Sorry for the delay. I could not get this right and then I went and lost the whole damn thing last night and spent the last three hours rewriting it. I'm still not sure it is the best I can do but this is as good as it is gonna get. Charming has drained me of all energy and not in a good way.

The American Princess

Chapter 31

EPOV

Month One

"Any questions before we adjourn?" I ask.

"When will Carlisle be coming back?" One adviser wants to know.

"When he gets back." I reply curtly.

I am currently in an advisory meeting with my father's cronies. All are male and over fifty, some pushing eighty which means they were my grandfather's cronies as well.

"What Edward means is that we all hope for a timely recovery but until then he will need your esteemed help to guide him in this role until the king returns." Marcus hastens to add then shoots me a covertly dirty look.

"What he said."

"I'd like to know how long the royal family and the United Kingdom as a whole will continue to be a laughingstock after the scandal that this boy has put us through?" A man I know to be called Alistair grumbles to the room.

I wonder if my face is as red as my vision right now. I want to throttle every person in this room. I reach into my pocket and rub the pendent I removed from her pillow that night.

'Straighten your crown, Charming'

Her voice is as clear as if she were here in this very room. My eyes dart around the room but she's not here. Of course, she isn't here. I made sure of that.

"Excellent question." Another man, George, seconds. "An American, Your Highness, really? With all the lovely ladies in your backyard, you pick an American?"

I push myself up from my chair and place both hands squarely on the long mahogany table.

"I refuse to justify my actions to any of you on that matter. This meeting is over. And don't let me hear of you ridiculing her or so help me God, you will not have a place at this table any longer."

Everyone looks at everyone but me and swiftly get up to leave. There is a flurry of activity and whispered exclamations until it is silent once more. I revel in it for far too short a time before Marcus is next to me.

"To my right." I remind him curtly. She liked being on my left, said that when I pulled her into a cuddle, she could hear my heart.

He huffs but does as I demand. If only he had been more accommodating when she was here.

"You might want to work on your delivery some, Sir." He suggests. "These are your father's most trusted advisers."

"Where are the women, Marcus? The men under fifty? We need some new blood. I might replace one or ten of them. Maybe then we can step out of the Dark Ages." I muse.

"You will do no such thing. You don't have that power."

I look him square in the eye. "Don't I? I am in charge for however brief a time. I could shake things up a bit."

"This is madness. I will go over your head to your father about this at once." Marcus stands up to do just that.

"Go ahead. And while you're at it, stay there."

"I beg your pardon?"

"I won't be needing your services any longer. I'm sure I can find you a more suitable position within the monarchy. Perhaps director over housekeeping. You do love to be in charge, I've found. Yeah, that will do just fine." I nod, satisfied.

"Why you sniveling, spoiled little boy. I've made you what you are! Do you think I wanted to be stuck with you? But your father thought it was a grand idea. Thought it would make you focus and make something of yourself. But look at you! Crying over some insignificant scrap of a girl. You don't deserve the crown."

"You want it? I'll give it to you for free cause I don't want the fucking thing!"

"She made you a laughingstock. She made you weak. She made you ordinary just like her."

I am up and out of my chair and towering over him before he can even blink. I drag him up and throw him up against the nearest wall.

"Don't you ever talk about her again. She is the farthest thing from ordinary. She's kind and generous and beautiful and more of a human being than you could ever hope to be in your sad miserable life. You are a glorified servant, and nothing would make be happier than smashing my fist into your face or throwing you in the dungeon." I hiss, my face mere centimeters from his.

"We don't have dungeons, you incompetent prat."

"Be careful or I'll find one. Now get the hell out of my face and I don't want to see it again any time soon."

We are both breathing heavily when I let go of him. He slowly straightens his suit and tie, not breaking eye contact with me.

"As you wish, Your Highness." He sarcastically bows before taking his leave.

'It's about time, Charming.'

I fumble for the nearest chair and wonder if I'm losing my mind.

Bet if I did, it would be more peaceful.

Month Two

There was a movie I caught once in the solitary of my room called Groundhog's Day.

It's about a man who lives the same day over and over until he gets it right.

I doubt I'll every accomplish that but every day for me is the same as the one before it.

I get up, shower, dress then I'm out the door. Meetings, openings, luncheons, more meetings, afternoon tea with my family- which my father insists on now. Something about a new lease on life. Wish I could get one of those. I return calls after that then my father comes in to 'guide' me since the advisory refuses to meet with me anymore.

