Chapters (45)
- Cover
- Blame Iton Paris
- Copyright Notice
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- Book One
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-one
- Book Two
- Twenty-two
- Twenty-three
- Twenty-four
- Twenty-five
- Twenty-six
- Twenty-seven
- Twenty-eight
- Twenty-nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-one
- Thirty-two
- Thirty-three
- Thirty-four
- Thirty-five
- Thirty-six
- Thirty-seven
- Thirty-eight
- Thirty-nine
“I hate the government! I hate all governments! Stupid bureaucracy. Why do they make it so impossible for two people from different countries to live in the same place? I don’t want to get married in a civil ceremony!”
Sébastien poked his head out from behind the monitor again, tentatively, like a groundhog just barely peering out of its hole. “We could still have the church ceremony. But you’ve got to admit, having a civil ceremony soon would help immeasurably with all these visa problems. In both countries.”
“I don’t see why the government should be able to force us to get married before we’re ready!”
He scooted his chair so that he was now firmly out from behind his monitor and set his chin on his hand, gazing at me steadily. “You don’t want to marry me?”
“In July,” I said. “In a church. And in August. In a church, if anyone in the diocese of Meaux ever answers all our e-mails and calls. But not right now in a government office!”
“So you don’t want to marry me—yet.”
“It’s not that!” I wailed. Maybe it was that, a bit. Could we just see how we could handle a stable routine for a while? Away from this constant menace of separation and financial disaster? And “financial disaster” was not a joke at this point. At least Sébastien was able to work for French clients long distance, but it would take him a while to build up enough of those to earn a living. We’d be doing a lot better if he could work for a graphic arts firm here. “It’s the government office part! That’s so cheap and sordid!”
He frowned, puzzled. “Well, you have to get married in a government office in France, so don’t expect me to understand. I mean, people can do a second ceremony in a church if they want, but priests are so difficult, most people just skip it.”
I frowned even more deeply. I think something had happened to me when I was shopping for a wedding dress, because I had ended up with a gown that was white and all lace from the top of its very short bodice to the end of its very long train. Since I hate lace and used to want to be married in a simple cocktail dress, this choice confused many people in my family, including myself. But with a dress like that, I wanted all our families and lots of dancing at a nice summer wedding in Georgia and another one in France, and I didn’t want us to be already legally married when it happened.