He’d pushed away the woman he loved.
He’d pushed away the princess he loved.
With a guttural roar that came from somewhere unknown deep inside him, Gabriel threw the glass as hard as he could. It smashed against the wall and rained down thousands of crystal fragments. His tear-stained image reflected in every shard.
Amadeo’s wedding was the first of the three Berruti siblings not to be held in the royal chapel. As heir to the throne, it had been decided with input from the Ceresian government that his position warranted a wedding in the capital city’s cathedral. The whole nation had been given a day’s holiday to celebrate, and they were out in force, old and young alike lining the entire route from the castle to the cathedral, many wearing the national costume that resembled a brightly coloured poncho, most waving the national flag, and all cheering.
Alessia and the four supremely excited small cousins who made up the other bridesmaids followed the horse-drawn carriage carrying the bride and the man giving her away: the King of Monte Cleure. Alessia and Clara had privately agreed earlier that morning—and Alessia made sure their conversation was entirely private—that Elsbeth would probably run down the aisle to get away from him. Any nagging fears that Elsbeth was being forced into this marriage were dispelled by the excitement shining in her eyes and all over her pretty face.
On that, Gabriel had been right.
She pushed thoughts of him away and continued waving to the cheering crowd.
Today was a day of celebration. Having spent a little time with the bride, she’d become increasingly convinced that she was a woman her brother could fall in love with...if he allowed himself to. Amadeo had a strong streak of stubbornness in him and was quite capable of denying himself happiness if it meant he didn’t have to admit he was wrong.
Whether Amadeo fell in love with her or not, Alessia was determined to welcome Elsbeth into the Berruti family and make her feel that she belonged.
Gabriel could have belonged too if he’d allowed it.
Gabriel could go to hell.
The spineless coward hadn’t called her. After the way he’d ghosted her before, she shouldn’t be surprised. She’d sent him a message giving him the date, place and time of their baby’s first scan next week. He hadn’t responded. It was on him if he wanted to be there.
Little Carolina, five years old and adorable with a thick mane of black corkscrew hair, spotted someone in the crowd she knew and would have jumped out of the carriage to greet them if Alessia’s reflexes hadn’t been so good.
Pulling the excitable child onto her lap, she hugged her close and blinked back a hot stab of tears.
No crying today.
It didn’t matter how often she told herself that he wasn’t worth her tears, they still flooded her face and soaked her pillow every night.
Oh, please don’t let him ghost me again. Let him come to the scan, she prayed.As painful as it is, I can live without him, but my baby shouldn’t have to live without him in its life too. That wouldn’t be fair. My baby deserves its father.
The only light in the dark that had become Alessia’s life was that her mother had been markedly warmer to her, her maternal compassion roused by the sudden implosion of Alessia’s marriage. For once, there had been no talk about damage limitation. Alessia suspected that was Marcelo’s doing.
Her relationship with her mother felt like a fresh start.
Her marriage hadn’t lasted long enough for its ending to be stale.
She missed him as desperately as if she’d spent her whole life with him.
The carriages arrived in the piazza the cathedral opened onto.
Placing a kiss on the top of her little cousin’s head, she fixed a great smile onto her face and herded the other bridesmaids off the carriage, the driver helping them down one by one.
The flash of cameras was so great that it blurred into one mass of light.
Organising the bridesmaids, Alessia directed them to wave at the screaming, excited crowd and then it was time to follow the bride and King Pig into the cathedral.
The packed congregation got to its feet.
As the bridal party began its long march, Alessia’s smile turned into something real as she noticed the spring in Elsbeth’s feet. The bride really was fighting the urge to run to Amadeo and demand the bishop get straight to the ‘I do’s.
Alessia was halfway down the aisle when a tall figure in the family section at the front made her heart thump and then pump ice in her veins.
The cathedral began to sway beneath her feet. If not for the small hands clasped in hers, she would have stumbled.
It took everything she had to keep putting one shaking foot in front of the other. The closer she got, the clearer his features became.