Because Of Love

Months later…

Talia McKenna sat in the beautiful church listening to the choir sing the bridal march as she watched the bride sashay down the aisle to her waiting groom with grace befitting a princess. The beautiful voices echoed in the large hollow ceiling, bouncing off the walls, creating an angelic feeling inside the church. It hugged her, giving her comfort, and she sat there in complete awe, for a moment, forgetting why she was there in the first place.

The architecture blew her away. The church looked historical, something from the seventeen hundreds and Talia was surprised there weren’t any tourists wandering into the church, taking pictures in complete wonder of the beautiful infrastructure.

Of course getting by the heavy security would prove an issue. There was a wedding currently in progress and the bride would most definitely take offense to any interruption. Talia knew without a doubt the groom would. He was the type of person who didn’t appreciate interruptions, plans going off-course, duties not carried out to the letter. He was a stickler for order. Especially if those orders were coming from him. Good thing her lawyer had wrangled up an invitation. How? She didn’t know and she didn’t care. It served her purpose and that was good enough.

The large church was half filled with probably a thousand people. It was the ‘wedding of the century’ as publicized in the newspapers, with two of the most powerful Italian families uniting. But Talia was sure only half was family and the other business associates-past, present and future. She was sure anyone who was and wanted to be someone was here. Top of the pie kind of crowd. She snickered, a little bitter. Nothing worked better than a wedding celebration to further business aspirations. The only people missing were the press.

The singing stopped when the bride reached her groom. Her father handed her to the man she was to pledge her loyalty and love to, shaking the groom’s hand before he gave his daughter a kiss on the cheek and took his seat.

Bile rose to her throat. What a touching scene.

She never thought she would ever make it here. Never thought her resolve would hold this strong-until this moment. She had made it, and was determined to carry her plan through to the end.

She’d been so afraid to come to Italy alone. Her best friend Carrie had offered to come with her, to keep her company and offer moral support but she turned her down. She didn’t need anyone second guessing her decision, telling her what to do or think or offering their own opinions to what she was about to do.

It was her heart that was broken. She was the one who was betrayed and humiliated. Her life was the one that had changed drastically and she was the one stuck with more responsibility than she could handle.

Carrie and her mother had offered to help to get her life in order as much as they could, but Talia would only become a burden to them. Without a job, her depleted savings and non-existent medical insurance she was screwed. This was the only solution she had.

Her pride had kept her from doing this for five months. But when her doctor told her whatever drugs that bastard had given her might have adverse effects, she was left with no other choice but to follow him back to Italy. The tests were expensive and depending on the results, medical care was going to cost more than she could ever make within four months. Thanks to the asshole of the century, she’d been blacklisted from all the major companies in the United States with an international affairs office.

He’d done this to her. Turned her perfect life into hell, and as much as she wanted to peel his perfect olive skin off with a blunt potato peeler, she needed to put that aside for the sake of others. All she wanted from him was his money and her job back. That was retribution enough, for now.

Her mother accused her of still being in love with him, and that’s why she wouldn’t take his company to court for wrongful dismissal. She called Talia a fool, falling for a man she’d only known for a few weeks. But Talia knew there was more to her mother’s bitterness. If she only knew the truth, she would lose her mind. It had taken only a few moments to fall in love, a few weeks of denial and internal tag of war to sleep with him. Talia bit the inside of her lower lip. Her mother would be even more ashamed of her. She was better off not knowing the truth.

Yes, she may still love Rafael DeLuca but that wasn’t the only emotion that influenced her decision. Betrayal and anger had been her best friends for the past five months, and they were much stronger than the love she felt for him. Her blood boiled with a rage so fierce, a drop of it would melt a hole through flesh. She was aching to pour a bucket of it over Rafe’s head.

“Miss McKenna, are you ready?” Mr. Garrison her lawyer asked, taking her hand in his and giving it an encouraging squeeze.

Am I ready? Talia asked herself as she stared at Rafe, standing up front, looking as breathtaking as the first moment she’d laid eyes on him. No. Not just like then. He was heartbreakingly more breathtaking now than he was then.

Absence did make the heart grow fonder, she thought to herself with a self-deprecating twisted smile of her lips, you couldn’t be more pathetic Talia.

She remembered how she’d loved to comb her fingers through his thick raven hair when he laid his head on her chest after they’d made love. It was now shiny and held back in place with mousse. His raised arms as he lifted the veil away from the bride’s face, reminded her of how safe she had felt when he held her as she slept. Or when he lifted her like she weighed nothing to kiss her because she was too short-she was five-six, average height for a woman, to his six-three and he still called her short. She smiled bitterly at the memory. She was always so comfortable in those arms, her head resting on his thickly corded chest as he carried her.Còntens bel0ngs to Nô(v)elDr/a/ma.Org

She remembered how gentle his lips had been, as well as his hands, and his body when they made love for the first time. Yes, they had had sex before and she had been no virgin when she met him. But that moment, when they were finally sure of their feelings for each other after a long period of abstinence, that counted. Unlike the first time that was filled with uncertainty and fear that forced her to keep her emotions in check, there was freedom and added pleasure in the surety of his love for her. Her skin tingled, as if it also remembered how he’d held her after, speaking words of love in Italian. She loved the weight of his body on hers as he moved inside her, his ragged breathes in her ear, and how his muscled arms tightened around her like a vise when he came. To know that she brought him satisfaction in all her inexperience gave her ego a boost. She remembered she thought that moment was the beginning of something incredible. Believed they were in love and their love making marked the beginning of a happy long life together. She’d been happy that she’d finally found ‘the one’, her lifelong partner.

Well, by what she saw before her, Rafe was in love, just not with her.

The one, how stupid could she have been.

Talia chuckled bitterly to herself as she shook her head. Her mother always said she lived in a fairytale. She remembered how she’d defended Rafe, saying that he was nothing like her own father. Her mother had told her the day would come when Talia would wake up from her fantasy. She did promise not to say ‘I told you so’, aloud at least.

When Talia had woken up at the hospital, sick to her stomach and scared out of her mind, her mind, her heart, her eyes automatically searching for Rafe. The first thing she saw was her mother and the look in her eyes. She was saying it-I told you so-with her eyes. Talia turned away, curled up in a fetal position and cried for her fantasy.

Now, as she sat there in the pew watching the wedding ceremony, she wondered if she was ready to return the favor.

Am I ready to ruin your life like you ruined mine, Rafe?

The vicious bitch in her took out her compact, rubbed a new layer of blood red lipstick on her lips, checked her mascara, dubbed powder on her cheekbones and patted her hair down. Preened she stood up, ready and eager to return the favor.

“È chiunque che obietta a questa unione là?” The priest’s question was followed by complete graveyard silence.

Is there anyone who object’s to this union? The words echoed in her head as much as they echoed in the church, the tempo of her heart kicking up anxiously.

Mr. Garrison squeezed her hand again and looked at her with questioning eyes.

Talia nodded, giving him the go ahead to bring Rafe’s world crashing down around his ears.

Mr. Garrison stood up and moved out of the pew to step on the wide aisle and announced loudly, “Noi facciamo, we do!”

Loud whispers filled the church as the entire congregation turned around to look at them. Talia’s heart beat harder in her chest. She took two deep calming breaths and pushed herself up, her fist pressed to her lower back for support. She moved to stand beside Mr. Garrison, her hand unconsciously rubbing her protruding belly.

She looked straight into Rafe’s eyes, a smile playing on her lips at the shock written all over his face.

“Ciao, Rafe. I bet you didn’t think you’d be seeing me anytime soon, especially not at your wedding.”