Choose Your Bride

Chapter 5

"That's a good idea," she acknowledges.
This is going to be the best dinner in the Quince's home yet! I walk to my closet and pull out my prince uniform. At least the color of the uniform is red and black.
There is nothing that can ruin this day. Jane can't even ruin this day. This is the best day of my life so far. This is the best day ever so far. Wow... I'm seventeen and already got myself engaged. What is wrong with me? Oh well, I don't want to back out now.
"Are you ready yet?" Autumn asks through the door.
"Yeah," I answer.
"Ok," she says. "I found a really pretty red dress."
"Well, are we matching now?" I ask.
"Ha ha, very funny Alec."
"No, I'm serious."
"Oh... that's funny," she giggles.
Man, her laugh brings the good come out of me every time. Why does she do this to me? Her eyes melt my heart, her smile breaks my soul, her existence make me feel like I belong here, and her laugh makes the good side come out. Why does she have this power on me? What is this magic? My whole life has been a melancholy story. How come she makes me feel happy, excited, nervous, love?
I open the door and walk out. I am so lost in thought.
"Alec? What's wrong?" she asks.
"Huh?" I respond.
"What's the matter?"
"What is love?" I ask.
"I know you've asked me this before," she says.
"I know I have, but I just don't understand it."
"Love... love is the most beautiful thing."
"Why is it so beautiful?" I ask.
"I just think of it as flowers." she explains.
"So, like someone is a picker, and there is a huge field of flowers. There is so many to choose from, but he only picks one."
"Do you know poetry?" she asks.
"A little bit. Mother taught me a little."
"Why did she stop?"
"It reminded her too much of Father."
"Oh,"
She walks over to me and hugs me. I hug her back as tears roll down my face. I miss Father way too much. Mother won't even talk about him, and I feel like I'm drifting away from this family. I guess what I'm trying to say is, I don't have one. There is no love exchanged between the family anymore.
I wonder if I can set things straight with this family. Tomorrow I will tell Mother about me and Autumn. It's settled then, I'll tell her in the morning. Nothing can ruin this day or night. I love Autumn and I'll keep it that way. Jane can't even ruin this moment.
Autumn pulls away and looks at me. I feel like she's staring at my soul. I really don't care as long as she's the one. She puts her right hand on my cheek. I bend down to her height and she goes in for a kiss. The warm sensation fills me. I can definitely get used to this. She is amazing. She pulls away slowly, and the magic of the kiss still lasts.
Her face lights up as she says, "Alec, give me your hand."
"Ok," I say and give her my hand.
She places it on her stomach and says, "Do you feel it?"
It felt like it just punched or kicked my hand. I smile and say, "Yeah,"
We smile at each other for a moment. That was unexpected. I didn't expect that to even happen. I knew one day it would, but not this soon. How did this happen exactly? I don't want to ask, but then again I do.
"Wow, who would've guessed. One minute you'll be married and you'll be a parent as well," she breaks the silence.
"Yep, soon enough I'll be the husband to the most beautiful girl ever, and a father to the most wonderful child ever," I smile.
"I've never really said this about people before, but you seem very mettle."
"Nah, I'm really not mettle. I guess I'm more spiritless than anything."
"Very funny Alec. You are mettle believe it or not."
"Then why am I so mettle?"
"You can get through any challenges no matter the difficulty."
"It takes so many tries though."
"Maybe, but you you get through them don't you?"
"Yeah but..."
"No buts, Alec. You get through them no matter how many times you've tried."
She's right. I can't bother arguing with her on this because she'll win. I don't know if I really want to let her win a battle just yet. Who am I kidding? I like to make things easy at first and then build onto it.
"Dinner is served," Genny says entering the room.
"Ok," I say. "We'll be down in a moment."
"Yes Si... I mean uh, yes Alec." Genny corrects himself.
I sit there laughing to myself about it. Once you start something it is very hard to stop. You just want to keep repeating that, and soon it turns into a habit.
Genny walks over to me and points down to my shoes.
"What's wrong?" I whisper.
"There is still a bloodstain on your right pant leg," he whispers back.
"You wanna know how to take care of that?" I ask in a whisper.
"How?"
"You take a dagger and..." he cuts me off.
"Don't purposely cut yourself again," he begs.
"There are so many rugged edges in this castle, she won't know it was a dagger," I explain.
"You're right. You're right," he acknowledges. "But what if she finds out?"
"Luckily my towel for the weapons is red," I smile.
I turn on my heels and walk towards the restroom door. I always keep a dagger in there just in case of an emergency. Mother cannot find out that that spot is an old bloodstained area. I close the door behind me, and walk towards the sink. I look at myself in the mirror. I never realized how light of a brown my eyes were. I always thought they were dark.
I open up the drawer and the... my dagger! It's gone! I rush out of the restroom and start to check every drawer in my room.
"Alec? What's the matter?" Genny asks concerned.
"My dagger is gone!" I raise my voice.
"What?" Genny asks surprised.
"It was there earlier," I say.
"Oh! That dagger!"
"What do you mean 'oh that dagger?'" I ask.
"I borrowed it, and I guess I didn't put it back. My bad."
He hands over the dagger. It has a shining, silver blade with a red leather handle. This was the very first dagger that Father had given me. I miss him so much. I place the dagger in my nightstand and walk towards Autumn. She is really pretty in that red dress.
"Ready for dinner?" I ask.
"Ready as I'll ever be," she smiles.
"That's good enough for me. Let's go," I say.
We link arms and walk out of the room. As I have said before, This'll be the best night in the Quince's home yet! I really love Autumn, and I don't want anything to ruin this night at all. I don't even want mother or Jane to get in the way of it all. I love Autumn, and they can't change my mind about her. There is no one I'd rather be with than her. She melts my heart, breaks my soul, and makes me feel like I belong here. I want to keep her for the rest of my life.