Page 48 of Forever King

He stops for a moment and looks over at me. “Good? Okay, I need to go handle some stuff since I’m going to be off from work for the honeymoon we’re taking.”

And with that, he walks out of our big announcement.

The room falls completely silent until Eleanor thankfully says, “We’ve got all sorts of goodies to celebrate, so everyone grab a plate and enjoy!”

When no one moves, I walk over to where we set up all the food and drink for tonight and do my best Vanna White impression. “And here we have appetizers, the best Eleanormade chicken dish you’ll ever taste, desserts, wine, and soda, so let’s get this feast started!”

Thankfully, that lights a fire under everyone, so they get up from their seats and start to walk toward where I stand in front of a table covered in all the food Eleanor prepared. I try to make it seem like everything’s fine, but behind my smile, I’m worried about Matthias.

Eden gently pulls me away from right in front of the most delicious spinach puffs on Earth, and we walk over to near the fireplace as the rest of the group begin to fill up their plates. I can tell by the look she’s giving me that she’s worried about something.

Likely, me.

“Hey, what’s up with Mr. Tall, Handsome, and Moody tonight? You two are announcing your marriage in less than a month, and he ducks out after making it sound like he’s being dragged off to six months on a deserted island. What’s that about?”

Slightly embarrassed, I admit, “I don’t know. He’s been like this for the past two weeks. He isn’t always unhappy, but with every day, he doesn’t smile as much or act like himself anymore. He says it’s his job. I don’t know if that’s it, though.”

“What else could it be?” Eden asks, sounding as confused as I’ve felt ever since this change came over Matthias.

“I don’t know, other than the obvious.”

She waits for me to keep talking, and when I stop, she asks, “What’s the obvious?”

Lowering my voice to barely a whisper, I say the words that have been plaguing my mind since he started acting so unhappy. “That he doesn’t want to actually get married.”

Eden’s eyes practically bug out of her head. “What? That’s insane!” she says far too loudly.

I immediately pull her further away from everyone. “Keep your voice down. As for it being insane, what other reason would a man get all sullen and moody when he and the woman he supposedly loves are to announce their marriage?”

“Supposedly loves? What the hell are you talking about? If you’re here saying Matthias King isn’t madly and crazy in love with you, then I don’t know what the rest of us are supposed to do because you two have been the standard for all of us for years. You’d have to be crazy to think he doesn’t love you, and since I know you aren’t crazy, you need to forget that idea right now.”

She’s right, but that doesn’t make me feel much better. I still don’t know what’s wrong with Matthias.

“Fine. He loves me. Then why the hell as soon as we started talking about getting married did he get all miserable? Explain that to me.”

For a long moment, she thinks about my question, but she doesn’t come up with an answer. “I don’t know, but to immediately jump to the conclusion that he doesn’t want to marry you seems a bit extreme, don’t you think?”

As much as I don’t want to say what’s been on my mind, I need to, and Eden is the perfect person to listen. Checking to see if anyone is close enough to hear what I’m about to say, I see we’re far enough away so we can speak freely if we keep our voices down.

“Why do men change suddenly, Eden?”

She thinks about that for a few seconds and answers, “I don’t know where you’re going with this.”

Her voice is tinged with the fear that I’ve experienced for days now. She knows exactly where I’m going with this.

“Let’s be plain. Men change when they feel trapped or are busy elsewhere. Matthias and I just had our third child, so maybe he’s feeling a bit stuck with me and feels like he has to marry me. Then there’s the other reason.”

I can’t bring myself to say the actual words, so like always, I use the euphemism of busy elsewhere. Eden isn’t as constrained, and starts to shake her head in denial.

“No. No way. There is no way on this planet or any other one for that matter. I refuse to believe Matthias is cheating on you.”

And there it is. The terrible word I haven’t even been able to let myself think. Cheating.

“Then tell me what the hell is going on. We started discussing getting married for real, as in a minister and ceremony. We decided on the date and made it pretty soon because neither of us seemed to want to wait and we don’t need any big thing, just all of you guys who love us. The very next day, he started acting like this. That was two weeks ago, and it’s only gotten worse.”

“What is his excuse?”

I look over at the rest of my loved ones enjoying the food we laid out and sigh. “Work. He says his job has been a huge hassle lately. I don’t know why, but I think that’s a lie.”