My father admonished me for that after it happened, and I just looked at him looking so frail and weak in his bed and I scoffed at him.

He has gotten better, putting on weight and gaining strength. The doctor says he is on track to return in a few months.

Per usual, we do our business then he tries to turn to my personal life, or lack thereof. I rebuff his attempts at conversation. Business only. He looks at me pleadingly, but I turn away. I have nothing more to say to him.

He's not the only one. Alice, Rose, my mother- they all suffer from my silence. I have spoken to Jasper but only about the sudden onslaught of Bella's voice in my head. His degree is in Mental Behaviors and I do trust him to keep his counsel.

He insists that it's a coping mechanism on my mind's part to cope with the grief I am experiencing at the hands of her departure. I laugh bitterly. My hands assisted in her departure.

He offered to prescribe some sleeping or anxiety medicine. I refused knowing that I could focus on her when I was supposed to be sleeping. I could hole up in my room at my desk, scouring the internet for any recent news or pictures of her. Anything to know she was okay.

Tonight, I hit pay dirt. Though it was a stock picture, the article was new. She has signed on to do a new movie alongside her ex-boyfriend, Jacob Black. Jealousy gnaws at my insides, so I reach for her pendent sitting at my left and hold it gingerly in my hand.

'I'm doing okay, Charming.'

Coping mechanism or not, I'll take it.

Month Three

The hostility feels like my face is a punching bag and Emmett is the aggressor. He upheaved his entire life to come back to Rosalie. He left Bella all alone and I suddenly return his hostility. He was supposed to be there for her. She needs him!

My father makes a lighthearted attempt at dinner conversation but as usual I don't participate. Of course, it is focused on Rosalie and Emmett and their courtship. Amazing how benevolent my father is towards Emmett but couldn't be with Bella. Then again, Rosalie isn't next in line to rule. She has carte blanche on her choice of suitors.

I feel the concerned looks Jasper and my mother are throwing at me, but I ignore them. I don't mean to shut my mother out, but I can function right now let alone trade niceties. I'll send her some flowers tomorrow.

Somehow, someway, I end up alone in the parlor with Emmett. I decide to leave just in case he decides to make me his punching bag. My nose has already been broken recently and I am sure his fist will hurt a lot more than Bella's shoe.

But I reach the exit and think, to hell with my face. I turn to face him.

"I just need to know she's alright." My voice echoes in the almost empty room.

The look at his face matches his voice when he answers me. Incredulous.

"No, she's not alright. You threw her away like she was the garbage your father always thought she was. And for what?" He gestures to me. "You don't get to act like you're the one who was left behind. You did this. You did all this. This was your idea and for some fucking reason she agreed to help you. And what did she get for her trouble? "

He stops and shakes his head in disgust. "Just be grateful that she is more gracious than I am. Now, I'm going to leave this room and she will be off limits as far as you are concerned from now on. Do I make myself clear?"

I nod as he roughly brushes past me.

'Just give him time.'

Month Four

I walk into the meeting room to find my entire family, Emmett and Marcus, to whom Carlisle graciously gave a reprieve.

"What is this?" I demand to know.

"An intervention of sorts." My father answers. "Sit."

Instead I turn around to leave.

"Edward, sit down!" My mother demands.

Surprised, I turn around. My mother never loses her cool even when we were growing up.

She points to a chair and I take it, leaning back and crossing my arms like a petulant child.

"We are so worried about you, my dear boy. Jasper tells me you haven't been sleeping." My mother voice is gentle now.

I shoot Jasper a pointed look.

"Of course, he isn't sleeping, Esme. We can see that just by looking at him." My father states. "Now this has gone on long enough. Relationships end, Edward, and people move on. Bella is back in America filming one of her movies and she doesn't look like this, does she, Emmett?"

"With all due respect as Rosalie's father, don't you dare bring me into this conversation. I am not here to absolve your guilt."

I bark out a laugh.

"Or yours." His steely gaze finds mine.

Carlisle ignores Emmett's outburst and continues.

"So, I have made a decision. It's high time you were married." He gets up and goes to a stack of papers on a table. "Here is a list of eligible women for you to look at."

He holds the papers out to me, and I look at him stupidly. Has he gone proper mad? He drops his hand when he sees I'm not going to take them.

"You mean suitable women?"

"Carlisle! This was not what we discussed." My mother chimes in.

"Esme, the boy needs to find himself a wife."

"He has plenty of time for that. He's still quite young." She objects.

