Accidentally Love You, Mr. Turner!

Have you ever imagined being the main character in a Disney fairy tale? From an ordinary girl meeting a handsome prince on a white horse to a magnificent fairy tale wedding, luxurious gowns with sparkling embellishments, and living in a glorious palace?

As a child, Eleanor Caldwell dreamed of having a destiny like the princesses in Disney fairy tales with the supposed "happy ever after" ending. But as she grew older, after aliveness led her through many pitfalls that caused her to fall, stumble, falter, and even drown, Eleanor realized that life analogous to a Disney fairy tale never existed.

Eleanor and millions of others in this world have been brainwashed by sweet stories like Cinderella and other fairy tales when they were young, so people think that happiness can be obtained by all people, without exception. It doesn't matter if you're poor; you'll meet a wealthy prince. It doesn't matter if you're ugly; you'll meet a handsome prince who accepts you for who you are. It doesn't matter if you suffer; you'll meet a prince who will make you happy forever. Ha, it's all nonsense!

Last week, Eleanor received news that she would marry Jonathan Abbe Turner, a man who would inherit the Turnerhail company-a company that produces whiskey and wine of the highest quality in the United States. Eleanor should feel proud and agree to the marriage immediately. Not everyone can become a Turner family-in-law. But no! Eleanor didn't feel any pride; she felt ... humiliated.

Undeniably, as a child, she dreamed of being a princess who marry a handsome prince on a white horse, living happily in a magnificent palace, and being served by hundreds of servants. But as she grew older, Eleanor realized that her dreams were just an illusion that would never come true.

Happiness is abstract, something that may or may not be attained by people. And now, she is increasingly convinced of her thoughts as her parents come to talk to her again.

"Are you willing, Ele?"

Pressed by the bitter question in front of her, Eleanor sighed deeply. "My answer remains no," Eleanor replied firmly.

"Ele, can't you help your father just this once?" pleaded Gemma, her mother, with a pleading tone. "You just need to marry Mr. Jonathan and give him offspring. Isn't that an easy task? This opportunity won't come twice."

"And what if I can't even give him offspring?" Eleanor asked skeptically, her gray eyes staring at her elderly parents firmly.

Gemma and Chad Caldwell fell silent. "At least, for the time being, our fields are safe, the workers' salaries are there, and we won't be short of fertilizer," Gemma concluded.

Eleanor chuckled bitterly. "In other words, you're selling me off to preserve the Caldwell family assets?"

"It's not like that, Ele..."

"Why should I be responsible for the damage Dad caused? Isn't Dad the one at fault for being easily deceived by Dad's trusted person? Why am I the one now being made a sacrifice?" Ele expressed her thoughts that had been wrestling in her head for days. Something she believed would make her parents angry, but Eleanor still wanted to say it.

"ELEANOR!" Gemma snapped angrily, as she expected.

"Stop it, Gemma!" Chad pulled back his wife, who seemed so angry to hear Eleanor's words. Weakly, the man looked at his wife, asking her to stop forcing their only child. "What Eleanor said has some truth to it. I am at fault here; I shouldn't have pushed Eleanor into this. Besides, she's our daughter. How could we give our beloved daughter to the Turner family to be a second wife?"

"Then how you should pay off your mountainous debts to the Caldwell family?" Gemma asked, staring straight at her husband. "If you're thinking again of selling all our wheat fields, how are our lives in the future?"

"We won't sell everything, Gemma."

"It took us years of fighting to get to this point, Chad! You know, many things we've sacrificed-"

"But I can't sacrifice my daughter, Gemma," Chad interjected. For a moment, the middle-aged man looked at Eleanor. His gaze was intense, faded, and filled with feelings of shame, and love. Then Chad redirected his attention to Gemma. "She's more valuable than any field or wealth in this world. I can live poorly and start everything from scratch again. But I can't see my daughter living a life that isn't her choice."

