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A few months ago, I didn’t even like Sienna. Her confidence and unfiltered honesty intimidated me. But now, she’s someone I rely on for emotional support. She’s my best friend, second only to Kaye. “I love Niccolo, I really do. I’ve thought about marrying him, but I didn’t think it would happen until I was finished with my Bachelor’s degree, at least. This,” I pause, struggling to find the words. “I didn’t expect any of this to happen.”
Kaye reaches out to take my hand, entwining her fingers with mine. “In life, you are never going to expect the moments that change your life. They’re going to happen to you whether you’re ready for them or not. Life is lived forward, but we onlyunderstand it in reverse. One of these days, this is all going to make sense. I promise.”
There’s a question on the tip of my tongue, a dozen of them. How can she promise that this will make sense? How can she be so calm about it? How can she act like there isn’t life or death waiting on the other side of this madness?
But I don’t ask any of my questions. Because maybe she’s right. Maybe I need to live through today and a thousand days just like it before it all makes sense.
Chapter 48
Niccolo
“Last chance,” Dante reminds me as we line up outside the church doors and wait for the music to begin. “If you want to back out, tell me now. I’ll get Lucky to cause a diversion.”
Since Christine only wanted two bridesmaids, I had to make the difficult decision of picking between my brothers. When I didn’t pick Luciano, he wasn’t hurt. Instead, he got it into his head that he should officiate the wedding instead. He made a big deal out of getting ordained online in less than ten minutes; Mother did not approve.
If anyone can cause a diversion so I could run out of here without being noticed, it would be Luciano.
“I’m good. I’m ready for this,” I tell him. This isn’t the first time I’ve gotten married, but it’s the first time I’m marrying someone of my choosing. If Giovanni came through the doors right now and offered me a million dollars to walk away from Christine, I wouldn’t even look at him twice.
Dante turns to fuss over my tie, his hands shaking with secondhand nervousness. For what feels like the hundredth time in the past hour, he straightens the knot and tucks in a stray strand of fabric. Every time he makes eye contact with me, he looks like he might burst into tears. It’s a side of Dante that I’ve never seen before—raw, vulnerable, and emotionally charged.
“I’m proud of you, Nicci,” he begins.
We’re going to miss our cue. The music is going to start playing, and we’ll need to walk through the doors to the waiting audience, and we’ll miss it. Then Lucky will think I ran away, and he’ll start freestyle rapping. I have to divert this conversation before it causes a scene.
“This isn’t my first wedding,” I remind him with a tight smile. It isn’t even my first wedding to someone in the Lucatello family.
“I know.” Dante continues to fuss over my tie. “But this is the first time you’re marrying someone you love. It is an extraordinary feeling, isn’t it? Life changing, some say. When I married Ada…” his voice trails off, breaking into a whisper as his throat constricts with emotion.
I place a gentle hand on his arm, urging him to continue his story. He doesn’t talk about his wife much, even though he says they’re deliriously happy. “What happened when you married Adalina?”
He runs his thumb across the knot of my silk tie before raising his gaze to meet mine. “Marrying Adalina was the single most beautiful moment of my life. I’ll never forget the way she looked in her dress or how I felt walking back down the aisle with her hand in mine.”
Their marriage, which happened a year ago, was a touching affair. I stood next to Dante as his best man and watched him recite his vows to her in Italian—a declaration of love so deep and intense that I felt like I was intruding.
“I hope you, Sal, and Luc find what I have. When you see Christine walking down the aisle, I hope you realize how much you’d be willing to sacrifice for her. And most of all, I hope you’re happy, little brother.” Dante’s hands drop to his sides as the sketch of a smile blooms on his lips.
Despite all the teasing and jokes my brothers and I make about Dante’s contentious relationship with his wife, we don’t know what happens behind closed doors. Maybe they’re tender to one another; maybe they’re happier than we know.
“Christine is everything to me, Dante. She is the sun and the moon, the stars that guide my path. She’s the only person that could have made me turn my entire life upside down.” My love for her has changed me, and she never asked for any of it.
Dante brushes invisible particles of dust off my shoulder before playfully tapping my cheek, his affection for me evident in the gesture. “I don’t pretend to understand your relationship, Nic, but if she is the one you want to be with, then so be it. I don’t have to understand it; no one does. It’s your marriage, and the only person that needs to understand it is you.”
The swell of music from inside the church breaks the spell.
Salvatore, who had been standing off to the side, unnoticed, throughout this entire conversation, now steps forward and claps a firm hand on both my and Dante’s shoulders. “Well, kiddos, it’s time to go on a walk. Unless you’re talking aboutrunning away. In which case, I wish someone would have told me so I could have brought my running shoes.”
I chuckle and sweep away my brother’s grip. “I’ll never run from Christine; I’ll only ever runtoher.”
“Well, if you don’t start running down that aisle, people will start thinking that you skipped out on your bride,” Salvatore reminds me.
Dante gestures me forward. “What’s the over-under on whether or notsheruns out onhim?” My face turns sheet white until my big brother bursts into laughter. “I’m kidding, Lolo. That girl loves you. Now go get married; it’s time to begin the rest of your life.”
Chapter 49
Christine
The wedding happens in the blink of an eye. One minute, I’m getting dressed with Kaye and Sienna; the next, we’re lining up to walk down the aisle.
