Suddenly Becoming A Mum - Chapter 113

She lacked of words, somehow helplessly she gesticulated wildly with her hands. “So… Uncle was Aurelie’s fiancé?” Alexandre silently agreed and let himself sink deep into the cushion. The glass in his hand exuded this sweetly herb smell of orange, nutmeg and cinnamon, which reminded her of a small room. She wrinkled her nose and tried to concentrate. Counting one and one together. “Is this now some sort of feud between families, and we are a modern form of Romeo and Juliet?”

Alexandre laughed out loud. Bitterness resonated in every note. Letting his head fall to the side. There was sadness in his gaze. “I’ve never seen it like that before, but it’s quite true.” It was probably bluntly overstated. In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, people died, she hoped that people around her would cling to their lives. At least she did. Lily didn’t want to die. Not for love nor any other meaningless ideals. Love was not a feeling of lasting, even if literature of many centuries wanted to portray it that way. She had experienced it firsthand! Even the unconditional love of parents, would be exhausted pretty quickly if the child did not live up to the ideals or did not fulfill their expectations. How could she believe in romantic love if she had never experienced the love of parents.

Suddenly his strong hand gripped hers. She flinched. “We are not going to die.” He said it like he could read her mind. Alexandre started laughing. “I prefer to be the living form of Romeo and Juliet. We can prove our love without a dramatic death. Don’t you agree?”

“We don’t love each other!”

“Ouch! You broke my heart.” A tender smile adorned his serious expression. After a short hesitation, she turned away, gazing at the cramped fist in her lap. She swallowed again. Love was dangerous. Uncle had proved it to her once more. Love never ended well for her. Never. She wasn’t allowed to fall in love. She had to guard her heart. Behind thick walls, high walls. She would never let anyone in. No one!

“Lily…”

“Aurelie.” She stopped him in haste. She didn’t want to say another word about this matter. Their relationship was strictly business. There would be never any love between them. He would give Adrien and her protection, and he… Whatever he would gain out of this relationship, she would find out later. In time, she’d find piece after piece of this puzzle and prepare to flee quietly without his knowledge. “Aurelie, your father and uncle… I cannot see how it all fits together.” She fell silent, looking up at him again. “I mean, if Aurelie didn’t love uncle, why does he hate your family to this extent. It doesn’t make sense.”

Alexandre groaned loudly. “Bon sang!” He took another hearty gulp from the glass. “You want to hear the whole story, don’t you?”

She nodded.

“As I told you, Aurelie was in love with Father. She tried to stop my parents’ marriage. The only chance she had was the bachelor party in Paris. And we all know that at the Moulin Rouge the finest gentlemen could turn into savage beasts, especially on the eve of marriage.” Bitterly he grimaced. “Father’s bachelor party was no different. He was supposed to go out one last time with his friends. They had organized a private dance show for him at L’Eléphant. No one could have known that Aurelie would use it for her own goals.” He looked at Lilys hand in his as if he had forgotten. Then he pressed it gently, turned her hand around and drew circles with his thumb in the middle of her palm. A feeling of warmth trickled over her chest, like a light summer rain.

“Aurelie had swapped roles with the belly dancer. She wanted father to dishonor her and force him that way into marriage with her. All evening long she had made sure that father was no longer really sane due to alcohol and drugs, only to let him deflower her in the seclusion of the pleasure garden.”

She felt his slight tremor. His eyes hung in space. Alexandre dropped his head back into the padded headrest. His movements seemed so tired. “If father hadn’t shared the bed with my mother before marriage, he’d surely have broken off the engagement with mother and taken Aurelie to be his wife to save her from the future disgrace.”

“A… But weren’t his groomsmen always by his side? How could this even happen?” Lily looked at him with her mouth wide open. Curiosity in her eyes.