FROM DREAMS TO REALITY
"So let me make sure I'm understanding this," Winn said as she squeezed close to Taylor on the couch and spoke to Doug Hartwell, the bald man with the salt and pepper goatee on the laptop screen. "We've applied for the license and emailed it to you. We've charged the application fee and your fee to officiate to our card. Because this is considered an 'extreme' situation and we've been deemed immobile, then we simply email you our signatures to affix onto the document--and that's legal? What about the wait?"
"I have a judge who owes me a favor. And he's snowed in, too, so it's not like his work is piling up or anything. Give me a little bit to get this worked on and in the meantime, find yourselves a witness. I hope to have you married in the next couple of hours."
When they signed off of the computer, Taylor smiled at Winn and kissed her. "You hear that? Just a couple of hours until you're officially my wife. And plenty of time to bake a cake and convince Zac to witness our marriage."
Winn looked back at him, worried. "You think he'll do it? I bet Ike would, he might be easier to convince, believe it or not."
"Nah," Taylor replied in thought. "I can't ask Ike. Besides, Zac's kinda had my back the whole time, so..."
His voice trailed off and Winn wasn't about to encourage him to elaborate. She did not need any of the details behind THAT fiasco and the less she knew, the better off she was.
As Taylor anxiously got Zac on the phone, Winn decided to get a quick rinse in the shower while the generator provided hot water for the moment. While she appreciated that he owned one at all, she made a mental note to suggest the investment of a standby model that would automatically power the entire house in the event of an outage. After all, by this time next winter, there would be a baby in the house and she didn't want to risk the chance of another storm like this one putting them in this position again.
Winn smiled as she rinsed the shampoo out of her hair as she thought about the baby. The visual of Taylor with their baby in his arms warmed her heart. By this time next year, their baby would be...nearly five months old? Yep. Still little and squishy. Her smile widened as she imagined him making faces at the baby and watching it giggle with delight. He would be an amazing daddy. Suddenly, Winn was the most excited about the baby as she had been since the moment she found out she was pregnant.
She nearly gave birth right there on the shower floor when Taylor burst in the bathroom and he called out, "He said he'll do it!"
Simultaneously, she let out a startled scream and she held onto the railing in the shower from fear of slipping. "You scared the shit out of me!"
"I'm sorry," he said through the steam. "I'm sorry. But Zac said he'd do it. He's texting me his signature right now and then I'm gonna email it. Also, the guy just called me back and said he already got it approved by the judge--" He opened the shower door and peeked his head in. "Do you know what this means?"
She found herself instantly annoyed by the onslaught of ice cold air that entered the shower through the open door. She hadn't thought this shower through. They had hot water, but they still didn't have heat. Getting out of the shower would be brutal. "It means I'm freezing my ass off right now."
"It means we're already as good as married! It means all we have to do is exchange vows and it's done!"
"Tay, are you SURE this is legal?"
He closed the shower door so she could finish her shower and he stood outside it. "Why do you keep asking that? If I didn't think it was, we wouldn't be doing it."
"Because I just--when we get married, I want to BE married. I don't want to be having our ten-year anniversary only to find out that it hasn't been legal all this time."
"Look. If it makes you feel any better, while I'm waiting for Zac, I'll call my attorney AGAIN and go back over it. Okay?"
She finished her shower and turned off the water. She smiled as a towel appeared over the door and she wrapped herself in it before stepping out into the chilly air. "I want to marry you, Tay," she said, looking at how adorable he was in his sweatpants and socks. "I just want everything to go smoothly."
He closed their gap and wrapped his arms around her wet, towel-covered body. "It will," he smiled. He kissed her cheek and he hugged her again. "I promise."
Her teeth chattered and she stamped her feet for circulation. "Oh, please stay right here," she said. "You're so warm."
"You know, if you'd have done this downstairs, you could have just come out and dried off in front of the fireplace."
"That would have been the smart thing to do, wouldn't it?"
"I'll bring you some clothes. The quicker you dry off, the better."
Except that the bringing of clothes never happened. Because as soon as he'd said it, his text alert went off and he got excited and left the room to deal with another exchanging of signatures.
She put her clothes on, her outer layers belonging to Taylor, and then she looked in the bathroom mirror for a moment. She wanted to look nice for her wedding. She always imagined that she'd at least wear some kind of dress and fix her hair. Instead, she stood in front of the mirror in a pair of men's sweats, two pairs of socks, and her hair in wet strings down her back. She sighed as she thought about it. It wasn't like she could fix her hair. She couldn't run the blow dryer or the curling iron. So she huffed in defeat and wrapped it into a loose ball on top of her head.
Digging through her suitcase, she quickly swept some eyeliner and mascara across her eyes and lashes and put on a pair of earrings she had forgotten she had in one of the small pockets. On her wedding day, that was probably about as good as it was going to get.
As she came down the stairs, Taylor beamed up at her. "Ah. There's my beautiful bride now."
Winn blinked at him. "Your what?"
"Dammit, Tay, are you seriously springing this on her right this minute?" Zac's voice came through Taylor's speaker phone.
"Watch your language, it's my wedding day," Taylor said.
"You're fucking insane," Zac said.
As Winn crossed the living room, she couldn't help but notice that he'd set the laptop up on the couch in front of the fireplace as his phone sat beside it. "What is this?"
