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“After you.” Alistair gestured to Amelia and followed behind.
Quite the gentleman. I wonder what circus he came from.
Amelia’s father carved out a heaping portion of pot roast for everyone when they arrived into the dining room, with only two seats left for Alistair and Amelia… right next to each other.Something smells fishy, Amelia thought.And it’s not just Aunt Evelyne’s pits.
Dinner was quiet at the start, with her mother starting mundane conversations about the same three topics she always conversed about: work, Jason, and how Amelia should strive to be more like Jason. By this point, she’d learned to just tune her out, focus on the potatoes in front of her while she babbled on and on.
“Amelia? Amelia!”
Amelia popped her eyes wide at the voice yelling at her. It was her mother, standing at her spot with her hands on her hips.
“What is it?” Amelia asked.
“Your Aunt Evelyne has a special announcement.” She looked over to where Aunt Evelyne was seated, as did everyone else.
“Amelia, darling, you must be dying to know why this handsome young man here has decided to grace us with his presence and join us for dinner tonight,” she began.
“I guess?”
“Well, truth is, I have found you a potential new husband, Alistair Haynes.”
“What?!” Amelia jumped up from her seat, pushing her chair back far behind her. She shook her head, refusing to believe what she had just heard.A husband?“Are you insane?! I’m only twenty-one! I haven’t even graduated yet. I still have my whole fucking life ahead of me, and you’re already selling me off to some dude I’ve only just met?”
“Amelia!” Her mother hissed. “Be respectful!”
“I’m sorry if I’m intruding,” Alistair began to say to Amelia, “but I was under the impression that you’d already been informed of this situation.”
She crossed her arms. “Well, I haven’t. Someone care to explain it to me?”
Aunt Evelyne cleared her throat loudly and began to explain. “You see, my darling Amelia. For years, I’ve seen you go from boy to boy, being used by people who don’t deserve you. It pains me greatly to see you wear your heart on your sleeve, just to have it broken over and over again. You deserve someone better, my dear. You deserve a man.” She gestured her head toward the man beside Amelia. “Alistair here, is the son of a friend of mine, Merlyn. I met him just last week when Merlyn invited me over for some tea and biscuits, and to catch up on each other’s lives. But enough about me. Alistair is a wonderful young man, smart, kind-hearted, and one day, will become a very respectable doctor. He’s in medical school, you know?”
Amelia simply rolled her eyes. Just the thought of being around another doctor, who’ll do nothing but show her up, was enough to make her lose interest already.
“And what if I say no?” Amelia bluntly asked.
“Amelia! Can I speak to you alone in the kitchen, please?” her mother suddenly interjected.
Probably to yell at me again, Amelia thought. Nevertheless, she pushed back her chair and followed her mother into the next room, the lingering smell of pot roast making its way into her nostrils and making her stomach growl.
“What is it?” she asked.
“I need you to stop being so rude to your Aunt Evelyne.”
“Why? She’s trying to pawn me off to some guy I don’t even know, andI’mthe one who needs to be respectful?”
“Yes.” Her mother nodded.
“No! I refuse! It’s my life, not hers!”
“Amelia, please, listen to me. I didn’t want to have to tell you this, not yet anyway, but your Aunt Evelyne is very, very sick. She’s only sixty-two, but she’s been diagnosed with stage four Leukemia, and she doesn’t have much time left. Her only wish is to see that you don’t live the rest of your life unhappy. She loves you; she only wants what’s best for you.”
“Dying? Aunt Evelyne?” Amelia’s jaw dropped open in shock. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. What was supposed to be a relatively decent family dinner turned into something much darker, and she was stuck in the middle of it.
“Yes, honey. So, please, even if you decide that you don’t want to marry Alistair, just go out with him, for your aunt’s sake.”
“Just one date?” Amelia asked, her tone much quieter, her lips trembling.
“Three. Your Aunt Evelyne is a very superstitious woman, and she believes that it’ll take at least three dates with Alistair before you’re able to decide whether you like him or not.”
