Page 44 of Fake Fiancée, Real Baby
“And that’s wonderful. I don’t want to lose that. I don’t want to lose you, Claire,” Adrien said. “I know I’ve been a fool. I know I haven’t thought about you or how you feel or what it must be like for you. But that’s going to change. It has to.”
He put his arms around her, holding her close, and kissed her on the forehead. Claire didn’t know what to say. He still hadn’t said what she wanted to hear — what she wanted to know.
“Do you mean it?” she asked, looking up at him with hopeful eyes.
He nodded. “Let me show you,” he replied.
Claire was confused, but taking her hand, he led her up the steps towards the stage door.
“What are we even doing here? I didn’t think you were interested in the theater — not after the other day.”
He turned to her with a smile.
“I wanted this to be a surprise for after the wedding, but if there’s going to be a wedding, I need to show it to you now. I need you to know I’m serious, Claire.”
A sudden thought occurred to her, and Claire’s heart skipped a beat as she dared to hope as to what he was about to say.
“But the baby?” she replied, as he led her through the stage door.
“We’ll make it work, I promise,” he said, holding out his hand as Claire stared at the sight in front of her in astonishment.
They’d stepped out onto the stage, beneath the lights of the old theater. Plays had been staged there for nearly two hundred years, and gilded boxes of the gods gazed down on them from above, beneath the frescoed ceiling that showed the heavens opening and a vision of the divine descending. But it was what had occurred below that now took Claire’s breath away. The seats of the auditorium had been removed, replaced with booths and tables, and a bar and counter built along one side. Potted plants created walkways and an indoor fountain sparkled as a glorious centerpiece beneath a hanging chandelier glittering in the soft light reflecting on it. The tables were lavishly set with sparkling crystal and silverware — intimately placed for tête-à-tête or larger for gatherings of friends and family. There were wine buckets and candelabra, linen cloths and butter knives, champagne flutes and napkins elaborately shaped…
“The restaurant,” Claire exclaimed, looking up at Adrien in disbelief.
“Yourrestaurant,” he replied. “The finest restaurant in Flandenne, run by the finest chef in Flandenne. The crown princess.”
He smiled at her, leading her from the stage down among the tables. It was perfect. Just as she’d dreamed it would be. He’d thought of every detail, but the more she looked, the more Claire realized it was the detail she herself had described. He’d listened to her — right down to the color of the napkins and the cut of the crystal glass.
“It’s really mine, isn’t it? You did all this for me?” she stammered, hardly daring to believe it was real.
“I promised I would. I wanted to. I wanted to show you… how much I love you.”
At these words, Claire paused, looking up at him, and hardly daring to know what to say in reply. But the look on his face was sincere. There was no doubting his words, and there was no doubting her own feelings, either.
“And you have. I’m so sorry I doubted you. I didn’t mean to. It’s just when all this began, I didn’t think it could be true,” she said, as a tear rolled down her cheek.
He slipped his arms around her and drew her into his embrace.
“I didn’t think it could be, either. I didn’t think you’d want me. I think I fell in love with you the first moment I laid eyes on you. Back on theAurora,everything was different, wasn’t it? We didn’t have to think about all this,” he said.
“Back on theAuroraI didn’t know all of this even existed,” Claire replied.
He sighed, stepping back and looking down at her. There was pain in his eyes — fear, perhaps, that she’d still reject him.
“I know, and I can’t take that away, but… perhaps there’s a way for us to go back to how things were. You’re the one I want, Claire. This isn’t a game. Not anymore. I love you, but I don’t know if you feel the same. I hope you do, because I’ve never felt like this about anyone else before, and I couldn’t bear the thought of losing that. But if you don’t, I’ll understand. I can’t force this on you. You have to choose.”
Claire took a deep breath. She could feel her mascara running. Her feelings were all over the place, her emotions running high. How she felt was confused — confused as to what he was saying.
“How can we go back to the way it was?” she asked.
“Because we’ll run the restaurant together, and we’ll forget all about the palace and duty and what we’re supposed to do. I know those things are going to come. But not for a long time yet. I don’t want my life to be an endless round of receptions and dignitaries. I want to do something different. I think I always have. I want to make a difference to my country. To work hard, and perhaps this is a way to do it.”
There was an enthusiasm in his voice — a sincerity — and Claire now felt certain he meant what he was saying. She hadn’t always felt that way about his words. There’d been times when she’d wondered if he really understood what he was meaning for them to do — if he understood what was behind his plans for their marriage, and for the show of deception they were undertaking.But this seemed different. It seemed as though the prince really meant what he was saying — that he truly loved her…
“Do you mean it? I know you’ve got a duty, and that that matters. I know you can’t just shirk that and cast it aside. But if you really mean it…” she said, hardly daring to believe it could be true.
He smiled at her and nodded. “What are you going to call it?” he asked.
