The moment the carriage had left the safety of estate, Carmen’s nerves started to run a mile a minute. Not even the words of encouragement from her stepmother sitting beside her could reign them in. She wished Celina had been allowed to come with them to meet her betrothed but her father had shot down the idea before either of them could even ask. Carmen could have used her younger sister’s support or at least her sarcastic wit to distract her from her thoughts on the way to the Navarette’s estate.
Carmen tried to listen to her stepmother’s attempts to reassure her that the match they had made for her was perfect but instead she found her attention solely focused on twirling her fingers around the golden chain around her neck. Dangling from the chain was a delicate locket. The necklace had been a gift from her mother on her twelfth birthday, just a year before she passed away. Clicking the locket open, Carmen peered down at the picture of her mother on the left side, admiring her warm smile before running a finger over the words etched elegantly into the metal on the right. Brilla donde quiera que estés, mi pequeño sol. She could feel tears forming in the corners of her eyes as her mothers voice echoed inside her head. There wasn’t a moment when Carmen didn’t miss her mother with every fiber of her being and she hoped that she was watching her where she was.
Carmen was pulled from her thoughts as the carriage jolted to a stop. Blinking away the tears almost as fast as they had appeared, she allowed a warm smile to grace her lips just moments before she was helped out of the carriage. The moment her feet touched the ground, Carmen felt her nerves spike. While the timing of her arrangement had been out of the blue, it hadn’t been entirely unexpected. Her father and stepmother had been hinting at the idea for months now. She was past the typical age of marriage and it had been months since anyone had attempted to court her. Carmen didn’t blame her parents for wanting to expedite the process of her settling down but she wished she could have found someone on her own accord. While Carmen was nervous about meeting the man she was supposed to spend the rest of her life with, she wasn’t bitter about the arrangement. No matter who he was, Carmen was devoted to pouring all that she had into their relationship. Always the optimist, she was determined to make something good out of the situation.
She quickly ran her hands over the front of her dress before following her parents inside. Carmen had dressed nicely in a yellow gown that complemented her figure and complexion, determined to make a good first impression. She wore her dark hair loose, allowing her natural curls to frame the soft features of her face.
Carmen watched as her parents enthusiastically greeted his. That seems promising, she thought to herself before lifting her head to meet the gaze of the figure stepping towards her. The moment her eyes landed on him, Carmen felt something pull in her chest. He was certainly handsome, she’d give him that. His eyes were friendly and his expression seemed sincere. She couldn’t stop the warm grin tugging at the corners of her lips as Sebastian took her hand, pressing his lips gently against her skin. A shiver ran up the arm he held and Cameron felt a blush creeping up the back of her neck and she curtsied in return. “You’re rather handsome as well.” She complimented, moving her arm to rest back at her side. “Carmen Belemonte. It’s nice to finally meet you.”
As her voice rang into the air, it settled his nerves a little bit. The only thing he had been worried about (besides the blaring obvious fact that there was no way he could love this woman with his entire being) was that his parents just picked a person in a line up of Latina women. But Carmen at least seemed like she was a good person. That was all he could have asked for considering that he couldn’t have much of a say in who she was. “It is very nice to meet you,” he nodded. See wanted this to be anything but formal, yet still it was hard to try and approach this any other way. He had only learned of this whole thing the night before. The timing could not have been more off considering Safiya had just come back into his life. It always seemed that the pair of them came together and his parents held the reins of his life that always steered him away from her. If he had been a stronger person, he would learn to pull away from his parent’s guidance, but he wasn’t. He was the dutiful eldest son, that was always going to be the path he was on. It would be senseless to turn away from that all now.
There was a brief moment where their parents continued to exchange words, he wasn’t sure if he had ever really seen his mother this happy. In fact, she was almost glowing. Her already eccentric personality was bubbling from her being with every interaction they had. He felt his heart become a little heavier knowing that if he ever called this whole arrangement off that hers would break and he would hurt the family. That was the absolute last thing he had wanted to do, it always had been. So he would swallow his pride and try to be the best for everyone in the situation. There was still a lot of pressure that was hanging in the air. Nervously, he wiped his hands against his pant legs before speaking up again. “Do you mind if we go for a walk?” he asked his betrothed, but took her hand before she could even answer. He just needed to get out of there.
“Sorry,” he briefly spoke as they made their way out of the mansion and into the courtyard of the estate. Letting go of her hand, he drew in the fresh air, filling his lungs before he spoke again. “Everything going on in there felt so formal,” the word he had been clinging to for the majority of the day. There was no denying that it was though. He was under the impression that things should have occurred naturally, that if his parents would have just listened to him ten years ago that maybe they would have had grandkids by now and their eldest son wouldn’t be lurking around the estate with nothing better to do. “I just don’t want everything to be so rigid. We’re to spend our whole lives with one another, you know? We still should get to ease into it without the pressure of knowing that we’re ending up together,” he told her. They began walking around the estate together, through their gardens filled with many flowers and plants. It was one of his favorite places to escape besides his student, so he figured he could share it with his betrothed. “Are you nervous?” he asked her, wanting to know her feelings regarding the whole situation. Of course it was still slightly awkward for a natural conversation to form, they had only just met each other. “What is it that you do? You know, to keep your mind sane I suppose.”