She looked at her mother. “I don’t have a driver’s license because my mother doesn’t believe I should drive until I’m eighteen.”
Dakota just shook his head. “Then we’ll go get it and come back.”
He sat the papers down on the desk, and they started out the door. He looked over to her mother who was dying to say something, but he seemed to beat them both to it. “We’ll need to go over to D.M.V. and then get back here before they close.”
Cally could see that her mother wanted to fight him on this, like she had done so many times before with her and her sister, but all her mother managed to say was, “We can take my car.”
She knew her mother didn’t like this, which made Cally doubly happy. Her mother had refused to let Savannah or her get their licenses, because the state was debating some bill that would make a parent responsible for any accidents underage drivers had. Savannah was two years older than her, and she was going to be angry when she found out Cally got her driver’s license but she didn’t. Not that Cally would brag or anything.
Yesterday, she wasn’t happy about any of this mess. The getting married and dragging her around the country wasn’t what she had planned. In fact, she was so angry when her mom had agreed to letting her get married that she hadn’t believed it. And when she found out that they had gone behind her back on everything, even calling her boss to get her out of work, it really infuriated her.
But now, there was something bittersweet about all of this. While she still wasn’t sure about the whole getting married at fifteen thing, it did have its perks. Having her driver’s license was one of those perks, even if they didn’t let her drive.
D.M.V. was less than five minutes from the courthouse, so the drive was short. They walked in and took a number, hoping it wasn’t going to take too long. The two of them sat down as she walked over to the bathroom while they talked. She didn’t need to hear what they were saying to know that her mother was arguing her point about letting Cally have a driver’s license.
Dakota, on the other hand, was arguing why she needed a license, and her mother was arguing why she shouldn’t get one, and she wasn’t stupid enough to argue with them because she knew how this always ended. Poor Dakota, he was going to lose this one because her mom had perfected this argument over the years. Between her and Savannah, they had gone into this battle so many times that her mother was now an expert at showing her point of view and the fact that she held the power to make the final decision.
When she walked back out, they were calling the number before hers. She wasn’t even going to ask how their little chat went, because she knew he had lost. Cally looked back to the lines and watched as one lady walked down toward the camera; here came the moment of truth.
She just followed them and stood back, waiting. Her mother wouldn’t even look at her when the man asked, “What can we do for you today?”
Her mother’s polite but “I’m going to kill you when we get back home” tone was clear to her, if not to anyone else around them “My daughter needs to get her license and a state I.D. card.”
“Okay, we will need her birth certificate and driver’s education card,” the man drawled.
She leaned against the pole behind her and watched as her mother slipped the papers under the glass. The man nodded and turned and spoke to someone behind him, then said, “We can do the test now. I’ll meet you at the front door.”
Cally just stood there in pure shock. She wasn’t sure if that was the turning point on her whole outlook on this marriage, but it sure didn’t hurt. She was getting her driver’s license, and there was nothing her mother could do about it.
When she walked back in, her mother was still fuming quietly, but she was at least being nice about it. Her mother and Dakota were talking as she went back up to the window, and they both followed. Dakota asked, “How’d it go?”
She just smiled. “Fine.” There was no need to throw any more fuel on the fire; gloating was not lady like. She leaned back against the pole and let her mom deal with whatever they were saying and then slowly followed the line down to the camera. She may not have gotten her license, but at least she had her permit and a state I.D. card.
When they went back over to the courthouse, she was smart enough to keep her mouth shut. She had won today, and that wasn’t easy, especially against her mother. There still wasn’t anyone in the office they went in, and this time, they just sat down, and she smiled and listened to the fun conversation the rest of them were having with the woman.
First was scheduling to get married in two weeks, then the application for the license, and she was lucky enough to have to sign a few things while the woman spoke to Dakota, and then her mom started answering questions for her. She was jostled out of her silent victory state when the woman asked rudely, “Is she deaf? I can get a translator in here.”
Cally couldn’t help it as she started laughing. She didn’t know why or where it came from, but she just couldn’t stop. Her mom snapped, “She’s not deaf! Considering the hours she racks up on the phone, I almost wish she was.”
The woman seemed suspicious and got up. She spoke to another woman, then came back to the desk just as Cally sat the clipboard full of papers down. The angry woman looked down at her. “I need to speak to you in the other room.”
Cally turned to Dakota, terrified. She was being sent to the principal’s office, and she hadn’t done anything wrong and was pretty sure this wasn’t a normal “principal.” She stood up and heard her mom demand, “What is this?”
The woman looked deadly serious as she announced, “We will be back in a few minutes.”
They went into a room that looked like a mini chapel/office. The official woman motioned to the chairs. “Please sit.”
Not sure what else to do, she sat down, shaking.
The woman looked deadly serious. “Are they forcing you to get married?”
She shook her head, not understanding what this was about. “No.”
“Are you sure? Do you understand what all of this means?” the woman asked, seeming a little more reassuring.
Cally just nodded, not sure what the woman wanted to hear. “We’ve talked about it.”
This woman seemed so determined. “Yes, but do you understand you don’t have to get married if you don’t want to? You have the choice. No matter what your situation is, you have a choice.”
The woman’s meaning couldn’t have been any clearer. “I’m not freakin’ pregnant!” It came out louder than she had wanted, and she had a feeling everyone in the building had heard her, but Cally was getting tired of that accusation.
The woman looked baffled. “Then why are you getting married?”
Now that was the million-dollar question and the one she hadn’t yet figured out. She stared at the fake white roses on the arch and repeated something she heard on T.V. a few days ago; thank goodness for soap operas. “We’ve been together forever. I can’t see myself with anyone else but him and yes I’ve been with other guys but I love him and I want to be with him forever. Rather you allow this or not we are going to be together one way or another and you can’t keep us apart.”
It was evident that this woman didn’t watch soaps, because she just nodded. “You do understand that marriage is a lifetime commitment? It’s not just some game that you can quit when it gets too hard.”
Cally nodded, knowing that she was going to in for much more than that, because Dakota was a military man. There was always the chance of them having to move and the chance that he would be deployed. “Yes, and I even get that things will be harder because he’s