"Chad-" Gemma seemed about to say something but suddenly stopped for some reason. The woman in her early sixties grabbed her chest tightly, making Chad and Eleanor look at her in concern.

"Gemma, what's wrong?"

Before the two could digest what had just happened to Gemma, Gemma suddenly fainted. Chad panicked. Eleanor was hysterical.

[]

"Mom, you are outrageous! How could you pretend to faint just so I would feel sympathy and agree to all those arranged marriage plans?" Eleanor stared at her mother incredulously. Half an hour after the incident at home, the ambulance managed to arrive and would take Gemma to the hospital. But the unexpected news came from the team on duty after examining Gemma's condition, that apparently Gemma wasn't fainting at all. Her heart rate and pulse were normal. All her vital signs were functioning well. So she was just pretending.

Oh my, Eleanor felt so embarrassed by her. But how could her mother act so casually afterward? If Eleanor were her, she would have surely fled to avoid such immense embarrassment. The officers who came didn't make any comments, but Eleanor knew they were laughing at Gemma on their way, or even grumbling annoyed because she was disrupting their work. Yet, perhaps, out there, many 'patients' were waiting for them to pick up.

"I will do anything to make you agree, Ele. I have no other choice but to sacrifice you. Your father's wheat field is not just a field. It is a silent witness to our struggle. From when we were dating and didn't get my mother's approval. From when we decided to elope and started all our businesses from scratch. When we finally had you, and we rushed here and there to sell the field's produce, so you could live in sufficiency." Gemma didn't continue her speech because Chad asked her to stop. But every word Gemma said earlier managed to silence Eleanor.

"You live well, one of the reasons being the result of your father's wheat field."

"Stop it, Gemma."

Chad stopped Gemma when she was about to speak again, continuing her story.

"Come in, Darling." Chad looked at Eleanor with a thin smile. Nodding towards Eleanor's room not far from the living room where they were now talking. "Daddy will talk to your mother again. Don't worry, Daddy will find another way out of this mess."

Eleanor remained silent. She didn't know, but suddenly her body froze. Her tongue-tied. Eleanor couldn't say or do anything. Her head suddenly felt heavy. Even until Chad led her into the room, Eleanor didn't say a word.

***

The wheat field, to an extent Eleanor couldn't estimate, stretched as far as she could see from behind the window. The field that had been her friend since childhood. The place where she spent time, where she searched for her father if he wasn't at home, where she hid when Gemma scolded her to do school assignments, and where she played with Chico all day. The field meant a lot to Eleanor. The field was memories, a treasure that held many tears and laughs within.

But maybe, for Chad and Gemma, the meaning of the wheat field was much deeper than that. Before she existed, Chad and Gemma had already created many stories there. More than Eleanor could remember. Then, why couldn't Eleanor understand that?

Eleanor groaned softly. She slid the window open until the wind blew instantly on her face. Deep inside, the girl took a breath. The sky, now orange, made Eleanor feel even more melancholic.

"I have many dreams for the future. But the field is not just the future for the Cadwell family, but also history. Letting it go means letting go of the future and leaving the past behind," Eleanor muttered to herself. Her chest filled with various feelings she couldn't explain.

Turning to her right, Eleanor found dozens of Polaroid photos she had neatly arranged. Photos that, when she looked at them, only made her feel more hurt. "Sorry, Pete. I have to make a decision right away."

Eleanor hurried out of the room and stopped in front of her father who was sitting at the dining table. He was massaging his nose bridge several times. The problem he faced must have made him difficult.

"Dad," Eleanor called. Almost making her father startled when she came and called him out of the blue. "I'm going to marry Jonathan Turner. But, I have to meet him today, before I change my mind."

Chad immediately sat up straight. Perhaps he didn't expect Eleanor to change her mind so quickly. But a few seconds later, the middle-aged man neutralized his facial expression. Standing in front of Eleanor with a gentle look.

"No, Darling. Dad will find another way. You don't need to sacrifice for this family," Chad said, rubbing Eleanor's shoulder.

