My Little Princesa

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Dinner with the Parents

"Do I look okay?" Camille asked following Sergio towards the front door of his parents' house, she wasn't looking forward to dinner with them and she was still surprised that they had agreed to dine with her.

From what Camille knew, she wasn't popular with his mother and she didn't blame Paqui for not liking her; she was dreading the moment when the woman learned that they were getting married.

Isabel was safely at home with the nanny for the evening and Camille was relieved that her daughter was safe at home instead of being here right now.

The last thing that Camille wanted was to have her daughter around people who were toxic towards her; she feared what it would be like when Isabel was older and heard how she had been conceived.

"You look more than okay... you look gorgeous," Sergio insisted admiring the pink print dress that she was wearing, he was still in awe of the fact that they were engaged and he couldn't wait to officially start planning their wedding.

Everything was falling into place and Sergio was relieved that they hadn't hit any bumps on the road just yet; he liked how things were and he was enjoying every moment that they shared.

With Sergio turning thirty-one and Camille turning twenty-seven only a few days earlier; the couple had celebrated with a quiet meal and not much of a fuss.

The last thing that they wanted to do was draw more attention to themselves than needed right now; the engagement announcement would be released in a matter of days as it was.

It made Sergio even more determined to have dinner with his parents now and tell them before it was too late; he wanted them to know before everything became public.

Reaching the door, Sergio took Camille's hand and gave it a small squeeze before he rang the doorbell; he had no idea what mood his mother was going to be in but he hoped that she wouldn't make Camille feel unwelcome.

The last thing that Sergio wanted was an argument breaking out now and he knew that it would be a shock for his mother to learn that they were now engaged to be married.

Paqui was still trying to adjust to the fact that José María was now in contact with Colleen and that wasn't something that was likely to change anytime soon.

José María was enjoying the contact that he had with his youngest daughter and he wasn't going to allow his wife to bully him into making the same mistake twice.

He had been lucky that Colleen hadn't just turned him away after he had been such a useless father to her and he was determined to make amends for that.

The front door opened and Sergio was relieved to see it was his father, he got along better with him right now and he knew that there was always going to be a tension with his mother.

Paqui wasn't one to admit that she was wrong and she wasn't likely to warm to the idea that Sergio and Camille were going to be married when she heard about it.

There was no way of even telling how his own brother and sister would react to the news; they weren't really speaking right now and they had yet to come and meet their niece.

"Papa," Sergio greeted with a nod of his head, he felt at ease at seeing the man and he did hope that would help with what he had planned this evening; he doubted that it would end well without him.

José María stepped aside to allow them into the house, he wouldn't blame Camille for looking so nervous especially when Paqui had made it clear that she wasn't liked.

He hoped they would be able to turn over a new leaf, he did so want to be able to spend time with Isabel and he adored all of his grandchildren.

***

Camille had never felt so uncomfortable in her life and she cured Sergio for bringing her here, she almost wished that she could throw herself out of the dining room window and escape back to her home.

The silence that had filled the air had been awkward with Paqui barely saying more than one word in her direction making Camille feel even more unwelcome as the evening continued.

José María and Sergio seemed fine talking about football but that wasn't enough to completely break the awkward silence that settled down on them every few minutes.

Paqui pursed her lips as she looked down the table at her husband, things were still awkward between them and she was still worried that he might decide that divorce was his best course of action.

It had taken weeks of talking to even get him to consider coming home to her and they now slept in separate bedrooms while they went to marriage counselling.

It was humiliating and Paqui couldn't believe that things had gotten this bad, she honestly didn't know what she would do if things didn't return to normal soon.

The entire situation was a mess and Paqui feared just what might happen next, she was still hoping that José María would see sense and realise that all this madness needed to end.

They were better off the way that things had been before Sergio had made a complete mess of his life; she was worried that Pilar might even stop Sergio from seeing the boys if he didn't get his act together and put them first.

"We actually have some news," Sergio said setting down his cutlery and hoping that this was the right moment to tell them; he looked down the table at his mother and knew she was the one that wouldn't like this.

At this moment, Sergio honestly didn't care what she thought about this and he knew that he was doing the right thing; not just for Isabel but for himself and Camille.

Paqui blinked wondering what was going on, dread filled her stomach and she felt a little sick as she stared at her youngest son; she had no idea what he was going to say and that worried her the most.

Camille couldn't bring herself to even look at Paqui and she could only imagine how well this was going to go down; she wanted the ground to swallow her whole before Sergio told anyone.

"Cami and I are engaged," Sergio revealed with a smile, he couldn't help himself and he was rather excited about the process; he had done quite a bit of research on royal weddings by now.

He had focused the best that he could on royal weddings from Monaco and Sergio felt like he was more than prepared for what would come his way when that happened.

There was complete silence for a moment at those words before José María grinned and moved to congratulate the couple; he'd had a feeling that something like this would happen.

The media wasn't likely to ignore the fact that Isabel held no place in the line of succession for the Monaco throne; a place where Camille was behind her baby brother.

It wasn't easy being constantly reminded of that and José María would have done the same thing if he had been in Sergio's place; it really helped that the two made such a great couple.

Paqui stared at her son as the news slowly sunk in, she didn't even speak as she got to her feet and walked out of the dining room; she had been hoping that he would snap out of this and go back to Pilar.

"Give her time," José María insisted watching Paqui leave, he would speak to her later and he knew this must have been a shock for her; she still spoke with Pilar all the time and had hoped the two would get back together.

Sergio sighed, he didn't want his mother causing issues when everything was going so well.