“I’m not upset with you,” Kayla admitted. She wanted to reassure her mother, but at the same time she didn’t want to get swept away by circumstances either. “I enjoy spending time with you and would like to get to know you better. It’s just everything is so different here. I don’t want to be controlled or have someone else make decisions for me. I won’t be pushed into anything.”
Seara nodded and spoke in a voice too low for anyone to overhear. “I can understand that. Kayla, no one is asking you to marry Alec. The announcement was just that. A declaration. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.”
“Then why did the guy in the restaurant seem to think I am? Why not just tell everyone it’s not true?”
Her mother sighed. “After Catherine died, Alec was angry, upset, and felt very