Taylor continued to smile as he reached for her hand and led her to the fireplace, sitting her down beside him on the stone hearth. She appreciated the warmth of the fire on her back. "They're ready," he said. "We can do it right now."
"He said a couple of hours," she whispered. "We haven't even baked a cake--"
"We will. We'll bake a cake and we'll light some candles and we'll dance and it'll be beautiful. But for right now, just marry me."
The sparkle in his blue eyes melted her heart in an instant. God, she loved him so much. "So--so we can do this? Right now?"
"Right now. The license is approved, Zac's on the phone as a witness, and Doug is ready to officiate."
She looked into his eyes for a moment and, finally, she nodded. "Okay."
*****************
Taylor looked over at the laptop and said to Doug, who'd been waiting patiently. "Okay. We're ready if you are." Doug nodded and then Taylor said, "Zac, are you still there?"
"I'm here," his voice came through the speaker phone.
"Wait, you get a best man, but I don't get a maid of honor?" Winn said.
"Kate's here in spirit," Zac said flatly.
"Does she know?"
"Didn't have time to tell her."
Taylor raised his eyebrows at her and smiled. 'Oops,' he mouthed at her.
"Okay," Doug said from the computer screen. "If you two will join hands while I clip on my tie here, we'll get started." As Winn and Taylor took each other's hands and then snickered at each other, Doug said, "Might I remind you, I can still see and hear you."
This made them laugh harder.
"The ceremony of marriage in which you come to be united is one of the first and oldest ceremonies in the world," Doug began. "Marriage is the clasping of hands, the blending of two hearts, and the union of two lives into one. Zac and I are here today to witness the coming together of two people whose hearts and spirits are entwined as one. You are adding to your life, not only the affection of each other, but also the companionship and blessing of a deep trust, as well. You are agreeing to share strength, responsibilities, and love. Love is cultivating flexibility, patience, understanding, and a sense of humor. Love is having the capacity to forgive and forget. Love is giving each other an atmosphere in which each can grow. Love is not only marrying the right partner, it is being the right partner. Taylor? Will you please repeat after me?"
Taylor smiled and squeezed Winn's hands as he repeated Doug's words. "I love you for what you are and what I am when I am with you. You are my partner in life and my one true love. I will cherish our union and love you more each day. I will trust you and respect you, laugh with you and cry with you, loving you faithfully through good times and bad. Today I give you my hand, my heart, and my love from this day forward."
"You may now place the ring on her finger," Doug said.
"Uh--we don't have rings," Winn said to the laptop screen.
"Never fear," Taylor said quietly as he smiled at her. "While you were showering, I was crafting."
Covering her mouth with her hand as he placed the small, wire ring on her finger, she giggled with happiness through her tears. "You made me a bread tie wedding band."
"I did. And, here." He presented her with her own bread tie. "When it's your turn, just tie that bad boy around my finger and then we'll be legit."
"Okay," she nodded happily.
On the computer screen, Doug was shaking his head and adjusting his glasses as he looked at his script. "Okay, then. Winn, you may repeat after me."
As Winn repeated the same words Taylor had said to her, she said them slowly and deliberately, savoring every vowel and every meaning of every word. It was difficult to get through it without crying and when the tears began to well up in Taylor's eyes, she reached up and ran her thumb across his cheek to wipe the tears away.
She took great joy in wrapping the bread tie around Taylor's ring finger. She was careful and she was deliberate and she was still admiring her handiwork as Doug spoke again. "As you wear these rings, whether you are together or apart for even just a moment, may these rings be a constant reminder of the promises you are making today. You have shown your love and affection by joining hands and have made promises of faith and devotion to each other. You have sealed these promises by the giving and receiving of the vows. You shall no longer walk alone, as your hearts will be your shelter and each other's arms will be your home. From this day forward, may your days be good and beautiful upon this earth. It is my privilege, by the authority vested in me, to pronounce you husband and wife. Taylor, you may now kiss your bride."
Winn made kissing difficult and she knew it. She didn't mean to, but the tears of happiness got the best of her. So their kiss consisted of a few short pecks as she laughed and apologized through her tears.
"It's okay. We did it," Taylor whispered, his own voice cracking. "Can you believe it? We did it."
"I'm so happy," Winn whispered back. "I love you so much."
"I love you, too," he said, taking her face in his hands and resting his forehead against hers. "We're gonna be so happy together. I'll be the best husband and the best father you could ever want."
Clearing his throat to get their attention, Doug said, "Well, congratulations, you guys. I wish you both the best in your marriage. When you get a free second later, give me a call and we can go over what happens from here. I'm signing off for now."
"Thank you for this," Winn said. "And Zac, too, thank you guys so much for everything. I know this was--well completely out of the ordinary, but thank you so much for sticking by us. You have no idea how much it means."
"Congratulations, you guys. I'm happy for you," Zac said. "But I gotta run off here for now. Enjoy your wedding night, okay? Call me tomorrow or something."
Once Zac had hung up and Doug had signed off of Skype, the newlyweds found themselves alone once again.
"Tay," Winn said, smiling a giddy smile. "We're married. I mean, we're--this is real, right? We're really married? Because it feels like a dream."
"We're really married," he replied with a smile that matched hers. "You're my wife and I'm your husband and we're married. And I've never been happier in my entire life than I am right now."
*******************
Several hours later, the generator sat in the kitchen and the smell of vanilla filled the air. Outside, the snow fell lightly, off and on as it had all day, finally rounding them out at nearly a foot and a half of snow on the ground. They expected to be snowed in for at least two more days and Winn was okay with that.
