"You are not very polite. We came to your house and you kept us waiting, you did not even have the decency to meet us at the door to welcome us." Caden said to Nova, his eyes steely.
"I am sure that Nova had something important that she needed to do before coming down here." Callie interjected with a strained smile.
"You know what I think? I think that Nova's obvious appearance is a blatant cry, I believe she does not want this marriage between us to hold." Caden continued.
"No, of course not, she is looking forward to being his wife, is that not true Nova." Julia said and turned pleading eyes at Nova
Nova leaned forward in her seat with a smirk. "And if I do not want this marriage between us to hold what are you going o do about it?" She dared Caden.
"Nova!" Her father exclaimed through clenched teeth.
Caden looked unperturbed by her announcement and he simple took a sip of his water before replying Nova.
"You see Nova, you might not be aware of it but you cannot say no to me. Your family's fortunes have dropped a steep 89 percent and they are still dropping. The wolves are snapping and I am your only respite." He said matter of fact.
"But I don't want you." An agitated Nova stood up and yelled across the table at him.
"I want you as my wife." Caden said simply, his honey brown eyes guileless while Nova stood shaking, unable to understand how her plan to disrupt the dinner and make Caden and his family be revolted by her was falling apart.
"Why don't we just settle down and enjoy the meal, I will just ask the maids to bring in…" Aunt Julia started in an effort to bring back calm to the room.
"I don't understand why you are insisting, we have nothing in common and I will be miserable…"
"Enough!" Elijah stood up with his eyes blazing and tears filled up in Nova's eyes as she seemed to realize that there was not going to be getting out of this.
Pushing the chair back from the table she fled the room. Julia made as if to get up after her but Elijah raised a hand stopping her. He lowered himself back into his seat and took a deep breath before looking around at the tense faces on the table.
"Please I must appologise on my daughter's behalf. I have raised her alone without a mother and I fear I have spoiled her." He said.
"I do understand to an extent her feelings, we will just have to work to ensure that she knows that we are excited to welcome her into the family." Callie said softly. She looked calm but underneath her exterior was in turmoil.
Soon after the maids came in with food which they placed on the table and even though it was a display of rich and well done dishes the atmosphere at the table was awkward and uncomfortable and at last when they were finished eating the members of the Knox family made excuses to leave.
As Caden made to leave he stopped beside Elijah and pulled out a square velvet jewelry box which he handed to him.
"I wanted the jeweler to capture the brilliance of your daughter's beautiful eyes but I fear he did a poor job. Please let Nova know that I am determined to carry on with this wedding, it would greatly benefit us both…" Turning he saw his mother lingering back. "… come mother, let us leave immediately so that I do not end up late for my meeting." He said and left.
"I know that my son seems a little overwhelming but I promise you that your daughter will be in good hands." Callie reassured Elija and squeezed his hands gently before following the rest of her family out of the house to their waiting car before driving off.
When they had gone Elijah closed the door and turned to Julia who was fuming at the ruined dinner.
"That girl is going to be the end of us all." She raged.
"Yes, my daughter who is most likely still dealing with trauma and is now being forced to sacrifice her life by marrying someone who is like a robot is to be blamed not you who irresponsibly led us into the red with your dubious business dealings." He retorted and Julia's eyes darted around nervously.
"I made a mistake but we can't just cross our arms and watch everything we have had disintegrate into dust at our feet. You have to speak to her, make her understand how important it is that she get married to Caden." Julia pleaded passionately.
"If she had not sent that message at all we would not be here but still I hate the idea of forcing her to do what she very obviously does not want to do. She should not be forced to take on this responsibility when it is our fault in the first place." Elijah said with a sigh.
He needed to speak with Nova, see what it was exactly that ticked her off about this marriage and see what could be done to rectify the situation so that everyone could be happy, it would not do to make enemies with a family such as the Knox.
*******
*Knock Knock*
A minute later the door opened and Elijah stepped into the room somberly. When he saw his daughter crumbled up on the bed his heart broke with sadness for her anguish. He walked over and sat on the bed and softly called her but she refused to raise her head off the pillow and look at him.
"Please look at me." He said softly and she lifted her tear streaked face and bloodshot eyes and he felt like his heart had been squeezed with a fist.
"Won't you talk to me? Why does the idea of getting married to Caden make you react this way? You were the one who initiated this in the first place, what changed?" He reminded her gently and she sat up on her bed and faced him.
"I heard you and Aunt Julia speaking about how we were running out of money and how the company was in trouble, I thought that I would be able to do this to help us after everything that I have put you through." She explained tearfully and Elijah sighed.
"But when I went to buy you your birthday present I ran into Caden and he pulled me roughly, for a moment I thought that Stephen had escaped prison and was back to get me." She said and sniffed.
"When I discovered that Caden was to be my husband I was scared because he reminded me of Stephen because he made me feel afraid but I was still drawn to him, what if I fall in love with him and he turns out to be exactly like Stephen…" her voice lowered to a whisper, her thoughts coloured by a fear of the past repeating itself in the future.
"… If that happens I am going to be trapped and never be able to leave."
Elijah gathered Nova in his arms and held her while sobs racked her body until she calmed down then he held her at arms length and looked at her face.
"For what it is worth, despite the fact that I think that Caden is quirky I do not think he would do that to you and if that ever happened then you should never hesitate to reach out to me because I will always believe you and I will stand by you." He said and nodding Nova fell back into his arms and he held her before pulling back again.
"He gave me this to give you. Now I cannot force you but I would implore you to finish what you have started." He said and gave her the jewelry box which she opened and gasped in awe.
The ring was a five carat green sapphire Marquise cut diamond on a silver bed and band. It looked so expensive she wondered how she would wear something like this without getting her hand cut off by thieves, she had never seen anything like that and she wondered who chose it.
"It is so huge." She exclaimed as she stared at it.
"I hope it is an indicator of how much he likes you." Elijah said and Nova scoffed.