Chapter 6 — I Love Her

Hand in hand, Alma and Edan walked straight toward the woman, whom Alma had seen approaching Edan earlier.

Angelica, Edan's mother when she saw them coming, got up immediately.

“Edan! Why did it take you so long? He walked over to them.

"I'm sorry mom, I went to get my girlfriend..." Edan pointed to the young woman next to him, who immediately stretched out his hand towards the woman. Angelica looked her up and down, her mouth open.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Alma. He smiled shyly, noticing how the woman detailed her faces. "I'm very sorry, ma'am..."

“Angelica. Stunned, Angelica stretched out her hand, above all, out of decency.

"Angelica," Alma repeated, smiling, as she squeezed Edan's mother's hand. "As I was saying, Mrs. Angelica. I'm sorry for the delay, but there was a lot of traffic, even though Edan took me out of my house with these clothes and wouldn't let me change, because I was in a hurry, it took us some time to get here.

Edan turned to Alma, surprised. He didn't think the girl would be able to get around the issue of her appearance so easily. "She's a smart girl," he said.

"Oh, sure, I understand. Angelica took a deep breath, a little relieved. And he turned all his attention to his son. "Edan, can I talk to you for a second?"

"Sure, Mom. He replied seriously, knowing what awaited him.

"Excuse us, Alma.

They both moved away from Alma, who took a deep breath to calm herself and went to sit down on a bench.

"Edan, what's going on?" Angelica murmured, a little upset and annoyed, unable to hide it any longer.

"I told you I needed to go out to fix something..."

"And for that you had to bring your—girlfriend?" And who is she, by the way? Where's Vivian?

"I hadn't told you, but my relationship with Vivian ended some time ago..." Angelica tried to speak, but Edan stopped her with a wave of his hand. "For now, I don't want to talk, I know that mother. He cleared his throat. "I met Alma at one of my talks about business, in college...

Edan sighed in frustration, he hadn't told his mother anything about what he'd talked about with his father, because he was too dazed to explain himself when he left the room.

After seeing Erick's condition, Edan felt like he was going to explode and if he stopped to tell Angelica what he was going to go out and do, things wouldn't end well.

"Dad asked me..." He told me that his last wish was to see me with my girlfriend. He tried to explain to his mother.

“Edan, I don't think this is a good time for introductions, especially if it's with a little girl you're just getting to know.

"Your wrong mom, Alma and I, we've been together for some time now and she's more than just a little girl I just met. Edan swallowed, he knew all this had to sound believable. "I love her.

“Hey?

Angelica opened her eyes in surprise, she had never heard him say anything like that about a woman, not even Vivian, who had been the relationship for which Edan had fought the most.

“That's right! I love her!

Edan repeated, raising his voice, and looking at Alma, who straightened up at him.

He stretched out his hand to her, calling out to her with a wave and immediately, she approached them. Edan hugged her around the waist, causing her to blush.

"Dad asked me to meet her and that's not all, he wants to see me married. "Angelica's jaw almost dropped. "That's why I called a notary, early tomorrow, Alma and I, we'll be getting married in front of my father, to grant him his last wish."

"Did you go crazy? Alma was intimidated by Angelica's scream. "No offense, child. He turned to the young woman and then to her son. "But you can't just decide to get married just like that, just because of your father's wish..." It's just that we don't even know her and now it turns out that, are they going to get married?

"You don't need to know her; I just have to know her..." He's my partner, not yours and... It's not just because of my father's wish. Edan squeezed Alma tighter, pulling her closer to him. "I told you, she and I, we love each other.

Angelica grunted, lowered her gaze, squeezing her fingers to the base of her nose, boy did she have a bad headache and Edan made it worse with this.

She weighed the situation for a second and thought for a moment about her husband, Edan adored him and would be able to do anything for him, maybe this would be good for Erick, but what about Edan? Wasn't that too hasty?

Angelica looked up at them again, Edan looked very confident and the young woman? Well, at least it seemed like she was really attracted to him, she looked completely blushing.

In addition, there were annulments and divorces, so Angelica would take the precaution that her son surely did not take, she would call a friend of hers, a notary, right now to create a prenuptial contract and have them signed before marriage.

She could allow Edan to perform his show, but as his mother, it was her duty to protect him.

"All right, Edan, I understand. He looked at the young woman with a better countenance. "Welcome to the family, Alma, though I'm sorry we ended up getting to know each other on this occasion.

The first hurdle, which had already been overcome, was the time to enter their father's room and the truth is, it turned out to be much easier than they expected.

Alma was a very sweet girl, Edan hadn't noticed before that, however, seeing her chatting very calmly and patiently with Erick, his father, a feeling of serenity and warmth, invaded him for an instant.

Erick smiled next to the young woman, as she made up some silly anecdotes about their relationship and told him how she started dating Edan.

Minutes later, they left the room, Mr. O'Connor to rest.

Alma said goodbye to Angelica with great respect, which left a very good impression on the woman and then, holding hands, again, they walked together towards the elevators.

They both took a deep breath when they were nowhere in sight, they seemed to have thrown a weight off their shoulders.

“Thank you. Edan murmured.

"It's okay, it went better than I expected.

"Yes, do you want me to take you home or do you plan to stay in the hospital?" She immediately shook her head.

"I'll see the nurse, I want to see if I can stay in my mother's room, tomorrow, first thing, I'll sort out all the paperwork for the surgery, before the fake marriage."

"Oh, of course. He nodded, remembering why Alma was helping him. "But you must—"

"Yes, I know. Alma interrupted him. "I mustn't let your mom see me.

The elevator opened, they were both leaving, when a loud, strange sound stopped them in their tracks.

Alma froze, feeling all the colors rise to her face. After a second, Edan cleared his throat, trying to break the silence.

"Would you like to join me for dinner?" He asked, somewhat embarrassed by the rumbling of Alma's stomach.

“No! No, I'm fine, thank you.

She wanted to run away, wishing the earth would swallow her. The embarrassment he felt, thanks to the huge roar of his stomach, was very great.

Luckily, that hadn't happened during the talk with Edan's parents, since, before seeing them, Alma took the opportunity to fill her stomach with plenty of water, when she went into the hospital bathroom to get some dress.

Alma looked down, and walked, determined to get out of there.

“Hold on! Edan stopped her, taking her by the hand. "I haven't eaten much of the day either, and it would be very useful for us to have dinner together to talk about our plan, get to know each other, and be prepared for possible contingencies tomorrow. He explained very seriously.

Alma looked at Edan's hand on hers and the truth was, that day, Edan had not stopped holding her hand on different occasions and it had been a long time since she had felt that someone was holding her or helping her.

So, swallowing that feeling of shame, he accepted the invitation to dinner.