Chapter 20 Aurelia
Aurelia
“Do you think we can pull off a wedding in eight weeks?” I sat across from Constantine at the small table on the outdoor patio of Bam Bar.
When he’d picked me up from work, he’d offered to bring me here as an afternoon treat.
He always did little things like that to make me happy.
I knew he didn’t care for sweets, so this was entirely for me.
“Absolutely.”
“Really?”
“If you wanted to get married on Saturday, I could pull that off.”
“How?” I decided on lemon and orange for my flavors, along with a dollop of cream.
“Because I know everyone, and anyone I don’t know, my mother knows. But don’t rush it on my account. I want you to have whatever you want. If you want to wait until the baby is born, that’s okay too.”
I knew he didn’t want that, but he was considerate enough to let me have my way.
“No, I want to do it before I get too big. A little bump is fine.”
“Any kind of bump is fine,” he said with his charismatic grin.
“Trust me, the bigger I get, the less excited you’re going to be.”
“Trust me, sweetheart. That will not be the case.” He took a few bites of his granita before he abandoned it, like just a taste was plenty for him. “It’s a fetish I didn’t know I had. Knowing you’re growing my son or daughter . . . it’s just unbelievable. Biggest turn-on in the world.”
“That’s sweet of you to say.”
He gave a slight shake of his head. “Not saying it to be sweet. By the way, I found someone to marry us.”
“Who?”
“Pope Zephyrinus.”
“What?”
He nodded. “He said he’ll come down for the ceremony.”
“The pope?”
He nodded again. “And my uncle.”
“I didn’t know the pope left Rome for weddings.”
“Not often, but he does.”
“That’s really nice of him to do that.”
“Yeah, it was generous of him. It means a lot to me to have him bless our union and our child. The closest to God we’ll ever get, at least on this side of the veil.”
“Yeah,” I said. “So, is anyone else coming from Rome?”
“Might invite a few friends.”
My granita suddenly became less important. I thought of the person who had been painfully absent from our lives. “Is Rocco one of those friends?”
He crossed his arms over his chest, wearing a gray T-shirt with his designer sunglasses on his nose. He didn’t seem to be in a bad mood, but he didn’t seem enthused by the subject either. “No.”
My heart dropped in disappointment. “I thought he would be your best man.”
“Antonio is a better fit.”
Antonio was family and a great friend, but he wasn’t Rocco. “I really think he should be invited.”
“Aurelia.” He didn’t raise his voice, but his tone told me to back off.
“What could he have possibly said or done to make you cut him off like this?”
“Let it go,” he said calmly.
“Why won’t you tell me?”
He gave a shrug. “Because it doesn’t matter.”
“I think it does.”
He looked down the pathway to the people walking by, ignoring me.
“Then I’ll invite him as my guest.”
“Go ahead,” he said. “Like he would come.”
When I’d texted Rocco and told him we were pregnant, he never replied. I hoped that he just hadn’t seen it, because the idea that he wouldn’t care broke my heart. How could someone Constantine loved like a brother just . . . disappear? How could a friendship that solid just fall apart?
Constantine had a workout session in the morning and the afternoon. His morning seemed to be focused solely on heavy weights, and his afternoon had more cardio and endurance training. I’d see him on the StairMaster or running six miles on the treadmill like it was no big deal.
So while he was occupied with that, I texted Rocco.
I know this is a long shot, but could you come to Taormina and talk to Constantine?
I don’t know what happened between you two, and it’s killing me.
He won’t share anything with me, but I can tell he’s hurting.
I stared at the phone and waited for his three dots to appear.
When I’d reached out to him in the past, he responded with lightning speed, just the way Constantine always did.
But now, he was absent, gone like a ghost, gone like he’d never been real.
I continued to stare at the screen and hope for something.
But seconds turned into minutes, and I knew a reply would never come.