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“It is. It’s my favorite ballet.”
Alda nods as well.
“Swan Lake is my favorite ballet as well,” she replies. “I wanted to be a dancer when I was younger and perform Swan Lake.”
“You did?”
“But it never worked out,” she says.
“What happened?” I ask her. “Why didn’t you become a dancer?”
Alda turns her focus back at me.
“I married Waylen Penmayne. That’s what happened.”
“You found love?”
“Yes,” Alda replies slowly and contemplatively. “I found love.”
The tall, muscular figure of August appears behind his mother, nearly startling me. His eyes dart between Alda and me. He’s not hiding his terrified expression well.
“What’s going on?” he asks.
I take a step toward him, his name on my lips, but Alda speaks first.
“I was watching Emma dance,” she says.
There’s complete silence as we all process what’s happening here, and at how we’ve not fallen into some kind of eruption. August looks from his mother to me, then back to his mother, and then back to me. I stand in the middle of the room, feeling very vulnerable. Alda, as always, is totally unreadable but stoic.
None of us dare say anything.
“Hello, Doctor.”
It’s Ethan who breaks the tension from his bed. He smiles and waves at August as if nothing is going on. I admire the boy for his bravery.
“Hello, Ethan,” August replies before turning back to his mother. “I need to say something before any of you speak.”
“Okay, August,” his mother says. “What is it?”
“I want to answer a question you had this morning,” he replies. “You asked if I’m with Emma Tucker. Well, I am. That’s my answer. It’s true. I am with Emma Tucker, and it is serious. And I am planning on staying with her if she wants that as well. You’ve spent so many years trying to take part in my life, and I’ve come to understand that you do so from a place of love and care. But I’m asking you, Mother, to please take a step back. I am asking you to please understand that I can make my own choices in life. I can choose who I date. And I choose Emma, and nothing you can say will change that. You may even cast me out of the Penmayne family, but I want you to know that I will always love you and I will always love my family, but I will also always choose Emma.”
It’s dramatic. Bold. Loud. Things I have never associated with August before.
Yet, I love it.
He would choose me over everything.
I am the number one priority in his life.
I look at the man with a proud smile on my face.
Alda stares at him for a long while before she responds.
“As a mother,” she replies, “I know my son better than I know anyone else. You really love Emma, don’t you?”
“I do,” August replies, looking over at me seriously. “And I don’t care about the past or my family title or my money or the Penmayne’s power or even your approval, Mother. I love Emma. I have always loved her. She is my only love.”
“Okay, August.”
