My Neighbor, Marry Me Before Friday!

If I wasn't getting married in a few days my uncle would take over everything. My dads ranch, which he worked hard for would be gone for good. I didn't even have time to think about what that would mean for my life. The one person I never thought I'd turn to at such a hour was standing right in front of me. Jake Harper. When I stood at his door soaked from the rain shaking and holding the thing that could save everything my dad built I said the words I never thought I'd say to any man. "Marry me."

That night when I arrived at Jakes house I didn't feel like I was stepping into someone Life. I felt like I was trying to save my own. It was midnight. I had been driving for hours without knowing where I was going. When I finally left the road I noticed my hands were still shaking on the steering wheel. The ranch around me was quiet too quiet. Every tree, every fence every empty road reminded me that everything I knew was about to disappear.

I had already tried everything to stop this from happening. I called people who never answered my calls. I spoke to a lawyer who just kept repeating the deadline like it was another date on a calendar. The workers at the ranch didn't know what to do. They didn't know if I was still, in charge or if I was someone watching my familys dream fall apart. Then there was my uncle, Victor Hale. He was the man who showed up the morning after my dads funeral like he had been waiting for that moment.

At first I didn't believe what the will said. I thought there had to be some mistake. Something had to be wrong.. It wasn't. My dad had added a condition to the will. If I wasn't married before the deadline I wouldn't get control of the ranch. Everything would go to Victor. I had four days left. Four days. Victor already knew it. He was acting like the ranch belonged to him. He brought people I didn't know. He started talking about selling the land about companies that wanted to build on it. He treated it like it was a piece of property not the place where my dad spent his life working.I remember sitting in my truck outside the ranch office staring at the building. The building did not feel like home to me anymore. That was when I realized I could not do this by myself. Not with time running out. Not with everyone picking sides. That was when I thought about Jake Harper. Jake Harper was my neighbor. My dad trusted Jake Harper. Jake Harper was someone who always kept his distance. He never treated us like strangers.

I did not have a plan when I drove to Jake Harpers house. I did not have anything to say to him. I did not have any idea what I would do if Jake Harper refused to help me. I just knew I had no choice. When I reached Jake Harpers place I sat in my truck for a moment staring at his house. I wanted to believe there was still another way. There was not. So I got out of my truck. The cold ground felt hard under my feet. Every step toward Jake Harpers door felt heavier. When I finally reached his door I stopped thinking about being proud or feeling embarrassed. I knocked on the door. I did not knock softly. I could not afford to be careful.

The door. Jake Harper stood there. Jake Harper looked at me quietly like he was trying to understand why I was there in the middle of the night. I tried to speak. My voice was shaking. Jake Harper asked me if I had driven to his house. I told him I had walked from the road because my uncle had taken my keys. This changed Jake Harpers expression. He stepped aside. Told me to come in. His house was warm. The kind of warm that made me realize how broken I felt inside. There was food on the table. A normal life was happening there and I was standing in the middle of it with my whole world falling

I was holding the folder tightly. My hands hurt. Jake Harper gave me a towel. Asked what had happened. I only said, "It's the will." I did not sit down at first. I was scared that if I sat down I would not be able to get up. Jake Harper told me to sit down. So I opened the folder. Told him everything. I told him about the condition, the deadline, Victor, the buyers and how everyone was starting to treat me like I did not belong. Jake Harper listened. He did not laugh. He did not judge me. He just thought about what I was saying.

Then I finally said it. "I need you to marry me Jake Harper." The room went completely silent. Jake Harper looked at me. Asked if I understood what I was asking. I told him yes. I told him I had no one to turn to. Then Jake Harper asked if I was using him. I paused. Then I told him the truth. "Yes but not the way you mean." I was not trying to hurt Jake Harper. I was trying to survive. Something changed after that. Jake Harper understood. After a while he stood up. Walked outside. I thought that was it. I thought I had asked much of Jake Harper.

Jake Harper came inside. He said one thing: "No lies." No pretending, just honesty. I agreed. Then Jake Harper said we would go to the courthouse in the morning. That was how quickly my life changed. The day I sat beside Jake Harper in his truck neither of us said much. There was nothing to say about what we were doing. At the courthouse everything felt too normal. The papers, the clerk, the judge. It all felt too normal. Then suddenly it was done. We were married. I looked at the ring on my finger. It was not the kind of marriage people dream about. It was not about love. It was, about time, pressure and a choice made because I had no option.

What surprised me was the way Jake Harper looked at me afterward. Not like I had forced him into something. Not like I had taken something from him. Jake Harper looked at me like we had started something neither of us understood yet. That was when I realized this was not going to be simple. Jake Harper and I we had just started something. I was not sure what would happen next.