Marriage Application: A Fateful Revelation

"Next."

The words called out at city hall, flat and mundane, were supposed to usher me into a new life with Chloe, the woman I' d loved for ten years.

Chloe nudged me, impatient. "Mark, that's us. Hurry up."

But as the clerk took the marriage application, her voice, initially bored, turned sharp: "Mark Peterson and… Kevin Peterson? Is this correct?"

Chloe froze, her perfectly sculpted face contorting in confusion and rage. "What did you say?"

The clerk pointed, revealing my brother' s name where hers should have been. "That's two male names. We can't process this."