The Marriage Contest

Chapter Sixty Eight - Thinking About Tomorrow

Chapter Sixty Eight – Thinking About Tomorrow

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I was a heavy heart to carry

My beloved was weighed down

My arms around his neck

My fingers laced a crown

I was a heavy heart to carry

But he never let me down

When he held me in his arms

My feet never touched the ground

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Tomorrow. It would all be decided tomorrow: Daniel's murderer, who wins the contest, my future, my wife. I sighed just as the clock struck midnight.

I got up and quietly walked out of my room and down to Belinda's. I slid into her room and saw her with her head in her hands and elbows propped up on the desk. Papers were spread out all over the desk and a few were on the floor. There was a gas lamp on the wall that was still on and a candle on her desk, lighting up the room more than usual.

"Belinda?" I asked.

She looked up at me slowly and her lip quivered. Tears started rolling down her cheeks and I rushed over to her. I bent down beside her and guided her head to look at me. "What's wrong?"

"I've tried so hard," Belinda whispered. "I've done everything that I possibly can and it's not good enough. I'm not going to win tomorrow because I don't have a bloody clue who did this to Daniel."

I cupped her face in my hands and wiped away the tears as they rolled out of her eyes. "Belinda, Love. It'll be okay. I've already said this more than once. We will figure this out. If we have to run away, then we will. Everything happens for a reason."

"How can you be so calm about this? If you leave you'll be leaving your family behind. If I leave I'll be leaving my family behind and don't you think that they'll be questioned about our disappearance if we leave? Not to mention that we will always be on the run because the king will not stop looking for his heir. I know that we will have each other and trust me I want to be with you for the rest of my life, trust me, I do, but that's not a suitable life. It's not suitable for me or you or a child."

"Belinda, we've been over this before-"

"Yes, but every time we talked about it we never thought it might actually happen, and now we are hours away from me losing. We can't pretend that everything will be perfect and exactly how we planned. I'm this close to losing you," She motioned with her thumb and pointer finger to demonstrate. "And you're sitting there and looking at me as if I'm crazy. I don't understand why you aren't losing your mind right now like I am." She stood up from her chair and started pacing around the room. I watched her adoringly as she continued to ramble. "We'll have to learn how to hunt so that we won't go hungry. We'll have to get to a new country and fast so that we can get to safety. Then again, no one will want to take us in because no one will want to go to war with this country. We will be forced to live in the wild for the rest of our lives. We will probably never be able to get married, or have kids." She stopped and looked at me leaning against the bed post. "Are you even listening to me?" I walked towards her and placed my hands on her shoulders and smiled at her. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Because you are absolutely adorable."

"Seriously Andrew? I'm talking about what we might have to do and-" I placed a finger over her mouth to get her to stop talking.