A Tangled Web of Truth | Complete (ONC 2021 Shortlister)

14. Growing Pains

Alejandro paced the hall of the palace, waiting for Alicia to arrive. This wasn't the way most people asked their fiancée to move in, but he had to admit it was a moment he'd been pushing for since the media started following her everywhere.

"Stop pacing, dear," Queen Sofia said from her seat nearby. "It will not make her arrive any faster."

"I just want to know she's safe, Mom."

"She is. Fetu has her and they are en route to the palace. If anything happened I would be informed immediately." She gestured to the palace guard standing near the entrance door, earpiece relaying Alicia's every move, no doubt.

"I know. It's just stressful. I want to keep her safe."

"Alejandro, she's perfectly safe." His mother's voice was more stern than usual and he knew that meant she was about to give him a lecture he didn't want. "And I'd advise you to stop making decisions on Alicia's behalf. There's a reason you chose her and there's a reason I agreed and none of those reasons are that she is incapable of making decisions."

"I know, I just—"

"I'm not done. You are about to marry that woman and the two of you are still only talking about how cute you are. I'm not saying you can't keep growing into marriage once the ceremony is over. In fact, I think you must. What I'm saying is you don't have the luxury of a long period of staring longingly into each others' eyes. I need you both here. We need to get the situation in this country under control and I need everyone focused. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Mother."

"Good. I see she is arriving now. I will have the staff sent down for her things and meet you both in the study before dinner to discuss our next steps." Queen Sofia stood up and swirled around her chair, quickly taking off down the hallway and leaving Alejandro to greet Alicia on his own.

When the door opened in front of him, he stood in the center, watching the car pull to a stop. The door opened to reveal Fetu who greeted Alejandro with a curt nod before turning back inside, probably to say something to Alicia. When he stepped back from the doorway, Alicia's face appeared in the window, as she slid her sunglasses onto her eyes for the short journey inside. Her curls rustled in the breeze and she looked around anxiously, presumably trying to assess the risks.

I hate that she has to do that now.

Against the judgement of his mother and the palace security, Alejandro stepped through the door and reached his hand out to meet her. She visibly relaxed as she placed her hand in his and let him slide his arm around her waist.

Alejandro pulled her into his side and placed a kiss on her temple. "It's nice to see you. I've been worried about you since you left."

"I left last night! You can't have been worried that long!"

"Well, I did sleep some, so maybe I wasn't worried then. But it felt like I was. I'm just glad you're here and safe. I hate that you have to watch everything around you now."

"I knew it was part of the job." Alicia shrugged and removed her sunglasses to look into his eyes, as though willing him to believe her. "Plus, I'm used to watching out for myself, Alejandro. This might be more people but they aren't out to hurt me and there's guards around all the time. I can manage it."

"Are you sure?" Alejandro guided Alicia down the hallway to the guest quarters where she would be staying until their marriage, whenever that would be. "There has to be something we can do to make you more comfortable."

"There's not—" Alicia took a deep breath, interrupting herself. "That's not true. I think we need to discuss the press and address how to give them enough of what they want while still making me feel safe. It's not that I don't feel safe, I just feel a lot of pressure all the time. It would be nice to go to the grocery store alone or see my friends without their life story being splashed on the paper."

That's actually a good idea. But my mother will never go for it. Maybe if we get Dad on our side we could...

"Anyway, how have you been doing in my absence?" Alicia changed the subject.

"I have been missing you," Alejandro admitted. "And I think your idea is good, by the way, but we are going to have to run it past my mother and I'm just not sure how to do that because she can be quite set in her ways."

"Well, she has been doing this job for a while. We'd probably do well to listen to her sometimes." Alicia was laughing as she pressed her shoulder into Alejandro's side, but he could tell she was being serious.

"Let me know if you feel that way in a couple years," he laughed. "The novelty of a mother who's always right wears off really fast."

"In any case, I do think we need to talk to her, but I'm not marrying my ideas, I'm marrying you. And if there's another way to make this work better, I'm open to it."

"Where did I find you?" Alejandro could not imagine a person more perfect for him.

"I think there was something about a masked ball," she laughed.

It was at that exact moment that the guard following them down the hallway cleared his throat very loudly. Alejandro looked around him and realized he had walked right past Alicia's room. He stopped suddenly in the middle of the floor, causing Alicia to slide to a stop a little ahead of him.

"What was that for?" she asked, turning to face him. "Something wrong?"

Alejandro shook his head. "I just realized I walked right past your room." He had to admit there was a warmth trying to creep up his neck into his face, but he pushed it down. "It's back about three doors that way."

"Ooh, my room?" Alicia's eyes brightened. "I bet it's outrageously comfortable."

"What makes you say that?" He gestured that the guards should open the doors to Alicia's room.

"The fact that it's a palace? I mean, the food is fabulous so what else am I to expect?"

The guards pushed open the small metal door clad in wood to make it look more natural in the palace. The bright light from inside shone into the hallway and landed on Alicia's shoes.

"Wow," she said. "It's beautiful, too!"

"Well, it is a palace," he joked. "Now let's go look inside."

Alicia's excitement was contagious and Alejandro found himself reaching over and kissing her cheek. He had noticed over the last few weeks that it was one of her favourite places to be kissed. But she was preoccupied by stepping through the door, her eyes wide like a child seeing the Christmas decorations for the first time.

"It's beautiful. It's just way more than anything I could have imagined. These are your bedrooms?"

"These are the guest bedrooms. Ours are much more personalized so you can sort of have what you want. Or, well..." his face grew warm as he thought of marrying Alicia.

"We could sort of have what we want?" Alejandro lifted his eyes from the floor to look at Alicia's bright eyes. He didn't have time to think of what to say before her lips were on his, arms finding their way around his back.

What was I going to say again?