“I should be there. I can’t handle it, but I should be there.”
“Then I’ll go with you.”
“Thank you, but they’d hate me even more if I brought you.”
“That doesn’t matter. People’s opinion doesn’t matter in times like this. What matters is who you’re there for. You’re going for Jacob, not his family. And I will take you there personally to make sure you get to say goodbye to him.”
“You would do that?” Her gaze desperately clings to mine.
“Yes,” I answer with conviction.
I’m surprised when she moves to me and slips her arms around my neck, holding on to me like she’s trying to garner strength. I circle my arms around her and pull her closer so I can cocoon her in my arms as she rests her head on my chest.
“Thank you. Thank you, Massimo,” she whispers, grabbing my shirt. I cover her hand with mine and see my ring too.
Mine and hers.
When I wrote our wedding vows, I took out all traces of the word love. At the time, I was thinking of my hatred for her father. I wasn’t thinking about her.
I should have been.
I hold her now and find myself at that part again when I know the moment I accept what I feel for her, it will make or break me.
It’s the first time in my life where I actually don’t know what to do.
She’s my enemy’s daughter.
Loving her is wrong. But she feels like the only good thing in my life.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Emelia
It’s raining.
Not hard. Just a light spray that trickles over the cemetery.
Massimo holds my hand as we walk across the pathway toward the gathering of mourners.
We didn’t go to the church service.
Not knowing what was going to happen, we just came here. As I look ahead, I’m grateful to have caught the coffin before they lowered Jacob into the ground.
Like at my wedding, I scan the crowd looking for my father, but he’s not here. I’m not sure if that’s because he was told not to come. Maybe Helena, Jacob’s mother, didn’t want him here either. I don’t know.
The priest finishes a prayer when Helena sees me coming. She freezes, her stare on me, causing everyone to look at Massimo and me.
I have a single red rose in my hand that I want to give to my friend. I want to say goodbye properly. Then she won’t see me again.
I understand her grief and her pain. I understand that she’s upset with me, but what I won’t allow her to do is make me feel worse than I already do.
I look at Massimo as he pulls me to a stop just ahead of the crowd.
He dips his head, and a lock of hair falls over his eye. “Out of respect, I’ll keep my distance. I’ll stand right here, and if anyone says anything to you, call me. You understand?” he says with a hardened gaze that flicks between me and the family.
“I understand… Thanks for coming with me.”
“Don’t mention it.”