When she walked into the kitchen that evening, she looked around and she smiled. Taylor had just finished lighting the last of the candles and he smiled at her as she looked around, examining her surroundings. Candles lit the kitchen, the round, two-layer cake with white frosting sat on a stand, music played from his phone, and he had turned on the small, portable, battery-operated planetarium she had given him for Christmas. Once again, she wanted to cry.
"Face it," Taylor said proudly. "I rock at this romance thing."
She smiled and she nodded in agreement. "You really do. This is beautiful."
Earlier, he had showered and dressed and she was amused that he'd dressed up, in slacks and a suit jacket. He held out his hand and he smiled. "Are you ready for our first dance as husband and wife, Mrs. Hanson?"
"I'm sorry I didn't bring a dress," she blushed.
"Nonsense, you're beautiful," he said, taking her hand and pulling her close. "It's not like either of us knew we were getting married this weekend. Hell, at this time yesterday, I just asked you to marry me."
Turning them around, Winn suddenly felt a burst of heat and her eyes lit up in a smile. "There's heat in here!"
"I managed to dig out a space heater, go figure. Imagine my surprise when I found out it still works."
He pulled away from her and reached for his phone that sat on the island. Pushing a button on it, Phil Collins's "Groovy Kind Of Love" began to play. She gasped and she smiled in surprise. "Tay. This is the first song we ever danced to."
"I know," he smiled. "Ever since that night, this song has been on my playlist. I think of you every time it plays."
They danced in silence for a moment, listening to the lyrics and gazing into each other's eyes, both of them reminiscing to that Christmas party in Oklahoma City. "I wanted so much to kiss you while we were dancing to this," Winn whispered, breaking the silence. "And I was barely even drunk then. I think--I think I loved you then."
"You can kiss me now," he whispered back to her.
When her lips met his, chills ran down her spine. She didn't think there would ever be a time when his kiss wouldn't garner some kind of reaction out of her.
For the rest of the night, the newlyweds sat in front of the fire, fed each other cake, ordered their wedding rings, and made love by the glow of the flames.
*****************
Waking up the next morning, Winn and Taylor had learned from their mistakes. They used the generator for heat, put Winn's leave-in shampoo to use, and boiled water over the fireplace to bathe with. Twenty-four hours ago, Winn was loving the pioneer lifestyle, never wanting it to end. Now she was over it.
"Fair warning," she said to Taylor as they got out of bed. "I think I'm having a mood swing. I wasn't really around anyone for the first month of this pregnancy, so I don't really know how bad this could be for you. But I do know that I'm pissed off right now. So if I ignore you, it's for your own good."
"Uh, duly noted," he replied warily. "Anything, uh, anything I can do?"
"Can you change the weather? Melt the snow? Repair the power lines?"
"Um, no...but, uh, if that's, uh--if you need some space, I can go to the music room..."
"The music room," she repeated flatly.
"Uh, yeah...I have a couple of things that I've fallen a bit behind on..."
"Our first day of marriage and you're already wanting to work? Spending time with me has just made you fall behind, huh? It's not the weather that screwed you up because the piano will play regardless. It's been me. The whole time, the blame's been on me..." Her voice grew louder as she rambled, but she couldn't control it. It was as if someone or something had taken complete control of her body. She felt horrible, but she just couldn't stop.
Taylor stood there and stared at her, bewildered. "Or not..."
Winn sighed and dropped her head, defeated. "I'm so sorry. I'm just--I'm so frustrated. I was all excited about being snowed in and now I just--I feel so caged up and we can't use any of our amenities at one time and--"
"Hey," he said, a smile creeping across his face. "You said 'our amenities.' I like the way that sounds."
"I promise I'm not mean like this," she said quietly. "I've been noticing the hormonal changes something fierce and I hate that you're having to learn to live with me through this."
"Well, I mean, I'm the one who knocked you up, so...you know, if it helps, it's kinda my fault."
"Wow," she giggled. "You just became every woman's dream."
"I'm just fine with being one woman's dream." He slid his arms around her waist and pulled her close to him.
Glancing down between them, the guilt washed over her. "You can, um, I mean, it's okay if you have something to work on. I, um, I need to call my parents, anyway."
He pulled away and looked at her. "Are you sure you don't want to fly down and tell them in person?"
Winn shook her head. "My mother already knows I'm pregnant. I might as well just hammer that final nail in her coffin for her."
"Winn," he whispered. "I don't want you to feel like I pressured you into getting married. If you weren't ready--"
She shook her head. "No. I don't do things if I don't want to. I know we'll be happy together. I love you. But there are some that...you know, might not see it that way. Your family included."
"Are you kidding? My mom's gonna be out of her mind happy for us, I guarantee it."
"Well. Let me just get my parents out of the way..."
"Let's go warm up by the fire and call them. I'll sit with you. I'll hold your hand."
Winn melted. She'd decided that she would likely melt at least once per day for the rest of her life. Melting was something she was anxiously looking forward to.
Half an hour later, Winn and Taylor sat next to each other on the couch, hand-in-hand in front of the fireplace as Winn's mother's phone rang on the other end of her cell phone. After the fourth ring, she finally answered. "Winnie!" Her voice rang out. "I'm so glad to hear from you, I've been so worried! How are you holding up?"
"I'm fine. Everything's fine, no worries."
