Chapter 14 Caterina
Caterina
Despite the horrible events of the reception yesterday, that’s not all our conversation revolves around later that night when I meet with the girls in Sofia’s bedroom again.
“Then what happened?!” Frankie asks, not bothering to hide her giggles.
Sofia, the most ladylike of us, has her face buried in her pillow out of respect for my humiliation. Gia pats my shoulder with sympathy.
“I took the longest shower of my life and, when I came back out, only the maid was in there making the bed with fresh sheets.”
Frankie laughs more boisterously than any girl I’ve ever met, but she lays down beside me on Sofia’s enormous bed, hugging me as I cuddle Mr. Whiskers.
I have no sisters. Father rarely allowed strangers in the house, never girls to have sleepovers with me.
I think I like hanging out in the nursery as Alessio calls it.
“It’s selfish of me but I wish we could all stay together here like this for longer,” I admit, wistfully.
“I’d gladly stay if Uncle Silvio would allow it. I hate being at Uncle Enzo’s with Rocco lurking around,” Frankie says.
“Yes, I wish we could stay here longer, Caterina. No matter how much he adores me, I’ll be lonely in New York once I marry Carlo.
His sisters are so much younger. I wish the men in our world didn’t work all the time,” Sofia sighs.
She’s very smitten with a man she’s only met a handful of times.
I hope he may live up to her rose-colored view of him.
“I wish Ritchie would be gone even more than he is,” Gia mutters. “I’m glad you made it through your first time alright, Caterina.”
My cheeks warm, thinking of Alessio’s kisses and caresses. My wedding night wasn’t ideal but it was far better than what I’d expected. “I didn’t think it would be like that.”
“Didn’t it hurt when you two…” Sofia asks, observing my smile.
Nervously, I bite my bottom lip. I told them the tale of my period starting this morning but not that we didn’t have sex. “No, he didn’t hurt me.”
Alessio gave me the choice last night, but I don’t think he’d want that known. Nico told me what was expected of the men with the bloody sheets, and it wouldn’t be in my best interest to do anything to discredit and possibly anger my husband.
When I went down to breakfast at last, all the family was present except my mother and Nico who remained at the hospital.
Alessio kept a certain distance, talking to the other men, but my father walked over and hugged me.
I can’t even remember the last time he touched me until he led me down the aisle yesterday.
He acted as if I’d been deathly ill instead of a freshly deflowered bride.
“Your mother and I are proud of you, Caterina.” All I had to do to get a snippet of praise from him was lie back and take my husband’s dick, huh?
It had given me a secret thrill knowing I’d defied him.
When I look up, I see Gia studying me shrewdly. She probably remembers her wedding night less than fondly. Does she suspect something?
“Did you go visit your brother and the babies today?” Sofia asks, gently.
I nod, grateful for the change of subject. Armando had offered to drive me to the hospital after breakfast. I hadn’t expected that, and it occurs to me that Alessio must’ve told him to. Even if we get along, my bodyguard doesn’t randomly offer to take me places.
“The little ones are so precious.” Amadeo and Lucia are fraternal twins, small but healthy. “Mother is going to travel home with Nico once the hospital says it’s safe to take them. It’s tragic that they’ll never know their mother.”
The other girls murmur sympathies, but it makes me wonder again what happened to Alessio’s mother. Did he know her at all?
“It’s going to be difficult for Nico.” I hate to say more – even if none of them act as though they were fond of Sil, Jr., he was their half-brother and cousin – but my heart hurts for my brother and his children.
I’d never seen such heaviness in his gray eyes as I did today when he was holding his little daughter, trying to soothe her while clearly out of his depth.
Not to mention he just lost his wife so unexpectedly.
Even if Margareta said she hated him, I don’t know all of their story and they were married for nearly two years.
Our chatter runs on to other topics, namely, back to what happened at the reception yesterday when Bibi comes in.
She smiles at her youngest daughter but seems less than pleased to see the rest of us.
“You should get your beauty rest, Sofia. Carlo has an early flight, but I know he’d want to see you before he leaves.
And, you two girls should be waiting for your husbands in your rooms,” she says to Gia and me.
“Mom, I’m twenty and married. I don’t have to go to bed because you say so anymore,” Gia says. “Besides, the Seconda Notte has just started. The men will be down at the guest house for several hours smoking, drinking and screwing around.”
Bibi’s lips twist downward. “That’s enough. Just because you can’t make Ritchie treat you well doesn’t mean you should upset your sister with such talk.”
