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He must have realized how concerned I was, because he picked up the phone and dialed my father right then and there.
“Marco, we need to make sure that Carina and her mother are ready to go dress shopping tomorrow. The car will be there to pick them up at nine in the morning..”
“Very good.” He nodded then hung up. “There, that’s all taken care of. Now we can get onto the other fun portion of our day.”
I only had time to say “thank you” before he had me pinned to the bed, uttering a completely different type of words in no time.
Early the next morning I was dressed and ready to leave for my day of dress shopping with the girls.
While Luciano went to deal with the distribution problems that had been occurring, another one of his soldiers was going to accompany me and an extra one walked out with his mother.
It was a large SUV so having extra men inside wasn’t a problem. The two men sat in the very back while the other one sat up front with the driver.
Making small talk with his mother was fairly easy since she was so nice. I felt relieved that I was gaining such a lovely mother-in-law. In this world, sometimes the mothers could be impossible, because they didn’t think any woman would be good enough for their sons. It could be even more impossible with arranged marriage situations. They were not too common anymore, but they did still occur. Creating blood bonds were sometimes the only way to seal a warring family's disputes.
“Bria, I really respect that you want to work instead of just being a wife or a figurehead. I’m hoping that we can hire Carina as well and that we can include both of you in the family business. It would really be a good will offer too.”
I appreciated that she was a working wife as well. It made it easier for me to be taken more seriously within the new family dynamics. I would have a harder time of it if she hadn’t already paved the way.
“You should see if she’ll take the position today while we’re out,” I suggested as we pulled up to pick up Carina.
Carina hurried to the car with Joey following close behind. He held the door open for Carina to get inside and then went to the back to climb in and sit with the other guard.
Carina tried to put on a happy face, but she remained withdrawn and shy.
“Mother won’t be joining us today, she isn’t feeling well. She said to show her your top three suggestions and she’ll weigh in on it if she’s able.” After making that announcement, she sank into the seat and stayed silent even though I kept trying to draw her out. She wasn’t taking my hints and kept answering simple yes or nos.
I worried that Krysten would take offense, and that I needed to explain to her how terribly shy she was. But Mrs. Romano proved again that she was a kind and understanding woman.
At the dress shop, we started looking at some different styles of dresses as I didn’t know what I wanted. I’d never thought about wedding dresses before. Luciano gave me some ideas and that had helped.
After looking at some, they brought an entire rack for us to look at after I described the type of dress I was looking for.
“I want something that doesn’t have a lot of lace with a simple type of elegance to it. Something that is fairly modest, um, with almost a mermaid trumpet style bottom.”
“You would look good in anything,” Krysten added reassuringly. She caught on instantly that I was out of my element.
“Luciano said that he liked the more form fitting ones. So I’m going to try and start with a few of those. I’ll see if I can find one that I like. Maybe something with some sleeves that’s still a little more on the modest side. I don’t want him killing half the church for looking at me as I walked down the aisle.”
Krysten laughed. “You’ve certainly got his number.”
His mom and the assistant began talking and I scooted closer to Carina.
“What’s wrong with you?” I whispered. “Please don’t tell me that getting married is going to make it where you can’t talk to me anymore.”
“Nothing like that.” She snorted. “It’s just the house and even life are so different in the last couple of days now that you’re gone.”
“I talked to Luciano, and I believe we can get you an apartment with a roommate that you’ll like. She’s had a tough situation and needs someone to look after her. Oh, and Luciano’s mom is going to offer you a position working in the family as their lawyer.”
Carina looked skeptical and eyed me like I had gone crazy. “Days ago we hated their family and now you want me to move into an apartment with one of them and work for them?”
“I know, but it’s a good opportunity and the family will take care of you. Carina, you can have a relatively normal life outside of work and not be stuck having a bodyguard all the time. I promised to always take care of you. This is how I can.”
“You don’t need to take care of me. And I will have a normal life,” Carina protested. “I’m not bringing an innocent man into this type of lifestyle.”
Krysten walked back over with more dresses, and I resigned myself to trying them on.
Thankfully, after only a few, I saw one that fit exactly and was perfect for what I was thinking. I gazed at myself in the mirror, and could picture myself marrying Luciano. It finally all hit, that I was getting married. What shocked me more, was that I was more elated about it than anything else.
