Stand By Me Darling
Chapter 432: Being His Plus One

Chapter 432: Being His Plus One

And he knows she needs to be affirmed that nothing has changed between them still.

"Everything..." he wiped the tear rolling on her cheek. "You asked me how much I will lose for you, right? Everything. That’s the answer then and that’s my answer now. Maybe if you ran away when you learnt of my illness, I might have reconsidered my decision, but you didn’t, Talia. You stood by me when I needed someone the most. And I will do the same for you in any situation."

"You don’t have to feel owed-"

He placed his index finger on her lips to stop her from speaking further. "I don’t feel owed to you, Talia. I never will. The feeling I have towards you is the same for years, Talia."

He held her hand and kissed it. "I love you, Talia MaryAnn. And I want to share the rest of my life with you be it long or short, happy or sad, prosperous or lacking... And I know you have the same feelings towards me. Will you do me the honour of being my wife so we can share our everything?"

"Oh, Fred." Talia found herself crying out of happiness. Her hands trembled and she laughed as she cried. She didn’t think he’d say these words now. Words of the proposal she wanted to hear. She wiped her eyes ad took in a deep breath.

"Arthur Frederick, I’d be honoured to become your wife and share my life with you."

She hugged him around his neck. "I love you, Fred. I love you so much, I fear at times that one thing or another will make me lose you."

"That won’t happen, my love." He rubbed her back. "I know you trust my love enough, and you can trust my love over any situation, alright?"

He patted her back. He thought in these past few days, she’d suggest breaking up once or twice whenever she felt really down, but she never did.

Her moods are getting spontaneous which is to be expected and even then he knew she is not willing to lose him. And so he will make sure he’d assure her every time she feels down that he won’t let go of her hand.

"How about announcing our engagement this day? Will you be free? We have to take some official photographs to release before that. We’ll have to meet the press too and the interview... There is a lot to take care of."

Talia sprung up after she composed herself and pointed at the calendar, the day ten days after her birthday and Arthur shrugged. "I can clear up a schedule for all that. Ask Raphael to speak with Peggy." He didn’t care about anything else much.

All he wanted was for the day to come when he can introduce her as his wife.

"Our family’s statements will be needed and..."

Talia got more excited speaking about all that and without even letting him speak, she kept on talking about her plans for the engagement. Apparently, he has to wear a tie matching her dress and get prepared for the questions for the interview.

He chuckled seeing how enthusiastic she was. She’s acting bipolar at times and it scares him. But her doctors assured him that she is fine and that’s all he needed.

They went to the awards ceremony and he was surprised with the way she acted. Even from the red carpet, she let him be in charge.

After the awards ceremony, at the after-party too, she walked beside him, let him introduce her to others, let him speak first even when the other person is more interested in her, politely declined to talk about her works and just guided them to her charity’s website to look for details.

She also carefully stood by his side, never interrupted him, and never attempted to answer for him even when she was forced to by some people, refused to reveal any details about their personal life and she did it all politely.

She was the perfect wife he wished he’d have stood by his side.

Yes, he wished for it, but he never thought she’d act this way. Till now both of them attended parties where she attended as the Princess and she was different back then and he didn’t find the way she acted as unpleasant.

Yes, he has an ego but he was willing to lose it for her. But she is letting him have his ego.

He thought she’d act the same way here too, but was in for a pleasant surprise when she stroked his ego.

"Close your mouth, dummy!" she reprimanded him as he passed her a non-alcoholic cocktail.

"Why are you acting like a humble wife?" he asked her.

"Aren’t I here as your girlfriend? I am acting according to my role. It’s your day." She said as a matter of a fact.

"Is your periods over?" he leaned close to her ear and whispered.

"I think so..." Talia was not sure why he suddenly asking about that when they are talking about something else. "Why?"

"I want to make love to you right now."

Talia sighed hearing his reply.

"What else did I expect..." she mumbled, but she still was happy in her heart.

"I thought you’d not like it when I pushed you to the front."

She remembered what happened in his investiture ceremony.

"No, but I like it when you stand by my side." He kissed her cheek.

"You’re really cheesy, Fred," she bowed her head to hide her blush.

"Don’t expect that I can do this when you are attending as my plus one though," she did give him a heads-up.

No matter what as a blood princess, she cannot let him walk in front of her.

"Going behind you has its perks too, you know?" he wriggled his brows and Talia rolled her eyes. This guy can make anything feel dirty.

The next day, they went to the Sinclair mansion and spent their time there. After having lunch there, they visited Arthur’s mother’s grave.

Talia held Arthur’s hand as he placed a bouquet of irises and stood with him in silence in front of the grave.

’Mum, are you happy I will be his wife?’ she asked and ended up teary-eyed as Gregory Sinclair spoke.

"She’d be really pleased with you."

Both of them spent the entire day there and spent time as a family. Talia, who never was very used to big families as she grew up, found Arthur’s family that was filled with loud chatters and laughs really pleasing.