The King's Unbreakable Wife-Chapter 41: Disappointing (3)

"You need to speak to your son. That boy is not listening to me and he is pushing me to the verge of madness. If you wish for your wife to keep her sanity, I suggest you speak with him," Tabitha said as she paced back and forth.

Jeffrey looked up from the paper he was reading to his wife who came bursting through the door, speaking of how Tobias would be the death of her. After a day in court and dealing with disputes, all he wanted to do was enjoy reading the paper from the town and sipping a bit of wine before dozing off.

His bedroom was meant to be his place of peace in the crazy palace. Now he was forced to fix whatever was happening between his wife and son.

"What did he do now?" Jeffrey asked, merely to make Tabitha happy that he was listening to her though he wasn’t most of the time after she came inside the room. He had been nodding his head and hoped it was appropriate for whatever she was telling him.

As long as he didn’t agree to do something for her when he was not listening, he was not in hot water.

"What hasn’t he done? First, we had to drag him back from out at war to get married and now he isn’t taking part in the selection as he should. He’s not listening and pushed me to lock him in his bedroom," Tabitha said, releasing her frustration as she spoke.

"I’ve been keeping my eyes and ears on the selection. I don’t recall a time when Tobias wasn’t where he was meant to be. Is it that he isn’t picking the young woman you want? Doing that same foolish rule as my mother did?" Jeffrey asked, clearly remembering how he was pressured to spend time with whom his mother liked.

He would never let Tabitha know but she was forced down his throat by his mother. Luckily, he came to love Tabitha though she wasn’t his first choice. This was something he would take to the grave.

"Foolish? As the queen, I see qualities from myself in those young women so I know who will make a fine queen and who will not. I told him to pick the young Helena Wallace, but he continued to pick her sister, Hazel. After I already told him that he was to spend time with someone else," said Tabitha, motioning her hands as if she were choking someone.

"Regardless, he is showing an interest in the Wallace family. It would be good to have them on our side though I don’t question their loyalty right now. The best option would be to show an interest in the sister he likes, wouldn’t it? I don’t see why you make things so hard on yourself. Wine?" Jeffrey offered, holding up the bottle for Tabitha to drink straight from it.

"You are of no help, Jeffrey. You can’t possibly be offering me a sip of that wine from the bottle. All of the men in this family will be the death of me," Tabitha said, continuing to pace back and forth. She didn’t know why she bothered to come to Jeffrey.

"I’ve watched you drink straight from a bottle instead of using a glass many times. I know the other side of you that you wouldn’t want those women to know about. I’ve promised to always be honest with you so I am telling you now that you are the reason our son is acting strange these days," said Jeffrey,

Even their daughter made mention of not feeling close to Tabitha after the selection started. The children went from being close to their mother to not mind if they didn’t see her throughout the day. He could only point fingers at Tabitha who was letting the selection get to her head.

Tabitha turned to Jeffrey, angered by how he was putting this all on her. "This is not my fault. I am trying to do what is best for our son and for the kingdom. I can’t let just anyone become the next queen simply because our son is in love. Then all the blame would fall on me for not helping to have a good queen replace me."

"You are trying to control him and he will not allow it. It’s time you give up and leave the boy be. Let him pick the woman he wants to marry and then you guide her to become a good queen. Right now, I don’t see the problem with Hazel becoming his wife. The girl has spent plenty of time inside the palace with her father. There are always compliments when she is-"

"She is not the woman I picked for Tobias. What do you not understand? It is truly pointless speaking to you. I am going to get undressed," Tabitha said, walking away from Jeffrey since he was of no help to her today.

Jeffrey watched Tabitha leave his sight and head toward the dressing room. She should have known that he wouldn’t have enabled her behaviour and lied to make her happy. He had to be honest with her just like he promised he would be. The moment he started lying to make her happy, she would get upset with him not being truthful.

"Luckily the bed is big enough," Jeffrey sighed.

Now that Tabitha was gone, he could get back to his reading. He hoped he could get back to his reading.

"I don’t see why you aren’t on my side. You should want what I want. You should understand my position of making sure the queen after me will do what is best for this kingdom. Why are you two making me out to be the bad guy here? I see something in Helena that I like and know she will make a good queen like I did," Tabitha argued, far from finished with their conversation.

She needed Jeffrey on her side to talk some sense into Tobias. A simple one-on-one talk to remind Tobias of his duties as the prince and to remind Tobias of why he should listen to his mother.

"I am not getting involved with you trying to pick his wife. The boy has always been a free spirit and you know he’s having a hard time coming to terms with the fact he needs to take on responsibility in ruling the land soon. Now is not the best time for you to have him sneaking out of the palace," said Jeffrey.

No matter how much she pushed, he was not going to add on as another parent Tobias was going to hide from. Jeffrey was looking for the best time to have a serious talk with Tobias about what it meant to be king and helping Tobias find ways to get used to all the responsibility. Just because Tabitha was ruining a good relationship didn’t mean he had to.

"The Tabitha I know would be sitting in Tobias’ room, trying to understand him. It would be good to have that woman here," Jeffrey said, looking up from his paper to a fuming Tabitha.

Tabitha wasn’t a bad person, but Jeffrey had seen how differently she was acting when it came time to start putting together the selection. He couldn’t wait for this to be over and for his time on the throne to end so he could be out of the palace with her and in the new home he had built not far from here.

It was time he lived outside of the palace and got to live peacefully.

Tabitha had enough of the woman standing before these men being questioned. The queen before her had placed a lot on her shoulders to ensure a proper queen was picked. She would continue to follow her plans for the selection and Tobias would get in line with or without Jeffrey’s help.