********Renaissance Period France********
(JAMES' POV)
I stared at her from across the ballroom floor. The most beautiful woman in all of France and the most sought after belle as well. She had hundred of beaus, myself included and we all awaited her decision of who'd she choose to marry.
She danced gracefully and elegantly along the ballroom with all her different suitors and I just stood watching and awaiting my time with her. The music came to a slow end and the gentleman bowed to her and walked towards another belle in the room to dance with.
Maria surveyed the room and looked at her dancing card. "Monsieur Jones?" She called to the crowd my fake name and looked around. "Ou est vous Monsieur Jones?" Her French accent was smooth and felt like smooth honey flowing over me.
"Je suis Ici mademoiselle." I stepped forward and she smiled a smile that could literally stop hearts.
I walked over to her and smiled down at her petite frame. "You look stunning tonight Maria." I commented even though it was unusual for a gentleman to call a lady by her first name.
Her brow creased in confusion as she stated at me. "Je ne sais pas..."
"Dance with me." I interrupted and the music stared playing through the room as the band started a slow song.
It was only after we moved further away from her potential beaus that she spoke. "Who are you sir and have we met before?" Her english was as good as her french.
"You don't know me but I am an admirer of yours and have been for a while." I bowed my head slightly in respect, not breaking the fluidity of the dance.
She flushed and it lightened up her entire face. "Thank you very much kind sir." We danced in silence for a few moments before she asked, "and may I get the kind sir's name...?" Her hesitance in asking made me smile.
"My name is jean." With the French accent my name sounded more like a posh version of John which was a very popular male name of the time.
She moved slightly closer to me as we danced in affection and remained silent for the rest of the dance.
Once the dance ended she didn't move away from me and I didn't either. Smiling up at me I gently caressed the side of her face and stared into her mesmerising eyes. "Would you..." I began but a hand on my shoulder cut me off and I immediately stepped back and turned around.
To see Alexander stood there staring at Maria.
"May I cut in?" He asked and moved fluidly towards Maria.
I turned towards her to wait for her protest against the intrusion but she stood there smiling at Alexander and I knew that this was another losing battle like the others. I smiled tightly at her and bowed, knowing this would be the last time I saw her. "Good evening madamouiselle." I said formally and headed towards the door.
Stopping at the door I turned back to see Maria's enraptured face gazing at Alexander as they danced like they were already married and had been dancing for years.
"One of the times she might choose me." I sighed and walked out into the darkness.
The next day Maria died by falling off of a balcony.
**********Present Day**********
(ROSE'S POV)
"She... She was murdered by my father wasn't she?" I asked without turning to James.
"Yes. She chose Alexander, who was still not strong enough to protect you in our world. You would have been killed as a vampire and your father would have never seen you again." He sounded so calm and reasonable about killing me in the past.
"She had a life!" I swung round on him. "She had friends and a family and a... A... A..."
"Life?" He supplied.
"A life, yes!!!" I looked into his loving eyes and found no remorse. "Are you not sorry for killing her?" I asked more gently this time.
"No." He said so quietly that I would have struggled to hear him if I was human. He stepped so close to me that I couldn't move because the wall was behind me and James was mere inches away from me, making my breath hitch in my throat. "Because if she didn't did then I wouldn't have had you... And I really like you." He smiled and gently stroked the side of my face, making me lose my thoughts completely.
"Why did you walk away from Maria when you had just as much a chance of wooing her as Alex did?" I turned my head to the side slightly as I examined James' magnificent facial features. He had a strong but handsome chin, lips that are begging to be kissed whenever you look at them, an aristocratic nose that sat between two cheek bones that looked like they were sculpted by Gods themselves; black hair with different natural colours shining in different lights making it look like it shines in the light and finally his eyes. They held so much history, so much hurt, so much pain, so much love but still managed to make you want to be enraptured by them and never recover-
"I would have never stood a chance. You could see by the look in her eyes who she was clearly smitten by and it wasn't me." I jerked my head up and, with a blush, realised that my eyes had started to wander again, but further down this time.
"What did you say sorry?" I flushed with embarrassment even more.
"Not paying attention are we?" He asked with an amused grin and a quirked eyebrow. He knew perfectly well what my thoughts were set on so I was not going to justify it with an answer.
"Of course I was but I got distracted by the view out of my window behind your head!" I made a conscious point to look over his shoulder to the window.
"Last I heard where you were looking isn't my head..." His smiled broadened and my face flushed so much I thought it was going to burst.
"So you chose not to pursue her because she was more interested in Alex?" I guesses but clearly I was right because the grin faded away and he stepped back from me. I was ashamed to say that his distance between us made me feel slightly empty inside but that was daft because I was Alex's wife and soon to be the mother of... His child.
"I swore after Jezzabella that I would not fight Alex over you because I just didn't see the point when I wasn't in love with them." So that was why he'd stepped back: to come and tell me he left after sleeping with me because he didn't love me enough to fight with Alex over me.
Disappointment wracked me so deep I struggled speaking. "So what are you doing here then? Shouldn't you be gone before Alex gets back?" The words tasted bitter in my mouth as I thought about James actually leaving me again.
