When she came back from her walk, Lucia was greeted by the sight of her father's car being unloaded and knew that her parents had arrived. She took her time getting into the house and made her way to the living room. She loved her father but her mother was painful to be around. When she rounded into the living room, she found her parents and the happy couple sitting and happily chatting.
The room had creamy white walls and a wooden floor that accommodated a light-yellow couch set that had a coffee table between it. The coffee table had a little section on its underside that acted like a bookshelf. Under the coffee table was a rug. There was a large screen television on the wall being faced by the couches and a baby piano in a corner opposite that. There was a glass wall and sliding doors that separated the room from the patio. If you looked just right you could see the pool area outside around the corner.
"Hello mother," Lucia greeted as she kissed her mother on the cheek.
"Hallo Daddy," she breathed as she pressed her lips to her father's cheek.
"Did you have a good drive?" Lucia asked as she moved away from her parents.
"Yes, it was uneventful," her mother told her and then looked at Caroline, "By the way, on the drive here I saw these beautiful wild Vershian roses, and I think you should include them in the wedding."
Lucia went to the coffee table and picked up a book then sat down pretending to read.
This was her life. Her mother only cared about her sisters. Caroline got the better end of it and Adela, the rotten end of the stick. Lucia would take neither end. But she did wonder… She wondered what it would take for her mother to see her. This was why she had decided to go to boarding school. That among other reasons. She had wanted distance from her mother and the talk of marrying into royalty. She had grown tired of watching Adela mopping around and Caroline becoming a self-obsessed fool. She had wanted a taste of normalcy. She had wanted to know her place in the world. She had no value to her mother. She needed to find her worth to the rest of the world.
She had refused to go home during the first year's holiday and then she had stayed because she had felt she mattered more there than at home with her family. Now she was back again and she felt like she was invisible again. It hurt.
She tried to read the book she was holding but could not concentrate through the wedding chatter. She gave up and suppressed a sigh as she closed the book.
"I think the bridesmaids' dresses should be a chocolate shade of brown," Caroline said to her mother.
"That's a lovely idea," Josephine said to her daughter.
Lucia felt like she could not engage in the conversation. She needed a quiet spot to read her book.
"Excuse me," she said as she got up.
She walked to the patio door and stepped outside. She sat down on the couch there and opened her book. She folded her legs under her and rested the book on her lap. She did not begin reading though. Her gaze was inside looking at the picture the people inside made. She could see Prince Alex looking at whatever Caroline was showing him on her phone. He looked mildly interested. Her parents sat next to each other and kept glancing at each other as they spoke to the younger couple.
They looked happy. Was this what her mother had seen as she had planned for Caroline to have a relationship with the prince? She wished that she fit in better in there. But she did not. She preferred to be alone. She could not take their chattering for a long time.
Am I jealous? She wondered.
No, she was not. She did feel left out. A little hurt at not being included but she was not jealous. She wished her family was better.
"I see you still spy on people from the shadows," A voice said and she jumped a little.
"Stay seated please," Prince Michael commanded as she unfolded her legs.
"Good evening," Lucia's voice was soft.
She watched as the prince took a seat opposite her and glanced inside the room. He was still the same. Still, the magnetic man she had known three years ago. She wondered if the fingers of time had changed him. She wondered if she was different from the sixteen-year-old he knew before she left. She also wondered if he knew that he was part of the reason she had left.
"They look happy," she said and the prince looked at her.
"They do," he agreed but there was something under his voice.
Something dark. Cynicism? Maybe. Lucia could not tell.
"Why are you not in there?" he asked her.
"I don't understand wedding talk," Lucia had a faint smile on her face, "I don't care for it either. You know that."
"I thought you had changed," he said, "Don't girls plan their wedding at least once in their lives?"
Lucia looked at the prince and saw the amusement in his eyes. He was teasing her. He had not changed much.
"No," she was smiling back at him.
But her smile was different. It had a little sadness choking out the humour.
"Some of us don't care for them," her voice was soft, "If Mother will not kill me, I might elope."
"So, you plan to get married?" His head tilted curiously, "That's different."
That's because I had a crush on you and knew it could never be, she thought.
"I think I will," Lucia's facial expression became thoughtful, "I want children. I want a family of my own."
She suddenly grinned, "And I think Mother would turn her attention to me once Line and Dela are married."
The prince smiled back. He knew she was right. He had spent enough time with her family to not doubt her and come to the same conclusion on his own.
The two sat in silence for a while. A comfortable type of silence. One that was natural to the two of them. Lucia looked back into the room and a sad smile painted her face.
"Doesn't the marriage of your younger brother put more pressure on you to find a bride?" Lucia felt the thought come out of her mouth before she could stop it.
She tensed and opened her mouth to apologise but the prince was already talking.
"It does," he said and then grinned at her, "That means I have to find a suitable bride to present to my mother soon, too."
Lucia grinned back. Neither of them noticed Josephine look at them through the glass doors. A little frown marred her face as she studied the two. She noticed how they leaned towards each other and how they were completely at ease. She did not miss the way they smiled at each other in understanding. Like old friends. A thoughtful gleam entered her eyes. An old idea filtered into her mind. She brushed it off as she knew that pushing it would be pushing Lucia away. She would stand back this time and let nature do its job.