"Are you snowed in? Do you have power? Do you have food?"
Winn smiled. "We're on our...what, third day snowed in? We have a generator, we have a fireplace, and we have food. Everything is okay. A little uncomfortable at times, but okay. I'm happy."
There was a pause on her mother's end before she spoke again. "Winnie, you don't have a fireplace. Or a generator."
"Um," Winn cleared her throat. "Well, I'm not at my house."
"Where are you?"
"We should talk."
"Winifred, last time you said something like that to me, you came up pregnant. What is it now?"
"Well, um, Mama...I'm not at my house because I--well, I guess I kinda don't live there anymore..." She felt Taylor squeeze her hand, but she couldn't look at him. Her mother was going to flip her lid and it made her feel bad for him over it. So she stared down at his hand in hers and found comfort in the bread tie that was wrapped around his ring finger.
"Oh, good, did you manage to sell it? I'm so glad, Winnie. We've been getting your room ready and I've found some of the cutest little outfits for the baby and--well, your father even found a mobile for the crib--"
Winn's eyes widened. "Daddy bought the baby a present?"
"Believe it or not, your father's excited. He can't wait for you to come home. He's already decided that, boy or girl, that baby's bound to become an astronomer. Says it's in the baby's blood."
Winn's heart pounded and she squeezed Taylor's hand back. "Mama, is Daddy around you? Will you put your phone on speaker?"
"Winnie, you're scaring me..."
"Please, just put him on speaker."
Pausing for a moment, her mother did as Winn asked and her father's voice came through the phone. "Hey, sweetie!" He said cheerfully. "How many snowmen have you built?"
Winn smiled, her heart warming. "I haven't built one, yet. I guess I should put that on my to-do list today."
"Winnie, tell us what's going on," he mother said.
Taking a deep breath. "Well, um, I don't really know how to say this. Um, I'm--I'm not coming home. I'm sorry that you guys went to so much trouble for me, but a lot has happened over the past couple of days and--well I've been doing a lot of, um...decision-making..."
"Did you find another job that fast?" Her father asked. "I knew you would, companies would be crazy not to hire you."
"Uh, no. Not exactly...um, so, you remember Taylor, right? I mean, of course you don't remember him, but--you know, he--"
"The baby's father," her mother said bluntly.
"Yes...um, so, um, so I'm at Taylor's house right now..."
"Seriously? Taylor? But you haven't seen or heard from him in over a month--"
"I know. I know, he just--he just showed up at my house a couple of days ago and--well, we talked and we--Mama, we love each other. We do. He told me he loves me and I love him and--"
"Oh, sweetie," her mother said quietly. "Sweetie, I'm so happy for you. I mean, Isaac is a nice guy, but I know your heart was with Taylor all along. I'm so happy you worked it out."
Winn smiled. "Uh, yeah, me, too...um, as a matter of fact, we're SO happy that we..." She paused to take a deep breath and then she spit it out at lightening speed. "We're so happy that we got married."
"You did WHAT?" Her father finally said.
"Winifred," her mother whispered in shock.
Her heart pounded. "It's true. We, um, we're married. And--I mean, we're still ironing out the details, but we just--we're happy. We're really, truly happy..."
"Winifred, how did you get married? You're snowed in..."
"There's a guy in Tulsa who does what's called an 'extreme condition' wedding. Or something? Like extraordinary circumstances...he does them online and it's real simple, we--"
"Your circumstances being what, he knocked you up and you decided to elope on the internet? Come on, Winifred, you're smarter than that!"
Winn's jaw dropped and the blood drained from her face. "Mother! How could you say that? Just a second ago you said you were happy that we worked things out!"
"That was before you went and told me that you did something so stupid! Winnie, we haven't even met him!"
"Well, he's amazing, Mama. And you should know that, he's the one responsible for us being together for Christmas. He's kind and he's sweet and he's talented and intelligent. He's romantic and he's the biggest geek I've ever met and I love him and I'm happy and we're going to spend the rest of our lives eating cereal and watching cartoons with our kids because those are just the kinds of things we like to do! You can disapprove if you want to, but you're wrong and you're unfair!" With that, Winn terminated the call and she burst into tears. Taylor pulled her close to him and laid her head on his shoulder. "I'm so sorry you had to hear any of that," she sobbed.
"It's okay," he whispered. "We can't expect everyone to understand us. We can't expect everyone to take the news well, we did kinda do something that's...well, extremely shocking and unconventional, but--Winnie, in the end, we did something that made US happy. And that's what matters, right?"
She sniffled and looked up at him. "Tay, I love you. I do, I love you so much, please don't ever doubt that. I don't care what anyone says about anything."
"I love you, too," he whispered, kissing the top of her head. "Everything is okay. Give them time to cool off. We'll fly down and visit for the weekend before the tour and I can meet them and we can try to smooth things over. But for now just give them some time. Okay?"
"It's just not fair," she cried.
It wasn't fair. Winn didn't understand it. How were her parents accepting of her unwed pregnancy, but not her marriage to the baby's father? They should have been happy. They should have been proud. It wasn't like she decided to get pregnant, but she DID decide to get married. Was it easier to accept if she had no control over it? Hell, would they have been more accepting if Taylor had held a gun to her head and demanded she marry him? Normally, she had no problem putting herself in someone else's shoes and seeing life through their eyes, but this time she just couldn't do it. She just couldn't put herself in her mother's shoes and be so unfair.