"Esme, he is almost thirty. We had all three of our children by then! Now, I am feeling well now but we all know that life can be incredibly short, and I need to know he is settled before I die. Now, this not a negotiation. This will happen, one way or another. Either you pick or I do."

My shoulders slump and I reach inside my pocket again finding the smooth coin. "You pick. But no Kathryn or so help me God, I will abdicate, and you will never see me again." I threaten.

Emmett makes a sound of disgust and storms out of the room. Rosalie shoots a look echoing Emmett's sound to our father and follows him.

"I can't, Jasper." Alice makes quick work of leaving.

"Father, I don't think this the way to go about it." Jasper interjects.

"I don't recall asking your opinion."

Jasper nods then with a hand on my shoulder, he squeezes and follows the others. I barely feel it. I feel like I am underwater.

My mother rounds on my father. "Carlisle, I have never been so ashamed to your wife. Don't you see, you are making him miserable!"

"Our fathers did the same to us and look how that turned out. They were right." He points out to her.

"Right now, in this moment, I'm not sure they were." She replies quietly before walking out.

"You'll see, Esme. You'll all see!" He calls out after her.

Month Five

The engagement preparations are underway, and the United Kingdom is torn in two; half think this arranged marriage business is 'romantic' and the other half wonders if we are living in the year 1560 or 2019. All wonder who the 'lucky' woman is.

All I know is that it is between two and that both have lived in London at one time or another.

I haven't spoken to my father since that fateful discussion but that is no matter because as of yesterday, I am free of my 'king' duties and am back to being a mere prince.

My mother is still making my father suffer. In public, they are a united front. In private, it's stony silence on her part and pleas on his.

This is the type of marriage I have to look forward to. I wonder if my father explained to the young ladies in question that I am not open to a normal marriage. I'd rather remain celibate for all my days, but I know that an heir is expected or rather required. The thought makes me sick.

I never gave much thought to love before Bella but now it is all I can think about. How could I possibly find that with someone else?

Short answer- I can't.

I am in my room early like I am every night. I'm grateful for the silence and solitude it brings. At my desk, pendent at my left, drink on my right and a new picture of Bella on my computer screen.

She's not alone though. She is with Jacob. She's laughing and her face is alight with joy. I trace her face through the screen, and I smile for the first time in forever.

I'm so entranced that I start at a knock on the door and I scowl at the wood.

Irritation turns to confusion when I open it.

"Can I come in?"

"Yes, of course."

Emmett steps into my room and heads straight to a chair in the sitting area of my suite.

"How may I help you?"

"I see you're struggling with this whole marriage thing."

I know this is about to be a lengthy conversation, so I sit on the couch opposite him.

"And?"

"She didn't want this for you."

"For me to marry someone else? Well, that's good to hear, I suppose."

"No, for you to punish yourself like this."

"Yes, well…"

"She's okay, Edward."

"She is?" I feel hopeful.

"Yeah. She has good days and bad days but more good lately."

"Is she still angry with me?"

"No, she never was. She saw right through you. She knew you were protecting her the only way you knew how to."

I hang my head sheepishly then look at him.

"I love her."

"And she loves you but sometimes that isn't enough." He is sympathetic in his delivery. His attention is caught by something over my shoulder.

"Jake is a non-issue."

I follow his gaze.

"Is he really?"

"Yes, but Edward, one day there will be someone who won't be. Whose family will welcome her with open arms and love her the way she is, and she deserves that. She isn't your concern anymore. You've made your decision and now you have to stand by it."

"I just want her to be happy."

"The best thing you could do to make Bella happy is to be happy; with your life, with your choice. That's all she could ever want for you. Can you at least try to give her that?"

I sniff and clear my throat. "Yes. I can do that for her."

Emmett gets up and I do as well. He heads towards the door.

"Thank you." I whisper.

"You're welcome, Edward."

He closes the door behind him.

I'm exhausted so I head to my room swiping her pendent on my way. I see the bottle of pills Jasper foisted upon me a few weeks earlier sitting on my dresser. Without overthinking it, I dry swallow one. I clean my face, wiping away all traces of my emotion and slide in between clean sheets. I close my fist over her pendent.

'Goodbye, Charming.' The voice is faint this time.

I reach over and gingerly place the pendent away in my top drawer and close it tight.

"Goodbye, my love." I say aloud as the medicine takes me away.

I know most of you wanted to see who is at Bella's door but you'll just have to wait. I'm a third done with that chapter so hopefully Sunday or Monday.

Until then,

Harpy Out!