Tessa had wiped away hot tears of mingled anger and sympathy. “She should have protected you from that monster,” she’d whispered brokenly. “Should have sided with you, taken care of you. No wonder you hate her so much, why you can’t wait to move out.”

Peter had seemed touched by her tears. “I’m glad you understand, Tess. I told you awhile ago that I had my reasons for hating her. The rest of it – the hoarding, the drinking, even stealing my money – that’s nothing compared to ignoring my cries for help, for calling me a liar and a troublemaker.”

He’d gone on to tell her that the abuse had finally ended when his uncle had been caught trying to molest another boy. “And it was his extreme bad luck that the kid’s grandfather was a retired police chief. My uncle really got the book thrown at him, never had the slightest chance. From what I understand he got something like a fifty year sentence. Not to mention the fact that pedophiles get roughed around a lot in prison. He’ll be lucky to survive a decade.”

“He deserves everything he got,” Tessa had declared passionately. “And so does your mother. I understand why you never want to see her again. Even if you and I weren’t getting married tomorrow, I’d give you every penny I owned just so you could move out of this horrible place.”

Peter had smiled at her tenderly. “You’re a real little mother hen, aren’t you? Or a tigress protecting her young. You’ll make a wonderful mother someday, Tess. But it’s highly unlikely that will be with me. I – I’m not sure I can ever have a physical relationship with anyone, even with a beautiful girl like you. You need to understand and accept that before we go through with this tomorrow.”

“I do,” she’d assured him, giving his hand a squeeze and then smiling when he didn’t flinch from the contact. “And it’s okay with me, honestly. I know that we’re just friends, and that we’re doing this to help each other out. I don’t expect, um, sex as part of our bargain. Besides, won’t it be easier for us to get a divorce next year if we don’t, uh, do that?”

“I think we’d be able to get an annulment rather than a divorce if we don’t consummate the marriage, and I’m guessing that’s easier and less complicated. But, hey, let’s not be thinking about an annulment the day before our wedding, hmm? Especially since your case worker doesn’t seem completely convinced about this whole thing.”

Things had happened very quickly on the evening Peter had first suggested they get married. He had accompanied her to the Wallace house, a visit she had dreaded, and together they had presented the marriage license application to Debbie for her signature. Predictably, she hadn’t made it easy for Tessa, with her scathing comments and sly hints that maybe she’d be willing to sign if there was something in it for her. At that point Peter had very bluntly laid it out for her – that if she signed the papers without further ado Tessa would tell her case worker that she had just moved out this past week. Otherwise, the real truth would come out and Debbie would be obliged to pay back more than two months of support checks. Debbie had practically snarled at them after that, but had grudgingly scrawled her signature on the form before telling them to get the hell out of her sight.

The case worker had been more than a little shocked the next day to be presented with a verified marriage license application, and the news that Tessa and Peter had an appointment to be married at city hall on Friday afternoon. But in the end she’d acknowledged that this was likely the best alternative for Tessa, since there were currently no foster homes available, only a group home with a rather dubious reputation. And even though she had seemed less than convinced that Tessa and Peter were truly in love and couldn’t wait another day to get married, she had also seemed relieved to have the responsibility off of her overworked hands.

Their brief, rather impersonal wedding had gone off without any further ado. Peter had worn a badly wrinkled shirt, a tie he’d borrowed from a classmate, and scuffed sneakers, while Tessa had at least put on a pretty floral sundress and her nicest pair of shoes for the civil ceremony. Their two witnesses had been employees from the registrar’s office, and the extent of their wedding celebration had been treating themselves to dinner at a nearby Olive Garden.

They had moved into their room at the shared rental the very next day, not that either of them had very many belongings to carry inside. Peter had rather ruthlessly gone through his mother’s hoard, and grabbed sleeping bags, air mattresses, blankets, pillows, linens, and other supplies that they would need. He’d insisted that not only would she never notice any of the stuff was gone, but that all of it and much more was due to him.

“Not only did she steal money from me – a lot more than this pile is worth – but she stole a hell of a lot more by not protecting me when she should have,” he’d declared to Tessa. “My sanity, my peace of mind, my chance of ever having a normal relationship. In my opinion, she’ll never, ever be able to repay me for all of that, even if I took everything she owned.”

Their small bedroom was sparsely furnished – two twin air mattresses; a beat-up old dresser that had been left behind by a previous tenant; a computer workstation that had been left on a nearby sidewalk with a “FREE” sign attached; a desk chair they’d bought at a yard sale; and a couple of cheap lamps they had purchased at Walmart. The other rooms in the shared rental – living room, dining area, and kitchen – had already been fully furnished when they’d moved in. Not that they spent much time in the common rooms – especially when there was a wild party like tonight’s going on.

It was far from ideal, and the two of them avoided their roommates as much as possible, but Tessa acknowledged that it was vastly preferable to living in her car. Or, worse, in a foster home populated with semi-dangerous occupants. And for Peter, of course, it was a refuge from the place where his most fearsome nightmares had occurred. Their roommates were all nice enough, but their frequent wild parties – complete with loud music, alcohol, and recreational drug use – meant that Tessa and Peter spent what little time they were actually at the house locked inside their bedroom.

Tessa had secretly begun keeping a calendar. checking off the days until their lease was up and they could move out of what she’d jokingly begun calling “Animal House”. But it was with mixed feelings that she counted down the days, knowing that each day that passed brought her closer to the time when she and Peter would go their separate ways, and she would once again be all alone.