Heart Promised by Lindsay Bergman

Author:Lindsay Bergman [Bergman, Lindsay]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781791501563
Published: 2018-12-24T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

We sat on the small, velvet-lined loveseat near the fireplace. This was one of my favorite parlors. Golden floral wallpaper, mahogany trim, and tall windows that let in glorious bursts of light in the early morning. It was too bad that I couldn’t enjoy it in my current mood.

My mother wasted no time before asking, “Cara mia, do you know that woman?”

“Her name is Corina Dechant. Bennett and Ethan have known her since childhood.” I thought about the familiar way she had hugged him. “I—I think Bennett has a history with her.”

Mother leaned over to squeeze my knee. “I know it looked suspicious, but don’t assume the worst.”

“How can you say that?” I whispered. “You saw them together.”

“Yes, but I didn’t see anything more than a brief hug.” She tilted my face up, forcing me to meet her eyes. “They weren’t caught in a compromising position, Arianna. There’s any number of reasons for why they were out there together. You said they haven’t seen each other in a while. Perhaps they were merely catching up.”

I shook my head. “I want to believe that’s all it was, but …” The image of them embracing ripped through my mind. I swallowed dryly. “Didn’t you see the look on Bennett’s face?”

“I saw fear in his eyes,” she said gently. “The fear that he could lose you.”

“No,” I disagreed. My hands clenched into fists. “It wasn’t fear. It was guilt.”

She paused before answering. My mother was a thoughtful woman who often weighed her words before speaking. I tried to emulate her level of patience, but sometimes I was a bit too impulsive. As the silence lengthened, I recognized the royal cloak that settled around her shoulders. She was transforming into the queen right before my eyes.

“Arianna, I know you’re upset,” my mother began carefully. “But you owe it to your husband, and yourself, to hear him out. Let him explain what happened. It might not be as bad as you think.”

“What if it’s exactly what I think?”

“Then you need to find a way to forgive him and move on.”

“Move on?” I exclaimed, turning to stare at her in disbelief. “If Bennett admits to having an affair, you want me to just accept it and move on as if nothing happened?”

She pursed her lips and weighed her words once more. “What I want,” she said slowly, “is for you to preserve your marriage.”

“I see,” I huffed in indignation. My spine went ramrod straight as anger coursed through me. “Our family has already faced one scandal this year because of Uncle Theoren’s divorce. So now even though my marriage is falling apart, I’m expected to just grin and bear it.” I stared at her, daring her to disagree. “Is that what you really want from me, Mother? For me to pretend that I have the perfect happy marriage just to appease our people? You want me to live a lie?”

“No, that is not what I want,” Mother answered calmly. She didn’t appear the least bit ruffled by my rising temper.

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