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night.”
    “Practice makes perfect.” He drawled.
    She shuddered. “Let’s not get any more
practice.”
    He laughed. “I wasn’t planning on it.” He
reached for the tray and lifted the cover. “Perfect. How’d you know
I like my eggs sunny side up?”
    Sondra wished her face would quit betraying
her. Her warm cheeks could’ve cooked his whole meal. “You liked it
during Trek.”
    Zack’s brows rose in surprise. “That was a
long time ago.”
    She lowered her gaze to her own plate, which
blurred suspiciously. Her practice in court kept her voice steady.
“The years have flown by.”
    “They have.” He stared at her a moment, and
then turned to his plate.
    The worn and tattered picture of their Trek
family had been relegated to her junior high scrap book. But her
memories were as fresh as the strawberries decorating her breakfast
tray.
    As they left her room, Zack detoured to his
own room and came out with a bouquet of white roses. “I had just
been down to order them at the shop downstairs when I saw you load
onto the elevator last night. I hope you like roses. I didn’t think
to ask.”
    Sondra breathed in the heady scent. “They’re
beautiful. I love them.” She hoped he wouldn’t notice her shaking
hands as she balanced the bouquet during their elevator trip and
short walk to the front where they met the valet with their
car.
    They drove in silence to the Virginia
courthouse. Sondra occasionally peeked at Zack to see if he was
having second thoughts, but his jaw was set and she couldn’t read
his expression. Zack stepped around to open the door, and she had a
sudden desire to run screaming down the street. This wasn’t at all
what she’d planned for her own wedding. What was she doing?
    As they walked up the steps to the glass
doors, Sondra’s stomach twisted in a knot, and she fought to
control her emotions. This wasn’t how she’d envisioned her marriage
with Zack. The steps she’d wanted to walk up led to temple
doors.
    She couldn’t stop the tremor in her fingers,
and Zack squeezed them slightly in what she assumed was some sort
of sign of reassurance. How could she feel reassured when this
wasn’t really what she wanted? She gripped her bouquet with her
other hand. She was glad the roses were thornless. As it was, the
stems cut painfully into her hand.
    The line to the clerk wasn’t long. When they
reached the counter, Sondra released her death grip on the roses
and carefully laid them on the counter. She fished through her
purse for her identification and the prenuptial agreement she’d
printed the night before.
    “Beautiful flowers,” the clerk admired.
    Sondra managed to smile. “Thanks…” she paused
a moment to read her nametag, “Olivia.”
    “You can call me Livvy.” Her bright voice
almost dispelled Sondra’s gloom. “Here is the license. Where are
you getting married?”
    It was a good thing Zack took over because
Sondra was having a hard time talking past the lump that had
formed. “We were hoping you had a Justice of the Peace here who can
handle it this morning.”
    “This morning?” She stared at him a moment,
as if to make sure he wasn’t joking. “Let me check.” She squinted
at her computer screen, and then looked up with a relieved smile.
“It looks like Justice Turly is available this morning.”
    As they were signing the papers for the
license, Sondra asked the clerk, “Could you also notarize these for
me?” She pulled out the prenuptial agreements.
    Before the clerk could reach for them, Zack
drew them off the counter and quickly read over the one-page
agreement. “How did you know my legal name?”
    Not wanting to confess her youthful
infatuation, she quickly ad-libbed. “I looked you up on-line. You
have several pages of information on Google.” She crossed her
fingers behind her back.
    Zack narrowed his eyes and stared at her a
moment. “You don’t say…” he drawled and then handed the papers back
to the clerk, who watched both of