Watch the Stars with Me

Chapter 17

Violet sat at the the vanity by the window of the room she had moved into at Gilbert's manor. She sat there staring at herself in her beautiful, simple, wedding dress as her right hand rested on the letter from Leon.

Cattleya brought the letter over the day before, along with well wishes and to say she was so happy for Violet. It was a long day of going over all of the last minute details for the wedding, and on top of that Gilbert's doctor came to check on him. With such a full day Violet didn't have to time to read the letter from Leon, and in some ways she didn't want to read it.

The last couple of weeks with Gilbert have been complicated to say the least. Gilbert is even more of a gentleman than before, only making her love him more. Their reunion and engagement has been met with a wide variety of reactions.

On Violet's side, her friends and coworkers couldn't be happier. Erica and Iris were in tears from how overjoyed they are and Cattleya hugged her for a really long time. Benedict even smiled. The Evergardens seemed relieved and offered to help plan the wedding.

The Bougainvillea side's reactions were mixed, and somewhat difficult for Violet to process. His mother is so happy that everything is working out the way it is with Violet and keeps talking about grandchildren, which came up later on the car ride home.

When his brother, Dietfried, was told he scoffed before leaving the room and Gilbert chased after him. Violet stayed in the living room with her soon to be mother in-law, even when she heard the shouting out in the foyer. But when she heard what sounded like someone hitting the hard marble floor she flew to the door. Upon opening it she found Dietfried on the ground looking stunned as Gilbert was on top of him with a fist raised and ready to drop. "No!" Violet ran, grabbed her fiancé's arm and held him back from hitting his brother. "Violet." Dietfried whispered in shock.

There was an intense conversation between the three of them. Gilbert finally standing up to his older brother. "If you can't support our marriage then I have no room for you in the life I have left." He cried angry tears as he said it, but they didn't detract from his seriousness. Before leaving the house the bitter older brother said he supports the union and said that he would try harder for his little brother.

When they were half way home, she had been staring out the window in deep thought the whole time, and Gilbert had been as well. He broke the silence though. "Violet."

She blinked and turned to him with a slight smile on her lips. "Yes?"

He reached for her her hand. "Do— do you want children?"

Her heart started to race. She'd been rolling that idea around the entire car ride this far. "It's something— I haven't put a lot of thought into until this evening..."

A knot was forming in his throat. He did wanted children. He had wanted at least two and to see them grow up. He knows that dream isn't possible now. Even if Violet says she does, he won't see his children beyond the age of one or two. His eye begin to water, how could he want something so badly when he knows how much pain this will all bring for so many people. "Violet, you don't have to do this."

Her eyebrows pull together and her mouth gets very small as she looks deep into his emerald eye. "What do you mean?"

He managed to keep the tears from falling as he spoke and his chest tightened. "You don't have to marry me, or think about having children with me. All that this is going to do is bring you a lot of agony and—" he stopped when he felt her begin to squeeze his hand and saw that she was getting angry.

"I want to marry you Gilbert. I want to have children with you. I want to live a long life with you." Tears begin to spill from both of them.

He speaks through his tears. "I want all of that too but—" His words are cut off when she quickly pulls him into a kiss.