HELENA’S POV
I kissed him for hours, fucked him till I was sore, and there was a reminder of him inside me and when my eyes fluttered open the next morning with the sun streaming mildly through the window and, I found Dante staring at me.
“We’re getting married” he said softly and it didn’t hit me yet until I suddenly sprang with my hair falling over my face.
“You weren’t joking?” I shot my eyes to him, running my hands through my messy bed hair, a slight flash of Dante pulling my hair while he plowed into me.
“Why would I joke with something like that”
“But – !” I jumped down from the bed and began pacing the room “I don’t have a dress, we don’t have a venue, my mother doesn’t know about it what of a wedding cake? We have to at least have a wedding cake”
Dante kept his gaze constant on me while I ranted.
“You don’t need a wedding dress, you’re perfect just like this” he said to me with a flinty gaze and I looked down at myself, I had managed to slip on a skimpy night dress the previous night.
“and also we don’t need a venue, we’re get married right here, just family what not, I could call Father Ramos and maybe later on we could throw a wedding party” he added, my eyes widened as the possibility of all this coming true. Were we really getting married again
“And the cake?” I looked at him innocently from where I stood.
“We could get Matteo to run to the store and get one, don’t you think?” he chuckled, stretching out his hands out to me and beckoning me to him and I went with the magnet that always pulls me towards him. I ran my hands through his soft hair and held him close, with his head resting on my belly while he grabbed my waist.
“We’re really doing this?” I locked my eyes with his, with the hopes of luring out the sincerity from him and hoping this wasn’t all a well thought prank to get back to me for kissing his cousin.
“Absolutely” he nodded.
“We’re getting married?” I asked yet again and Dante pressed a kiss to my lips.
“Yes principessa”
I squealed, pulling from him “I got call to Mama, and Vivianna”
“Well, I got to call Father Ramos”
***
It was a little over 2 hours and my mother and sister were arguing in Italian over my head. My mom was upset over the suddenness of the whole thing and Vivianna was upset that Mama was upset.
“This is not how a wedding is done Helena cara mia? Nobody just wakes up one morning and decides to get married”
“Oh Mama please, you’re just upset there’s no party” Vivianna cut in
“There is a party” I interjected “Just not today”
Mama looked at me through the mirrors and she weaved my hair back in a French braid “I just wish your father was alive to see you get married to the same man twice”
I met her eyes “Just be happy for me Mama, Dante has been a great help to our family. He took care of the Anotttis, don’t you forget what they did to us mama”
“How can I forget?” she fastened the braids at the end, her trembling hands meeting my shoulder. Mama wasn’t so old, but her eyes were tired with grief and her hands trembled every now and then.
“I’m really happy for you Helena” Vivianna cooed at the corner “and as a wedding gift” she thrust a bouquet of hydrangeas in my hands and my eyes lit up, my fingers brushing against the soft petals and I smiled at her.
Another two hours later and I was dressed up in a simple white dress that I had in my closet, my legs slipping into a white glass heels and Vivianna was generous enough to lend me her veil from her wedding and it was my ‘something borrowed’. By the time I walked downstairs with Mama and Vivianna on either side of me, my eyes immediately met with Matteo, who stood at the bottom of the stairs wearing a rumpled suit, his collar flying and his hands carelessly placed in his pocket. I looked ahead, trying to spot Dante but I only caught a glimpse of him talking to Father Ramos outside.
Matteo glared at me, and I returned it and then he walked up to me and seized me by arm but subtly so, and after my mother and sister had retreated to the corner.
“I told you not to be with him and then you go ahead to plan a wedding” he said to me, in my ears so I was the only one that heard and I wanted to recoil from him but his grip on my arm was firm.
“You’re wearing a suit so I guess you’re more okay with it than I thought” I retorted back.
“It’s not too late to call if off Helena”
I shot him an icy look “You must be out of your mind Matteo, are you crazy?”
“I’m only looking out for you Helena” he said again but from the corner of my eye, I could see Matteo and Father Ramos approaching so I pulled away from Matteo but after pointing a finger at him and the words spewing out my mouth.
“You stay the hell away from me, you’ve ruined enough. First my engagement ring, and then the shit you pulled yesterday”
“I’ve only been ”
“Far away from me Matteo”
I pulled away from him just the same time Dante stepped back into the house with Father Ramos close on his heels, dressed in his usual cream colored cassock, protecting a bulging belly but Father always had smiling eyes and a good chuckle, it was easy to make him laugh.
“Are we ready?” Dante asked now, specifically looking at me and I felt a blush creep up my cheeks as I floated towards his outspread hands. We headed outside to the garden and it was at a very crucial moment I realized we didn’t have the rings.
“If you’re going to start panicking about the rings, I took care of it” he said as if sensing my panic.
“Oh ”
“I wondered how long it was going to take” he echoed back with a smile.
We stood before Father Ramos, my hands safely tucked in Dante’s as he slid the ring unto my finger and just as Father Ramos went through the usual chant of anyone objecting the wedding, I held my breath silently because I knew there were at least two people who could object to this wedding, but I held my breath still waiting for the moment to pass and just when I thought it was over and at the final second, a loud feminine voice cut through.
“Me I object this wedding”
My heart stopped when I turned to find out who it was.
It was Gianna.
And there was Matteo smirking in the corner