Ford swallows hard. “Her scores in your class…”
“We can install some safeguards. Someone else can grade her work.” I straighten to my full height. “All you need to do is sanction the marriage. Because if you don’t, your daughter doesn’t get her education.”
He knows I’ve got him cornered. After shaking his head, he looks between us. Guilt is written deep into the lines of his face. “If this is how you want to play it, Dr. O’Rourke.” He picks up his phone.
My heart starts a drumroll of beats, thinking he’s calling Ramses Langston, or school security, or… Darragh.
Scarlett shivers behind me. “Cormac…”
“It’s okay,” I say to be strong.
Her father hangs up the phone. “The officiant is on his way.”
“Officiant?” I say and glance around.
“Yes. You marry my daughter, right here, right now,” Ford says, showing some backbone.
I turn to her. “Shit, I’m sorry, I didn’t want to rush it like this.”
Nodding, she whispers, “It’s okay. I agreed. I wasn’t expecting church bells and a white dress.”
Just hearing her say that, I know she might have been.
A knock on the door comes a few minutes later. His assistant peeks her head in. “Dr. Ford, the officiant is here.”
Ford’s gaze flicks to Scarlett, then back to me. Something tightens in his jaw. For a second, I think he might change his mind.
“Send him in,” he says.
My heart rate begins to level out.
The assistant nods, and a beat later, a man steps into the office. He’s mid-fifties, gray at the temples, wearing a shabby suit, and carrying a slim leather folio. Whatever is inside that thing is my point of no return.
“Dr. Ford.” The officiant holds his head up high, then glances between Scarlett and me. “I was told there’s a ceremony to perform.”
“There is,” Bradley says, his voice steadier now. Controlled. “Like the others, keep it brief.”
Like the others…Let me guess, professors who waited until the last minute and tried to bargain for more time.
I shift closer to Scarlett, my hand still tight around hers. I’ve not let her go this whole time. Not for a second. She’s mine.
The officiant opens his folio, pulling out a single sheet. “I’ll need confirmation of intent from both parties,” he says. “Full names, for the record.”
“Dr. Cormac O’Rourke,” I say with a small tremble in my voice.
Holy shit, this is happening.
“And your bride?”
Her father flinches at that. It’s subtle, but I catch it.
Scarlett’s fingers twitch in mine before she answers. “Scarlett Ford.” Then she whispers to me, “You… You don’t want a pre-nup or anything?”
I think about that. “No,” comes out easy. “I trust you.”
That gets Bradley’s attention, too.
The officiant writes down our names and other information that makes me curious. “Very well.”