Three Wishes(139)

That was when Lily knew she did the right thing.

However, she couldn’t help but think it was wrong.

* * * * *

Nate and Lily sat in front of the long, gleaming table.

Victor and Maxine sat at one end, the official witnesses to the marriage; they’d eventually sign the marriage certificate. The Registrar sat opposite Nate and Lily.

“Shall we get started?” the Registrar asked, smiling at the couple.

Lily nodded and turned her head to Nate. He was sitting beside her but seemed far away. As if he felt her thoughts, his hand came out and grabbed hold of hers in a strong, reassuring grip.

Lily bit back tears.

Fazire, can you see me? She silently asked no one.

There was no response.

I hope you can see me, see what you’ve done. She thought.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we are gathered here today –” the Registrar began.

Then pandemonium struck.

The closed doors at the back of the room slammed open loudly, banging with force against the walls and a man walked in.

Not just any man.

He was a man wearing a gold fez, gold earrings, gold armbands, a gold bolero vest, gold flowy pants and gold curly-toed shoes. He had black hair, a black, pointy goatee and what looked like black kohl around his eyes. He was walking on the ground but he looked disgusted at this act, as if his feet should be treading on clouds.

“Excuse me! We’re in the middle of a ceremony,” the Registrar was standing and Lily noted belatedly that Nate had let her hand go and was also standing. Lily also noted, with some alarm, that Nate had a face that could only be described as thunderous.

“What on earth?” Lily heard Laura ask.

Behind the golden genie came more genies, one, two, three, a half a dozen, two dozen, four dozen, all in the same outlandish outfit but in different, vibrant, contrasting, loud colours.

They filed in, as the Registrar blustered, “Excuse me! What is the meaning of this?”

More genies came through until they filled the room, sitting in the open chairs, squeezing around the sides, down the aisle, along the back of the room and all of them craning their necks to see, staring unashamedly at Lily, Nate and even Tash.

Lily slowly stood, watching the Spectacle of Genies along with everyone else.

“This is absurd. Who are you people? You must leave. I’m marrying this couple,” the Registrar announced.

“You!” the Golden Genie, who had plonked himself down right next to Tash in the front row, spoke pompously to the Registrar, “Can wait a moment.”

“I will not wait,” the Registrar told him.

“You will,” the Golden Genie commanded.

“I will not,” the Registrar returned.

The Golden Genie ignored her and his dark eyes fell on Lily.

“You are Lily Jacobs,” he declared.

Nate had moved to her side, his arm slid around her protectively and he glared at the Golden Genie.

“What’s going on?” Nate demanded to know.

“And you are Nathaniel McAllister,” the Golden Genie proclaimed.

“Yes, I am. Now what in bloody hell is going on?” Nate snapped.

“I am the Great Grand Genie Number One,” the Golden Genie stated pretentiously.

Lily gasped, Maxine gasped and Tash clapped happily, staring up at the genie beside her in awe. The Golden Genie spared Tash a glance and, Lily could almost swear, he winked at her daughter.

“I don’t care who you are, you’re interrupting our –” Nate started then stopped, his eyes scanning the room, jumping from genie to genie. Lily felt his body grow tense beside her, his fingers digging into her waist. Then his head jerked to Lily and his brows drew together.

“Where’s Fazire?” he asked.

Lily opened her mouth to speak but she didn’t need to, Nate’s face moved from alarmed inquiry to understanding. Slowly he closed his eyes and turned her into his strong body. He dropped his forehead to hers and opened his eyes.

“Lily,” he murmured, staring straight into her eyes, “you didn’t.”

She nodded and she felt the tears again coming. How one person could cry so much in one single day was beyond Lily but she was proof it could happen.

“I knew you wanted it,” Lily whispered, “and Tash would have been devastated.”

“We could have waited,” Nate said, ignoring the genie army. Ignoring the fact that he’d driven like a maniac (well, not exactly like a maniac but close to it) to get them to the Registry Office. Ignoring the fact that he’d given into Lily’s dare at the entrance and told her about her lovely, unbelievable, amazing surprise honeymoon. She would never have not actually gone into the Office until he’d told her about their honeymoon, she was kidding, but he was that impatient.

He didn’t want to wait, she knew he didn’t. For goodness sakes, eight years ago, he got her pregnant to bind her to him. Lily of all people knew that Nate would stop at nothing to get what he wanted. Visions of him forcing the Registrar to marry them at gunpoint were dancing in her head (that, she admitted, was a wee bit dramatic, but she certainly didn’t want him to blow his stack in front of Natasha).

As for Tash, even to think her father couldn’t move mountains was something Lily, if she could help it, simply would not tolerate.

Nate pulled Lily deeper into his arms, cutting off her thoughts.