He did not look at her. Could not. Could only sense the tension racking her as she stood beside him. Driven by her own demons.
And she was taking him with her, and for that he damned her utterly.
The sonorous voice of the priest sounded over his head. Latin words were murmured and intoned as the words of the wedding service proceeded. Words that would bind them in holy matrimony.
A cold, icy shudder went through him. Clearing the numbing blankness in his mind. The priest was talking again, saying the most potent words of all. Would he take this woman for his wife?
Vito’s eyes were on the priest, then on the altar beyond. Then he turned his head slightly, to look at Carla’s veiled figure, trembling with tension. He had to do this. He had come this far, had done all this, to fulfil his promise to his father. What choice did he have now?
What choice? The question seared in his head. Demanding he answer.
For one long, endless moment he stood silent as that question burned in his head. Then he took a breath and gave his answer...
Everything seemed to have gone into slow motion. Or perhaps it was just
his brain that was going slow. He watched the priest incline his head towards him, as if he had not quite caught his response. Behind him, he heard a kind of susurration, like the buzzing of insects. And beside him he could hear Carla give an intake of breath that was like a razor in its sharpness.
And its disbelief.
He turned his head to look at her. She was staring at him. Staring at him through her veil with an expression in her eyes that was something like an alien out of a sci-fi film.
He closed his eyes a moment, then opened them again. ‘I won’t do this, Carla,’ he said.
His voice was quiet, audible only to her. But there was a certainty in it that infused every word.
‘I won’t do it to me—and I won’t do it to you. This is a travesty. An abhorrence. This is not what marriage is about—on any terms, or for any reason. You deserve better. And so do I.’
And so does Eloise—she didn’t deserve what I did to her.
A low, scarcely audible sound came from Carla’s throat. Her eyes distended and she swayed, her body starting to fold. Instantly Vito’s arm came around her. The priest stepped forward to help support her between them, and then Carla’s mother rushed forward, consternation on her face as they escorted Carla to the vestry. His own mother hastened after them, anxiety all over her face.
As he helped the stricken Carla to a chair, he turned towards Marlene. His voice, when he spoke, was very calm—but with unbending steel in it.
‘I will not go through with this, Marlene,’ he said, his eyes boring into hers as fury leapt in her face. ‘You may tell everyone that Carla couldn’t face marrying me, or that she is ill—whatever you want to say to protect her. But I will no longer be party to your machinations. I will pay you twice what Guido’s shares are worth—but I will no longer be blackmailed by you. Do your worst, if you must.’
Behind him came a cry of anguish. It was his mother, rushing forward to clutch his arm. He turned to her, leading her a little way away to give them privacy. This was nothing to do with Marlene or her daughter. This was between his mother and himself.
And his father.
He felt the strength of his resolve to hold dear every value he possessed. Every value that made life worthwhile—that had to guide every life in order for it to be...honourable.
‘Mamma,’ he said now, and his voice was as gentle as his hold on her, though the resolve, the strength, was still in his expression. ‘When you stood beside my father at your wedding you promised to love and honour him. And I, too, honour him—which is why I will not bind myself to the promise I made him. To marry Carla would be...dishonourable. Whatever the reasons for such a marriage, they cannot be justified. Neither for her, nor for me.’
He took an unsteady breath.
‘I’m sorry that I have not had the courage or the resolution to say this until this moment. I have tried to do my best by my heritage, by my promise to Papa. But not at this price.’
He looked at her stricken face, into her anguished eyes.
‘To marry Carla like this would be to dishonour all that I hold dear—all that you and Papa taught me to value. Self-respect, honesty, integrity... I will not strike this devil’s bargain—’ he cast a punitive look towards Marlene, huddled with Carla ‘—because it would shame me, it would shame my father, and it would shame you.’
Gently he put his arm around his weeping mother’s shoulder. ‘Time to go home, Mamma,’ he said. ‘There is something I must do. Someone I must find.’
Find Eloise.
And find out what she means to me once and for all.
CHAPTER SIX