Chapter 19 - The Proposal

Chapter 19 - The Proposal
“What?” Amanda’s step-father unconsciously stood up from the table with his mouth agape. He glanced at Noman who bobbed his head confirming the news and then he looked back at Amanda, his brows knotting.

A moment of silence filled the dining room. Amanda waited for her step-father to speak, to finish processing the life-changing news that she had ever so gently bombarded. She already knew he’d support whatever decision she chose. It was just a matter of soaking it all in.

“You should tell your mother about your decision, Caitlin. I bet she’ll feel lonely when you leave,” was her step-father’s calm words, breaking the silence.

She watched him claim his seat again and drink the ready glass of water near his plate.

“She’ll always be in my heart, Dad,” she stated, touching his free hand, “and also, I can always come visit anytime if you want me to.”

“Now I really am intrigued with this man you chose. Who would have thought a strong-willed, independent woman like you would do something like ‘playing house.’”

Amanda averted her eyes on the ground, looking sheepish. Noman cleared his throat and shifted on his seat.

‘If only you knew, Mr. Arnold,’ his mind blurted out silently.

“I expect him to ask for your hand in marriage later, Caitlin,” Mr. Arnold continued, in his fatherly voice, “It’s at least the gentlemanly thing to do. Is he even a gentleman? Did he ask you to move in with him? Did he threaten you to do it? Does he have a clean police record? How about his STD history? Did you check it? Who knows, he might have different sex partners throughout his life.”

Noman almost choked on his saliva after hearing those words. He looked at Caitlin, who remained silent but definitely stunned by the string of words her step-father spewed out from his mouth. For a silent man such as himself, never had they heard him talk like this before. He was definitely in his father mode.

“And his Facebook posts, his Instagram feeds. How many followers does he have? I hope he’s not what most millennials call a ‘fuck boy.’ So help me Caitlin, I will not hesitate to pull you out of his house the moment I see nude pictures of him on Ebay.”

“Dad, you are ranting again,” Amanda managed to break. She gave him a sorry face and a polite smile.

“I can’t help it, Sweety,” Mr. Arnold sighed heavily. “You’re my daughter. I want your safety and security always. I want the best man for you. A King if it’s possible! Anyway, I trust that you are sure with your decision?”

“Yes, Dad,” she nodded confidently, “I could never be more sure with my decision. Rexcord...well,” she sighed and smiled to herself, “he is the right man for me.”

“Okay, that’s fine by me then,” Mr. Arnold blurted out.

After lunch, Noman bade goodbye to the two of them. Amanda changed her outfit from a long-sleeve shirt and jeans ensemble to a casual knee-length dress. She and her step-father then rode the family car to a private cemetery just outside the boundary of the city to visit her mother.

“When was the last time we’ve been here together?” Mr. Arnold asked as they walked side by side to a path leading to his wife’s tomb.

Amanda hooked her arm around his elbow and embraced the bouquet of bluebell flowers with the other.

“Before I left New Zealand, Dad,” she answered.

“Hmmm, three weeks ago,” he mused whilst looking at the clear sky. “I’m sure the flowers you brought then would have wilted by now.”

“Yes, I think so too,” she nodded, “that’s why I took some from our garden.”

Mr. Arnold watched as the petals of the flowers danced together with the wind.

“Your mother always loved those bluebells,” he remarked, feeling a little melancholic.

“She did,” Amanda answered whilst awarding him a smile. “She planted these on my tenth birthday.”

Mr. Arnold returned a smile on her way and then continued to walk down the path. When they both neared the grass-surrounded tomb, they both furrowed their brows.

Apparently, the bluebells that Amanda had brought weeks ago had wilted. However, next to it was a fresh bouquet of yellow amaryllis flowers, all in full bloom.

“Oh, it seems someone visited your mother and very recently too,” Mr. Arnold remarked, watching the yellow petals as it covered the engraved name of his wife.

Amanda glanced at him.

“You think I should check the card?” she asked, one brow tilted up.

“Go ahead,” he encouraged.

She immediately knelt on the ground and reached for the small card tucked under the bouquet’s blue ribbon.

“Nothing is written, Dad,” she announced after checking it front and back.

“That’s weird,” Mr. Arnold said, “but anyway, at least someone remembered your mother.”

Amanda shrugged her shoulders. She moved the bouquet a few inches away from the letters so that she could read her mother’s etched name.

Eliosa Roand O’Malley

It read, but little did her step-father know, her mother used to be called, Eliosa Haisting Roand. ‘Hasting’ for her maiden witch name and ‘Roand’ when she married her father, the Marquess Ellis Roand of Tallinn, Estonia.

“She is worth remembering,” Amanda stated, reminiscing the wonderful days she, her mother and her father shared. Her step-father could never fill that void, but she was grateful for his presence in their lives.

“Indeed she is,” Mr. Arnold agreed.

She felt his hand on her shoulder, squeezing it tight, letting her know even without words that he shared the same feeling of longing and sadness towards her mother.

Amanda allowed herself to cry in front of her tomb once again, releasing all the feeling of emptiness from her heart, not at all ashamed that Cord was somewhere in the vicinity watching her.

Some time later, they left the cemetery, riding the family car once again. The tomb, the moment it was vacated, had another visitor. He wore a gray trench coat with its collar framing his face. He didn’t have any covering on top his head, but the sunlight didn’t hit his face.

He neared the tomb with one hand tucked inside his coat’s pocket while the other held a fresh bouquet of white roses. He placed it next to Amanda’s bluebells, gazing at them together with warmth and admiration.

“Amanda’s mother,” Cord stated, his eyes resting on the letters elegantly carved from the granite stone.

“Madame Eliosa Roand O’Malley,” he continued. “I am a dark one and I know you don’t trust me. I have placed your kind in horror, in a life in fear and hiding that you all didn’t deserve.”

