Delayed arrangements

It seemed he was not to escape his doom after all. While he was sure that the lady his parents had arranged for him to marry was probably absolutely lovely, he'd been quite relieved when contact between the families had abruptly ended and the entire arrangement had appeared to fall through. Now suddenly her brother had shown up and gotten the gears back in motion. And well, saying no to his parents wasn't done. So he'd arranged a proper meeting so that they might know each other. He'd found an acceptable restaurant in Horizont Alley, even if it was rather plain to his tastes.

Ordinarily folk would need to reserve months in advance but as usual, his name got him a table on the day itself. There were certain advantages. Even if the expectations that came with it were... bothersome at best. He sighed as he waited for the woman to arrive. He just hoped she'd dressed properly for the occassion. He couldn't stand the idea of being married to a person without class. Now a commoner wasn't going to be the problem nearly as much as an inability to dress appropriately would be.

Lakeesha had heard about this arrangement marriage when she was twenty and for years she and her brother tried to figure out who that guy was. As the parents were hear to connect them anymore. So now finally few days ago her brother figured out who the guy was and arranged this meet between them. The guy name was Lucas, he had even arranged the restaurant for them. When she looked it up she realized it was very fancy one.

The girl even got the dress for the day. She had it back in her closet, she barely wore it these days. She had bought it just in the case few years back and she was glad it did still fit to her. The girl tried to look as elegant and graceful as she could when she walked into the restaurant. She told the waitress there with whom she is supposed to meet here. She was led to his table. "Greetings, Mr. Burton. Nice to finally meet you," she said with a small smile. She wasn't sure how this guy felt all about this.

Lucas waited politely, rising from his seat as she arrived and waiting politely for her to be helped into her chair by the waiter. He was a very well-mannered man after all. "Welcome Miss Miller. Thank you for meeting me. Considering the arrangements made by our parents have come to light it seemed prudent to discuss it as soon as possible. I'd like to know how you stand on the matter, as your brother had explained the reason for the delay. You have my condolences, as well as my sympathies." He said with a polite smile. He knew how to be charming, but he wasn't exactly a flirty kind of man. For as far as he was concerned this was a business agreement until otherwise noted.

Lakeesha thanked the waitress when she had pulled the seat for her and made sure she was siting right. She listened the man to speak once the waitress had left for the moment. "I knew about the arrangement for some time but reaching to you took time as me and my brother didn't know how to reach out at first. We didn't have any contact info with us. I know back in the day it was about some business deal or so. Not much info left once again. Lawyer didn't know much about it. My parents death was just such big surprise. But thanks for the concern, but it's all in the past. I don't mind if we go through it but I would hate to marry someone without love. Forcing feelings not for me," she said back to the male. She wasn't so good at speeches like she was. She had been around common folk way too much these past few years. She did even go to Hogwarts.

He was quite the expert at keeping a straight face. It seems she wasn't particularly informed. Nor was she particularly interested in a love-less union, no matter the advantages. That... was perhaps a bit of a shame. But more than that, it really was an opportunity. Not that he allowed any of his thoughts to show up on his face. That was tacky and he'd be raised better than that. He nodded understandingly.

"I understand completely. Love is certainly a great motivator in many weddings these days. I'm afraid I can't promise love. Simply stability and dedication on my end. Should you desire a love match we could undoubtedly figure out a way together to respectfully bow out of the agreement reached by our parents." Which was mostly the polite way of saying that he was willing to work with her rather than throw her under the bus and blame her for the arrangement not working out.

To be honest there was not much info they could go on when it come to this arranged marriage to be honest. Even the her parents lawyer didn't know the all details about it. Only people who really knew things were her parents but nobody could ask about it. Or she could ask from this guy.

"I see. If I'm completely honest here I'm not exactly sure why this marriage between our two families was exactly arranged. All this info died with my parents for me. So could you enlight me?" she decided to be honest about all this. So this could make more sense to here at this moment.

"I wouldn't mind seeing how this is gonna work out between us. It's not like I will say no and go against our parents wishes. Just some point I'm sure they will expect even off spring from this marriage, usually the parents do end up doing it. From the stories I have heard about these things," she said with a sigh in the end.

Lucas calmly looked at her as she sat there. Her parents were out of the picture, his parents were far too polite to cancel the arrangement based on that only and far too desperate for him to continue the family legacy. Marriage with an heir, traditionally a son. They did wish for him to be happy, but weren't too keen on asking the details of his lacking love life. "Knowing my family it's a mixture of business, esteem and preserving the family legacy. Or alternatively, as a contingency plan." His parents had never informed him his marriage had been arranged, so it was entirely possible this was more a contingency in case he didn't find a suitable partner in their timeframe.

She was willing to go through with this? Now that surprised him somewhat, though he figured that if marriage was inevitable, he had no reason to make a fuss if she was willing to give up on the idea of love. For a moment he hesitated before he spoke. "I do not wish for you to go through with this for sake of our parents. I'm fully dedicated to my job and will likely not be home often. I will not be a loving and doting husband. If you wish for love, I am the wrong match for you. What I offer is not having any wants in terms of finance or physical assets. There will be an expectation that we have an heir, but we can easily hire a nanny to raise the child. You will be expected to attend formal functions alongside me, of course, and to the public eye we need to at least have a good relationship. While I am willing to invest in having a strong friendship, I want to make it absolutely clear that what I offer does not include love. Though we could naturally negotiate an arrangement where you can have a lover, as long as such an affair would remain hidden and you communicate honestly if a child of yours comes from me or another man. If you'd be honest I'd be willing to raise the child as if they were my own, but dishonesty would naturally have negative consequences." This was practically a business arrangement after all. Perhaps if he made that clear he could avoid any future problems if she still agreed to go through with this.

Lakeesha took a deep breaths awhile she did listen what he said there now. To be honest she didn't really expect anything else from this. To be honest she knew there might never be love between them.

"Well of course. I get all that. Well I'm okay with all this. Well I'm most days at work myself anyways too. As I work professor then most of my days are spent in Hogwarts and not home much. As traveling between school and home can get exhausting. So we can get this on heir between ourself. I don't really expect there being ever love. Just we should get along sake of everything. I'm sure we can do that. Just a friendhsip, nothing more. Even yeah we need to get heir, we could always just do it medical way too, nobody expect us doesn't have to know we did it that way," she said with a small smile. Just sleeping together sake of heir seemed to much for her. There was medical ways how to get pregnant.

She knew these things will never be easy for them. There will be some challenges for sure. Lakeesha isn't even sure if she ever find a love.

@Lucas G. T. Burton III