Brave Hearts (Holliday Sisters Book 2)

by Nicole Falls

  I couldn't help the giggle that escaped before I continued, "Also, that factoid is irrelevant for our circumstances, right?"

  "You do have a point there."

  "So?"

  "Don't we need to have a license or something prior to just marching into city hall and saying we would like to get married?"

  "Yep, which...we'd have to get it between today and tomorrow if we're to be married on Thursday."

  "I..." Frankie started before blowing out a long stream of air, "You really did do research."

  "I didn't take this lightly, Frankie. This is literally life or death. Okay, not like death death, but I just know that going back home isn't what you want and again, if I can help prevent that in some way? I'm all in. Besides..." I trailed off.

  "Besides?"

  "Now I can reap the benefits of city living at a fraction of the cost!"

  "What if I wanted to move into your place though?"

  "Bullshit. You hate my place. You hate the burbs in totality."

  "That is not true. I am rather fond of many of the chain restaurant establishments that frequent the suburbs."

  "You're so full of it," I laughed.

  Frankie's low rumble of laughter soon joined mine before he quickly sobered and looked me in the eyes.

  "Are you sure?" he asked, grabbing my hand.

  "More than anything," I replied with a squeeze of his hand.

  Which was how we ended up in the Dunne Building, Suite 500 signing the necessary paperwork in order to receive our marriage license. Flashes of few pieces of identification plus sixty dollars seemed such little to exchange for a piece of paper that would ultimately alter the trajectory of our lives going forward. After we filled out the paperwork, Frankie double and triple checked to ensure that we left no i undotted or t uncrossed. A part of me wanted to laugh at his extreme precision, but knowing the reasoning behind it, I couldn't in good conscience. The entire process took about twenty minutes with the clerk reminding us upon leaving that it took twenty-four hours for the license to be valid so that a ceremony could take place.

  I got back to my desk and realized that I was in such a rush to go to lunch earlier that I'd left my cellphone sitting on my desk. I had three missed calls and five texts from Gigi. I'd told her that I was giving Frankie my answer today and she insisted that I call her immediately after everything went down. Knowing she would want to have a full-fledged conversation that required less decorum than I usually presented at work, I shot her a quick text to let her know that I’d call her on my commute home. That wasn't good enough because my phone rang immediately.

  “Didn’t I tell you I’d call you later?” is how I answered my phone instead of hello.

  “But I wanna know noooooow,” Ginger whined, “This is the most exciting gossip I’ve heard since they kicked Lynsi out of the mom’s group.”

  “My life isn’t exciting gossip, Ginge. Like I said, I’ll call you later.”

  “Okay, okay. But…”

  “But nothing, go make sure JoJo isn’t waterboarding Pay and leave me be!”

  “Bye!”

  A few hours later, I was walking to the car and back on the phone with Ginger.

  “You’re wild annoying, you know that. I literally just walked out of the door and told you I would call you back, but here you are again.”

  “Whatever, spill it. What happened? What did he say when you told him yes? Does he still even need you to do this crazy shit?”

  “Hold on a sec,” I said, getting into my car and starting it, “You know it takes a minute to switch over to the Bluetooth.”

  When the phone finally connected to the car I could hear Ginger trying to mediate an argument between Jordan and Payton and I had to stifle my laughter. For someone whose vocabulary was a solid twelve words, Payton stayed coming at Jordie in her jibber jabber language. I honestly don’t know how Gi was able to hold it together when she had to break up their squabbles. Her patience was running thin as it seemed like the girls were not interested in whatever compromise she was trying to talk them into.

  “Come get your goddamn children right now, Joshua,” Ginger yelled.

  “Damn, Gi, not in my ear!”

  “My bad, sissy. C’mon girls, let’s go sit with daddy in the den while mommy and Te-Te Lolo have some girl talk.”

  A few seconds of her shuffling holding the phone and a muffled conversation later she was back. I brought her up to speed on Frankie’s and I’s lunch time conversation and subsequent acquisition of the marriage license.

  “So, you’re really doing this, huh?”

  “How many times are you gonna ask me that?”

