Chapter 186: Chapter 186
Pearl knew that the decision she was making now was one that would change the course of her life forever and that there was no turning back from it once it was made. She had to be all in, whatever she decided and whatever outcome and pain came along with it.
She looked up at Erik, seeing the terrified, pleading look on his face. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, put her bags down and ran to him. He wrapped his arms around her and looked up, closing his eyes and exhaling with relief.
"I love you. I love you so much I cannot believe it." He said.
"I love you, too." Pearl said. "And I'm sorry for whatever has to happen and for whatever you will have to go through because of that love."
"I'm not." Erik said. And she turned her face upward to him, kissing him. He picked her up and carried her to his bedroom, clinging to her body like he never had before.
"Pearl, oh Pearl..." Erik moaned, entering her again after their first round of lovemaking.
"Sir. Eh hem. Sir." Bernard knocked on the door.
"Yes, Bernard?" Erik called out, still moving on top of Pearl.
"Erik, shhhh..." Pearl said.
"Sir." Bernard said louder, knocking again.
"Erik, it sounds important." Pearl said, breathlessly. "Bugger. Ok, ok. Fine." Erik said, lifting himself off of her and wrapping a sheet around his waist. "But don't you fucking move." He said with a devilish grin.
"Yes, Bernard?" Erik asked, opening the door.
Bernard looked at the clothes and bedding splayed all over the room, and at Pearl, hiding under a sheet and Erik, wrapped in one. He cleared his throat.
"Your highness, dinner is served in one hour." Bernard said.
"Ok, thank you. Will that be all?" Erik asked.
"No. Your mother, her majesty the Queen consort, has notified us she will be joining us here at Highgrove House for dinner." He said. "She will also be here in an hour."
Erik looked at Pearl and then back at Bernard.
"Will the king be joining her?" He asked.
"No. She will be unaccompanied." He said. "I will leave you to it, then." Bernard said, smiling.
"Fuck." Erik said, closing the door.
"Erik, tell me it is going to be ok." Pearl said, feeling anxiety build.
"It will be fine. Just be yourself. Promise me you just be yourself. She probably wants to meet you on her own, first, before my father is involved. He may not even know she is coming here." He said. Pearl nodded and got herself together as best she could. She was freaking out about what to wear and Erik told her to throw on some dress slacks and a wool sweater, as he knew his mother would expect attire like that at a country house. "Just be yourself." He said. She brushed her hair and put it in a top knot and put on a little makeup. "You look perfect, do try to relax." He said.
They made it downstairs just in time to greet her at the door. "Hello Mother." Erik said, kissing her cheek. She was regal and radiantly beautiful with the same hair and eye color as Erik. He looked just like his mother, actually. She had an entourage with her of guards and assistants.
"Mother, this is my Pearl." Erik said, beaming with pride.
"Your majesty." Pearl said with a curtsey.
"Please call me Frances." She looked closely at Pearl. "It's so lovely to meet you, Pearl." She said.
Bernard showed them into the dining room and they were seated.
Pearl's heart was racing with nerves. A member of Erik's waitstaff served wine and Pearl was thankful for it, hoping it would calm her.
"So, what brings you to the country, mother?" Erik asked.
The look on her face told Pearl the woman was incapable of bullshit.
"I heard you came home this morning and had Pearl with you. I wanted to meet her, of course." She said. "Also, it has been over a year since I have been to Highgrove House and I was excited to take a drive out to the country." She said.
"We are pleasantly surprised and happy to see you." Erik said.
"Yes. I am honored, honored beyond belief, that you came all the way here just to meet me." Pearl said.
"Look at my son." Frances said.
Pearl looked at Erik.
"The light in his eyes and the glow in his cheeks, the way he smiles at you, can you see these things?" She asked Pearl.
"Yes, ma'am. I do." She said.
"I haven't seen that since he was ten years old. The light had gone from him, completely. He was lost, sad, incapable of letting anyone in. I felt helpless as a mother. But now, it's back, all of it. And I know that you are the reason for it. So, believe me when I tell you, Pearl, the honor is mine." She said.
Pearl didn't know how to respond. She put her head down to keep her emotions at bay. "Thank you." Pearl said. "But I am the one with all the gratitude that a man like Erik could even consider loving me." She said.
The first course was served. They ate their food and Pearl laughed as Frances told her a story about Erik, at 5 years old, naked as the day he was born, running through the palace and interrupting a tour, because he didn't want to take a bath.
"That's enough, mother." Erik said, blushing.
Pearl talked about her band and the guys. Her marriage and divorce and how she left with nothing but the clothes on her back. Her parents. The abuse she witnessed as a child. She spoke a little of her situation with Rhys. It was so easy talking to Frances, she felt like she had known her for years. Frances asked her about Trigon. Pearl knew it would come out eventually so she told her the entire story of how she had acquired it. Frances nodded her head, as if she understood.
"We women have been used as both pawns and weapons since the beginning of time. We are both loved and hated for our beauty and cursed for having any objection to what men think is best for us. I am truly sorry for what you went through. Having someone prey on your weaknesses to gain strength is an act of cowards. You are what they fear the most because in spite of what they think you need them to be, you are whole, all on your own. That is truly admirable and brave." Frances said to her.
Erik spent most of the conversation just listening to Pearl talk about her life. He knew a good portion of it from what he had found out about her after her speech at the charity banquet and what she had told him, but not everything. This was the most he had heard her say about herself since they met a couple of months earlier. He felt so much respect for her with all she had been through, how brave she was to put her heart on the line again, to love again after being so broken by cowards. It meant more to him now than it ever had.
After dinner, Frances hugged Pearl and told her she would see her soon for their lunch the day after tomorrow. "It was so nice and incredibly easy to talk to you. Thank you so much, I didn't realize how much I needed that. It was wonderful meeting you." Pearl said
Erik walked her out to the car. "Well?" He asked.
"You have found the one, Erik. She is honest and fiercely loyal and good. She isn't vapid or fake like these privileged woman that have always pined for your affection. She is real. And has lived enough to appreciate a man like you. I never doubted your ability to choose, but after meeting her, I am actually excited for the rest of your lives together. I adore her." She said.
Erik was so happy to hear that.
"And father? What do you think he will say?" He asked.
"It would take a freight train full is positive things about Pearl to hit him and he still would be on the fence about it. You may never get his blessing, Erik. But you have mine. I love you, son." She said, getting in the car and driving away.
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