Being a Colton.

Prologue. I.

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Author's POV

THE PRESENT.
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Irene took a deep breath, as the air conditioner circulated throughout the car. She looked down at her large stomach, and rubbed it, an action done out of instinct. She glanced at the ring on her finger and looked away, as she felt the cool air again. She couldn't tell if the aching pain she was feeling in her chest was from seeing the ring or if it was from the chilly night and the air-conditioner. She suspected it was the former.

She sniffed and her phone dinged, she opened her clutch to check who had sent her a message.

Maria.

Hi girly, we have been here for over an hour, are you still on your way?

Irene.
I am on my way, there was a little set that's all. Plus the traffic out here is crazy.

There was more than a little setback but she didn't think that Maria would want to know without wanting to murder her dear husband if she could even call him that. Her husband -by name at the point- sat next to her. She knew that he had purposefully shown up late, just to delay the inevitable.

His grandmother had requested their presence together- at 79 birthday and he wasn't happy about it. She was only informed by her bodyguard Julius, just a few days ago, who offered to drive her to the mall to get a new dress seeing that her bump was too big to fit into any dress she had. She didn't care though, she declined the offer and wore an older dress, something that she liked, which was a silver sequence dress, that was black less but was ankle length. The dress was magnificent and thankfully, did well to accommodate her pregnant belly.

The dress wasn't something conventional, it was unusual for a Colton but at that point, she was way past caring, she was too exhausted to think about the maybe rules she had to follow to be a proper Colton, she just wanted to close her eyes and disappear but she knew that wasn't going to happen so she took in a deep breath as the car slowed and glanced at the red carpet in front of the Colton family house.

She didn't bother to look up when she heard the door opposite her open, her husband got down and she took in a deep breath that she didn't even know she had been holding. Her shoulder sagged and the tension she had been feeling left her body. The air is a bit more breathable. She didn't know how bad it had gotten with him but she knew this tension between them wasn't normal but she had no choice. Circumstances had led them there and there was no way she could change it. She had tried, multiple times but it just wasn't possible.

The door opened and Julius stretched out his hands to help her out of the car. She took his hand and pulled her from her seat while her husband waited for the scene to play out. She said nothing as the light of the cameras all around her started flashing against her face. She tried to steady herself knowing it would be embarrassing and dangerous if she fell but she knew she would never be used to the amount of light and camera anytime they attended that event.

It felt like the first time all over again but she knew that things were different this time, everything was different. She nodded at Julius and joined her husband Frederick by his side, as the entire media had a field day trying to get their pictures together.

They walked side by side not bothering to say anything to each other or try to hold each other's hands as they had done in the earlier stages of their marriage. She tried not to think about how blissful it all was before it came crashing down.

The event planner was standing by the door to the mansion when they arrived. She smiled at Frederick and gave Irene a nod, Irene didn't say anything about it, she was already used to all of the gossip, the comments and the attitude she had been getting from people who knew her and didn't.