47. Sunsets #2
Stepping around the water fountain, I gave them an apologetic smile when they noticed me.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt. I was out for a walk and overheard you talking. Do you mind if I join you?”
Soraya nodded and pointed to the padded sun lounger beside her as Cecilia examined me from head to toe with a puzzled look. There was a flash of recognition in her eyes, but she couldn’t quite place me.
“Grazie,” I said, taking a seat and smiling at my mother-in-law. I extended my hand to her as if we were meeting for the first time. “I’m Arianna.”
She squeezed it before letting go. “Lovely name.”
“Sani’s wife, Mamma,” Raya said, her pained hazel eyes flickering between us. “The woman we are trying to protect from Sean McKenna.”
Cecilia’s face dropped at my uncle’s name, her complexion paling. “Oh, yes. We must keep you far, far away from him. We will never do business with the McKennas. Not after what he did. That poor family. Awful, awful man.”
Soraya breathed out on a deep exhale. “Which is why offering me in marriage to the Russians is the best plan we have.”
“There must be something else. Another deal we can offer the Russians that doesn’t involve marriage?” I asked, my panic flaring.
Raya shook her head decisively. “The Bratva only align themselves through blood or marriage. They have very strict and traditional rules. You are Sean’s only opportunity to get the Russians to form an alliance with him.
He won’t stop coming after you. And if he succeeds, he would come for all of us next, and my brother would be dead.
Because ?Sani will get himself killed before he lets you go. ”
I swallowed and looked down at my hands. I knew she was right.
“There must be no war. If the Russians join the Irish…” Cecilia shuddered, staring at the flowers. “It will end everything we’ve built.”
“Exactly, Mamma,” Raya jumped at her mother’s moment of clarity. “We need to form an alliance with the Russians. It’s the only way to protect this family and Arianna.”
“But… this is your life, Raya! Do you honestly want to marry a complete stranger? A dangerous Russian heir you’ve never met? He might treat you terribly, and you might never love him. You’d have to leave Italy and your family. How can you be okay with that?”
“Because it means my family will be safe. So I am more than okay with it.” She picked a flower from the bush and twisted it in her hands.
“I’m a twenty-nine-year-old woman who has never been kissed, Aria.
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m not the most extroverted of people.
” She smiled sadly at me. “I’m not allowed on dating apps, and I’ll never meet a man in a bar or supermarket.
The only men I’ve ever interacted with are my family or men paid to protect me.
My prospects are fairly slim. If my brothers had ?their way, I’d stay in this house all my life and die a virgin.
So even if marrying for power is not what I pictured for my future, at least it’s not that. ”
“It’s still insane,” I argued, shaking my head.
“Maybe. But who knows, I might fall in love. Crazier things have happened. And even if I don’t, I’ll have children to love, eventually.”
I stared at her, still unable to understand how she could be so relaxed and at ease with it.
She didn’t even seem to have a single doubt or fear about what it could mean.
I admired her courage and the love she had for her family, but no matter how composed she appeared, I couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed with guilt.
“You wouldn’t have to do any of this if it weren’t for me.”
“Perhaps.” She shrugged. “Or maybe it would have been something else. We can’t predict the future. All we can do is live for the moments we have.” She reached for her mother’s hand and smiled. “That’s right, isn’t it, Mamma?”
Cecilia, who had been silently gazing into space, blinked and turned to her daughter. “Moments are all we have, tesoro. Nothing is promised.”
Raya placed the flower behind her mum’s ear with a bright smile and then rested her head against Cecilia’s shoulder. Cecilia kissed the top of her head, and my eyes welled up as I thought of my mum and all the moments we’d never share again.
Nothing was promised.
When Olivia took over supervising Cecilia, Raya and I headed back towards the main house but stopped ?on the back steps to admire the sunset. An orange, pinkish glow illuminated the sky as the birds travelled overhead to take shelter for the night.
Raya sat down on a step, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath of the floral aroma with a contented sigh. “My favourite time of ?day.”
I smiled and perched next to her. “Why sunset?”
“I don’t know.” She opened her eyes and stared at the horizon. “It’s quiet.”
“I’ve always thought sunsets are a bit sad.” I placed my hands on the patio behind me and leaned back to watch the sun sink lower behind the treeline. “Like it always leaves you wanting to pause time.”