"I came to tell you that-"
"Consider me told and leave because I just got your 'no fighting over girls Alex has won' speech loud and clear!" I ran to the door and stopped. "And just so you know, Alex wouldn't have won if you'd not have left me that day at the house." I felt old tears burning in my eyes as I remembered the embarrassment at seeing the smug 'I told you so' look on Alex's face as I got back in the room waring a stricken look at being left behind like unwanted rubbish.
I wasn't going to feel like that again! Now James could be the one to watch me walk away!!! I stormed out of the room and down the corridor; it was only at the bend when James had caught up with me. He grabbed my arm forcing me to a halt. "Rose STOP!"
I spun around on him and waited with one eyebrow raised in question. "Did you really mean that?"
"Mean what?"
"That if I had stayed you would have chosen me even though Alex had come back for you?" He looked so vulnerable when he asked that my heart clenched for him.
But I had to guard my heart around him. "Of course I meant it... But it doesn't matter because you didn't stay. You got what you wanted, which was a quick roll in the hay, and then you left before the sheets had even cooled. So to be honest I'm at a lost as to why you're here now...?" I left the question open ended and waited for him to reply.
"I came back for you." He said softly but sounded so sure in his conviction that it made memories flood in that had me flushing.
"Why? What could you possibly want with me?" Some part of me just wanted to hear him say what a mistake he'd made or say that he had a valid reason to leave. Just something that left me feeling less worthless about myself when remembering the heart ache.
"Because you're my wife and I love you." He blurted.
The words clearly meant a lot for him to say and they were no small thing to hear but it didn't lift my spirits like I thought it would... Because they were just empty words when his actions contradicted them. "They're just words James- and I'm not your wife."
"By vampiric law you are."
"And by human law Alex is my husband, which is the one I'm going by." James looked stunned and suddenly I wished i'd told him the news more gently than I had- but it was out there now, no taking it back.
He stared at me a while as if I'd grown a new head. "Why?" He finally asked in a strained voice that had fresh tears surfacing in my eyes.
"Because you LEFT!!!" I screamed at him feeling all of the pent up emotions burst out at once. "I loved you and you CHOSE to walk away from me!!! All those girls you left because they chose Alex and when one finally chooses you to be with because she can't stand the thought of being without you, you still leave. Clearly it wasn't Alex that was the problem, it was that you were to lazy to give it a shot. Well I hope you're happy because there are going to be no more versions of me to walk away from so you can go and get some other incarnation group and leave me the hell alone!!!" Instinct kicked in and I slapped him hard across the face with a satisfying slap that sent his head to the side.
"I promised I'd always fight for you and I still will because you're the only girl I ever want to be with and of it takes you a hundred years to realise how sincere my words are then so be it." The words were straight out of a romantic novel but I couldn't get over the fact that he deserted me for no apparent reason that I could see and then to stay away for as long as he had with no contact whatsoever?
And no matter how much I missed him or how long he said he was willing to wait for me, I knew it wasn't fair to string him along when nothing could happen between us. I was married to Alex and we were having a kid together (which could actually be James') and it wouldn't be fair to make him watch from the sidelines. "I could only ever be your friend James." I said and swallowed hard past the huge lump that had suddenly formed in my throat.
"Then that is all we will be-"
"No James." My voice sounded firmer about the idea than I felt. I didn't want to do this because I didn't want to lose James out of my life because a larger part of my heart still loved him... But it was only fair. "Alex will never be comfortable around you and vice versa. Sitting in the sidelines watching me with Alex will make you miserable and I don't want your beautiful smile to fade away over time as you grew resentful towards me. I think it's best for everyone if we move on which means not seeing each other any more. At all."
"But-"
"No James, you know this makes sense." He fell silent as determination shone on his face, but something he saw on my face must have gotten to him as he began to nod slowly and resigned.
"If what you want is for me to leave then say the words, but don't say them if you don't truly mean them." I had a sudden urge to tell him about the baby but even though my gut told me that, my head told me that he couldn't make a clean break with the possibility that the child could be his. This would be his excuse to stay and try and win my affections, which he would definitely do but he respected me enough to allow me to decide whether he should fight over me or not.
I hate these decisions!!! "You should go James, but I hope you find your soulmate out there."
James looked about ready to say something when he decided against it and gave a tight nod. "Goodbye Rose." He turned away from me and started walking down the hall and just at that moment my mobile began to ring.
I looked at the screen and answered it immediately. "Hey Riley." I said close to tears.
"What's up?" She asked with concern lacing her voice.
"I'll tell you later when you come over. It's a long story." I added with a sigh and she let it drop until later.
"So I was thinking that maybe an early baby shower might be better than a later one where you're all puffy."
I laughed and headed in the opposite direction James had. "Who made you queen of the baby shower party?"
"But I'm the godmother/auntie!!!" She moaned but before I could reply I walked into something-no, someone- and slowly looked up to see James standing there with an expression of molten fury lighting his face.
"Uh, Riley? I'll call you back in a bit." I said and before she could protest or question me I hung up. I spoke to James next. "Um, I thought you'd left?" It sounded more like a question than a statement and I realised if he hadn't gone then he'd have heard over the phone about the...
"Baby?" He hissed.
Oh damn!!!