Things Left Unsaid: Alternate by G.A. Mazurke

"I want a divorce."
That’s the first thing she says to me after a decade of silence.
And we’re not even married yet.
Her demand, the way her grandmother talks to her, and how she’s treated by the town trigger me. This is just a business arrangement that’ll save both our ranches, neither of us want this marriage, but I’ll keep her safe by making her my wife.
My wife.
Those words are as powerful as her first ones to me.
The rings on her finger are temporary, so tell me why I want them to remain there permanently?