Remember When...

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“If anyone knows of any reason, lawful or otherwise, that this couple should not be legally wed, speak now or forever hold your peace.”

That part of the ceremony was supposed to breeze past quickly. Claire didn’t expect to hear anything and neither did her groom, Calvin. He smiled at her and took a breath like he was ready to move onto the vows.

“I object.”

The booming voice echoed through the church. Murmurs rose in the congregation as she and Calvin turned to look for the source of the interruption. At the other end of the aisle stood a guy who had to be six four. Muscular and rugged with dark hair and stubble, he was imposing and unmissable. Despite his confidence, Claire only saw a stranger. She didn’t recognize him at all, and he wasn’t the type to be easily forgotten.

Two other men rushed up behind him, forcing the daunting man to take a step forward.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Calvin asked, edging her backward as he moved a few inches down the aisle. “Who the hell are you?”

“I’m her husband.”

The room gasped.

Claire took a reflexive step backward.

Her husband?

The next few minutes were a blur. Someone took her hand to lead her from the altar to the wings and into the large room where she’d donned her gown. The screen in the far left corner covered the spot where she’d changed her clothes. Not so long ago, she’d stood back there believing her marriage was about to begin. She could never have anticipated such a different turn of events.

Couches lined the far wall under the tall intersecting tracery windows. Full-length mirrors stood in a semicircle by the door she’d just been put through. Claire fixated on the sight of herself in a flowing white dress. Her wedding dress.

It was supposed to be the happiest day of her life. So far, it wasn’t going that way.

Others piled into the room behind her, interrupting her reflection.

“Just what the hell is this?” Calvin demanded.

Grabbing her hand, he pulled her toward the couches, urging her deep into the corner of the room. His mother and best man, Diane and Boyd, came over to flank her. Protecting her, maybe. Claire wasn’t a fan of the tension pulsing through the beautiful space.

The interrupter and his two cohorts came in and closed the door. The three of them stayed close to the mirrors, ten feet away.

“Shane Warren,” the interrupter said and offered her groom a hand.

Calvin refused it with a snort. “I don’t think this is the time for introductions. You just ruined our wedding day.”

“I know,” Shane said.

The man to his left spoke up, “That couldn’t be helped. What alternative did we have?”

Claire kept her head down. She and large groups didn’t agree with each other. Everything was beginning to feel overwhelming.

After a short silence, she glanced up to catch Shane looking at her, straight past Calvin. He and the other two men were fixated on her.

“It’s good to see you, Gin.”

That shook something loose. “You know my real name,” she said and tried to move closer.

Calvin put out an arm to prevent her from passing him. “How do we know these people are who they say they are?” he demanded.

“That’s true,” Diane said, going to her son’s side. “You’re not the first people to claim to know our Claire.”

“Her name isn’t Claire,” the man on the left said. “Her name is Ginger.” Ginger. That didn’t sound familiar. Not that anything did. “She went missing sixteen months ago, after a boating accident.”

“Boating?” Calvin snickered and took her hand. “Claire hates the water.”

The man on the left spoke up again. “Actually she doesn’t. She’s a strong swimmer. She’s always loved the beach.”

Calvin was shaking his head. Shane frowned and turned to whisper with the most vocal man on their team. They exchanged some words that she couldn’t make out and the third turned to murmur along with them.

“We should call the cops,” Boyd said.

Claire didn’t want anyone to call the authorities. Though it was distressing to be in the current situation, she wanted to know where she’d come from. She wanted to know who she was during the big blank space that was her life before Calvin.

Except while watching the three men talk to each other in secret, she realized that knowing more about them was important too.

“How did you find me?” she asked.

Everyone in the room stopped talking to look at her. Finding her voice had taken time and it sounded meek in comparison to the strong male tones that had dominated so far.

“We never stopped looking,” Shane said, leaving his group. Calvin wouldn’t let him get too close and kept himself in front of her. “I’ve been looking for you for sixteen months.”

“What happened? I mean, I…”

“What do you remember?” the guy to the left asked. She took a breath, at a loss again. “It was this, your wedding that brought us here. We have a program that’s been running, searching the internet for mentions of you.”

Calvin blustered. “Mentions of her, we don’t know her real name, she knows nothing about her past, how could—”

“Everyone thought she was dead,” the man on the left said, getting emotional. “Four bodies were pulled out the water, hers was never found and this guy.” He hit Shane’s back. “He wouldn’t give up. He wouldn’t give up on my sister until—”

“Your sister?” Diane said.

Claire’s jaw fell. “You’re my brother?”

Nodding, he smiled, though his eyes were wet. “Yes, I’m Owen. Your big brother.”

“And he’s a lawyer,” the third man said.

“This is Murphy,” Shane said, introducing him. “He’s my brother.”

Despite her wedding being a bust, it was still a momentous day. It had always been supposed to be memorable, just not in that particular way.

“And we’re here to tell you all to back off,” Murphy said, looking meaner than his brother, something she hadn’t thought possible. “You don’t know the first thing about Ginger and she’s not marrying anyone today.”

“That’s not for you to say,” Diane said.