Gia scowls and leaves the room. Thankfully, her mother follows a moment later.
“Should we go ask Gia to come back?” I ask. I hate the way Bibi treats her eldest.
“It’s best to let her cool off when Aunt Bibi pisses her off,” Frankie answers. “But, she’s not wrong about the men screwing around. I overheard Rocco before the wedding yesterday bragging about how they closed Club Oasis tonight so the girls would be available to work the party here.”
Sofia scrunches up her nose. “Rocco’s full of it. He won’t be here anyway after he ran back to Reno with his tail between his legs last night.”
No, he won’t be here but, based on what Nico told me two years ago, I fear that Rocco may not be full of it in this instance.
Frankie yawns and says she’s going to bed soon after. Sofia nods and says she’s going downstairs for a snack before turning in.
When I leave the so-called nursery, I spot Armando seated down the hallway.
Gia hasn’t gone to bed yet after all because she’s stopped to talk to him.
Something about their posture and tense expressions has me slowing my steps.
They’ve all known each other for years, and I don’t want to be an interloper.
“Ready for bed, Mrs. De Luca?” Armando asks, cutting off his conversation with Gia. It’s strange being called that. He smirks at Mr. Whiskers in my arms, but I don’t care.
“Yes, but I can find my own way back to the bedroom.”
He shakes his head and stands. “It's still my job to see you there safely when so many others are on the property tonight and your husband is occupied with business.”
Gia walks off without a word, and I allow Armando to follow me since he will regardless. “So, you don’t get to go to the Seconda? You were Alessio’s Best Man. Seems like you’d be there.”
“I’ll join Alessio later.”
I press my lips together, wanting to ask questions that I may not like the answers to. Frankie mentioning all the prostitutes attending and knowing what I know from Nico has me fretting. My marriage is designed to give me multiple things to fret about, I think.
“You seem well.”
I raise my head from my deep contemplation of the hall carpet at Armando’s statement. “I am well.”
“I knew you wouldn’t need your knife,” he says, chuckling.
I roll my eyes at him before deciding to ask about something else. We’re nearly to the room so I have to spit it out without any preamble. “What happened to the first Mrs. De Luca? Sil, Jr. and Alessio’s mother?”
Armando pauses, giving me a curious look, before he opens my door. I step inside and turn, waiting on an answer. “She died,” he says distantly before closing the door, leaving me alone and with no answer at all.
***
I was surprised I slept well last night beside Alessio.
I’m not so surprised that I sleep poorly tonight.
It’s nearly three and Alessio still hasn’t come to bed.
I’ve tossed and turned, my hand reaching for his solid presence even during my fitful sleep.
How could I possibly be missing that after just one night?
“These horrible traditions,” I groan, pushing the covers back.
I hate the whole notion of the Seconda, that a groom is encouraged to cheat on his wife after one night.
I remember Mother’s face those nights my father wouldn’t come home.
I remember the stranger’s perfume clinging to him and how she suffered in silence.
Will that be my fate, too? Considering I’m still not convinced Alessio doesn’t intend to use me for revenge against my brother, maybe I should pray that unfaithfulness is the worst I’ll suffer as a wife.
Or, maybe I’m letting my thoughts carry me away.
Surely, not all men participate in the fun after the business is done.
Alessio may not have done anything but talked business, drank too much and fallen asleep in another part of the mansion tonight.
He did say he wasn’t used to sharing his bed.
So why do unwanted images and scenarios keep flashing behind my eyelids every time I attempt to sleep?
It’s not like we’re a love match or I really know Alessio. Why does this hurt so much?
A half-hour later, the door opens and my eyes squeeze shut. “Caterina?” he calls, softly.
My heart pounds. Do I answer or feign sleep? My morning courage is long gone at this hour. I pretend to sleep, hearing every sound as Alessio goes to the toilet, brushes his teeth and strips out of his clothes. The bed dips with his weight. Will he touch me? I might like it if he-
My body stiffens as I catch a whiff of another woman’s perfume. I feel like I might vomit. Or, cry.
But, the one thing I realize I won’t do is suffer in silence.
“You’re awake, aren’t you?” he says from beside me, sounding amused.
Fury, jealousy and madness, unlike anything I have ever known, crashes through my veins. Faster than I thought I was capable of moving, I snatch my knife from the nightstand where it sits and press it to the three-headed wolf on his throat. “You’re damn right, I’m awake!”