  “As many times as it takes me to believe it, shit. I knew you guys were work friends, but I guess I didn’t realize how deep your connection was. Like…if this was on the reverse, do you think he would do this for you?”

  “I don’t know and don’t care about that Gi. Getting riled up over hypotheticals is your thing; not mine.”

  “Touché. So, when’s the big day? Do you guys need witnesses? I can see if Shirley can watch the girls for a few hours.”

  “I think we’re going to go on Thursday.”

  “VALENTINE’S DAY?” Ginger boomed.

  “My birthday. Yes. What is everyone’s deal with that day? Frankie lowkey freaked when I suggested then, too.”

  “Valentine’s Day wedding are almost always a recipe for disaster, though.”

  “I think our faux marriage will weather the storm long enough for Frankie to get his green card unscathed.”

  Ginger made some sort of noise in the back of her throat then said, “So what are you wearing?”

  I had to laugh at her swift change of topic. Of course, what I was wearing to my sham wedding would be top of mind for her. Ginger was always the most fashion conscious out of all of my sisters. Noelle and I championed comfort over everything while Juju went through random phases of…interesting sartorial choices. Gigi, however, had subscriptions to Vogue, Bazaar, and all of those other fashion forward magazines. I for sure thought she would end up leaving us and going off to study fashion and become a super famous fashion designer.

  “I don’t know. Whatever I wear to work on Thursday? We’re just gonna run over to City Hall on lunch and do the lil quick ceremony or whatever. We don’t need witnesses in Cook County, so it should be a ten-minute excursion at the most.”

  “Sissy, it’s Valentine’s Day. You guys should probably plan on taking the afternoon off work because that place is probably going to wall to wall with everybody and their mama tryna get married on the alleged most romantic day of the year.”

  Shit, she was right, I didn’t even think of that. I should probably send Frankie a message about that. I also needed to find some time to get him a band. Despite this wedding being a sham, we did say we would do the whole ring exchange for real. Frankie was insistent that I didn’t spend too much on his band, but hell I didn’t even know where to begin with regard to ring shopping.

  “You think you can get Josh to watch his children for a little longer? I need you,” I said to Ginger on a bit of a whine.

  “Watch? You mean parent? That nigga put half his DNA in, it is no inconvenience for him to be a dad while I go on a super-secret mission with my big sis. How long will it take you to get here?”

  “Maybe fifteen…twenty at the most. Wanna go to Oakbrook?”

  “Yep! See you soon.”

  We hung up and the album that I was streaming on the way to work picked up through the Bluetooth, which happened to be Kendrick Lamar's Good Kid, M.A.D.D City. It had been in heavy rotation in my whip for the past few months. I pulled up in front of Gigi and Josh’s with my music blasting as I rapped along to "Backseat Freestyle". A part of me almost blew the horn to alert my arrival because I knew it would get on Gi’s nerves, but I called to let her know I was outside instead. She must’ve been sitting by the door with her shoes and coat on because she breeched that threshold and hopped into my ride quicker than a mofo.
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  The mall was just a ten-minute drive from Ginger’s and five minutes after arriving there she had me in a dressing room in Nordstrom with an armful of dresses in varying shades of white, off white, and blush. I don’t know how she managed to find so many considering that white wasn’t really a winter color, but she and the woman who was working in the cocktail dress section saw each other from across the room and instantly it was on. I was banished to the dressing room to shed my clothing while they cycled through every dress they thought would work well on my frame. I wasn’t really a dress kinda girl, most often opting for leggings and a tunic, so some of their choices were automatic noes before I even took it off the hanger. Despite their repeated insistence that clothes on the hanger are often done a disservice, I knew that I wasn’t wearing a damn bodycon dress to City Hall for a ten-minute ceremony. I asked Ginger to come along for her fashion expertise, but I was beginning to regret even asking. She was taking this excursion a bit too seriously, damn near about to turn this into an episode of Say Yes to the Dress.

  “Last round, I promise,” Ginger said, peeking her head into the dressing room, “I think we may have finally found one that you’ll like.

  I just rolled my eyes. She said that the last two rounds.

  “Can this be the last round for real, Gi? I’m tired and we still have to go find Frankie’s ring as well.”