"So let me make sure I'm understanding this," Winn said as she squeezed close to Taylor on the couch and spoke to Doug Hartwell, the bald man with the salt and pepper goatee on the laptop screen. "We've applied for the license and emailed it to you. We've charged the application fee and your fee to officiate to our card. Because this is considered an 'extreme' situation and we've been deemed immobile, then we simply email you our signatures to affix onto the document--and that's legal? What about the wait?"
"I have a judge who owes me a favor. And he's snowed in, too, so it's not like his work is piling up or anything. Give me a little bit to get this worked on and in the meantime, find yourselves a witness. I hope to have you married in the next couple of hours."
When they signed off of the computer, Taylor smiled at Winn and kissed her. "You hear that? Just a couple of hours until you're officially my wife. And plenty of time to bake a cake and convince Zac to witness our marriage."
Winn looked back at him, worried. "You think he'll do it? I bet Ike would, he might be easier to convince, believe it or not."
"Nah," Taylor replied in thought. "I can't ask Ike. Besides, Zac's kinda had my back the whole time, so..."
His voice trailed off and Winn wasn't about to encourage him to elaborate. She did not need any of the details behind THAT fiasco and the less she knew, the better off she was.
As Taylor anxiously got Zac on the phone, Winn decided to get a quick rinse in the shower while the generator provided hot water for the moment. While she appreciated that he owned one at all, she made a mental note to suggest the investment of a standby model that would automatically power the entire house in the event of an outage. After all, by this time next winter, there would be a baby in the house and she didn't want to risk the chance of another storm like this one putting them in this position again.
Winn smiled as she rinsed the shampoo out of her hair as she thought about the baby. The visual of Taylor with their baby in his arms warmed her heart. By this time next year, their baby would be...nearly five months old? Yep. Still little and squishy. Her smile widened as she imagined him making faces at the baby and watching it giggle with delight. He would be an amazing daddy. Suddenly, Winn was the most excited about the baby as she had been since the moment she found out she was pregnant.
She nearly gave birth right there on the shower floor when Taylor burst in the bathroom and he called out, "He said he'll do it!"
Simultaneously, she let out a startled scream and she held onto the railing in the shower from fear of slipping. "You scared the shit out of me!"
"I'm sorry," he said through the steam. "I'm sorry. But Zac said he'd do it. He's texting me his signature right now and then I'm gonna email it. Also, the guy just called me back and said he already got it approved by the judge--" He opened the shower door and peeked his head in. "Do you know what this means?"
She found herself instantly annoyed by the onslaught of ice cold air that entered the shower through the open door. She hadn't thought this shower through. They had hot water, but they still didn't have heat. Getting out of the shower would be brutal. "It means I'm freezing my ass off right now."
"It means we're already as good as married! It means all we have to do is exchange vows and it's done!"
"Tay, are you SURE this is legal?"
He closed the shower door so she could finish her shower and he stood outside it. "Why do you keep asking that? If I didn't think it was, we wouldn't be doing it."
"Because I just--when we get married, I want to BE married. I don't want to be having our ten-year anniversary only to find out that it hasn't been legal all this time."
"Look. If it makes you feel any better, while I'm waiting for Zac, I'll call my attorney AGAIN and go back over it. Okay?"
She finished her shower and turned off the water. She smiled as a towel appeared over the door and she wrapped herself in it before stepping out into the chilly air. "I want to marry you, Tay," she said, looking at how adorable he was in his sweatpants and socks. "I just want everything to go smoothly."
He closed their gap and wrapped his arms around her wet, towel-covered body. "It will," he smiled. He kissed her cheek and he hugged her again. "I promise."
Her teeth chattered and she stamped her feet for circulation. "Oh, please stay right here," she said. "You're so warm."
"You know, if you'd have done this downstairs, you could have just come out and dried off in front of the fireplace."
"That would have been the smart thing to do, wouldn't it?"
"I'll bring you some clothes. The quicker you dry off, the better."
Except that the bringing of clothes never happened. Because as soon as he'd said it, his text alert went off and he got excited and left the room to deal with another exchanging of signatures.
She put her clothes on, her outer layers belonging to Taylor, and then she looked in the bathroom mirror for a moment. She wanted to look nice for her wedding. She always imagined that she'd at least wear some kind of dress and fix her hair. Instead, she stood in front of the mirror in a pair of men's sweats, two pairs of socks, and her hair in wet strings down her back. She sighed as she thought about it. It wasn't like she could fix her hair. She couldn't run the blow dryer or the curling iron. So she huffed in defeat and wrapped it into a loose ball on top of her head.
Digging through her suitcase, she quickly swept some eyeliner and mascara across her eyes and lashes and put on a pair of earrings she had forgotten she had in one of the small pockets. On her wedding day, that was probably about as good as it was going to get.
As she came down the stairs, Taylor beamed up at her. "Ah. There's my beautiful bride now."
Winn blinked at him. "Your what?"
"Dammit, Tay, are you seriously springing this on her right this minute?" Zac's voice came through Taylor's speaker phone.
"Watch your language, it's my wedding day," Taylor said.
"You're fucking insane," Zac said.
As Winn crossed the living room, she couldn't help but notice that he'd set the laptop up on the couch in front of the fireplace as his phone sat beside it. "What is this?"
Taylor continued to smile as he reached for her hand and led her to the fireplace, sitting her down beside him on the stone hearth. She appreciated the warmth of the fire on her back. "They're ready," he said. "We can do it right now."