She pouted, thinking hard. “I’m not very good at putting how I feel into words.
Words…” she swallowed as if there was something physically lodged in her throat.
“...they don’t come easily to me. But I know what you mean.
It’s longing. The need to hold on to things before they slip away.
But look…” She pointed towards where the orange sky bled into crimson.
“Endings can be beautiful too. Just look at how it’s worked out between you and Sani.
You’re madly in love. I honestly thought you might castrate him after your wedding. ”
I laughed, the sound blending with the last warmth of the Italian sunlight. “I did threaten to stab him with my shoe on the way to the church.”
“You should’ve,” Raya chuckled. “He’d have been in to it.”
I smiled as I reflected on that day and how furious I’d been at my completely deranged husband. “Ugh,” I moaned, rolling my eyes. “I hate that he’s always right. He told me in that car ride that one day I’d realise what he did was for both of us.”
“Yeah,” she breathed. “He’d been waiting to find you for a long time. He wasn’t going to let you get away from him, no matter what it took.”
“I keep thinking about what might have happened to me if I’d never walked into the massage room and mistaken him for the masseur.
I’d have dated Callum and ended up in Ireland, held hostage by my psychotic uncle until he married me to some Russian heir for his own greed.
” The hair on my arms bristled at the thought.
“Everything happens for a reason, and people come into your life when you need them most,” she said with a gentle smile. “I’m a firm believer in that.”
“So you think this is fate? That I’m here, married to your brother, and you’re willing to take my place as a Russian bride?”
She shrugged. “Maybe it is fate. I’ve felt for a while now that something is coming for me. Perhaps it’s this.”
I frowned, bristling at that ominous statement. “Something’s coming for you? Like a bad feeling?”
She twisted her lips and pushed a curl behind her ear as she pondered. “Not bad. Just… dark. Like I’m waiting for some great unravelling that will change the entire course of my life.”
I stared at the most complex woman I think I’ve ever met, yet somehow, I think I understood exactly what she meant.
Sani was my undoing. He burst into my dull life in colour and opened my eyes to a world I’d never realised I belonged to.
He made me feel everything so deeply from the moment I met him and compelled me to confront all the darker parts of myself I’d always avoided.
In a way, I felt reborn, because this man loved me so fiercely yet softly, that for the first time in my life, I felt safe enough to truly be myself.
I smiled as I remembered something my mum used to say to me when I was a child. I hated going to bed, always wanting to stay up late with her and telling her how unfair it was that night came and I had to sleep.
“The sky doesn’t darken to punish you, but to prepare you for the stars,” I whispered her words, only now seeing beyond their meaning.
My sky was the darkest it had ever been, but those stars had never seemed brighter, especially my North Star.
The biggest grin spread across my face as an idea of showing Sani just how much I appreciated everything he’d done for me, for us, came to mind.
Raya looked at me with a smile. “I like that.”
“My mum used to say it to me when I was younger. I never understood it until now.”
She exhaled a slow, unsteady breath that seemed to carry the devastation of a storm beneath its gentleness.
“Will you take care of Mamma for me? You are so patient and kind to her. And Sani. He’ll spiral at first. But I know you can keep him from losing his mind.”
“Of course,” I answered quickly. I was already looking forward to spending more time with Cecilia and getting to know her better.
I could tell she’d lived a colourful life and I knew she’d enjoy telling me all about it.
Sani was another story, but I’d try. “You say that like you’re leaving now. If the men can find a better solu–”
“When the men realise this is our best and only option, things will move quickly. Knowing you will be here with them makes the thought of saying goodbye a little easier. If Mamma asks about me, tell her I’m safe and happy, won’t you?
I plan to be, but I don’t want her to worry.
” She sighed. “I guess soon enough, she’ll forget to ask. ”
I wrapped my arms around myself as the last of the sun vanished from sight, leaving a warm glow behind. “Life is beautiful and so fucking brutal. Nothing ever lasts. And nothing is ever promised.”
“There’s something so savagely devastating yet incredibly uplifting about that, though, isn’t there?”
“There is,” I agreed, meeting her gaze and mirroring her wistful smile. “There really is.”