Page 14 of The Princess & the Prospect

Chapter 7

The chair in my living room had never felt uncomfortable before. Sitting in it so long while waiting for Anna to surface from the bedroom was beginning to make me rethink my original opinion of the furniture. Then again, I supposed there wasn’t a piece on the planet comfortable enough to withstand such a long wait. She had to come out of that room eventually, right? Worry started to set in about an hour ago. I’d debated whether or not I should just go check on her, but after her panic attack the day before I wasn’t sure if that would make matters worse. I’d never been so insecure with myself or my decisions as I felt now. The worst part was that I knew I had brought all of this on myself.

After arguing with Ever last night about her coming to get Anna this morning, I’d gone out and bought groceries for the house before returning and sitting vigil in the damn chair that now had me feeling stiff all over. I felt horrible when Ever pointed out the fact that I’d left a pregnant woman in the house with no food to eat, and then I hadn’t bothered to show again for hours. Hell, I had just made it back to the house, thinking I could sneak in and just sleep on the couch, when Ever showed up to check on her sister since no one had heard from her all day.

I was about to stand and stretch, resigning myself to the fact that I would have to go check on Anna, and just deal with the fall out. I couldn’t stand it if I waited much longer, only to find out she’d had something go wrong with the pregnancy and no one checked on her. It was one of my biggest fears after I watched a few videos about nightmare pregnancies. Fuck! I don’t know why I ever did that. The images that were burned in my brain had been haunting my dreams ever since, only the face always changed to Anna’s instead of the women who had been in the videos – some of which didn’t make it in the end.

Before I could move, the bedroom door finally opened and Anna stepped out of the room. She stiffened a moment, as if preparing for a fight, then without looking my way, she darted into the bathroom like a frightened mouse trying to scurry around unseen. Something about that broke my heart a little bit more.

Not for the first time, I wondered what Double-D had been thinking when he strongly suggested this for us. I wasn’t sure if it was something he had actually forced on her. It wasn’t exactly done that way with me. I had been given a choice, and I accepted this marriage as a way to make sure my child was taken care of. I hated to admit that I also did so I could get dirt on the girl in case we had to fight for the kid later. After learning some things, and opening my eyes to the situation a bit more, I felt shame wash through me in the face of my ulterior motives. Still, just because I had agreed to this situation, that didn’t mean Double-D had given Anna the same leeway.

I sat contemplating that and going over the words in my head to relinquish her from the commitment she’d made in such a way that Double-D would never know. I wouldn’t be the one to hold her prisoner to this life if she hadn’t chosen it of her own free will. Another douchebag move I’d made was in not checking with her first if she really wanted this.

The bathroom was the door at the end of the hall so when Anna came back out she had no choice but to see me seated in the chair drinking my third damn cup of Joe. When it appeared she was just going to run back to her room, I called out to her, halting her in her tracks.

“Anna!” Her eyes finally came up to meet mine as her shoulders slumped in defeat momentarily. Then she squared them off and made her way to the living room with her head held high. “Can you sit so we can talk? It’s important.” I glanced at my phone. We had about 45 minutes before Ever was supposed to show up and whisk her sister away from me.

She sat perched on the edge of the couch looking ready to bolt at any moment, though her hands were demurely folded in her lap giving the momentary illusion that she wasn’t going to flee.

“Anna, I know I’ve handled most of this poorly. You don’t know how sorry I am about that. I was caught off guard yesterday when you thought I might force you…”

“I don’t think that.” She told me in a small voice that was so unlike her, it was startling. “It was just me babbling all the fleeting thoughts I had during my freak out.”

“Regardless, hearing you say that in the middle of freaking out caught me off guard and I didn’t handle it the right way. I was afraid to be alone in the house with you, so I left to give you time to settle in. I didn’t mean to leave you stranded here though. For that, I’m sorry.”

“Okay.” She offered the one word response with a shrug of her shoulders. The quiet stretched out between us for a moment before I carried on, since she didn’t seem to have anything else to say.

“I also didn’t mean for you to take the guest room. I thought we could turn it into a nursery together.” I started to tell her my plan, but her face drained of color when I said that.

“I don’t want to sleep with you,” she blurted out.

“What? I never said that we would be sleeping together.”

She shook her head adamantly. “There’s only one other bedroom in this house,” she confirmed. Then her eyes widened. “Sorry, I didn’t think.” She squirmed on the leather sofa. “This will do,” she said as she patted the couch. “I just need to know where I can put my stuff so it’s out of the way.”

It took me a minute to grasp what she was saying. She thought I wasn’t even going to give her the comfort of her own space, or even a bed, when she was pregnant? What kind of a royal asshole had I been that she would think so poorly of me?

“Anna, I meant for you to take the master. You’re pregnant. I figured being closer to the bathroom would be a good thing; and I can take the couch.”

“But all of your stuff is in there. It’s your house.”

“Did you look around yesterday?” She nodded her head. “Come here a minute,” I demanded as I stood from the chair I’d been sitting in and moved to the master bedroom with her following behind me reluctantly. “Look, I made the bed with fresh linens and blankets for you,” I told her as I moved to the left closet door. “This is completely empty for all your stuff. There are dressers in here so you can keep all of your things completely separate from mine if that’s what you want.” I sighed when I saw her eye my closet. “If I had a garage I could move my stuff into I would. It’ll just have to do for now. I planned to sleep in the spare room until we start working on the nursery, then the couch will be fine.”

“How was I supposed to know that?”

“Well, I was meant to be here, giving you a tour of my vast estate,” I joked to lighten the mood. “Then I had my own freak out when you thought I might be capable of raping you.”

“Sorry,” she apologized.

“Don’t. You’re allowed to feel what you feel, Anna. It’s not like anyone has made this easy on you. I still don’t know why your parents pushed you into doing this.”

“They didn’t,” she informed me.

“I thought…”

“My dad made threats about a shotgun wedding to punish you. Neither of my parents expected me to follow through with it.” Something in her eyes told me that there was more to what she was saying. They might not have expected her to follow through, but she didn’t really expect them to allow it to happen either. They had. I wondered how she truly felt about that now. Still, I was floored by her admission.

“Why did you agree to do it then?”

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