Deanna didn't like what Harry was proposing at all. He had to be crazy to have such an idea.
- What you're saying doesn't make any sense. Did you hit your head before you came here? -
- I know, but we need your help. I don't know who else to ask.
Harry's girlfriend Laura didn't say anything, but she was getting more and more nervous.
Their situation wasn't good, they were still studying, they were young, they were madly in love, but they were careless. Laura had confirmed her pregnancy just three days before.
- Believe me I understand you, Harry, but no one is going to believe it. They don't even know me in your family -
- But I spoke to my brother and he's agreed, please Deanna, help us -
Laura dared to intervene, her eyes filled with tears.
- We wouldn't ask you to do this if it wasn't so important to us. Our families are very strict about it. They won't let Harry marry me if his older brother is still single. And my family won't allow me to keep the baby if I'm not married.
Seeing Laura so distraught made Deanna start to doubt.
- I can't believe they still have those old rules to this day. But I don't know your big brother except by photograph -
The proposal they had come up with was simple: in order for Harry and Laura to marry, Daniel, who had been widowed five years earlier, would have to remarry. Deanna was Harry's best friend and the only option left to them.
-I know; it feels like we're still living in the middle ages. That's all I could think of to solve it and Daniel is willing to do the same.
-But what will your family say? Will they agree? Am I just going to show up one day and announce that I'm your brother's future wife? -
-The important thing is that you get married as soon as possible; then we'll do it ourselves and we can have our baby.
Deanna had to be as crazy as Harry because this whole insane idea was beginning to sound feasible to her. She was very fond of her friend and seeing poor Laura so distressed about her baby on the way made her mind up.
-Well, but...
- Really, Deanna?! That's great! -
-Wait, Harry...
- You saved us, girlfriend! You're the best! Laura, let's get married! -
- HARRY!!! Wait, please... At least introduce me to your brother first... -
- Sure! I'll arrange a dinner so you can meet him. Just the 4 of us -
Laura started crying uncontentedly, she was so happy she couldn't stop. Harry hugged her and kissed her face with love trying to comfort her. Those two were really in love, they were so tender. It was a shame that they had to come up with such a crazy plan in order to stay together.
This made Deanna think that she had stepped into the lion's den: what kind of family has these kinds of traditions, and does it respect them to the letter? But she couldn't say no to such a request. She had known Harry since he started studying at the University of Art, and they had immediately become friends, buddies, and ended up as good friends.
Laura found it a little difficult at first to accept her as a friend of her fiancé, but as time went by she realised that they loved each other like brother and sister. The three of them began to share a lot together despite their very different backgrounds.
Harry and Laura came from wealthy families, traditional elites with generations of successful professionals. Deanna, on the other hand, had grown up with her mother and grandmother and was the first in her family to go to university.
In fact, she had a part-time job in a clothing shop so that she could support herself and not burden her mother so much with the costs of sending her to study in the capital. Deanna had shown a natural talent for singing, perhaps inherited from her father whom she had never met, and both women decided to make an extra effort to give her the possibility of higher education.
In contrast, Harry and Laura did not have to worry about trivialities like money; although he had a hard time convincing his father to let him study music instead of being a lawyer, a doctor or a businessman like his brother. But since Daniel was already running the family business, he was more flexible with his youngest son.
-My family can't find out,' Deanna told them.
- Why not? - Laura asked
-It's just the three of us, I don't want them to think this marriage will last a lifetime and then see me divorced. I promised them I'd finish my degree first.
-Don't worry, my friend, we'll keep it as discreet as we can.
The baby on the way was due in less than 8 months so they had little time before it started to show on Laura. They had to speed things up; once Deanna and Daniel concluded the wedding they were going to elope 'romantically' to seal their love. They would return after the baby was born and no one would be able to say anything about it.
Then Deanna and Daniel would declare that they were not compatible and separate, as if nothing had happened. It was the most normal thing in the world, wasn't it? Many couples broke up after living together for a while because they discovered that they didn't really get along that well. No one would be hurt or harmed, and Deanna would gain a niece or nephew to spoil.
-I'll call my brother to tell him the good news and see when he can join us.
- Does he know who I am? -
-Well, he knows I'd ask a friend at the university. There was no point in telling him it was you because he doesn't know you either.
-I see.
-But you don't have to worry about that, I'm sure he'll like you. It's not as 'difficult' as everyone says - - What do you mean by 'difficult'?
- My brother-in-law is a bit... special. But Harry's right, he's not so bad once you get to know him - Laura tried to lighten things up.
- Why do I suddenly feel like I'm getting into terrible trouble? -
Harry and Laura looked at each other and smiled. It was true that Daniel was a bit complicated in certain aspects, but he was a kind-hearted person. Perhaps a little strict and diametrically opposed to Deanna's cheerful and carefree personality; he was willing to help them for the sake of his future nephew. Although he had made a fuss when he found out, he wouldn't let anything happen to his brother or sister-in-law, let alone the child.
-By the way, you do know that Daniel has three children, don't you? -
- WHAT?!!! -
-Yes: Ethan, Naomi and Jonathan-
- Weren't they your sister's children? -
-No, Susan's not married yet -
- Oh, for God's sake! -
-You'll make a great stepmother-
- Don't pull on the rope, child, it may break -
- You can't say no now, you already said yes -
- Try me -
Laura was happy, very happy. She watched them fight as if they were two little kids and she couldn't help but feel very lucky. Deanna was more than willing to do this for them, she was going to be a mother and the man she loved was going to marry her. She just hoped that everything would work out and Daniel would behave like a gentleman.
That night the three of them went out for dinner together to the food stall that was near the University and they frequented quite a bit. Deanna and Harry did get to drink a few beers, too many, because they ended the night almost crawling to take Deanna back to her flat and then take a taxi.
Back at her flat the 'mighty Dean', as Harry called her, dropped like a rock on the bed. She had no idea what she was about to go through just trying to help her friends.