"He said a couple of hours," she whispered. "We haven't even baked a cake--"
"We will. We'll bake a cake and we'll light some candles and we'll dance and it'll be beautiful. But for right now, just marry me."
The sparkle in his blue eyes melted her heart in an instant. God, she loved him so much. "So--so we can do this? Right now?"
"Right now. The license is approved, Zac's on the phone as a witness, and Doug is ready to officiate."
She looked into his eyes for a moment and, finally, she nodded. "Okay."
*****************
Taylor looked over at the laptop and said to Doug, who'd been waiting patiently. "Okay. We're ready if you are." Doug nodded and then Taylor said, "Zac, are you still there?"
"I'm here," his voice came through the speaker phone.
"Wait, you get a best man, but I don't get a maid of honor?" Winn said.
"Kate's here in spirit," Zac said flatly.
"Does she know?"
"Didn't have time to tell her."
Taylor raised his eyebrows at her and smiled. 'Oops,' he mouthed at her.
"Okay," Doug said from the computer screen. "If you two will join hands while I clip on my tie here, we'll get started." As Winn and Taylor took each other's hands and then snickered at each other, Doug said, "Might I remind you, I can still see and hear you."
This made them laugh harder.
"The ceremony of marriage in which you come to be united is one of the first and oldest ceremonies in the world," Doug began. "Marriage is the clasping of hands, the blending of two hearts, and the union of two lives into one. Zac and I are here today to witness the coming together of two people whose hearts and spirits are entwined as one. You are adding to your life, not only the affection of each other, but also the companionship and blessing of a deep trust, as well. You are agreeing to share strength, responsibilities, and love. Love is cultivating flexibility, patience, understanding, and a sense of humor. Love is having the capacity to forgive and forget. Love is giving each other an atmosphere in which each can grow. Love is not only marrying the right partner, it is being the right partner. Taylor? Will you please repeat after me?"
Taylor smiled and squeezed Winn's hands as he repeated Doug's words. "I love you for what you are and what I am when I am with you. You are my partner in life and my one true love. I will cherish our union and love you more each day. I will trust you and respect you, laugh with you and cry with you, loving you faithfully through good times and bad. Today I give you my hand, my heart, and my love from this day forward."
"You may now place the ring on her finger," Doug said.
"Uh--we don't have rings," Winn said to the laptop screen.
"Never fear," Taylor said quietly as he smiled at her. "While you were showering, I was crafting."
Covering her mouth with her hand as he placed the small, wire ring on her finger, she giggled with happiness through her tears. "You made me a bread tie wedding band."
"I did. And, here." He presented her with her own bread tie. "When it's your turn, just tie that bad boy around my finger and then we'll be legit."
"Okay," she nodded happily.
On the computer screen, Doug was shaking his head and adjusting his glasses as he looked at his script. "Okay, then. Winn, you may repeat after me."
As Winn repeated the same words Taylor had said to her, she said them slowly and deliberately, savoring every vowel and every meaning of every word. It was difficult to get through it without crying and when the tears began to well up in Taylor's eyes, she reached up and ran her thumb across his cheek to wipe the tears away.
She took great joy in wrapping the bread tie around Taylor's ring finger. She was careful and she was deliberate and she was still admiring her handiwork as Doug spoke again. "As you wear these rings, whether you are together or apart for even just a moment, may these rings be a constant reminder of the promises you are making today. You have shown your love and affection by joining hands and have made promises of faith and devotion to each other. You have sealed these promises by the giving and receiving of the vows. You shall no longer walk alone, as your hearts will be your shelter and each other's arms will be your home. From this day forward, may your days be good and beautiful upon this earth. It is my privilege, by the authority vested in me, to pronounce you husband and wife. Taylor, you may now kiss your bride."
Winn made kissing difficult and she knew it. She didn't mean to, but the tears of happiness got the best of her. So their kiss consisted of a few short pecks as she laughed and apologized through her tears.
"It's okay. We did it," Taylor whispered, his own voice cracking. "Can you believe it? We did it."
"I'm so happy," Winn whispered back. "I love you so much."
"I love you, too," he said, taking her face in his hands and resting his forehead against hers. "We're gonna be so happy together. I'll be the best husband and the best father you could ever want."
Clearing his throat to get their attention, Doug said, "Well, congratulations, you guys. I wish you both the best in your marriage. When you get a free second later, give me a call and we can go over what happens from here. I'm signing off for now."
"Thank you for this," Winn said. "And Zac, too, thank you guys so much for everything. I know this was--well completely out of the ordinary, but thank you so much for sticking by us. You have no idea how much it means."
"Congratulations, you guys. I'm happy for you," Zac said. "But I gotta run off here for now. Enjoy your wedding night, okay? Call me tomorrow or something."
Once Zac had hung up and Doug had signed off of Skype, the newlyweds found themselves alone once again.
"Tay," Winn said, smiling a giddy smile. "We're married. I mean, we're--this is real, right? We're really married? Because it feels like a dream."
"We're really married," he replied with a smile that matched hers. "You're my wife and I'm your husband and we're married. And I've never been happier in my entire life than I am right now."
*******************
Several hours later, the generator sat in the kitchen and the smell of vanilla filled the air. Outside, the snow fell lightly, off and on as it had all day, finally rounding them out at nearly a foot and a half of snow on the ground. They expected to be snowed in for at least two more days and Winn was okay with that.
