Author's Note: I just am realizing now how long this story is going to be. I hope you all stick with me here. I would totally give a worthy AN, but it's 3:30 in the morning. Thanks everyone for the reviews. I appreciate them muchly.
Have a good holiday!
MIA:
When I was a little girl I bought into the stories Grandmama told me. That I would find a handsome prince at my coming out party and fall madly in love with him. That we'd have a proper courtship that would involve chaperones (Grandmama being one of them), and would be married in the National Cathedral.
First of all, I found my boy on the pier in New York City, not a coming out party. He didn't even know what a coming out party was. He'd ask what I was coming out to. He thought the society I lived in was kind of silly, and I was starting to agree.
Secondly, we wouldn't get married there. We'll be married in New York City. We'd live in New York City. Raise our family here.
The next day was the first night of Hanukah. They sang songs in Hebrew (which I clearly did not understand, being an English/French/Spanish and Latin speaker myself), and near the end lit a candle.
"Mia, what is that on your hand?" Dr. Moscovitz asked as we all began to retire to our bedrooms.
I looked at Michael. "Dad, can we go back to the den?" he asked, already ushering his confused father back.
The two men went back into the room and left me standing in the hallway with a veryworried Mrs. Moscovitz. She glanced at my hand and smiled. "I'll be going to bed, Mia. I hope you don't stay up too much longer."
So I paced the hall. Forgetting that on my first seeing this apartment I thought it was rather ramshackle and only suitable for lower classes. Not for a princess. Now I thought of myself as a regular girl. Never wanted to go back to that world.
An hour later the two men left the den and Dr. Moscovitz looked upset as he passed me. "Michael?" I asked softly.
He hugged me. "He doesn't like it at all, but knows he can't really do too much about it."
I smiled, "Then we're okay?"
He nodded and bit his lip nervously, "Yeah. I guess. For now. We just...we have to be careful. Not set him off at all, okay?"
We went to school the next day. We only had that day left for classes until we had finals. Then Michael was done. I'd still have two and a half years…well, if I stayed in the city. If I didn't return to my ever so lovely life in the palace that no longer exists.
"Mia, that ring is amazing," Tina gushed at lunch. Jill walked by.
"Oh please. It's so nouveau riche. Couldn't he have afforded something decent? I'm so glad I blew him off back in October."
I rolled my eyes, "Sure Jill. If you say so." If she only knew that I was worth over two million dollars. That my family owned Napoleon's old country estate. That my grandmother was friends with the Queen of England (sort of).
"When is the wedding going to be?" Laura asked, ignoring Jill's stares. She was wondering, I could tell, why a girl like me would choose to be with the so called 'freaks' of the school.
I hadn't thought of that..the wedding that is. "I'm not sure. Maybe when he gets back."
I looked over at Michael, sitting by himself writing furiously into his notebook. Writing a new song I guess. He had been writing a lot lately and often looked like he was somewhere else. Always humming a new tune. One I never recognized.
"What are you doing?" I asked as Michael passed by our trolley stop for home.
"Walking home."
"Why?" I asked, following him, stepping in the footprints he made in the snow.
"Because. Who knows when I'll get to walk in the snow again."
I bit my lip. "You think you won't?"
"Never," he replied with a backwards smile to me, "I plan on moving us to California when I get back."
I laughed, "Oh really? I have no say in this matter?"
"Nope. I'm not living where it's cold."
"What about Genovia?" I asked, "No snow there."
He grabbed my books. "Nah. I want," he started, looking at Lilly who was strolling behind us. "Wait. Lilly, can we be alone?"
"I think you should be alone with Mia now," she teased. "Fine. I'll see you at home Mia."
"Okay…" I started, looking at him.
"I want us to have our own lives. Not rely on our parents. I want to support you."
How romantic is that? "But I am a princess," I said softly, "I do have responsibilities."
He gave me a pained expression. "Mia, if we are going to get married you would be my wife. Not a princess. My wife would have to become your first priority. And I understand it'd take some time to-"
I kind of enjoyed this surge of manliness in him. I mean, I guess I can see his point. But he'd have to learn to deal with the fact that I was in fact the current sole heir to the Genovian throne. With my brother being all AWOL on us.
I put my fingers to his lips to quiet him. "No. You are right. It will take time to get used to. But I will. I took this ring and I take every responsibility that comes with it."
He smiled. "I'm going to take care of you for the rest of your life."
MICHAEL:
I'm spending the rest of my life with this girl. The girl who once never laughed and looked down on me and my family. The girl who now laughs, makes me laugh, and is practially part of my family already.
"Need help?" I asked, walking in on her brushing her hair in the bathroom.
She smiled, "Let's go sit on your bed so I can read to you while you brush."
She started reading out of Anne of Green Gables. "She has such a great imagination," Mia sighed. "You'll love it. Gilbert is a bit like you. And he sounds like he looks like you too. "
I carefully brushed her hair. "Your hair used to be blonde?"
"I dyed it," she replied. "Because my picture had come out in Europe. People knew I had fair hair coloring. So I had to dye it dark to hide my identity."
"Easy enough." It'd be weird if she let it go back to normal. To see her with blonde hair again.
My family only really celebrated Hanukah on the first night. After that my parents lit the menorah, but my attendance wasn't mandatory. Instead, me, Mia, and Lilly used the time to study for our final examinations. "What exams do you have tomorrow?" I asked.
"I have Spanish and geometry," Lilly replied.
"French and geometry," Mia replied, pouring over her math book. "But I'm only concerned about geometry."
"Want help?"
"Don't you need to study?" she asked worriedly, but allowing me to take her book.
"Not really. It comes naturally."
Lilly rolled her eyes.
Mia and I went back to my room afterwards and kissed a little. And read chapter two of her book. Then we kissed a little more. "I'm going to bed," she announced at eleven o'clock. There goes her necessary nine hours of sleep.
"Stay here," I suggested.
She looked at me like I had three heads. "Are you nuts?"
"What? My parents don't check on us. They are leaving tomorrow early. Some guys are coming back from Europe and the government asked for all mental health workers to go meet with them. They have to be uptown earlier than normal. Come on," I practically begged.
She bit her lip. "Lemme go get my pajamas."
That was how we slept for the remainder of the week. It helped us settle down about finals. Or at least that's how we justified it.
I was in my room on Christmas Eve when she knocked on the door. She was going to stay in Lilly's room again because my parents were going to be home the next day. Everything would be closed because of the holiday. "Whats up baby?" I asked, noticing her worried look.
"Would you come to midnight mass with me?" she asked nervously.
"Where?" I asked.
" Midnight mass. For Christmas. I looked it up. St. Patrick's is having a mass.Or I could go by myself-"
"No. I'll go with you. What do I wear?"
She went over to my closet and took out a pair of dress pants and my suit jacket. "This. And a blue tie. It'll make your eyes look fierce."
I laughed. "Um, okay," I replied, looking at my clock. "You-"
"I am going to get changed. I'll be right back."
That explains why I was standing in the back of St. Patrick's cathedral at midnight. Thinking about the new song I was going to give to Mia for Christmas. I hoped she would like it. She looked beautiful, watching the mass take place. Saying her prayers.
After seeing her looking so devout and heaven worthy I began to wonder (after mass that is)
"Mia, are you going to go to hell for marrying me?"