The Prince That Got Away ( A Royal Romance Novel )

My Marriage

Emilia's POV:-

" I think you should do whatever you can to make this marriage work. " Mom says, a determined expression on her face. " If he didn't care for you he would not have married you in the first place. "

She was perched on one of the wingback chairs in my bedroom which was the size of the entire ground floor of our house. Lola had fallen asleep on the huge four-poster bed with her mother sitting beside her.

" He feels guilty for what happened. And he's a decent guy who wanted to help me. That's it." I can feel my frustration rise.

I should have known Mom would start building castles in the air.

" How can you be so sure that he feels nothing for you at all?" Samantha asks.

" He and I barely spoke to each other while we were in high school. The longest conversation we had was probably the night of the Halloween party when we fought. Or the time he dropped by to tell me to come back to school. You seriously think he saw me for a while at William's party and became instantly infatuated with me?"

" I am not saying that I am a hundred percent sure that he's into you or something. I just find it weird that you are so vehement in saying he's not. I just want to know how can you be so sure. You should at least consider the idea of him liking you.Or at least try to get close to him. If this marriage works out what do you have to lose?"

I groan. I was expecting Samantha to be more reasonable than Mom. Turns out none of them thought about the real possibility of my heart getting broken.

" I know you aren't interested in a relationship but you can't be alone forever. At some point or the other, you need to settle down. I was already in a relationship with your father when I was your age. Yet you haven't even had one and it scares me.What would happen to you if me and Samantha aren't around? It's not like you even have a lot of friends."

Her words left me feeling angry and hurt. However, what hurt me the most was that there was genuine concern behind her words. She really was worried about me. But what she said made all my insecurities rise to the surface and it made me feel defensive.

" If you guys wanted me to behave like other girls of my 'age' why the hell did you constantly preach about all men being trouble and to stay away from them entirely? You made me feel uncomfortable about even having so much as a crush. Samantha used to spy on me all the time like a hawk in case I got into a relationship. You literally raised me like a nun and now you want me to suddenly unlearn all that you have ingrained into my head!"

For a while, Mom and Samantha just stare at me wordlessly. Lola stirs but luckily doesn't wake up.

" I get it. We messed up. You were a teenager back then and we just wanted to protect you. We might have gone overboard but we had your best interests at heart." Samantha says quietly.

" That's true. We are both sorry that our actions ended up hurting you." I could see the sadness in Mom's eyes. It was rare for her to admit her mistakes so easily. It honestly made me feel guilty.

" But I don't think you can blame it entirely on us. I think you have had your own trust issues with men for reasons that have nothing to do with us." Samantha added.

" Let's go Mom" She and Mom left soon after.

I was bothered by her words but I couldn't say anything because I knew she was right. I had never really gotten over what had happened between me and Louis.

In the afternoon lunch is served. Louis still hasn't been back and I guess he's too caught up in work. Or maybe giving me company at the dining table is the least of his priorities. I try not to focus on the latter but my mind keeps heading in that direction. I dig into my penne arrabbiata with more force than necessary.