Maid For You 4

Chapter 69

Amelia, Cherise, and I were all headed out from the Bachelorette Party when Madeline asked me to stay a moment longer. As the other two women left, Madeline, Lucille, and I were alone in the front hall of the Rylin Mansion.

"Yes?" I asked.

Madeline gently put her hand on my arm for a moment. "I wanted to speak with you about someone."

"Lord Harry?" I asked tentatively, though I had another man on my mind.

"Prince Coleman," she said, naming him.

"Oh." I faked indifference and light surprise. "What about him?"

"You two are meant to be!" Lucille interjected, her eyes wide and a glowing smile on her face.

"Lucille." Madeline looked back at her sister, slightly annoyed.

"I don't—" I started awkwardly, unsure of what to say.

"It's true!" Lucille cried. "Coleman is always coming to talk to you and is taking you off somewhere. Calista and I talk about it all the time."

Oh great, I thought. They talk about it all the time.

"I mean, it's so obvious that he loves you with all the time he spends with you. I mean, when you were back in the States, you should have seen him! Every time he would stop by, he would ask Calista if she'd spoken with you, he'd wonder what you were up to. I mean, you two are perfect for each other!"

I felt my cheeks flush. He really was asking about me? And if Calista thinks there is something special between us, there might be. She would know her own brother better than most!

"Alright, Lucille," Madeline said. "Thank you for your input. Might I have a word with Cassie? Alone?"

Lucille pouted her lip. "I see Cassie so often and yet we never talk about it!"

"Then you'll have plenty of opportunities to talk about it with her later," Madeline said. "I'm getting married tomorrow, so I'll be busy for awhile." She pet Lucille's pretty blonde hair. "We're still going to have our sisters sleepover tonight, so I'll meet you upstairs."

Lucille sighed. "Oh, alright." She turned around and headed up the large staircase, and Madeline said nothing until her sister was gone.

"Lucille is very invested in you two," Madeline told me, an eyebrow raised. "Obviously."

I smiled awkwardly. "I uh, I really don't know what to say."

"Let's sit down," Madeline said, leading me from the hall and into the nearest parlor with a sofa where we sat next to each other. "I never expected us to have this conversation with you about the Prince of all people, but I suppose you never know where life will take you."

"And, um, what exactly is this conversation about?" I asked awkwardly.

She smiled. "The timing of Coleman's apology to me was not lost on me. This happened shortly after King Nikolas proposed to Calista. I could tell that Coleman was upset about what happened between you and Nikolas from when I chanced upon you two in your room, and I feel this must have affected him enough to inspire a slew of apologies and a goal to change." She looked at me carefully with her blue eyes. "I saw your face when I told everyone about his apologies."

I looked down at my lap, ashamed of the tears that had sprung in my eyes when she'd said that.

"From what I hear from Lucille, it sounds like you two spend a great deal of time together."

I shrugged. "Well, I wouldn't call it a great deal."

"I believe it is," Madeline said, before chuckling. "Like I said, I never expected to have this conversation. You have with him what I had tried so hard to have. You're lucky I'm with Roiben now, or else I probably would have ripped your hair out."

"Well thanks for that," I drawled.

"I think it's clear that Coleman cares for you more than any other woman, Cassie. I think you know that, too. And I think you care for him as well."

I grew quiet, not wanting to confront her allegations. Caring for him in that way felt so dangerous, and once I admitted it to both her and myself, once I solidified my floating feelings into words, I was sure I'd be done for. I'd be diving straight into the ocean and I'd be doomed to wash out.

"Cassie," she started. "Do you love Prince Coleman?"

I looked up, startled. "Love is a strong word," I said.

"Then how do you feel?" she asked me.

I pursed my lips. Why did I feel like crying? "I don't want to." Finally, I spoke. "I don't want to get hurt again. And he—what does it matter if he favors me anyways? He isn't going to do anything about it. It's better to...to not."

"To not what?" she pressed gently.

"To not fall in love with him." My voice was just above a whisper. "And if I admit to any feelings, if I really allow myself to go there, if I make theories about him and think about him and all those things...it would be very easy to fall in love with him. And I hate that."

Madeline took my hand. "Do you know why I hated you so much?" she asked me.

I groaned. "Because of Coleman."

"Exactly!" she cried. "I hated you because of him. Because there was always something between you two and I hated that you had something that I didn't with him. I think he has always loved you."

"Love is such a strong word."

"And I think we overcomplicate it," she said. "Fine, maybe he didn't always love you. But he has always been drawn to you—we have all seen it. Mercucio, Roiben, Calista, Lucille, and I think even Queen Klara! And I think he does love you now."

I swallowed. "Well if he loves me, why doesn't he do anything about it?" I asked.

She didn't immediately respond. "I think he's apprehensive."

"So what am I to do?" I asked. "Sit around and wait for him to become unapprehensive? Throw myself at him? It's in Coleman's hands now. If he does love me, then he ought to do something about it. Something real. He is the one who turned me down. Back during the Autumn Festival, I told him that I liked him and he said he wouldn't be with me because he didn't want to be tied down. It's up to him. I'm tired of reading into the actions of princes. If he wants to be with me, he can tell me himself."

Madeline looked at me seriously for a few seconds, and then a smile rose on her face. "I think that's more than fair." She let out a breathy laugh. "He should tell you himself. I'm here making conjecture, but you're right. It is up to him. I feel certain of his affection towards you, but I do not know if he is ready to make a commitment. I don't know if he can."

"I don't know either," I said. "So all there is to do is to live my life."