into Levi in the dining room. After Kia was released, we went down to the court house and applied for the marriage license. She went on and on about not minding a courthouse wedding now and that we could plan a ‘real’ one after the baby was born. In two days I’d be married, that’s how long it took for the license to be filed. We just needed a witness, that’s where Levi would come in since I didn’t think Mom and Dad needed to make two trips up.

“Hey man, I need a favor.”

“Sure, what’s up?”

“Thursday can you come to the courthouse with me at 11? Kia and I are getting married.”

He looked shocked for a minute before he burst out laughing. “Good one Matty boy. And here I thought you were done with the pranks since we graduate in a few days.”

“I’m not joking. I’m serious. She’s pregnant.”

“Shit! For real?”

“Yes. I went to talk to her yesterday and she passed out. Took her to the clinic and they told her.”

“Dude, how do you know she’s not lying, trying to trap you or some shit. You know she’s crazy…”

“Don’t call her that!” I yelled cutting him off. “I was there when the doctor gave her the news so it’s real. Now will you be there or should I ask Derek?”

“Shit, Matt. Married? Why would you do that? I mean she has options right? She’s just trying to get her claws in you. Even if she wants to keep it, you don’t have to marry her.”

I’d tossed and turned most of the night thinking about what I was doing. Kia had no friends outside of me. Her father was distant, I couldn’t let her go through this alone. Marrying because she was pregnant wasn’t ideal, but I could make it work. I liked Kia, we got along for the most part, so there was some foundation there. It’s not like she was some one-night stand that I didn’t know. We were friends and that was more important than romantic feelings. Right?

“Look Levi, you put all this in motion by spiking my drink. Now I’m dealing with the fallout and this is how I’m choosing to handle it. She’s pregnant. It’s mine and now I have to man up and take responsibility.”

“I’m sorry Matt. I never…I didn’t think of anything past a few laughs that I’d have. I still think there has to be some other way, but if this is what you want to do, I’ll be there.”

I didn’t sleep at all the night before my wedding.  I’d cleaned things that didn’t need cleaning in my room. I’d even gotten up at 4 a.m. to go work out. Nothing helped.

My knee bounced constantly now as we sat outside the judge’s chambers awaiting our turn. Levi had tried again to talk me out of it this morning, and I admit I was having second thoughts and was going to call it off, I’d even called Kia but when she answered she just sounded so happy, I couldn’t do it. Levi had apologized to Kia for dragging her into our prank war and she brushed it off like nothing. He’d looked uncomfortable when she gave him a hug, but awkwardly returned it.

“Solo/Borders,” an older woman announced and all three of us stood.

“That’s us,” I replied. One…two…three…

I looked over at Kia who wore a nervous smile. I had to admit she looked pretty today. She’d told me she'd spent all day out looking for a dress.

“I don’t think I told you how nice you look.”

She smile and her cheeks filled with color. “Thank you.”

“The corsage is a nice touch.”

“Oh…um, well I kinda wanted flowers, but…well didn’t think a bouquet would fit so…”

“Right, good thinking.”

I took her hand and followed the woman into the office. The judge was very official as she asked us what I guessed were standard questions, then the ceremony started. It was quick.

Ten minutes tops. We said the standard vows and at the end I gave her a quick, awkward kiss.

I was married. Levi congratulated us, we took a picture, then the judge signed our certificate. It was over. Levi wanted to get back to campus, so Kia and I went out to eat by ourselves.

“Sorry again about the ring size,” I said after we were seated. “When we get to Riverview I’ll take it to have it properly sized. Or you can pick out something different if you don’t like that one.”

I’d only gotten a band and it was too small so she couldn’t wear it. Since this was all very last minute, I’d just bought a floor sample from the jewelry store. Mine was too big so I’d taken it off and stuffed it in my pocket.

“I like the one you got, plus it matches yours. So…did you book us a room or something for tonight?”

“No why?”

“Oh…I just thought with it being our wedding night…” her face filled with color. 

“Um, yeah I didn’t…um Levi, Derek and me were going out after graduation practice. We’d made the plans before…but I’ll tell them I can’t.”

“No, don’t. It’s…it’s okay. I should pack up and stuff anyway.”

The rest of the lunch was tense and quiet. The next few days I didn’t see Kia much. The final countdown to graduation was busy. Mom and Dad were excited for me. Because they didn’t think the girls would stay quiet during the ceremony, Grandma and Grandpa were going to babysit for them. When I talked to them, I decided to not tell them over the phone about Kia, it was something best done face to face.

I’d spoken to Lily, my realtor. She was the sister of the manager at the store. Lily had been trying to help me find an apartment, but I told her I needed a house instead and quick. I’d already signed a lease on a place, but it was just a one bedroom, so I had to break that lease. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do about a living situation while I looked for a house.

Graduation day was here. Mom was already crying when she saw me in my cap and gown. The ceremony was long and boring. Too many speeches to sit through. Afterwards we took pictures with a few of my friends and Kia. I had explained to her that I wanted to tell my parents about us in person, so she was joining us for lunch.

“Kia, dear, where’s your family today?” Dad asked.

“My…my dad and I don’t really get along and my mom died several years ago.”

