The Almost Perfect Love Story

Part 14 - Bliss

Inside was incredible. It looked like somthing out of a Better Homes and Gardens magazine. 

"Wow."

"What?" he asked.

"Your apartment is incredible."

"Oh. Thanks. My mom decorated it."

"She has really good taste."

"She's very particular," he laughed.

"Does she visit a lot?"

He shook his head. "No. She loves living in her castle. She's  homebody."

"If I lived in a castle I would be a homebody too. Did you grow up there?"

"Um, yeah. It's been in the family for a few hundred years."

"Really? I thought only noble people had castles."

"Um. Yeah."

"Yeah?" I arched my brow again.

He took a deep breath and sat down. "Listen, Ella, there's something that you don't know about me. Something that I've never told anyone here."

"What?" I asked.

He took another deep breath while stroking Oor's pudgy baby belly. "So, do you know anything about Scottish nobles?"

I shook my head. "I think I skipped that class in high school."

Collin smiled and put the squirming puppy down to play with Freyja. 

"Ella, my family is of the O'Grady clan."

"Okay?" I furrowed my brow not understanding what his last name meant.

"My father is the Duke of Roxeburghe."

"Uh huh. Duke. Like, a noble title?"

He nodded his head.

"And you are..."

"Baron Roxeburghe."

"Baron. You're a Baron."

"Yes."

"Well, that's a lot. I wasn't expecting that."

"It's not something that I just put out there a lot."

"Why are you here?" I asked.

He shrugged his shoulders. "I wanted to go out and make a life of my own. Carve out my own path, you know?"

I nodded my head. "Yeah. I can understand that. So, do you take over for your dad in the future?"

"I'm supposed to, but I can always renounce it so my younger brother gets the peerage and castle and I just stay what I am."

"Do you know what you want to do?" I questioned.

He shook his head. "Nope."

"Okay. Well, that is definitely a lot."

"Do you still want to be with me?"

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I?"

"Some women are scared of things like that."

"Nah. It's cool. I mean, I don't have to call you my Lord or anything do I?" I asked with a laugh.

Collin let out a loud laugh as well. "No. You don't have to do that. Collin is fine."

"Good. Good. Yeah, no that's cool."

He led me to a room off the living room that was surrounded in an intricate fish tank.

"What the hell is this?" I asked.

"My fish."

"Fish? You have a whole ass aquarium in your apartment."

"Hmm. Yeah. I suppose."

"How exactly did you get into this?" 

"I'm not sure." He furrowed his brow as he picked up various foods and scattered them along the top.

"Have you had them long?"

"Yeah. Since I moved in. I wanted a pet, but something that wouldn't need my attention all day. Fish were kind of the thing I went to."

"How do you clean this thing?"

"Oh, I have a fish tank cleaning service that comes in and does that for me. I just design the tank and make sure they have the space and enouh stuff to keep them happy." He stared at me for a long moment. "It's weird, isn't it?"

"No. I love it. It's different and so unique."

As he fed the various fish a loud pounding came from his front door. 

"Collin! Collin O'Grady! I know you're in there! Open the fucking door, Collin!" a soft voice screamed.

"Monica?" I asked.

He nodded his head.

"I saw you go in there with a girl. Who is she! How dare you! Open the door!"

"What are you going to do?" I asked.

"I don't know. I usually ignore her."

She let out a blood curdling scream while pounding on the door. It sounded like she used both of her fists to pound on the door.

"Maybe tell her to go away?" I asked.

He shook his head furiously. "That will just make it worse. She'll get violent."

"The cops?"

He sighed heavily as the pounding and screaming continued. "Yeah. I think that's the way to go this time."

He called the non-emergency number, explaining the problem and sat down, waiting. 

At least I'm not the only one with a crazy ex.