“With the power invested in me, I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride.”
Kevin looked over at Emma, who was still just standing there staring at the floor. She hadn't looked up once...not once. He stepped towards her and lifted her face to his. He looked into her eyes and for the first time, he saw the vulnerability. She was terrified and he didn’t blame her. What the hell were they doing?
He leaned over and placed a kiss on her cheek. Quickly, she put her head back down and didn’t look up again.
“What God has put together, let no man put asunder. Mr. And Mrs. Kevin Richardson, congratulations!”
The judge held out his hand to Kevin, who shook it quickly and turned around to face the exit. Grabbing his wife’s arm, he practically dragged her down the aisle and out the door.
Lou picked up his pace; he sure as hell didn't want to miss Kevin's reaction to the surprise he had waiting for them outside.
When Kevin threw open the doors, flashes going off everywhere immediately blinded him. “What the fuck?” he mumbled.
He turned around when he heard laughter coming from Lou.
“Asshole!” he spat.
“Thanks.”
Kevin wanted nothing more but to run past the press and photographers that Lou had undoubtedly tipped off. He didn’t feel like answering anyone’s questions, least of all questions from the press. This was not what he needed now; he was already pissed beyond belief.
He grabbed his wife and brought her in close to his chest, putting his arm around her. He knew all to well that he needed to play the dutiful husband role right now, being under all this scrutiny. If he was going to pull this off, he needed to act the part. Never in his life, would he need to step up to the plate, like he would now. If he could pull one past these people, he might just be able to pull this off with everyone.
“Kevin, Kevin, is it true that you just got married?”
He really wanted to ignore the questions and just make a beeline for the limo waiting only a few yards from them, but he knew that really wasn't an option. If he didn’t answer the questions, he knew that it would look even worse than it already did.
“Management is going to throw a shit-fit,” he mumbled.
“Excuse me, could you speak up, we can barely hear you?”
“Kevin, Kevin, over here…”
“Kevin, E! Entertainment daily news, could I ask you a few questions?”
“KEVIN…Entertainment tonight…”
“Mr. Richardson, CBS – Ten o'clock news here…”
Kevin stepped back up unto the steps and cleared his throat. He took a good look around and said a prayer.
“Listen, I'll answer a couple questions and then we’re off…so why don’t we start with you.” Kevin pointed to the woman closest to him. He didn’t know who she was or who she was with, but she looked kinder compared to the other ones.
“Is it true you broke your long-time girlfriend, Kristin’s heart and married someone else today?”
He guessed wrong.
“I don’t know about breaking her heart, you would have to ask her that personally, but yes, I did get married today.”
“How come we’ve never seen you with her before? Who is she?”
“Well, I like to keep my personal life private and evidently, I did a good job.”
Kevin turned around to see Lou standing there with his arms crossed and looking like the happiest son-of-a-bitch alive. Emma on the other hand, looked sick to her stomach.
“This is my wife Emma…”
Her voice was barely above a whisper, “Hi.”
“Not exactly the type of woman we’re used to seeing you with Kevin...” the reporters laughter was heard over all the noise.
Great observation jackass.
Ignoring the man’s last statement, Kevin took a deep breath before speaking. “Like I stated earlier, this is my wife and I expect everyone to show her that respect, now if you will please excuse us.”
Pushing their way through the crowd to get to the limo, he opened the door and motioned for Emma to get in, "After you darlin’."
He turned around and waved to the crowd. “Thank you.” With his hand up in the air waving, he shot Lou the finger. There were loud gasps in the crowd and Kevin silently laughed to himself.
Hopefully, no one got a picture of that.
“Kevin?” Carlos turned around to face Kevin who was now sitting in the limo.
“Yeah.”
“The guys are gonna shit…don’t you think you should call them before it goes on the air?”
Kevin sighed, “Probably man, probably.”
Staring out the window as the limo drove away, he kept thinking about everyone that was close to him. The guys...well the guys were going to shit all right and so would his family. This was going to somehow affect everyone in his life, mostly…Kristin. When he broke the news to her two weeks earlier, she didn’t take it very well. He hated lying to her, but he had no choice.
Kevin looked over at Emma, who was once again staring off into space. He reached over her to raise the glass between the front of the limo and them. Emma didn’t even flinch; it was almost like she was numb.
“Emma, you okay?”
“Yes.”
“Did the reporters upset you?”
“No...where we are going?" Emma finally looked up at Kevin and shuttered when she saw the look on his face.
“Home.”
“Where’s home?”
“My house, we are going back to my house, just outside of Orlando.”
Silence.
“Listen, when we get back, I’ll have Carlos show you around the place. I need to make some phone calls as soon as we get home. All your things arrived a couple days ago and I took the liberty to put them away, so no need to worry there. I need to call a meeting tonight with the rest of the guys and let them know what’s going on.”
“Okay.” She didn’t look the least bit interested in what Kevin was saying.
He put all of my things away already...what things? She only really owned clothing and a piano, not much for a twenty-five year old woman.
He brought his hand over and lifted her face slightly, “Emma, do you know who I am?”
“Yeah, Kevin Richardson, why?” she replied making a face.
“No, I mean do you know what I do?”
“Not really. Uncle Lou told me that you're part of a group that he formed years ago...The Backstreet Guys or something like that.”
Is this girl for real? The Backstreet Guys? If she was telling the truth, he would have a lot to fill her in on and he would have to do it fast. The guys would more than likely be coming over later once they found out about his activities for the day and she would have to be brought up to speed in order for them to buy into this whole marriage thing.
“It’s The Backstreet Boys.” Kevin almost yelled.
“Sorry, Backstreet Boys." Emma looked down, "I’ve heard of you guys before, you sing something about Bye, Bye, Bye right? My Aunt Bet loves doing housework to that song.” She giggled thinking about it.
Sighing, Kevin shook his head. “No, that's not us.”
“Oh…. I’m not really into lyrical music, wasn’t allowed to listen to the radio much.”
“Just remember this song, okay? I want it that way…that's our biggest hit to date and you should probably know that one.” He sighed and looked up towards the sky, "Oh god..." This was not what he expected at all.
“I want it that way," Emma mumbled to herself as she began jotting it down in her journal. "Okay...listen, Mr. Richardson….”
“Please Emma, don’t call me that…Kevin is fine, for Christ’s sake we are married.”
Emma looked down at the floor again not wanting to upset him any more than he already obviously was. She didn’t understand what was going on here. She was at a loss and didn’t know what to expect from this man or Uncle Lou.
“Fine, Kevin…I just want you to know one thing. I don’t know what is going on here at all, I was just told that you wanted to marry me and I wasn’t allowed to ask any questions. I can tell already, that was a lie. You didn’t want to marry me anymore than I wanted to marry you, so just tell me what I’m supposed to do and I’ll do it.”
Kevin shook his head in disbelief. This wasn’t going to be easy. He thought that Lou would’ve at least filled her in on the details, but evidently that was not the case. This was going to get complicated, that was a given. He would have a lot of explaining to do to this woman, girl…whatever she was. She didn’t even know who the Backstreet Boys were. Kevin didn’t think people like that existed.
Everyone knew them, everyone except her. For Christ’s sake, she wasn’t even a fan.
