Open Road, The Outskirts Of Oregon....
The weather had finally broke allowing them to finally check out, which was quite early in the morning. Duko got them breakfast and a few more supplies before they hit the highway and he returned the key to the front office before making several calls prior to their departure. Rae had not been privy to the calls, but she knew it took him a while to return after he brought her breakfast and they packed up for the continuation of their apparent road trip. With the sun beaming down on them despite the morning chill, Rae decided on a pair of jeans and a white t-shirt matching Duke's beneath her black hooded sweatshirt. Duko wore his new white tight fitting t-shirt beneath his black leather jacket and dark shades that covered his seemingly contemplative blue eyes.
He had not known the reason he was so dead set on marrying Rae Hadley, he simply couldn't ignore the fact that he wanted her, he wanted her as badly as she wanted him and there was no way he was going to let the world interfere in that they had even if there was a strangeness to their union that couldn't be explained.
Love at first sight was something he heard of in the past but largely ignored as he never even had feelings enough for whomever he took to bed to even declare it to be love. For him it was always about the release that came with shoving his enormous cock into a willing woman. He was useless with attachments and personal relationships beforehand possibly due to the various traumas he endured as a kid and then when he returned from the war he'd been much too terrified to attempt personal connections when his strange affliction had given him pause whenever he'd been around people.
He couldn't explain his affliction nor could he keep it at bay but there was something about Rae Hadley that seemed to intensify his affliction and yet she remained protected due to it. He could get closer to Rae without fear but he had not wanted to chance anything. She'd come into his life like an untapped breeze and their association was as swift and as powerful as a whirlwind that could not be tamed. The best he could do given the situation was to make her his legally and tread carefully within the confines of the world around them.
There was more to his putting off on claiming her completely and she had not been privy to it due to her age. While he intended to marry her and make her his wife in the eyes of the law, he wasn't in the least in the mindset to start a family let alone with one so young. He had heard horror stories of his own birth every chance his drunken father got about how he impregnated a younger woman when he'd only been 22 and she gave birth to his son but died rather horribly as a result of the complications with the birth.
As much as he wanted to eventually build something of a life for himself and Rae, she needed to get back to being herself. They needed residency somewhere where her age wouldn't be cause for concern even with marriage and they needed to get her back into school. He made up his mind to find a means of gainful employment as being on the road constantly was no place for a wife and at her age it was just an utterly exhausting experience.
When he'd been alone it was fine due to his affliction being the cause of his misfortunes and inner woes, but he had Rae to live for now and she deserved better than the life they were leading and the one she had before she met him. Nevada was the first step toward giving her the life she deserved and he made up his mind to live up to her expectations no matter the outcome of their strangely unshakable bond.
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Open Road, The Boarder Nevada.....
Rae couldn't hide her excitement as she held onto Duke via her arms being wrapped around his fit waist as she leaned her head against his muscular toned back. The heat from the blazing sun was a welcome change from the overcast dampness they had left behind when venturing out of Oregon. This place was a stark contrast from Trenton County if ever there was one with beautiful vast mountain ranges in the distance with layers of color along their rugged surface as the motorcycle continued along the winding highway. The climate was a bit too arid for her taste but she knew that this was just a temporary stage in the adjustment to set the stage of her newfound freedom and the precursor to her life with Duke.
The grasslands and alkali desert atmosphere was an intriguing change of pace but she was much more interested in the city lights and the grand strip that came with infamous town of Las Vegas. She'd read several stories and watched countless movies about the place, but never really wanted to go there until Duke mentioned their possible upcoming wedding. Rae didn't know what it all meant in the long run but she was more than willing to be Duke's wife if it meant she got to be with him without the interference of everyone of well meaning nature and of course freedom from being under the thumb of her good for nothing parents.
"How do you like it?" asked Duko as they came to a stop at one of the intown places he said prior to their journey that he needed to visit.
"It's beautiful." replied Rae astonished by the view and everything around it. "Better than anyplace I ever knew anyway."
Duke smiled although she couldn't see it.
"There's a judge here I want to see, he and I have a history due to my serving with his only son and saving his life overseas." he said. "His name's Clinton McCormick and he specializes in marital matters as well as emancipation laws. "
Rae was shocked that Duke was being so through about their attempts to have a future together.
"Now I don't know for sure what he'd say about us and I don't wanna give him the wrong impression but I would like you to meet him and then we are going to give old Ed Earl a call." said Duke.
Rae loved hearing his deep baritone drawl, it almost sounded as if he'd been holding back the urge to growl when he spoke.
"If he asks you questions, just answer them honestly." he said in warning "but don't' volunteer information that isn't necessary."
