Runaway Fiancés | ONC 2023 (Complete)

Eleven - Catalina

I can't believe I responded to his proposal like that. I've lost the ability to function. He must think I've lost my mind given that I was the one who proposed the marriage idea in the first place.

All I've been thinking about is being married to him and now he's here, actually offering and I clam up? What on earth is wrong with me? Just say 'yes', Catalina!

Maybe it's because you know it's serious, that voice comes again. Maybe it's because you know it would be real for you.

Maybe it's because it seems like he agrees. The thought slams into my chest with the force of a freight train. I glance over at Marcos and he looks sad but not distraught.

It was a good choice, I convince myself. It will give me time to think this through and decide what to do.

"Are you ready to go?" he asks after I don't know how long.

"Yeah," I say, standing.

"We've got to hurry if you want to make the early train," he says simply, clasping his hands in front of him.

"I need help with my dress," I reply, searching frantically for everything I've left laying about. "Will you ring for me?"

"We don't have time for that. I'm afraid you're stuck with me if you'd like to make it to the train on time."

I narrow my eyes on his frame, struggling to understand what his angle is. His eyes dart around the room like he'll look at anything but me.

"Fine. Close your eyes."

Once again, he does. Turning his back to face me to give me extra certainty.

I'm alone to struggle into the pieces of my dress, tying them as well as I can until I have it all assembled. "I'm ready," I tell him, pulling my fingers through my hair and twisting it up behind me with only my ribbon to help me. Unlike my dress, I'm used to doing my own hair, having often had to repair it while I was off playing outside in ways less than becoming of a young lady.

He turns to face me and I swear he gasps but he doesn't say anything else, merely walking around behind me and lacing everything up.

When he's done, he holds my peineta and mantilla out to me.

"You did a much better job today," I say, admiring my dress fit. It's definitely still inappropriate in the bosom area, but the shawl should fix that.

"Thank you." He pushes the peineta to me again.

"Could you?" It's an offer, an olive branch, a plea. It's also a challenge. Prove how you feel about me, Marcos. Would you really send me away?

His small nod is accompanied by a bob of his Adam's apple as he swallows, stepping toward me with shaking hands.

"I didn't mean what I said before," he says when we are face to face. "About sending you ahead on your own."

"Yes you did," I whisper, no idea where my confidence has come from.

His hands slide the comb through my hair, securing it inside the intricate braids I'd spent the last several minutes perfecting.

"I didn't mean it how you took it," he says on a breath. "I only meant that if you should not want me to accompany you... I only meant that the most important thing for me is to make sure you are okay. To make sure you arrive safely. I don't want you back with your father. And I don't— I don't know."

"Okay." I duck my head and wait for him to drape the mantilla over my small frame.

My mind is entirely occupied by why he would say we should part ways if I didn't want to marry him and then come back and say he didn't mean it after proposing I marry him.