"What other way will Dad take aside from this?" Eleanor asked, her gaze fixed on Chad's tired eyes. "If you're going to give our field to the Turner family just like that, or you're thinking of applying for a loan from the rich and annoying bald man at the Montana border, I won't allow Dad."

"Ele ...."

"Marriage to Jonathan Turner won't be as terrible as dealing with the loan sharks who like to kill and make us pay in any way, right?" Eleanor reassured.

Chad sighed. He looked at his daughter, the one he loved so much, the one he always adored, the one he always boasted about. Eleanor could see that this decision was also very difficult for her father.

"I'm not an ordinary girl, Dad remember? I can take care of myself. I can even survive when I got lost in the woods when I was ten. Being the Turner family's daughter-in-law won't be anything."

"Are you sure, Honey?" Chad looked at Eleanor hesitantly. There was reluctance emanating from his eyes. There was a thick sense of regret, which managed to make Eleanor's eyes moist. "Marrying someone you don't know isn't an easy matter."

Eleanor clasped Chad's right hand. She smiled broadly even though her eyes began to well up. "Dad can trust me," she murmured. And Chad, finally couldn't say anything else, except to agree with what his daughter said.

"I'm sorry, Ele."

[]

The canvas sneakers, jeans, and coffee-colored coat enveloping Eleanor's slender figure were her trademark. The girl with greenish-gray eyes from the outskirts of Helena, that's how most people referred to Eleanor. Pure beauty, a cheerful and determined character, and hardworking. The residents around Prickly Pear Valley knew the girl well. Especially because most of the wheat fields around there belonged to the Caldwell family, and Eleanor was their only child. This made the girl famous in the small village.

That's why, to convey her offer to the Turner family, Eleanor went far to a place where it was unlikely anyone would recognize her. She knew gossip would spread quickly if people in the village found out she was speaking with representatives from the Turner family.

"Eleanor Caldwell?"

The baritone voice Eleanor heard made the brown-haired girl turn. Her eyes immediately locked onto the tall figure of the man sitting right beside her. With a faint smile, Eleanor stood up, extending her hand to him. "Yes. Jonathan Abbe Turner?" Eleanor asked back. Feeling unlikely that the man with such a handsome face was Jonathan. The man's age was far above hers. It was possible that he already had wrinkles between his eyes. While the man in front of her still looked very fresh and... very handsome.

The man returned Eleanor's handshake. His face remained flat. "Yes. I came here immediately, canceling a few schedules because Chad Caldwell said you urgently wanted to meet."

Eleanor chuckled softly. Sitting back down on a tall wooden chair in front of a bar. Occasionally stealing glances at the man. Surprised by the fact that Jonathan Abbe Turner still looked so young and handsome compared to men his age. Ah, no. Wasn't mature men always charming?

"That's right, there's something important I need to tell you directly," Eleanor said later. Jonathan's thick eyebrow raised. He squinted at Eleanor curiously. "I don't like your idea and Dad's to have our marriage solely to get heirs for the Turner family," Eleanor said, speaking up. Jonathan nodded, but didn't say anything, as if giving Eleanor a chance to explain her situation further. "But I admit, my family has no other choice. We're cornered."

Eleanor paused her speech. Taking a breath, filling her lungs to the fullest, then exhaling slowly. "So I decided to accept this marriage," Eleanor concluded firmly. Her determined gaze convinced Jonathan that she was very determined. "But I want to ask for a few things."

Jonathan straightened his back. "What is it?" he asked.

"First, I want you to get Franklyn Adam," Eleanor said seriously.

"Hasn't your father reported Franklyn to the police?"

"What do you expect from our police, Sir? They are slow and Franklyn won't get the punishment he deserves," Eleanor said logically. "I know, the Turner family can do better."

Jonathan stared straight at Eleanor for a few seconds. Whatever the man was thinking, it didn't take long before he nodded. Agreeing to Eleanor's first condition without much thought. "Okay. Anything else?"