“Oh, dear, we’re so sorry to hear that,” Mom said reaching across the table to pat her hand. So what are your plans now?”

Kia shot me a nervous glance that both Mom and Dad seemed to notice. “I’m…um…moving to Riverview.”

“You are?” Dad asked looked over at me. It was now or never.

“Yes she’s moving with me,” I answered. “She, um…” one, two, three… “Well, something happened.”

I took a deep breath and launched into the story. I told them about the pranks and the party and the herbs, they were not happy about the herb thing. Even less when I told them how Kia and I ended up together. Her face was so red when I quickly explained that part. I left out Kia’s history. It wasn’t that I didn’t plan on telling them. I would, but it could wait until we were in a less public setting. I felt like a little kid waiting on them to say something, wondering what my ‘punishment’ would be. Not that they could do anything, but still I could see the look of disappointment on their faces so that was bad enough.

After a shocked silence, Mom was the first to speak. “How’ve you been feeling?”

“Um…sick some, but not too bad,” Kia replied quietly. “Mr. and Mrs. Solo…”

Dad held up his hand to stop her. “We’re family; just call us Jonas and Grace.”

He smiled and that seemed to put her at ease. “I know this probably isn’t how you expected to gain a daughter-in-law, but I wanted to just say thank you for being so nice.”

I knew they weren’t happy with me, but they would never say that in front of Kia. I thought about Kia’s dad for a moment, making me that much more grateful for the parents and family that I had. We discussed my lack of housing now so Mom suggested we just move back to Barnacle Bay until I found a house. Since they didn’t stay in the old one any longer, Kia and I could use that until we found something. It wasn’t ideal, since I’d have a nearly 2 hour commute to get to the store, but it was better than living in a hotel.

After dinner we headed back to the dorms to pick up our stuff then made the three hour drive back to Barnacle Bay. Mom took Ki with her to pick up the girls and I knew the lecture was coming once they were gone. 

“I won’t fuss about the practices of safe sex,” Dad said. “I get your judgement was impaired at the time. That kid should be glad your mom and I aren’t thinking about bringing him up on charges or something.”

“Dad, that’s a bit extreme don’t you think?”

“No, son, I don’t. What is extreme is you jumping to marriage. Getting married just because she’s pregnant isn’t the right reason.”

I dropped down onto the sofa. “I know, I know. It’s not what I intended. I’d asked her to move with me since she has no family and hadn’t landed a job. She still wanted to terminate Dad. I couldn’t, that whole thing with Claudia…so when I told her, she asked if we’d get married and I…I just said sure.”

Dad took a seat beside me. “Oh Matt, son…”

“What’s wrong with me Dad?”

“Nothing son. People make choices for different reasons that have nothing to do with you.”

“Claudia’s did. She didn’t want it because she thought I was poor.”

“That’s her problem, not yours.”

“It didn’t feel like it at the time.”

“I know son, but…but what you’ve done now. You’ve spent years saying this girl was only a friend. Now you’re married to her. You know she has feelings for you right?”

I nodded.

“Feelings, you don’t return.”

I nodded again. “She’s my friend. I care about her and her well-being, but no, I’m not in love with her.”

Dad let out a breath. “Matthew, marriage is a major commitment.”

He used Matthew instead of Matt, they only called me that when the serious talk was about to happen.

“I know and I thought about telling her we’d just parent jointly or something, but when I called to tell her, I couldn’t go through with it. She has no one Dad on top of having some syndrome thing, I just…I just did what I thought would be right.” I buried my face in my hands.

“Syndrome?”

“Yeah,” I answered before filling him in on what I could remember.

Dad’s face showed shock and concern as I told him what Kia had said. When I was done, he got up to walk around a bit. Klutz came over, nudging my hand whimpering a bit. I rubbed his head, counting the number of strokes, while I nervously watched Dad walk back and forth.

“That sounds serious. Has she seen a doctor? Is she getting treatment?”

“I don’t know. We didn’t talk about it that much.”

“You didn’t…Matt…what…” he stopped and let out a forced exhale. “That could explain her lack of aura.”

We talked for a bit more. He told me he was proud of me for trying to take responsibility and care for Kia even if he didn’t approve of my methods. What was done was done and he told me I had to honor my commitment to her and my child. He said we’d talk to Grandma to see if she knew of a neurologist or someone we could talk to in order to get more information about Kia’s illness and possible treatments. After spending some time with my sisters and having dinner, Mom and Dad made the ‘long’ trip home leaving me alone with Kia.

“You…um, you can take the master bedroom.”

“Where are you sleeping?”

“My room.”

“Oh…I just…I just thought that we’d share a room. But…um…goodnight Matt,” she said quickly. She hurried into my parent’s room, closing the door loudly.

What the hell? I stood staring at the door debating on if I should go talk to her or not. Klutz whined a bit as he scratched at the door. I was tired and just wanted to go to sleep, instead heading to my room, I walked over and knocked on the door. She didn’t respond. I heard sniffling, followed shortly by the closing of another door, and then the water coming on.

“Come on boy, let’s go to bed.” Klutz trotted behind me as I headed to my room. 

That night I stared up at the ceiling for hours before finally falling asleep.