Chapter 90: Clogged Confessions
"What did you and your father talk about?" Amelia asked when Matteo’s family finally left the office premises.
"Nothing you need to worry about. How was your lunch with Aiden?" Matteo asked, but Amelia knew he was trying to evade her question when he went back to his desk and shuffled a few papers. She raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms; since they were in Matteo’s office with Ronan, she wasn’t worried about their conversation leaking to outsiders.
"It went fine. Don’t change the subject," Amelia said. "Is there going to be trouble in the future? Matteo, I would like to know before I get blindsided."
Faced with Amelia’s determined expression, Matteo could only sigh and reluctantly tell her.
"My father just came to inform me about a family dinner happening two weeks from now. The both of us need to be in attendance, while my―" Here, Matteo’s lips pinched as though he had just sucked on a lemon, "―stepmother judges your worth as my wife. I have tried to refuse, but he is adamant that we have to show up."
"How bad can it be?" Amelia wondered. "It’s just dinner. And I’ve already met your brother, so that’s one family member down. Now that I’m officially recognized as part of the Hawthorne family, I doubt she’ll make trouble for me in case it gets back to my grandfather."
Matteo scowled. "Knowing her, she’ll make trouble for you anyway, because I chose you over Emmeline. For some reason, she was always so insistent on marrying Emmeline to me, and not to Aiden. I still have no idea why. If Emmeline was as great a daughter-in-law as she claimed, shouldn’t she be saving him for her own son?"
Ronan chimed in, "Maybe she wants Aiden to aim even higher. That woman wouldn’t be satisfied unless a literal princess marries her baby boy and gives him a country to run. Watch out for her, Amelia. She’s a real piece of work."
Amelia pursed her lips as she contemplated Matteo and Ronan’s words. "Well, there’s no point in worrying about things now. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Besides, we still have the family dinner with the Hawthornes to get through first."