When she walked into the kitchen that evening, she looked around and she smiled. Taylor had just finished lighting the last of the candles and he smiled at her as she looked around, examining her surroundings. Candles lit the kitchen, the round, two-layer cake with white frosting sat on a stand, music played from his phone, and he had turned on the small, portable, battery-operated planetarium she had given him for Christmas. Once again, she wanted to cry.
"Face it," Taylor said proudly. "I rock at this romance thing."
She smiled and she nodded in agreement. "You really do. This is beautiful."
Earlier, he had showered and dressed and she was amused that he'd dressed up, in slacks and a suit jacket. He held out his hand and he smiled. "Are you ready for our first dance as husband and wife, Mrs. Hanson?"
"I'm sorry I didn't bring a dress," she blushed.
"Nonsense, you're beautiful," he said, taking her hand and pulling her close. "It's not like either of us knew we were getting married this weekend. Hell, at this time yesterday, I just asked you to marry me."
Turning them around, Winn suddenly felt a burst of heat and her eyes lit up in a smile. "There's heat in here!"
"I managed to dig out a space heater, go figure. Imagine my surprise when I found out it still works."
He pulled away from her and reached for his phone that sat on the island. Pushing a button on it, Phil Collins's "Groovy Kind Of Love" began to play. She gasped and she smiled in surprise. "Tay. This is the first song we ever danced to."
"I know," he smiled. "Ever since that night, this song has been on my playlist. I think of you every time it plays."
They danced in silence for a moment, listening to the lyrics and gazing into each other's eyes, both of them reminiscing to that Christmas party in Oklahoma City. "I wanted so much to kiss you while we were dancing to this," Winn whispered, breaking the silence. "And I was barely even drunk then. I think--I think I loved you then."
"You can kiss me now," he whispered back to her.
When her lips met his, chills ran down her spine. She didn't think there would ever be a time when his kiss wouldn't garner some kind of reaction out of her.
For the rest of the night, the newlyweds sat in front of the fire, fed each other cake, ordered their wedding rings, and made love by the glow of the flames.
*****************
Waking up the next morning, Winn and Taylor had learned from their mistakes. They used the generator for heat, put Winn's leave-in shampoo to use, and boiled water over the fireplace to bathe with. Twenty-four hours ago, Winn was loving the pioneer lifestyle, never wanting it to end. Now she was over it.
"Fair warning," she said to Taylor as they got out of bed. "I think I'm having a mood swing. I wasn't really around anyone for the first month of this pregnancy, so I don't really know how bad this could be for you. But I do know that I'm pissed off right now. So if I ignore you, it's for your own good."
"Uh, duly noted," he replied warily. "Anything, uh, anything I can do?"
"Can you change the weather? Melt the snow? Repair the power lines?"
"Um, no...but, uh, if that's, uh--if you need some space, I can go to the music room..."
"The music room," she repeated flatly.
"Uh, yeah...I have a couple of things that I've fallen a bit behind on..."
"Our first day of marriage and you're already wanting to work? Spending time with me has just made you fall behind, huh? It's not the weather that screwed you up because the piano will play regardless. It's been me. The whole time, the blame's been on me..." Her voice grew louder as she rambled, but she couldn't control it. It was as if someone or something had taken complete control of her body. She felt horrible, but she just couldn't stop.
Taylor stood there and stared at her, bewildered. "Or not..."
Winn sighed and dropped her head, defeated. "I'm so sorry. I'm just--I'm so frustrated. I was all excited about being snowed in and now I just--I feel so caged up and we can't use any of our amenities at one time and--"
"Hey," he said, a smile creeping across his face. "You said 'our amenities.' I like the way that sounds."
"I promise I'm not mean like this," she said quietly. "I've been noticing the hormonal changes something fierce and I hate that you're having to learn to live with me through this."
"Well, I mean, I'm the one who knocked you up, so...you know, if it helps, it's kinda my fault."
"Wow," she giggled. "You just became every woman's dream."
"I'm just fine with being one woman's dream." He slid his arms around her waist and pulled her close to him.
Glancing down between them, the guilt washed over her. "You can, um, I mean, it's okay if you have something to work on. I, um, I need to call my parents, anyway."
He pulled away and looked at her. "Are you sure you don't want to fly down and tell them in person?"
Winn shook her head. "My mother already knows I'm pregnant. I might as well just hammer that final nail in her coffin for her."
"Winn," he whispered. "I don't want you to feel like I pressured you into getting married. If you weren't ready--"
She shook her head. "No. I don't do things if I don't want to. I know we'll be happy together. I love you. But there are some that...you know, might not see it that way. Your family included."
"Are you kidding? My mom's gonna be out of her mind happy for us, I guarantee it."
"Well. Let me just get my parents out of the way..."
"Let's go warm up by the fire and call them. I'll sit with you. I'll hold your hand."
Winn melted. She'd decided that she would likely melt at least once per day for the rest of her life. Melting was something she was anxiously looking forward to.
Half an hour later, Winn and Taylor sat next to each other on the couch, hand-in-hand in front of the fireplace as Winn's mother's phone rang on the other end of her cell phone. After the fourth ring, she finally answered. "Winnie!" Her voice rang out. "I'm so glad to hear from you, I've been so worried! How are you holding up?"
"I'm fine. Everything's fine, no worries."