"I want to live in a different place from your first wife," Eleanor said. The girl sighed. "Well, you know, when the first and second wives live in the same place, there will surely be a lot of chaos. I don't like fuss."

"Lizzy is not the type to fuss about trivial matters," Jonathan immediately objected. Eleanor gave a thin smile, understanding if Jonathan felt a little offended. "She is a gentle and generous woman. She will treat you well."

Eleanor shrugged. Leaning forward on the table. "No matter how good a woman is, no one will ever truly accept polygamy. You should know that well."

"You know, I only marry you to get heirs."

Chuckling softly, Eleanor gave Jonathan an incredulous look. "You really don't understand women," she said. Then she raised both hands in front of her face, surrendering. "Fine. It's not my fault if your relationship with your first wife changes someday, okay?"

Jonathan didn't say anything else. Eleanor didn't intend to discuss further either. The girl moved on to the next point. "How long will we be married?" she asked to the point. "I mean, well, we both know that this marriage happens because you need heirs. I don't need to know why you are so desperate to have children when you can spend time alone with your wife without being bothered by a child. So surely our marriage won't last forever, right?"

"I need two or three children from you. But I know the price of a life is very high. Even the price of your entire family's wheat fields is not comparable to the baby you will give," Jonathan said. He paused for a moment. "So, for each subsequent child, I will provide other compensation."

Eleanor was stunned for a moment. Her heart suddenly throbbed with pain. Somehow this conversation felt like a business transaction, and what they were talking about was a child! A child she would bear from her womb. Eleanor shuddered slightly. She wasn't sure why she felt like a villain now.

"What if there are problems in the middle of our marriage?" Eleanor asked logically. "Or if either you or I don't intend to continue the marriage for one reason or another? Or if I don't want to have children again?"

Jonathan listened to Eleanor's questions one by one. Then after that, he chuckled softly. "That's too far, Ele," Jonathan concluded. When he mentioned her name, Eleanor felt a strange sensation that suddenly emerged out of nowhere. "For now, the most important thing is that we get married and have a child. It doesn't matter if in the future you don't want to continue the marriage and don't want to have children again from me. One heir is enough for me. Although, having many children has always been my dream."

"Then, why do we have to get married? Can't we have children without having to have a bond? Isn't that easier? We don't need to prepare marriage documents. We don't need to invite a priest. We don't need to have a wedding party-if you intend to do it."

Jonathan was silent for a moment. He looked at Eleanor's face intently, until Eleanor felt somewhat uncomfortable, as if she were being scrutinized by his sharp gaze. "Although Turnerhail has a somewhat 'bad' image," Jonathan emphasized his words, "but I'm quite religious, especially my father, just so you know. Of course, I don't want to have children from relationships outside of marriage. My father wouldn't consider them legitimate heirs."

Eleanor contemplated Jonathan's words. Then a few seconds later, the girl nodded. "Okay. I understand your reasons. Then, when do we start getting married?"

Ah, shit! Eleanor felt a bit bitter discussing marriage so easily like this. In the past, she thought she would marry properly. Even though not as rich as Jonathan Abbe Turner, at least she loved that man and that man loved her too. Marriage would be thrilling, nervous, and exciting for them. But the reality now, she was discussing marriage as if discussing business matters.

"As soon as possible. Maybe this week?"

Jonathan's answer was quite surprising. After all, who prepares a wedding in such a short time? But then she remembered who she was dealing with. Let alone this week, Eleanor even believed the wedding could take place tomorrow or today because Jonathan was part of the Turner family. And also, this wedding might not be something very important that they needed to prepare thoroughly. The wedding they were planning now was only to get heirs for the Turner family. Nothing more.

"Alright. I'll inform my father," Eleanor replied. As if there was no point in negotiating further. Perhaps indeed, the sooner the better. Eleanor herself wasn't sure if she would still stand by her decision if she had to wait too long.

***