The Wedding Was Never Mine to Lose

The Donna of the Falcone family agreed at once.

"Yes, yes. This is a good arrangement."

Vittoria added, one hand resting lightly against her belly, "I have no objections. Adriana, I'm sorry for everything. Once the child is born, you may raise it. I won't appear before you, or Lorenzo, or the child again."

Hearing this, I was so angry that I laughed.

Of course she had no objections.

Not only would she walk away with a fortune in tribute, she wouldn't even have to raise the child herself. Everything handed to her, clean, like a debt forgiven at a sit-down. Who in this life wouldn't dream of such an easy passage?

Lorenzo, growing impatient, cracked one knuckle of his right hand and said angrily, "Adriana, my parents have said everything that needs saying. Why are you still being so difficult?"

He looked at me coldly, and his voice went colder still. "If I didn't believe you loved me so much, I wouldn't even bother going through with this union."

"Then as you wish," I said firmly.

"We won't be married."

Lorenzo's eyes widened in disbelief.

My mother clapped her hands together in the hush of the room. "Well said, Adriana. I stand with you."

Across from her, Lorenzo's parents went pale.

"Adriana, an alliance like this is a serious matter. You can't simply walk away from it," Donna Falcone protested. "You have to think carefully."

Don Vito glared at his son. "Stop running your mouth and stand aside."

Lorenzo scowled at me before turning to steady Vittoria at his elbow.

His parents turned back to me, ready to make their case again.

I looked at them. All my life I had shown them respect, almost as though they were my own blood. But now they weren't thinking of me at all. They cared for one thing only: that I married Lorenzo and raised Vittoria's child.

Seeing they couldn't move me, Donna Falcone turned to my mother instead.

"Please, Don Valente, Donna Valente, talk some sense into her. Even if you won't think of us, think of your daughter. If she breaks this pact now, before all the families, it will ruin her standing."

Don Vito nodded quickly. "Yes. We must protect Adriana's respect in the eyes of the Cosa Nostra."

Something in their words rang false.

"So you're using my honor against me," I said coldly.

For a moment Lorenzo's parents looked uneasy, then recovered.

"Adriana, that isn't fair. We're thinking of you as well," Donna Falcone insisted.

"Yes, you must understand our good intentions," Don Vito added.

I scoffed and threw it back at them. "Good intentions? Your son betrayed me before the ceremony, and you're every bit as shameless as he is."

Disgusted, my mother took my hand, ready to lead me out again.

I shook my head and told her gently, "Mother, don't worry. This isn't over yet."

I turned back to the Falcones. "You've known about Lorenzo and Vittoria all along, haven't you? You hid it from me, pushed for this union, and made sure we swore the pact first. All so you could bring Vittoria's child into your bloodline without a single complication."

I let out a bitter laugh. "No wonder you were in such a hurry to have us bound before the ceremony. You thought it all through."

Again Lorenzo's parents looked uneasy, and again they smoothed the mask back into place.

"Adriana, this is for your own good," Don Vito said smoothly. "You truly love Lorenzo. This way you still take his name, and we welcome our grandson into the family. It's the perfect arrangement."

"Perfect arrangement? What a joke."

My mother was trembling with rage. Slowly, finger by finger, she drew off one glove.

"How dare you deceive my daughter like this? Is there no bottom to your shamelessness?"

Dropping all pretense, Donna Falcone touched the pearls at her throat and turned the strand a slow half-turn. "It's too late to protest now. Adriana and Lorenzo are already bound by oath. If you don't want your daughter carrying the mark of a broken pact, she should accept reality and stay in the union. It's in everyone's interest."

Don Vito smirked. "Adriana, think carefully. You don't want to walk into every sit-down for the rest of your life as a woman who couldn't hold her own marriage, do you?"

Vittoria, silent for a while, suddenly smiled. Her hand stayed pressed to her belly. "Adriana, it's only one more child. Raising it won't be so hard."

She sighed dramatically. "It was such a small thing, and you had to make it a war. Now both families are at each other's throats. Was it really worth it?"

"Hold your tongue!"

My mother's face burned red as she lunged at Vittoria, hand raised to strike.

I caught her quickly and turned to the Falcones, meeting every smug face in the room.

"Sorry to disappoint you."

Lorenzo's parents frowned.

"What do you mean?" Don Vito asked.

I crossed my arms. Then, unhurried, I smoothed a single crease from my sleeve.

"Lorenzo and I never swore the pact. It was never sanctioned. There is no union at all."