22. Adrien #2
“ Your restaurant,” he replied. “The finest restaurant in Flandenne, run by the finest chef in Flandenne. The crown princess.”
He smiled at her, leading her from the stage down among the tables.
It was perfect. Just as she’d dreamed it would be.
He’d thought of every detail, but the more she looked, the more Claire realized it was the detail she herself had described.
He’d listened to her — right down to the color of the napkins and the cut of the crystal glass.
“It’s really mine, isn’t it? You did all this for me?” she stammered, hardly daring to believe it was real.
“I promised I would. I wanted to. I wanted to show you… how much I love you.”
At these words, Claire paused, looking up at him, and hardly daring to know what to say in reply. But the look on his face was sincere. There was no doubting his words, and there was no doubting her own feelings, either.
“And you have. I’m so sorry I doubted you. I didn’t mean to. It’s just when all this began, I didn’t think it could be true,” she said, as a tear rolled down her cheek.
He slipped his arms around her and drew her into his embrace.
“I didn’t think it could be, either. I didn’t think you’d want me. I think I fell in love with you the first moment I laid eyes on you. Back on the Aurora, everything was different, wasn’t it? We didn’t have to think about all this,” he said.
“Back on the Aurora I didn’t know all of this even existed,” Claire replied.
He sighed, stepping back and looking down at her. There was pain in his eyes — fear, perhaps, that she’d still reject him.
“I know, and I can’t take that away, but…
perhaps there’s a way for us to go back to how things were.
You’re the one I want, Claire. This isn’t a game.
Not anymore. I love you, but I don’t know if you feel the same.
I hope you do, because I’ve never felt like this about anyone else before, and I couldn’t bear the thought of losing that.
But if you don’t, I’ll understand. I can’t force this on you. You have to choose.”
Claire took a deep breath. She could feel her mascara running. Her feelings were all over the place, her emotions running high. How she felt was confused — confused as to what he was saying.
“How can we go back to the way it was?” she asked.
“Because we’ll run the restaurant together, and we’ll forget all about the palace and duty and what we’re supposed to do.
I know those things are going to come. But not for a long time yet.
I don’t want my life to be an endless round of receptions and dignitaries.
I want to do something different. I think I always have.
I want to make a difference to my country.
To work hard, and perhaps this is a way to do it. ”
There was an enthusiasm in his voice — a sincerity — and Claire now felt certain he meant what he was saying.
She hadn’t always felt that way about his words.
There’d been times when she’d wondered if he really understood what he was meaning for them to do — if he understood what was behind his plans for their marriage, and for the show of deception they were undertaking.
But this seemed different. It seemed as though the prince really meant what he was saying — that he truly loved her…
“Do you mean it? I know you’ve got a duty, and that that matters. I know you can’t just shirk that and cast it aside. But if you really mean it…” she said, hardly daring to believe it could be true.
He smiled at her and nodded. “What are you going to call it?” he asked.
Claire looked at him in surprise. “What do you mean?”
“The restaurant. What are you going to call it? It’s still got to have a name,” he said.
For a moment, Claire was taken aback. She looked around her at the grandeur of the dining room, with its sparkling silver and shimmering crystal. It was hard to take in. This was her restaurant. It was everything he’d promised her. This was her dream. Their dream.
“Claire’s,” she replied. “I’m going to call it Claire’s.”
Adrien grinned. “The perfect name. Because it’s yours. Not mine. Yours. Everything that happens here comes down to you. You’ll decide everything, and I’ll be your partner. I’m giving it to you. I want everything to be just as you want it to be,” he said.
Claire felt nervous. It was one thing to be a chef, but quite another to run her own restaurant, especially one like this. But dreams weren’t meant to be easy. Her dad had once told her that. “If something’s worth it, it won’t be easy,” he’d said.
“And it is. This is just like we talked about — it’s just as I described,” Claire replied.
“And that’s what I wanted it to be. I wanted it to be everything you wanted. You deserve it, Claire. You deserve everything I promised you.”
Claire smiled at him. He’d kept his word, and yet there was something more. Did she dare hope for it? He’d said those words, and yet she had to hear him say it for himself.
“Everything?” she asked.
For a moment, he looked confused, until a sudden look came over him, and he nodded, taking her hand in his.
“Everything,” he replied, as now he sank to one knee in front of her.
Despite being what she’d hoped for — what she’d longed for — Claire was taken by surprise. She hadn’t thought he really meant it, and yet the restaurant was surely proof enough of his growing feelings. But this…
“Don’t say it unless you mean it,” she said, looking down at him and holding his gaze.
But he was unflinching.
“I do mean it. I meant it at the beginning, even when it was a game. I meant it because you’re different from the rest, Claire.
You’re not like the others. I know you don’t care about Prince Adrien and his titles and his privileges.
I know you don’t care about palaces and private jets.
And I know you think it’s funny you have to get into a car to drive across a square you could walk across in less than five minutes.
But I hope you realize how much I care about you, and I hope you might feel something for Adrien, the silly fool who couldn’t believe it when he tasted that delicious pudding you made for him — Adrien the one you told your dreams to and who told his dreams to you.
I don’t want you to say yes to a prince.
I want you to say yes to me — Adrien, the one who loves you. ”
A tear rolled down Claire’s cheek. She knew she loved him, and the fact he loved her, too, made everything right.
It wasn’t Prince Adrien of Flandenne she’d fallen in love with.
The trappings of wealth and privilege meant nothing to her.
But the fact he’d listened to her when she’d told him of her dream. Really listened.
“But you still haven’t asked me,” she replied.
Taking a deep breath, he continued to hold her gaze.
“Claire, will you marry me?”
Claire didn’t immediately reply, though she knew just what she was going to say.
He’d proved himself to her — proved his love for her, and the sincerity of his words.
A playboy prince no longer stood before her, but, instead, a man she could love unequivocally — who she could trust. That was what mattered.
As queen of Flandenne — which one day she’d be — or the owner of its finest restaurant, which she also hoped to be, Claire care only about finding the happiness that any person in love hoped to find.
To be in love meant knowing you were loved as well as showing it to the other.
“I will,” she whispered.
A look of awe spread over Adrien’s face. He let out a breath, rising to his feet as he threw his arms around her and drew her into his embrace.
“You don’t know how happy I am to hear you say that,” he exclaimed, taking her hands in his.
“I do… because it’s as happy as you make me feel, too,” she replied.
Taking his hands, she placed them on her stomach. He smiled at her, shaking his head in disbelief.
“I’m going to be a father. We’re going to be parents. Can you believe it?”
“Even if I don’t, it’s still going to happen,” Claire said, smiling at him.
His expression grew serious now. “But I want you to know it doesn’t matter what anyone says. I won’t let it. We’re getting married, and if someone wants to work out when you fell pregnant, or write something… I don’t know, it doesn’t matter now, does it? All that matters is… this.”
Claire felt overwhelmed with relief. He’d made her so happy, and now she realized how foolish she’d been to even contemplate leaving.
What happened in the world beyond his embrace — beyond what they’d become together — was nothing compared to the love they had for one another.
With love, anything was possible, and Claire couldn’t help but feel a sense of the utmost happiness at the thought of everything that was to come, and that they were to share together. How foolish she’d been to doubt it.
“Just this,” she whispered, resting her head on his chest.
He brushed the hair from her cheek, kissing the top of her head. She felt safe in his arms. But more than that, she felt confident — confident in the promises he’d made, and in the future that was to come.