  “I super promise this is the last round. Jillian found a dress that she'd forgotten to put on the sales floor after the customer didn't come pick it up. And it's your size! I'll be right back.”

  I sat down on the tufted bench in the oversized dressing room and heaved a sigh. How silly of me to think this would be a simple excursion to find a dress. I'd tried on a couple that were fine to me, but since my reaction didn't move the needle Ginger insisted that we needed to keep trying until we found The Dress. In spite of my protests that I was unsure any dress would give me the reaction she deemed acceptable, Gigi insisted that we would find it. A quick tap of knocks sounded on the door before Gigi peeked in again holding a garment bag. I motioned with my hands for her to come in and get on with it so we could just pick a dress and go. She placed the garment bag on the hook and unzipped it, revealing a mid-length, ivory colored, beautifully delicate combination of lace and satin with which I immediately fell in love.

  I couldn't even help the grin that split across my face as I gushed, "Oh my gosh how pretty is this?!"

  Ginger wisely said nothing, just nodded and began unbuttoning the twenty or so buttons that lined the back of the bodice. I was damn near chomping at the bit to get into the dress and she had only gotten through maybe half of the buttons before my hands were extended, grasping at the fabric. I quickly tore through the rest of the buttons and slid into the dress. As Gigi buttoned me back up, I ran my hands down the slightly full skirt. When Ginger was done, she stepped back and gave me some space. I walked right up on the mirror, closely examining the dress, loving how it molded to my body, but then flared at the waist. The lace shell around the shoulders was composed of a beautiful abstract floral design and looked amazing against my skin. Because of the fullness of the skirt, I couldn't help but give at least one Kenya Moore twirl, watching the skirt flutter around my thighs then settle back against them. When I met Gigi's gaze in the mirror, she quickly averted her eyes, but not before I saw that she was on the verge of crying.

  Through sniffles she asked, "So...you like it?"

  "Meh, I guess it'll do," I responded, only to have her eyes snap back to meet mine in the mirror.

  When she saw the smirk on my face, she knew I was messing with her. It was perfect and all of the annoyance I felt prior to trying on this dress had dissipated. I was totally in love. I barely wanted to take the dress off...that's how good I felt in it, but knowing I'd be donning it again in a few short days was enough to get me out of it tonight and back into the store to find accessories and shoes to match before we headed over to C.D. Peacock to pick out Frankie's band.

  That process was markedly shorter than the dress mission was since I was in the driver's seat for this one and knew him best. I wanted to get something that was low key, but still had a little razzle dazzle to it and the black titanium band with a rose gold inlay that caught my eyes upon entering the store was perfection. The sales guy tried his best to get me to look at a few more rings, but I was resolute. The band screamed Frankie as soon as I saw it and I was not to be deterred. It was slightly outside the range I'd given myself to spend, but I wasn't pressed. I'd be saving hella money soon and would make it up on the back end I thought, with a giggle.

  On the way home, Ginger asked if I was sure I didn't want her to come downtown for the ceremony on Thursday. I assured her that since her commute to get down here would likely eclipse the amount of time the actual nuptials took I was fine. I told her that she could be first to arrive for my real first wedding. She just laughed and shook her head as she exited the car.

  Thursday, February 14, 2013

  I was nervous. I shouldn't have been nervous, but I was and it was freaking me out a little bit. I had a shoot that kept me out of the office for the entirety of the morning, but was set to meet Frankie at City Hall at one thirty. I hoped that our wait wouldn't be egregiously long and purposefully planned to get there half an hour before the marriage and civil union's office reopened after their lunch recess. I was grateful to have this shoot take me out of the office so that I could change into my pretty...no gorgeous dress without anyone looking at me crazy or asking too many questions. The plan was for things to be wrapped up with this shoot at or around noon so I could drive back into city center, then change and spruce myself up a bit at Frankie's before meeting him at City Hall.

  He and I met up last night after work so he could provide me with his spare key and he tried giving me a final chance to back out of the whole thing. Which of course led to an hour-long discussion, sparked by me about whether or not he really wanted to even stay here. He was being incredibly glib about the whole thing which kind of set me off.

