THAYER
Marry me.
Those two words. Two powerful words echoed in my head. Yes, I’d planned on proposing to her over our dinner.
Was I overwhelmed? Yes, because I loved her so much it hurt. But I was in my most vulnerable moment, and my plan just crumbled over my head. Maybe we were both in a euphoric state after all.
“What?” Sucking in a sharp gasp, she pulled away from my arms, hit me on his chest, and frowned. “Aren’t you full of surprises? What else do you keep up your sleeve? You can’t tell me you love me and ask me to marry you at the same time. That’s ridiculous—”
“Kennedy.” My tone was almost a beg.
“Wait. Are you serious? You can’t be. Oh, my God!” she started babbling.
“Darling, I love you, and there’s nothing more I wanted in my life than to be with you. To be your husband.” I was about to be on my knee when she put that to an end.
“Stop! You’re not thinking straight. We just had our moments and—”
“You don’t believe in marriage?”
Her eyes widened. “Of course, I do, but this is wrong. This is all fucked up, Thayer.”
“You don’t believe that I love you enough that I want to marry you.”
She squeezed her eyes shut, pinching the bridge of her nose. “It’s not that.”
“Then what is it, Kennedy?” I tried to get closer to her, but she stepped back.
With haunted eyes, she shook her head. Sorrow and worry line on her face.
My heart ached. Deep inside, I was dying.
My stomach twisted.
I swallowed down the clog in my throat. The room felt eerily quiet as we stared at each other.
“I see.” My voice cracked. Tears in my eyes nearly rolled down. I nodded not in understanding but misery.
I found myself on the deck, recalling what had just happened. I gripped the handlebar, hoping it helped keep me on my feet. My chest squeezed tightly. It was my fault that I rushed everything.
My stomach knotted further. How would I explain it to her? How would I make her understand?
“T?”
I sighed deeply, raking my fingers through my hair before I turned to face Ash.
“Is everything okay?” He saw something on my features that made him sigh.
“I proposed to Kennedy.”
He blinked before his face split into a smile. “Congratulations!”
“She turned me down,” I added.
“What? Why? What happened?” He looked distraught.
I shook my head. “I don’t know. I think she doesn’t love me. That’s all I could think about. Or it’s too early. I just said I love her, and she didn’t say it back.” I blew out a breath. “But there’s something more to it that I couldn’t put my finger on. I swear the way she reacted. She seemed not too surprised that I would propose to her.”
“Talk to her. Make things right.”
“You two are fighting again?”
I looked at Lud about to join us. “No. I think it’s the end of everything.”
“Hey. Don’t ever say something like that.” Ash gripped my shoulder.
“I need a drink,” Lud announced, pouring us whiskey into glasses and offered us the liquid amber.
I chugged down, ignoring the burning sensation running down my throat. I badly needed that. “More.”
“Tell me what happened.”
I joined them in the lounge, and now I had to tell the worst part of the story. “After we had an amazing sex—”
“Man, TMI. Past forward.”
“Okay, so I told her I love her, and she launched into me and kissed me—”
“Without the kissing and sex part,” Ash interrupted me again. “Drink this. Your emotions are all over the air, making us hard to breathe.”
“Thanks for listening and for being here, or I might end up jumping off this yacht and drowned myself.”
“We’re your friends, T. Your brothers in crime.”
“I realized that she trusts me back. It all happened so fast.”
“Aren’t you like planning all this proposal?”
“Yes. I was supposed to propose over dinner, but then it got delayed. So I just asked her to marry me.”
“Sorry, man, if it didn’t go as you planned.”
“Something is off. I can feel it in my bones.” I wanted to pull my hair out. Nothing seemed to make any sense.
“I could only think of one reason. It’s too early for Kennedy. Her life is changing drastically, and she isn’t done adjusting to her new life,” Ash said.
“But time is crucial on T’s side,” Lud agreed.
“Yeah, about that. Does she have any idea?”
I stared at Ash until reality hit me hard in my chest. “Fuck!” I rose to my feet and scream. “Fuck!”
“What’s wrong?” they asked in unison.
“My father.” I raked my fingers through my hair, pulling it. I turned around to face them. “Remember when she met my father over dinner?”
They nodded.
“Yeah. And?” Ash listened attentively.
“My father had one on one with her, and she came out of the study, crying. What if—?”
“Your father told her about the law and the title,” Ash added.
“That makes sense. Maybe your father told her that you could lose your birthright to your cousin if you wouldn’t get married after the passing of the King.”
“Exactly.” I rubbed the back of my neck when the pieces of the puzzle had finally placed back together.
“That’s why she’d been acting weird, reading those books—fuck!” I threw my hands in the air.
“I thought you’re smart, you dumb, idiot.” Lud laughed out loud. “Your woman just outsmarted you. For the first time in the history of Thayer Camren of Guardion.”
“But if she knew that you were gonna lose your birthright if she didn’t accept your marriage proposal? You’re missing the big picture here, T.”
I looked at Ash in confusion. “What?”
“Again, you’re not being honest with her.”
“I am.”
“Yeah, you love her, you opened up to her, but you haven’t told her why you went to the States.”
“Fuck. You’re right. Jesus.” I sat back down, rubbing my face. “I was too caught up making up to her. I missed the most crucial ground.
“It’s not too late. She’s just right there, in the room.”
“Don’t tell me you’re chickening out now that you know the reason why she turned you down.” Lud clasped my shoulder.
“Fuck no. I would never back down.”
“That’s our friend. Go ahead, win your woman back. Don’t come out until you settle it out,” Ash urged.
Their words of encouragement were all I needed. I rose to my feet, determined to fix all my mess up.
I entered the room. Kennedy was in bed, lying on her side, half of her body covered with a duvet.
Joined in bed with her, she stirred. “My father told you. That’s why you were crying when you walked out of the study. When I asked you, you said nothing. You knew also why I went to the States. Yet, you didn’t run away. Why?” I held her arm.
“I can’t stand the thought of you losing your birthright that you have been working hard to earn it. You deserve it. Everything you have right now, people’s respect, your family, and your friend’s respect and admiration, it’s not because you are your father’s son. You earned them. I can’t also let them arrange a woman for you when you can choose on your own. I just don’t understand why you chose me of all those women.”
“Isn’t it obvious?”
She rose and sat on the bed. “No.”
“I want you to know when I said I love you it came from my heart. The laws, birthright, and marriage have nothing to do with my feelings for you. It has nothing to do with my quest of finding a woman to be my wife. I was drawn to you the moment you were in Aunt Alessia’s office. She warned me not to pursue it because you are her best employee, but I didn’t listen. In my heart, I know how it ends. You would be my life partner, or I wouldn’t have and die alone.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because you know how ridiculous it would sound.”
She shook her head, lying back down. “You promised not to keep things from me anymore, but you missed, or you purposely hid this crucial information from me. I’ve waited, Thayer. I’ve waited.”