He paused and clenched his jaw. He didn’t really want to be this dramatic and emotional, much so to bare his heart out to anyone other than Amanda, but he had to. This was an exception.

“I have slaughtered so many of your witch sisters, killed them without mercy. I know, whatever I do now, it can’t pay for the damages I caused. However...”

He knelt, one knee bent forward like that of a man proposing for marriage to his woman.

“I love your daughter,” he started again, his voice thick with conviction. “I adore her. I care for her deeply than my life, my status as the Master of Vampires and all my powers combined. I love her so much so that I can’t sacrifice her death just to break the curse.”

He placed a hand on his chest, tipped his chin down and closed his eyes.

“If you would allow me, I would like to take your daughter’s hand in marriage. I want her, Amanda Caitlin Roand O’Malley, to be my bride. My wife. I want to spend my eternity with her.”

He didn’t really expect a voice to come out from the tomb to answer him, but he had hoped to have a kind of sign from the Life Beyond. He was never one to believe in Heaven and Hell, but he knew, if anything was real, it would be a parallel world where Spirits roam about freely to guide their loved ones, or...in this case, hear his request.

So far, other than a soft breeze hitting his cheeks,Cord didn’t feel or hear anything. He didn’t think it was Eloisa saying ‘yes’ to him, but it was a good start. He will have to prove to her again and again that he loves her daughter, and that, he will do without hesitation.

“Tell me more about this Rexcord Vitalis, Caitlin. I want to know how the two of you met,” Mr. Arnold stated once the car left the cemetery. He was on the right side of the car while Amanda was on the left.

She was at first looking at the landscape past the window when her father caught her attention.

“Er,” she muttered, not at all sure how to describe her meeting with Cord, “it’s not really a fascinating story to tell, Dad.”

“Please, indulge this poor old man will you?” He gave her puppy-dog eyes. It was intentional.

Amanda couldn’t say no then. She thinned her eyes at him and gave him a grin, but afterwards readied herself for the telling.

“Well, Noman was out on a party in Rexcord’s uhm...mansion the second night after we arrived in Spa.”

“Mansion?” Mr. Arnold parroted. Of all the things he noticed, it was that particular word. “Is he really that rich?”

Amanda bit the inside of her cheek. ‘More than you’ll ever know,’ her mind commented, but she voiced out loudly in the end, “Kind of like that, Dad.”

Mr. Arnold whistled and cocked his head to the side. “Go on,” he urged, wanting to know more, but then they were interrupted when his phone rang.

Amanda signaled him to pick it up and with an apologetic glance on her way, he did so whilst turning his face towards the window.

“Yes?”

There was a pause for a moment and then a string of statements.

“I thought the shipment will arrive two days from now. How come that happened?”

Amanda didn’t really want to eavesdrop but she couldn’t help it. They were in the same car after all. She looked at her step-father and wondered what the problem was all about.

“Yes, okay, I’ll be there,” Mr. Arnold finalized and then he ended the call.

“Is there a problem, Dad?” Amanda jumped immediately to asking.

She saw her step-father place his phone inside his jacket pocket while shaking his head, not of dismay but of surprise.

“It’s the F1 engine shipment, Cait,” he answered when he turned his attention to her. “They delivered it earlier than expected. They need my final say and my signature in the Custom’s papers.”

“Oh,” Amanda sighed.

“It seems I won’t be able to make it to dinner tonight,” Mr. Arnold sadly remarked. He reached for his daughter’s hand and smiled. “Can we defer the meet-up tomorrow? I really want to meet your man.”

Amanda smiled back. “Yes, sure, Dad. I’m positive Rexcord will understand.”

“Good. Thank you, Caitlin,” Mr. Arnold kissed the back of her hand and motioned for the driver to change routes; to the Wellington Best Point Hotel specifically where he planned to drop her off, but Amanda disagreed.

“But I thought you want to spend time with your man, Caitlin?” Mr. Arnold asked, confused by her request to return to their family house.

“Yes, I do, Dad,” Amanda replied, “but I want to spend time in the house first. I got some things to fix in my room.” At the back of her mind though, she need not go to the hotel when she knew Cord would be wherever she was.

“Oh, I see,” Mr. Arnold relented. “To the house then, Keller,” he said to the driver.

While this was happening, back in Amanda’s room, Cord was already waiting. This was a new place for him so he took this chance to check out Amanda’s framed pictures of when she was young and when she still had her mother.

He studied one picture placed on the mantel of the fireplace where it showed the mother and daughter smiling towards the camera. They had the same sun-kissed beach hair, the same brows, but slightly different nose and chin. Amanda’s were more defined, classic and elegant looking. As to the eyes, Amanda may have gotten the brown-violet color from her biological father as her mother’s were a hazel.

Cord couldn’t keep himself from smiling. She was indeed a beauty fit to be a queen. His queen.

He continued checking her room which was mostly painted with a light yellow shade on the walls. There were modern furniture present, some shelves of books on each side of the fireplace and a waterfall chandelier on the very center of the room.

Cord mentally told himself not to check Amanda’s bedroom. Such an action he knew would be detrimental on his control when he was exercising his no-kissing, no-touching, no-making love rule. But of course, his curiosity won over. He just had to take a peek. He just wanted to see where she used to sleep and grow into a fine woman she was now.

In a bed that was innocent of a man’s presence.

In bed where he hasn’t been before.

Slowly, he pushed open the door and stepped inside. Immediately, he was greeted with her lingering scent. This was her room indeed. It was filled with the honeysuckle sweetness.

Not long after Cord entered, he instantly regretted it, for being surrounded now with the heavenly aroma of her, his nostrils flared and his seizures started kicking in.