  " I still can't comprehend why you would do this?"

  "And I don't comprehend why you won't just go with it? Do you not want to be here? Am I overstepping my bounds? Do you think I have some sort of nefarious intentions? I...look, do you feel like I've backed you into a corner here because we can just dead this shit now. Honestly. I'm doing this because I care about my friend who may be sent back to a country with which he has zero ties or job prospects. And okay, I'm not saying that you can't or won't make you own way if it comes to that, but I don't understand even chancing it?"

  "This is chancing it, too. This marriage thing? Honestly, the INS could see right through this ruse and deport my ass anyway. Then what? You'll have to go through the trouble to annulling the paperwork."

  I laughed, shaking my head, "I don't care about any damn paperwork, Frankie. This just...this feels like something else. And...I don't want to feel like I've backed you into a corner when I'm just trying to help. You can see that, right?"

  " I can. And I appreciate you for that. More than you could ever know. I just..." Frankie trailed off, "I don't want this to affect us, you know? How we are now? I don't want to lose that."

  "No worries, you can discreetly keep your hoes," I joked.

  Frankie shook his head on a slight chuckle and moved closer to me, encasing both of my hands within his while looking me in the eye.

  "No, I mean us. I've grown very...fond of our bond and I'd hate for any...residual or latent bitterness to do anything to weaken that. You're very special to me, Valora. I don't want to lose you, okay?"

  "And you won't."

  "You cannot promise that."

  "Yes I can. The same way we are now...open, honest to a fault? That won't change because of cohabitation and a lil signed piece of paper, Frankie."

  "Okay, we'll revisit this after the INS is so far up our asses that we're shitting detainment threats."

  "Hey, I thought you said you were a writer that was too superior for idi
oms?"

  "That is a metaphor, my dear Valora, which is why you should stick to clicking your little photos. Don't try to distract me, I see right through you," Frankie grumbled, frustration creasing the space between his brows.

  I smiled and pressed my thumb to the area, rotating it in small circles to release the tension building there. Frankie's eyes closed as he gave way to my ministrations.

  "Relax, it's going to be fine. You'll see," I whispered.

  "I hope you know what you're talking about," Frankie muttered.

  Shit, me too, I thought.

  His reservations weren't unfounded. I mean despite he and I not being in any sort of romantic entanglement, stress has a way of permuting even the strongest of bonds. I hoped that ours was strong enough to withstand whatever bullshit would come our way as we journeyed through this process.

  I arrived at City Hall at ten minutes after one. The wind was blowing like mad as I walked over to the building so my first stop was the restroom to salvage the cute chignon I’d pulled my hair into. Luckily, the wind didn’t do as much damage as I anticipated so it only took a few minutes for me to right the slight disarray. As I exited the restroom, I saw a woman walking toward me who looked an awful lot like Gigi. I attributed that to me buggin' and everyone in the world having a doppelganger until she was right up in my face waving her hands in my face.

  "What are you doing here?" I asked, simultaneously amused and annoyed with her presence.

  "You really thought I'd let you get married alone? Tuh. Not my favorite sister!"

  "But..."

  "I know, I know. But you only get married for the first time, once, Lolo. So, I'm here," she said, grabbing me by the elbow and ushering me toward an empty bench nearby, "You know I'm the sappy sister, so bear with me here. I know this doesn't seem real to you, but to me it is. No matter the circumstances. So, I wasn't letting you do this alone."

  "Technically..." I started.

  "Shut up. Unless you don't want the stuff I brought you..."

  "Oooh, I got presents? What you get me?"

  "Well...as tradition dictates..." Ginger started, reaching into the bag that was resting on her forearm, "Something old...mommy's pearl earrings that I wore to my wedding. These are on loan just for the day since I'm supposed to pass them onto Jordie or Pay when they're of age. So technically they're your something borrowed as well. Something new...the fascinator your cheap ass refused to buy Monday night, but I had Jillian set aside anyway. And finally, something blue," she said with a flourish, reaching into the bag once more to retrieve a beautifully constructed bouquet of silk flowers—gorgeous ivory roses surrounded by stargazer lilies in varying shades of blue.