"Are you snowed in? Do you have power? Do you have food?"
Winn smiled. "We're on our...what, third day snowed in? We have a generator, we have a fireplace, and we have food. Everything is okay. A little uncomfortable at times, but okay. I'm happy."
There was a pause on her mother's end before she spoke again. "Winnie, you don't have a fireplace. Or a generator."
"Um," Winn cleared her throat. "Well, I'm not at my house."
"Where are you?"
"We should talk."
"Winifred, last time you said something like that to me, you came up pregnant. What is it now?"
"Well, um, Mama...I'm not at my house because I--well, I guess I kinda don't live there anymore..." She felt Taylor squeeze her hand, but she couldn't look at him. Her mother was going to flip her lid and it made her feel bad for him over it. So she stared down at his hand in hers and found comfort in the bread tie that was wrapped around his ring finger.
"Oh, good, did you manage to sell it? I'm so glad, Winnie. We've been getting your room ready and I've found some of the cutest little outfits for the baby and--well, your father even found a mobile for the crib--"
Winn's eyes widened. "Daddy bought the baby a present?"
"Believe it or not, your father's excited. He can't wait for you to come home. He's already decided that, boy or girl, that baby's bound to become an astronomer. Says it's in the baby's blood."
Winn's heart pounded and she squeezed Taylor's hand back. "Mama, is Daddy around you? Will you put your phone on speaker?"
"Winnie, you're scaring me..."
"Please, just put him on speaker."
Pausing for a moment, her mother did as Winn asked and her father's voice came through the phone. "Hey, sweetie!" He said cheerfully. "How many snowmen have you built?"
Winn smiled, her heart warming. "I haven't built one, yet. I guess I should put that on my to-do list today."
"Winnie, tell us what's going on," he mother said.
Taking a deep breath. "Well, um, I don't really know how to say this. Um, I'm--I'm not coming home. I'm sorry that you guys went to so much trouble for me, but a lot has happened over the past couple of days and--well I've been doing a lot of, um...decision-making..."
"Did you find another job that fast?" Her father asked. "I knew you would, companies would be crazy not to hire you."
"Uh, no. Not exactly...um, so, you remember Taylor, right? I mean, of course you don't remember him, but--you know, he--"
"The baby's father," her mother said bluntly.
"Yes...um, so, um, so I'm at Taylor's house right now..."
"Seriously? Taylor? But you haven't seen or heard from him in over a month--"
"I know. I know, he just--he just showed up at my house a couple of days ago and--well, we talked and we--Mama, we love each other. We do. He told me he loves me and I love him and--"
"Oh, sweetie," her mother said quietly. "Sweetie, I'm so happy for you. I mean, Isaac is a nice guy, but I know your heart was with Taylor all along. I'm so happy you worked it out."
Winn smiled. "Uh, yeah, me, too...um, as a matter of fact, we're SO happy that we..." She paused to take a deep breath and then she spit it out at lightening speed. "We're so happy that we got married."
"You did WHAT?" Her father finally said.
"Winifred," her mother whispered in shock.
Her heart pounded. "It's true. We, um, we're married. And--I mean, we're still ironing out the details, but we just--we're happy. We're really, truly happy..."
"Winifred, how did you get married? You're snowed in..."
"There's a guy in Tulsa who does what's called an 'extreme condition' wedding. Or something? Like extraordinary circumstances...he does them online and it's real simple, we--"
"Your circumstances being what, he knocked you up and you decided to elope on the internet? Come on, Winifred, you're smarter than that!"
Winn's jaw dropped and the blood drained from her face. "Mother! How could you say that? Just a second ago you said you were happy that we worked things out!"
"That was before you went and told me that you did something so stupid! Winnie, we haven't even met him!"
"Well, he's amazing, Mama. And you should know that, he's the one responsible for us being together for Christmas. He's kind and he's sweet and he's talented and intelligent. He's romantic and he's the biggest geek I've ever met and I love him and I'm happy and we're going to spend the rest of our lives eating cereal and watching cartoons with our kids because those are just the kinds of things we like to do! You can disapprove if you want to, but you're wrong and you're unfair!" With that, Winn terminated the call and she burst into tears. Taylor pulled her close to him and laid her head on his shoulder. "I'm so sorry you had to hear any of that," she sobbed.
"It's okay," he whispered. "We can't expect everyone to understand us. We can't expect everyone to take the news well, we did kinda do something that's...well, extremely shocking and unconventional, but--Winnie, in the end, we did something that made US happy. And that's what matters, right?"
She sniffled and looked up at him. "Tay, I love you. I do, I love you so much, please don't ever doubt that. I don't care what anyone says about anything."
"I love you, too," he whispered, kissing the top of her head. "Everything is okay. Give them time to cool off. We'll fly down and visit for the weekend before the tour and I can meet them and we can try to smooth things over. But for now just give them some time. Okay?"
"It's just not fair," she cried.
It wasn't fair. Winn didn't understand it. How were her parents accepting of her unwed pregnancy, but not her marriage to the baby's father? They should have been happy. They should have been proud. It wasn't like she decided to get pregnant, but she DID decide to get married. Was it easier to accept if she had no control over it? Hell, would they have been more accepting if Taylor had held a gun to her head and demanded she marry him? Normally, she had no problem putting herself in someone else's shoes and seeing life through their eyes, but this time she just couldn't do it. She just couldn't put herself in her mother's shoes and be so unfair.