Page 6 of Unsteady in Love

Shit. I had my work cut out for me. Not that I thought otherwise when I had decided to find her, but I thought she might hear me out. Now, not so much.

I followed her as she headed into the kitchen but stopped at the dining room table when she turned to look at me over her shoulder with a withering look. Fine, she needed her space. I could give her that for a couple more minutes.

There were papers scattered all over the table. With the surface covered, it didn’t look as if it had been used to eat at in a long time. I didn’t mean to be nosy, but when I spotted more than one ‘past due’ and ‘final notice’ in red, I couldn’t help but look. They weren’t just papers, but bills, and all of them were preparing to cut services or send her debt to collections.

What the hell?

“You didn’t used to be a snoop,” Prue brushed passed me, making her way to the living room.

“Well, it seemed like you didn’t want me to follow you into the kitchen, and then…I saw all the red.”

“Which is none of your business. Say what you came to say, Holden,” she said with clear annoyance in her cool tone while sitting down in the recliner.

Taking a seat on the couch, I turned toward her, ready to try to explain.

“Please hear me out before you speak. At the time, I thought what I did was the best decision I could make.”

“So, you don’t believe that now?”

“What did I ask?” I said, trying to keep my cool.

Her eyes went round, and her voice filled with sarcasm. “Excuse me. Go ahead.”

“To answer your question, no I don’t know if it was for the best. I was young and in shock. I didn’t know what to do.” Running my hand through my cropped hair, I steeled myself for what I was about to tell her and the tears that I was likely to see. “After graduation and we split up for the night, I went to dinner with my parents. It was surreal. Earlier that day, they were acting strange, but I thought nothing of it. Just that they were sad their only child was graduating high school and would soon be moving out and headed to college.” Taking a deep breath, I rubbed my sweaty hands on my jeans. “Do you remember when my grandfather died?”

“Yeah, I remember, but what does that have to do with what happened after graduation?”

“Well, my parents failed to mention at the time of his death that he left me a sizable fortune under the condition that I marry before I turn twenty-five.”

This was where it got messy.

I could tell she wanted to say something, but she kept to her word and stayed silent. Except for her tapping her fingernails on her coffee cup.

“I thought no problem. Right? Because I planned to marry you after we graduated, but my parents had a different idea.” Shock and hurt flashed in her eyes, but I continued on, needing to get my story out. “They had the rest of my life planned out for me, and none of it included what I wanted. They already had someone picked out who I was supposed to marry. They even wanted me to change my degree. No longer was I going to be an architect, but a lawyer, following in my family’s footsteps.”

I had always hated seeing Prue cry, and now was no different. My heart broke as I watched tears well up ready to spill over. Shaking my head, I leaned forward, putting my elbows to my knees. “They refused to pay my tuition if I didn’t do exactly what they planned. I didn’t care until they threatened to call Loyola and get your scholarship revoked.”

“What?” Prue cried out in a whisper.

“I didn’t believe them. Why would I? They loved you. Not once had they ever given me a reason to think otherwise. It wasn’t until my dad took out his phone and called the dean to your college that I knew they were serious. I couldn’t let them take away your scholarship or fuck up your life like they were trying to fuck up mine.”

“Are you married, Holden?” she choked out. Her eyes held more pain in that moment than they had after seeing her outside the funeral home. There was no way in hell I would ever marry anyone but her.

“Fuck, no! I wasn’t going to let them win,” I growled out. “They thought if they threatened your schooling, I’d do what they wanted. I did the opposite of what they wanted. I enlisted in the Marines. I wasn’t going to let them ruin both our lives.”

“Didn’t you think I should have had a say in the matter?” she croaked out.

“Now, I do, but at the time, I only wanted to make sure you could go to school to be a nurse. I knew how important it was to you.”

“You were more important to me than becoming a nurse,” she whimpered. “I can’t believe you did that to us, Holden.”

“I know,” I hung my head. There wasn’t a day that had gone by when I hadn’t questioned my decision to enlist. “I’m sorry, Prue. I really am. I tried to get ahold of you once bootcamp was over, but you were already gone. It wasn’t until a couple of months ago that I found out where you were, and I had to wait until I was on leave to see you.”

Locking my eyes with hers, I reached out to clasp her hand. For a moment, she tensed but then relaxed under my touch. “I have to go back in a few days, and I couldn’t imagine waiting another six months to talk to you. I know this is the worst timing with your dad dying. Again, I’m so sorry, and I hope that one day you’ll be able to forgive me.”

Tears freely trekked down her cheeks with abandon, breaking my heart. Her green eyes held so much sadness in them, they seemed endless.

“I hope one day I’ll be able to forgive you too,” she said so softly I barely heard her.

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