Hi everybody! I actually wrote a new chapter today. Please enjoy. It might be a bit longer before the third one comes up, but I'm working on it.

Chapter Two – Happiness ruined

I spent all day that day getting ready for my wedding. I tried to make myself as beautiful as I knew how, using perfumes, and olive oil for my beautiful white skin. I just wanted a small wedding. Just my family, my friends. But everyone's insisting on making a big deal out of it. I reluctantly agreed, but I'm really not the type of person who likes big crowds making a big deal over me. I'm really not that crazy about being the centre of attention. Still, today's my big day. I love Zeus so much and I won't let anything get in the way of our future marriage, nothing that will make me change my mind about marrying him. I sighed while I thought about when we had first got together, a few months ago. In a way I kind of liked the secrecy that we had when we didn't tell our parents that we were secretly meeting each other at night. It made me feel sort of independent. Like I didn't have to do everything that my parents told me to.

At that moment while I was sitting and daydreaming about me and Zeus, I heard a knock on my door and then I saw mum peer in through the door. "Honey? May I come in?" she asked me with a smile.

"Of course," I said and smiled but somewhere inside me as she walked in my room I felt that she didn't have something good to tell me.

"Thanks," Mum walked silently into the room and sat down. I stood in front of her and said, "So, what do you think?" I said, giving her a twirl.

"You look really beautiful honey," she smiled at me, but she still didn't sound particularly pleased. "Is something wrong?" I asked her.

"No, nothing at all darling. It's just that I needed to talk to you. I know you're very busy right now but do you possibly have some time to spare?"

"Yes, I do," I said reluctantly. But what exactly did she want to talk to me about? I knew that Mum had never really approved of me and Zeus getting married, but couldn't she try to act a bit more cheerful, even on our big day, I thought to myself?

"You're wondering why I'm not acting very cheerful," Mum smiled. She must have read my mind. It's strange how she does that. "We need to talk," she continued. "Sit down for a minute dear. I just have some things that I need to tell you. I think it's important that you listen to me."

"Of course I'll listen Mum," I told her. "But what exactly is it that's been bothering you these days? You haven't seemed very glad about me and Zeus' wedding."

"Well," Mum started off. "I know that…well I know that you and Zeus obviously love each other very much, and I think that that's great. I mean, look how far you've come. You're even having a child with him," she said, nodding towards my belly. "But there's also something else that I need to say. Apart from all that, I was thinking that maybe…maybe it's not such a good idea for you two to get married."

That really shocked me. Of course I knew that Mum had been thinking about something important these days, but I never imagined that she would ever say something like that to me. I was shocked at first, but then I also felt anger boiling up inside me. I was angry with her for the way she's been acting, but now I'm even more angry. It was a long time until I found my voice again, but I tried to sound calm nevertheless.

"What?" That was all I could say at first. I waited a few seconds. "How…how can you say that Mum? I mean, I know you've never been too keen on this wedding taking place, anyone could guess that, but how can you tell me that? So basically you're just…you're asking me to change my mind now? Now that, as you've said yourself, we've come this far?"

Mum sighed and carried on. "Please just listen to what I have to say before you start shouting at me, sweetheart. I know that you're obviously in love and you're not willing to change your mind about this wedding. But I just wanted to warn you in advance. If you know what's good for you, you won't marry Zeus."

I still couldn't believe she was telling me all these things. I started to get a bit annoyed now. "Why ever not though? What is it about Zeus and me that you don't like, Mum? You know you can just tell me. You could have told me earlier as well, before we had decided to get married. You could have told me then, but you didn't. Why didn't you?"

"Honey, I just never imagined that you would consider marrying him. It just never crossed my mind. I was…ignorant that marriage might be a possibility. But then you got pregnant and I just had to accept the fact that you really are getting married. But it's not specifically that that I wanted to talk to you about. It's that…well I have a feeling that Zeus is not going to be such a good husband to you. I mean – your brother's a really good person really, and I know that he loves you so much right now, but maybe…maybe it's not such a good idea for you to get married to him. I always still carried on letting you two meet all those months at night after I found out, and I didn't particularly mind when you two were together but now…well, after you're married then things will most likely be…different."

"What do you mean different?" I asked her, still trying to keep calm. Actually now I was about to burst into tears. Why didn't she just accept that Zeus and me were getting married? "You're really confusing me, Mum. Can you please just explain to me what exactly your point is?"

Mum sighed and carried on. "My point is, darling, that Zeus is not going to be a good husband. I knew it from the moment he was born actually, that he will not be faithful to his wife. It was just that look he had in his eyes, and maybe…maybe other people couldn't tell but I could tell because I'm his mother and I recognise these kinds of things, you know what I mean? So, I don't mean to upset you or anything dear, but please can you consider maybe to postpone this wedding?"

I knew she was going to say that. From the moment she came in here, I knew that she was going to ask me to cancel our wedding. I spoke to her again, trying to sound calm. "Listen to me Mum," I told her. "I would consider what you just told me, and I must say that I'm not very surprised by it. I know you never wanted me and Zeus to get married. It's OK, I get your point. But you know what, Mum? Zeus is not going to be an unfaithful husband, all right? Can't you see how much we love each other? People who love each other are not unfaithful to each other you know."

"I know darling, but like I said I'm just warning you. I can just tell what Zeus is like…"

"You can tell?" I interrupted her. "No. No, you can't tell anything. I'm Zeus' soon-to-be wife and I can tell you. I can tell you that we will be happily married together. And I am definitely not changing my mind, no matter what you or anyone else says to me. I'm five months pregnant with Zeus' child and we're getting married this evening. That's for definite. Now do you understand what I'm trying to tell you?"

"Of course I understand Hera," Mum carried on. "But I was just telling you this so that you wouldn't…well so that maybe you would consider that maybe you might be making the wrong choice in all this. Of course it's your business whether you want to get married to Zeus or not."

"Well then why are you even saying this to me?" I asked her again. "Why are we even having this conversation if you know that it's just going to end nowhere? Zeus and I are getting married. That's it. The end."

"We're having this conversation because I care about you, Hera. I love you too much to see you get hurt. If Zeus hurts you then I won't be able to bear it."

"If you truly cared about me, Mum, then you would care about what I want, about what makes me happy. And what makes me happy is Zeus. Maybe it's time to stop thinking about yourself so much and start thinking about others. Why do you have to go and ruin what would have been the most magical day of my life?"

With that I stood up and stormed out of the room. "Hera –" Mum called after me, but I left and slammed the door behind me. As soon as I had left the room I burst into tears. Why did Mum always have to ruin everything that's important to me? Why did she have to tell me that I couldn't marry Zeus anyway? For the remainder of the day that led to my wedding I sat outside my room crying, my make-up running from my eyes. A few minutes after I had stormed out of the room, Mum came out and tried to put her arms round me. I really wasn't in the mood right now and I pushed her away. "Get off," I told her. "I'm not in the mood right now Mum. Just leave me be."

"OK," Mum said gently. "But whenever you're ready to talk to me again I'll be right here. I'll be at your wedding and I'll be happy for you just like everyone else will be. Never doubt that I love you and all I want, all I've ever wanted is just for you to be happy. I didn't really mean to ask you to postpone your wedding. Do whatever you want, whatever makes you happy."

With that she left silently and gave me a tiny smile from the corners of her mouth. She paused just before she went away, and told me, "Just please take this from someone who knows what being married to your brother is like. Zeus might not be as good a husband as you think. And I'm sure that you'll be a great mother, Hera. It's always seemed to me that you'd handle the job a lot better than I can."