Chapter 23: No Terms

Costanza took my arm at the church doors, and we waited for the quartet to begin.

I had drawn the nave on paper at twenty. Now I saw it with the candles lit and the pews full.

The vaulted ceiling went up into gold.

The restorers had kept every line I gave them.

"You're shaking," my sister said.

"So are you."

"I'm allowed. I have a new heart, and it's making a fuss."

I laughed, and the first note of the cello came down the aisle.

We walked.

It was a long aisle, and every head turned.

Falsetti men stood in their good suits.

The capos sat together on the left, and the old doorman had been wheeled to the front.

Halfway down, I saw my mother in the last pew, in a dark hat, with her handkerchief over her mouth.

My father sat beside her.

He did not stand. He did not look away.

His face was wet, and he made no move to wipe it.

I did not stop.

I did not forgive him. But I let him see me walk past in the dress.

Costanza squeezed my arm.

"Don't look back," she said.

"I wasn't going to."

"Good. Look at him."

Ruggiero stood at the altar rail in a black suit.

He was not smiling.

He had both hands clasped in front of him, and when I reached him, I saw they were not steady.

Costanza kissed my cheek and put my hand in his.

"Take her," she said. "Don't make her tell you twice."

"I won't," said Ruggiero.

The old doorman officiated from his chair.

He was brief.

He said what the Church required and what the Families required.

Keep reading free with an account. Start My Fiancé Sacrificed Me for My Sister's Heart from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.