This time, she drew her brows together. “What others are there?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” he began, his tone holding a hint of sarcasm. “Perhaps—”
“I didn’t realize the two of you were out here.” Aunt Verna stepped out onto the porch, a smile lighting her face.
John started to get up but she motioned him down. “You stay right where you are. I’ll pull over a chair and we can all sit and visit. It’ll be like old times.”
Aunt Verna took a potted plant from the seat of a lightweight wicker chair and moved it close to the swing. She wore a skirt of teal and brown with a distinctive southwestern flavor.
This was the woman Hope had known and loved for as long as she could remember. The friend and comforter who’d always been interested in what she had to say and who’d always had her back.
She saw the question in her aunt’s eyes and knew the time had come to tell her everything. Verna would be disappointed in her behavior, but she was family. And family stuck together.
“Verna, John and I have something to tell you.”
A half smile formed on the older woman’s lips. Interest sparked in those pale blue eyes. “Sounds intriguing.”
“The night of our senior prom, Hope and I got dressed up but we didn’t go to the high school.” John spoke while Hope was still trying to push the confession past her lips. “Instead, we drove to Boise and got married. We were in love and didn’t want to wait.”
Aunt Verna’s eyes widened. Her astonished gaze shifted from John to Hope, then back to John. “Married?”
“We thought it wasn’t legal,” Hope said quickly. “We just found out it was.”
With the words tumbling out, Hope did her best to give her aunt the condensed version of what had occurred. “We planned to rent an apartment in Boise and attend college in the fall. The way we saw it, two could live as cheaply as one.”
“Hope had second thoughts shortly after we’d said our vows,” John interjected when she paused for breath. “Buddy said as long as he didn’t send in the license and marriage certificate to the courthouse, it wouldn’t be legal. We recently discovered that was incorrect information.”
“Oh, my dear ones. What were you thinking? Getting married by a man who was ordained online? Even if you wanted a simple ceremony, you should have at least gotten a proper minister.”
A proper minister?
Hope swallowed a nervous giggle. She’d just confessed that she’d skipped her high-school prom to get married at eighteen, and the only concern her aunt expressed was about the minister? Though Hope had to admit that a proper minister would have known it was legal the moment he’d pronounced them husband and wife.
“All these years we’ve gone on as if the events of that night never happened,” Hope continued, ignoring her aunt’s comment. “Then, on Saturday, I overheard Amity speaking to a woman about a similar issue. Amity insisted that even if the forms weren’t sent in, the marriage would still be legal. I called this morning and discovered she was correct and Buddy was wrong. That’s when I went to speak with an attorney.”
“First, you told me,” John corrected.
Disappointment filled Aunt Verna’s eyes when she turned and looked at him. “You urged her to see an attorney.”
“We both believe it’s good to have all the relevant information,” was all John said.
“I met with Reid Mueller.” Hope didn’t need to say anything further about the man or his reputation. Her aunt had mentioned on more than one occasion that Reid had been in her Sunday school class when he was in third grade. Apparently the prominent attorney had been what her aunt kindly referred to as a “handful.”
“He told me we’d have to get a divorce.”
Verna raised a brow. “Not an annulment?”
Once again, Hope felt heat begin a slow but steady rise up her neck. “No, ah, an annulment isn’t a possibility.”
“The marriage has been consummated.”
Was that satisfaction she heard in the woman’s voice?
“That’s correct,” John said when the silence lengthened.
“Do you want a divorce?” Aunt Verna’s gaze shifted between them, and it wasn’t clear which one of them she’d asked.
Hope straightened. “Of course I don’t want a divorce, but we didn’t really plan to be married, and—”
Verna raised a hand, silencing her. “I seem to be confused about some parts of the story. Let me clarify. At eighteen, when you were both considered legal adults, you and John went to the courthouse and obtained a marriage license. Is that correct?”
Hope flushed, experiencing the full impact of her aunt’s unblinking gaze. The look was the same one she’d given her when Hope had insisted it wasn’t her fault that the horses had gotten out because the latch was defective.
The excuse hadn’t worked then, and Hope had no doubt she was about to go down in flames again.