“Actually it is,” Owen said, putting his briefcase on a side table to open it up. Inside were a bunch of files and folders, but he only took one out. “This is a copy of their original marriage certificate.”

He opened the folder and handed it over to Calvin. Claire, or as she’d been revealed to be, Ginger, peeked past Diane and Boyd. There it was, with their names on it. Ginger Leyland was her maiden name. Their wedding had been witnessed by Owen Leyland and Murphy Warren.

“Do I have a mother?” she asked, looking to Owen for an answer.

Losing some of his professional edge, he glanced at Shane. “You do. She’s been sick. She’s in the hospital. I told her… I told her you’d visit, when we found you, when you were ready. I said we’d let you know where she was.”

“And a father?”

“Your dad died when you were fourteen, Bit,” Shane said, edging nearer.

Calvin tensed. “This is all lovely but complete bullshit.”

“We have no way to prove if any of it is true,” Boyd said, supporting his friend.

Ginger’s head was spinning; she didn’t know what to think. For sixteen months, she’d been an amnesiac. Calvin and his family had gotten her through; they’d supported her even through the toughest of times. But she couldn’t dismiss these men until their veracity had been proven.

Another more pressing matter had to take precedence. “We have two hundred guests out there.”

“Want me to talk to them?”

Instead of the groom asking the question, it was Shane. She inhaled and opened her mouth, even without a clue how to respond. It didn’t matter because Calvin got there first.

“Our wedding has nothing to do with you!” he exclaimed. “You don’t know a single person out there. Why the hell would we let you talk to them?”

“I think it’s wrong for you to let Ginny worry about them,” Shane said. “Someone should already be out there telling those folks it’s not gonna happen.”

“Shane,” Owen said, taking his turn to calm the man. “I’m sure he wasn’t going to send his bride out there to talk to them.”

“Ginger hates talking to large groups,” Murphy said.

She made eye contact with the man she’d just been told was her brother-in-law. What he’d said was true and something she hated about herself. Turned out something from her past had carried forward into the present.

“I can excuse them,” she said, though she didn’t have a clue what to say.

The people out there were Calvin’s friends and family. Most of them knew about her history, or lack of one, but she didn’t like to talk about it.

“I’ll excuse them,” Calvin said.

“You’re getting married today,” Diane asserted. “You have to get married today.”

“You can’t get married if she’s already married,” Boyd said and glanced at everyone. “It’s illegal for her to be married twice. Your marriage would be void.”

“Boyd is Calvin’s lawyer,” Ginger said and got glared at. Why that would be a secret was a mystery.

Everyone went back to talking amongst themselves and at each other until voices were raised and the whole room was filled by the din.

When she’d woken up in hospital, doctors told her that her amnesia may be temporary. Unfortunately, it hadn’t been. Calvin had been the one to find her at the side of the road. He’d stood by her through everything and encouraged her to make a new life for herself instead of chasing the old one.

There in the room was not just one man from her old life, but three of them. In addition to their presence, they’d brought paperwork that could prove she’d made different choices in the past.

“I want to talk to Mr. Warren alone,” Ginger said, her voice loud enough to silence the others although she hadn’t shouted.

Every person was again focused on her, so it was important to be confident. Her anxiety wouldn’t let her look at Shane, so she focused on Calvin. That didn’t help because her request wasn’t going over well according to his expression.

“No!” he said. “I cannot allow—”

“You have to tell the guests to leave anyway,” Owen said.

Murphy closed in behind Owen. “And this is just beginning,” he said. “You’re not going to get rid of us easily… You can’t come between a man and his wife.”

Calvin leaned closer to them, turning his back on her, blocking her from their view. “They’re not married, not really. She’s my bride, not his. I won’t leave him alone with her. If he feels entitled… if he touches her—”

“She said she wanted to talk, not f**k,” Shane said, his voice deep and husky. “I swear I’ll keep my c**k in my pants.”

Her mouth fell open. She was glad that Calvin was giving her cover from the room because her cheeks warmed, suggesting they reddened. Calvin and his family didn’t talk that way. They were a nice family, a rich family; one who made their money in chemicals. They were traditional and conservative. Well-dressed and proud of their affluence.

In comparison, Shane wore a crumpled shirt over a dark tee-shirt and worn jeans that hadn’t seen a washer for a while. Maybe he was used to trash talk, but she’d barely heard a curse word in sixteen months.

“Unless she begs,” Murphy muttered. Ginger covered her mouth to conceal her shock. “He never could say no to her… on anything.”

She peeked around Calvin to see Murphy nudge his brother. Shane threw a smile at him but was serious when he turned back.

“I’ll say no this time,” Shane said.

“If you even think about touching her…” Calvin said and began to move.

Ginger ran around him to prevent the men from coming to blows.

Spinning around, she faced Calvin. “Just a few minutes, please.”

Calvin wasn’t happy, she could tell from how his jaw popped to the side.

He inhaled. “I’ll tell everyone there’s been a change of plan… Boyd will stay right outside the door. If anything happens, scream.”

It took a minute of whispering and shifting expressions for everyone to get out the door in an orderly fashion. Diane took some convincing, but eventually left.