Lorenzo never had me in his heart!
I gave up everything for him. I put him first in my life. I even broke faith with my own blood, went against Don Valente himself, for that man!
Yet, he wouldn't even grant me an honest alliance ceremony.
Watching him hold his courier's waist with one hand while touching her pregnant belly with the other, his eyes filled with tenderness to the point where I felt like I couldn't breathe!
That man didn't care about my love. He threw it away and stomped on it. I was exhausted. I couldn't love him anymore.
Just as my parents and the assembled families were turning to leave the hall, the Donna Falcone caught my mother's arm, her rings cold against Celia Valente's sleeve. "Signora Valente, what are you doing? Today is a great day for our children. You don't want the other families whispering, do you?"
Don Vito Falcone spoke up too, both hands folded over the head of his cane. "Yes, Lorenzo made a mistake, but you can settle accounts with him later. This is a matter for the young ones to handle between themselves. We, the old ones, should only watch."
My mother's laugh cut like a blade. "Watch? You want us to stand here and be shamed further before every family in this city? The Valente name has bled enough respect today."
My father said nothing. He only looked at me, and let me decide.
Lorenzo walked Vittoria up to me, his hand at her back, his eyes cold as a January river.
"Are you finished with your scene? Do you mean to drag both our families through the mud before you're satisfied?"
I let out a bitter laugh. Who was dragging whom through the mud? Me?
Vittoria looked at me, her eyes brimming. "Adriana, I'm so sorry. When I heard you and Don Falcone were to be joined, I came only to give you my blessing. But..."
Then she pressed one hand flat against her belly, shameless, and went on, "I never expected to fall pregnant. I know what I've done is wrong, and I'll take any punishment you name. But the child is innocent. I can't let my baby be born without a father's name."
She looked at me, pleading. "Adriana, you have a good heart. I know you wouldn't wish that on a child, would you?"
Before I could answer, my mother leveled a finger at Vittoria and her voice rose sharp enough to still the room. "What a shameless little climber! You crawl into bed with my daughter's promised man, get yourself with child, and now you come here to play the wounded lamb? I have never in my life seen anyone so without honor."
The Donna Falcone was quick to catch my mother's arm again.
"Oh, Signora Valente, please. Be calm. Vittoria isn't wrong. The child is innocent, after all."
Then she turned to me. "Adriana, don't you agree?"
My mother tore her arm free and her words came out cold as gun steel. "In-law? You are no kin of mine. My daughter is nothing to your son from this moment on."
She turned to me. "Adriana, we're leaving. Don't marry him. Let those three keep each other."
The Donna Falcone's fingers found her pearls and turned the strand a slow half-turn, her face darkening beneath the polite mask.
"What are you saying? We can't act in haste. Every family we know is watching this room. We should handle this the proper way."
She looked at me and softened her voice to honey. "Adriana, you've always been the sensible one. Speak to your mother. Don't give them all something to laugh about."
Lorenzo spoke, flat and cold. "Adriana, if you love me, you accept all of me. Vittoria carries my child. You should love that baby the same as you love me."
That man spoke as though it were my duty to raise another woman's child under his roof!
Don Vito Falcone looked from Vittoria to me and let out a long sigh, tapping the head of his cane twice against the marble floor. "Adriana, the Donna and I watched you grow up. We know what kind of woman you are. What's done is done. There's no sense in tearing the house down over it. What matters now is that we set things right."
I looked at him, calm as still water. "And how do you intend to set things right?"
He answered without a moment's hesitation. "First, you finish the ceremony and take your place as Lorenzo's wife. The child in Vittoria's belly is Lorenzo's blood, so it has to be born.
"But don't trouble yourself. You'll be the one to raise the child. You'll be its true mother. As for Vittoria, we give her a sum of cash and she disappears."
