Chapter 13: No Blessing

I carried the candle down the aisle with two hundred people watching me do it.

The young priest lit it from his own taper at the foot of the altar.

The flame leaned and steadied.

Bianca walked beside me with the cut-down hem of her gown brushing her knees.

She did not look at her father in the front pew.

Rocco stood at the rail in his black suit.

He did not look at anyone but me.

"Stand here, Donna," the priest said, and put me on the left side of the rail, one step from my husband.

The organ stopped.

"We are gathered," the priest said, "to take a second wife of the table, as the family's law allows."

His voice cracked on the last word, and he began again.

I held the candle in both hands.

The wax was warm and I could feel the weight of the silver stand in my wrists.

"Rocco Brandolini, do you take Bianca Corsetti?"

Rocco's eyes stayed on mine.

"I said in March that the council decides," he said. "I was wrong to say it. I'll say the rest after."

A murmur ran along the pews.

The priest wet his lips.

"Bianca Corsetti, do you take him?"

Bianca stood with her hands folded and said nothing.

The priest waited.

In the front pew Aldo shifted his gold watch from one pocket to the other.

"The law asks one more voice," the priest said, and turned to me.

"Donna Livia. Do you bless this rite?"

I looked at the flame.

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