Pretty Please Don't Pinch Me

26. Prior Engagements

If you enjoy reading my story, and would like a sequel, please show some love by voting, and leave some comments telling me your thoughts about the story so far!

♡

"How do you know my mother, Max? What the fúck is going on?"

"I-I don't know," he answers, mildly panicked. He carries her over to the couch and lays her down. "Get her some water," he orders me.

I'm frozen in shock where I am, and can't seem to focus.

"Now Ava!" he commands. I jolt out of my trance and rush to the kitchen scrambling around, my current state being a complete mess. When I arrive with a glass of water, I see my mother coming to, and I rush to her side.

"Mum, what is it? What happened? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine dear. I'm just feeling slightly light headed," she explains, trying to reassure me.

"Do you know Max?" I ask, desperate for answers.

"No, I don't know Max."

"Then what is it? What happened back there?" I demand to know, my brain concocting a series of scenarios - none of which I like.

She sighs heavily in defeat, turning to Max, "Am I correct in saying that you were named after your father? Maximilian Beaumont the second?"

Max nods slowly, and he too is unaware of what's unfolding.

"This is a very small world," she shakes her head, "I was engaged to your father once upon a time." For what feels like the millionth time today, I'm stunned. Someone should seriously consider writing a book about me...

My mother. Engaged to his father? This is too much. Now I almost feel as though I'm going to faint from the shock alone. I never had any clue that she was even engaged before meeting my father.

He's deep in thought before asking, "Charlotte Montgomery?" My mother nods her head. "Well now Sinclair."

"My father has spoken of you before," he advises us.

"How's your mother?" She asks him, "You look quite a lot like her. And of your father of course."

"Dead," he replies quite harshly, causing me to flinch. "She died when I was a child."

My mother is visibly shocked by the news. "I'm sorry to hear that, she really was a lovely woman."

He thanks her quietly, and she explains that she'd like to rest for a while. Both Max and I walk outside and take a seat by the pool. I leave Max to go inside and get us some iced tea, and return moments later.

"Well this whole thing is pretty strange," I say, struggling to balance the teeming glasses."Our parents being engaged and all."

"Did you not know your mother was engaged before meeting your father?" he asks me, while I hand a drink to him.

I think about it for a while. "To be honest, no."

I vaguely know the reason we don't speak to my mother's parents, and now strongly believe it may involve Max's father. My mother broke away from her family entirely as they didn't approve of my dad. It's now quite evident that it was Max's father they wanted her to end up with, rather than my dad.

He places my license on the table and slides it over to me. I thank him and suddenly feel very sorry for this guy in front of me who lost his mother at such an early age. Nobody deserves that. He turns to leave but I stop him.

"I'm really sorry about your mother. That must have been horrible for you." I express earnestly, stopping him in his tracks.

He shrugs nonchalantly. "I was too young when she died for me to remember her."