For a moment, I am speechless. I don’t know how to respond to such words. It seems taken out of a romantic novel, one of those where the couple lives happily ever after, where there are no barbarians who hurt or a Lucian who tries to abuse your sister, where parents don’t offer you as a sacrifice to pay their debts.
One of those novels with endings apotheosically full of love.
“It’s a bit of a corny phrase.” I play hard to get, even though I feel like my heart has turned to butter: melted by this stranger. I smile at how he makes me feel.
“Corny or not, you’ve smiled.” He takes a step closer.
Our breaths come together in silence.
I can&rsquo
I awake to horrible pain and the singing of an early morning mockingbird.Slowly my consciousness falls to account for my previous night.“Oh, God!” I mutter as I rise from the green grass, which is damp with the dawn. It watches me, gossiping.I look everywhere. The coast is clear.I adjust my dress, which almost revealed a nipple.What the hell did I do?My sandals are on the side, delicately placed. I slip them on without blinking.Was it a dream? A beautiful dream, but no more than that? A dream of fantasies and wishes fulfilled!My curiosity is stronger than my modesty, so,
I stroll into the chapel, a place I used to visit only on Sundays with my parents. The day seems like any other day, although my heart screams at me that it is not like that, that from today I will change. My life will change completely. I will be from now on Mrs. Magghio, a full-fledged woman, a wife, and stepmother to a little baby. I will have no say over that house, over that home. As much as I try to pull myself together from this torture, I cannot help biting my lips to avoid crying. Secluded in the castle of the Shady One, fear tightens my chest and prevents me from breathing properly. The air does not reach my lungs easily, and I feel myself suffocating with every step I take. Meanwhile, the wedding march begins to play, but for me, it is a funeral march.
I enter my new home. The castle is full of dust, and the walls look like they haven’t been cleaned in months. There is not a single painting anywhere, no pictures, no portraits, nothing to indicate that a happy family lived here once.“Welcome,” I hear when Dario opens the door.Although that word must make me feel comfortable and at ease, the truth is that I assimilate it more like a welcome to the dungeon, like in the movies when they take you to jail, and the guard says, “Enjoy your stay.”I can’t cry again!The dinner ended, my family gave me a blessing and congratulated me on my recent marriage. I am now Tatiana Magghio, wife of the
Dario scrutinizes me for a few seconds before handing me over to Dante. I guess he’s pondering whether or not it’s appropriate for me to hold his son in my arms.I understand.He’s been alone these past few months.It’s something that, as coldly as he expresses it, I know it must not have been easy to raise the baby alone and come to terms with the loss of his wife in the same way.“Do you know how to hold babies?”“No.” I can’t help but be honest. I’ve never held children after adulthood.With my sister, me being three years older, I don’t remember if I ever carried her at all. But, nevertheless, I ha
In a matter of three seconds, I feel little Dante’s body being ripped from my arms. I hold on to a strong, muscular wall.It’s Dario or maybe his twin.My God, I can’t believe this is happening to me! Since when did Dario have a twin? This is something I hadn’t thought of before. It can’t be! This can’t be... Oh my God, it can’t be!Suddenly the memory of the night of pleasure with Dario comes to my mind. What if I didn’t really sleep that night at the lake with my husband but also with his twin? Oh no! No... no... this can’t be! This can’t happen to me.I feel my body slacken a little more, how the tingling in my hands increases, and my legs don’t cooperate to r
I stroll, still feeling the men’s stares behind me. I don’t let them intimidate me, I can’t do it, because to let their gaze hurt me, their presence pains me and their coldness wound me, is to admit that I’m alone in this house and I can’t do it, no matter how obvious it may be.I head for the door I saw when I got to the main floor, near the study, and walk there with intentions of looking for a juice or something I can feed Dante, who starts to wiggle in my arms. He must be uncomfortable, given that I am a stranger to him. As calm as I may inspire in him, in the end, I am a stranger, one who came to invade his family, his home, his very existence—a person who came to change his life forever. I don’t want to be one of those stepmothers who erase their mothers, who carried them in their wombs for nine months, from the lives of the children. I do
The sound of a door closing scares me out of my sleep and paralyzes my blood.“Who’s there?” I pull the sheet up to my neck, fearful.My vision is still blurry, perhaps from the fright of waking up in a strange bed and in a room that is not my own. Waking up in a different place for the first time in twenty-three years is a little scary.Moonlight streams through the glass window that is almost my size and illuminates the room a bit.A shadow moves beside the door.It is the intruder.“Who is it? Know that I will scream if you come any closer.” Even though I’m peeing my pants in fear, I try to push him away.
I wake up the next day with dark circles under my eyes, like shadows in the night: stalking and judging me. I am awake as if on the eve of a funeral. I see myself in front of the mirror. Early in the morning, Donatella brought up a suitcase with clothes my mother sent me. Just the right thing, since I brought nothing but my body and the commitment to be with Darío for the rest of my days on this earth.The reflection looking back at me seems even sadder than I feel.It is the true face I wear.Is it normal to feel caged, a prisoner of my own body and soul? What a fool I was last night to approach Darío! What was I thinking when I begged for a kiss from his lips?I shake my head, annoyed by my distress. I am not the one who will stay locked in