No True Wedding
Against her objections, he did get her a dress. Max could tell she wished she had something nice to wear to their wedding, but deemed the expense unjustifiable. So he had to take matters into his own hands.
It was not a proper wedding dress. He would not have been able to afford that. Not that there would have been reason to buy one. They would not have a big, proper wedding. For that, you need money. Or lots of friends and acquaintances who would bring food and drink. If you were from a small village and good at making friends, the village would, in essence, throw you a wedding party. He and Magda had no such friends or a village. They made some friends in the months of being here, but not nearly enough for such a thing as a true wedding. Still, none of that really mattered.
They were together and married. So what if the courthouse wasn’t exactly a romantic locale? The only thing that meant anything was that they swore never to leave each other. Max felt he could breathe easier. A girl you were shacked up with could walk out the door at any moment. A wife couldn’t just take off without a discussion. It wasn’t that he’d stop her leaving if she wanted to go. Nothing could ever make him treat her harshly. If she wanted to do something, he’d never prevent any of it. Of course he’d beg her to take him back. Probably fall to his knees. But she was free to make her own choices, and he wouldn’t ever want it otherwise. Trapping her into staying through marriage was not even remotely the point. It was just this: he liked the idea that being married meant he’d have a chance to talk to her before she left him for good.
After the wedding, a sense of calm overcame him. They were wife and husband. Married in the eyes of the law and men. Not that he cared about either. Before, in the great fantasy land of the past when the world made sense, he thought laws were good. They kept people safe. Then the Nuremberg Laws happened, and Max’s youthful faith in civilization began to crumble. As for men, well, after everything, he couldn't care less what people thought. Still, fitting in had its uses. Besides, Magda wanted to belong. Their lives would be easier if they managed to blend into normal society, even if he didn’t really want that. To Max, it seemed a safe bet to say he might never want to be a part of anything normal. He no longer trusted society. But Magda wanted normal, so he wanted it for her sake. The idea of starting a family was much the same. If she wanted children, he’d be a father. If she didn’t, he would not father children. If he took her out of the equation, would he want children? Perhaps. It seemed only right. The Nazis wanted his people eradicated. The least he could do was have children so the Nazis wouldn’t win. It was easy to imagine that many other survivors felt the same way. That it was their responsibility to have children, so a world without them that the Nazis so dearly wanted would not come to pass. There was comfort in that musing, in the idea of others feeling this burden too. His people would not be wiped away from this Earth. Of course, he couldn’t take Magda out of the equation. If he were to have children, he wanted her to be their mother. Max had meant what he said to her. He wanted everything on Earth with her. Whatever she wanted.