A Lover's Triumph

Chapter 11

Charles rides in the back of his car to be with Diana for the weekend. She asked him about the meeting with his mother, but he didn't want to tell her all the details until they saw each other in person. He feels terrible. That will end their relationship once he tells Diana his parent's plans. They were still willing to move forward after going to his parents again to persuade them to change their minds. However, he will do whatever to let their love triumph over his parent's plans. She is too important to him, and he loves her too much to let her go.

The car stops at their chateau of love, where their love has grown since the beginning. The chauffeur opens the door, and he steps out. Diana stands there, excited to see him. He tries to smile at her so she won't see how broken he is inside. 

"Charles, is everything okay?" she asks, noticing Charles is upset. 

"I missed you too, my love," he says, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her before she could protest. 

"I missed you too," she says, her lips tingling after the kiss they had just shared. 

"Why don't we go inside? I want to change so we can relax," he says, interlacing their fingers. 

"Alright," Diana agrees, but later, she plans to find out what is bothering him. 

After dinner, they sit in front of the fireplace. Although he wanted to portray everything as okay, he failed miserably. He didn't talk as much during dinner. It was hard for him, as he felt he was falling apart inside. To have found love and being forced to give it up hurts. 

"Charles..." Diana says, bringing him out of his newfound misery. 

"Yes, love?"

"Are you sure you are alright? I can tell something is bothering you. Even when you kissed me earlier to try to change the subject, I could tell something was wrong."

He sighed as he knew he would have to tell her what his parents had planned to do.

 "Besides, you never told me if your mother agreed to us getting married. From the look of things, I am assuming she said no." 

"Not in so many words, my love," he says before taking her hands, "I told my mother and father I wanted to marry you. They then informed me they had already arranged for me to be married to the Duke of  Devonshire's daughter Camilla Shand..."

Diana looked at him; she couldn't believe what he just said. It's a young royal's worst nightmare to have their parents arrange their marriage to suit the needs of the crown.

"My love, I told my parents I didn't want to marry her and insisted they allow us to marry instead. I love you so much, Diana, and this is hurting me. It hurts because they have made all the arrangements, even as far as for me to meet with Camilla this Friday and, in a few months, propose to her," he says as tears roll down his cheeks. 

She snatches her hands away and covers her face. Her heart has broken into a thousand pieces as the man she loves so profoundly is expected to marry another woman. 

"Diana, my love, I'm so sorry. You are the only woman I want. I will fight with every breath in my body for us to be together," he says, hoping she believes him when she lets out another sob.

After a few minutes, she begins to calm down. She looks at him with tears flowing down her cheeks. 

"Please, my darling, don't let me go. Please give me the time to fix this so we can be together," he says, pulling her into his arms. 

Diana sniffles a couple of times before she nods. 

"Thank you," he says, kissing her bangs. 

A moment passes, and she moves out of his embrace. 

"How long do you plan for this to take, Charles? Because I refuse to become a mistress to the Prince of England."

"I pray it doesn't take long. The good thing is that it hasn't been announced yet. So, I still have time to stop this from going forward." 

"Okay," Diana replies, looking down at her hands. 

"Diana, I could never ask you to be my mistress. I love and respect you too much to ask you such a thing."