Rae nodded. She had hoped this judge would see his way to letting them get married as she had not wanted to go back to suffering due to being denied and she definitely didn't want to return to Trenton County until she turned eighteen. She couldn't take another two years of her life beforehand and being away from Duke for that long was out of the question.
Even worse, she wasn't even sure if Ed Earl would comply with their wishes as he had often hated her and was resentful of the fact that he couldn't steal her virtue himself. She had hoped that his latest beating at Duke's hands was enough to sway him into letting her live her life in peace.
The couple headed inside the building as nervousness threatened to get the better of her, Duke slipped his large hand into Rae's smaller one and the gesture seemed to eased her trembling. She took note of the contrasts between them. His olive oil tanned skin against her milky flesh. His towering height in comparison to her shorter stature.
"We will be together." he said quite sure of the events going their way. "We just have to make sure that it's legal."
Rae seemed to calm with reassurance and they headed inside the court building.
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The Main Street Courthouse, Las Vegas, Nevada.....
Duko found himself pacing the outer hallway as Judge McCormick entered his office. He had not seen former Lt. Toby McCormick in close to five years since his departure from service at the close of the war and often visited the family whenever he passed through town. Those days his passing through mostly consisted of drunken nights, strange women, and self loathing via booze and moonlighting in fight clubs. Toby managed to settle down when he returned marrying his highschool crush and bringing two children into the world. Judge McCormick couldn't have been happier to see his boy living well, but he often worried for Duke whom he considered to be something of a wayward second son.
The old man expressed interest in Duko getting married for years and even volunteered to see to the legalities himself it if and when he finally found the right one. Of course McCormick had not counted on Duko wanting to marry a sixteen year old girl when he extended the offer. Duko simply ignored the semantics of the situation. He had everything he needed and Rae by his side that was all that mattered.
Judge McCormick had been a large man towering about a foot above Duko himself in height and about nearing sixty years of age. He spoke in a deep baritone drawl that was largely rasped due to heavy smoking for over thirty years. He was married to his first love Wilma McCormick whom had given him three beautiful children Toby, whom served the arms forces proudly and twins Summer and Casey whom were a surprised while their only son was off to war. Judge McCormick was of a southern background and often his accent got the better of him no matter how long he's been in Nevada. His well kept white beard and short white hair sort of reminded Rae of The Chicken Colonel from the commercials.
Judge McCormick approached Duko evidently pleased to see him.
"Well I'll be damned, boy it's good to see you alive and well around these parts." he said shaking Duke's hand with a good notion of grip.
Duko took care not to crush the older man's hand as he returned the grip treating him to a small boyish smile as the man had been like family to him.
"And just whom is this pretty little lady?" said Judge McCormick turning his attention to Rae. "I don't think we've met before...this your kid Duke?"
"No." replied Duko attempting to reign in his temper. "She's the girl I spoke to you about over the phone."
Rae took her cues from Duke and kept her cool. The last thing she wanted was to offend the man whom could decide the fate of their relationship in one stroke of a pen or with a phone call.
"How do you do Judge McCormick, I'm Rae...Rae Hadley." she said as politely as she could manage.
"Well it's nice to meet you Miss Hadley." replied Judge McCormick looking over at Duke with a bit of concern before ushering them both into his chambers.
Once the door was closed it seemed the kid gloves came off.
"This is the little girl you aim to marry?" asked Judge McCormick. "She ain't but sixteen years old."
"As I said over the phone, I have permission to marry her from her father." replied Duke unphased by the barely controlled outrage. "Turned it into the registry office while we were waiting for you, even got his phone number so you can talk to him yourself."
Judge McCormick sighed and made his way back behind his large oak wood desk. This wasn't a conventional request and an odd one all things considered but he knew Duke wouldn't do anything he hadn't thought through let alone put a teenage girl in harms way.
"Give me some time to confer the information." he said waving them away as he set to work dialing Ed Earl's number that Duke had slipped into his hand before he sat down.
Rae and Duko stepped out into the hall as the Judge made his call. The red head seemed terrified about having her future hanging in the balance due to her father, but it was the only way to legally be with the man she had come to love. It was an unexpected thing considering they had not known each other long, but she felt as if she would die without him.
After much deliberation and anxious pacing back n forth within the halls, Judge McCormick emerged from his chambers with a smile filed across his face.
"Everything checks out." he said delighted that someone finally took Duke off the market. "You are free to marry and he also would like no one else to have to contact him about you."
Rae could hardly believe it. Her no good drunkard of a father had actually done something good for ehr for once in his miserable life. It was mostly due to his innate fear of Duke than any sort of love he felt for her, but he had done it.
She was legally allowed to wed the man whom had rescued her from a life of misery back in Trenton County.
Cutting the celebrations short, Duko insisted they get on with the wedding eager to have his young bride all to himself as much as she had been to have him to herself after hearing the news.