Page 68 of The Breaker
“That’s sweet of you to say.”
He gave a slight shake of his head. “Not saying it to be sweet. By the way, I found someone to marry us.”
“Who?”
“Pope Zephyrinus.”
“What?”
He nodded. “He said he’ll come down for the ceremony.”
“The pope?”
He nodded again. “And my uncle.”
“I didn’t know the pope left Rome for weddings.”
“Not often, but he does.”
“That’s really nice of him to do that.”
“Yeah, it was generous of him. It means a lot to me to have him bless our union and our child. The closest to God we’ll ever get, at least on this side of the veil.”
“Yeah,” I said. “So, is anyone else coming from Rome?”
“Might invite a few friends.”
My granita suddenly became less important. I thought of the person who had been painfully absent from our lives. “Is Rocco one of those friends?”
He crossed his arms over his chest, wearing a gray T-shirt with his designer sunglasses on his nose. He didn’t seem to be in a bad mood, but he didn’t seem enthused by the subject either. “No.”
My heart dropped in disappointment. “I thought he would be your best man.”
“Antonio is a better fit.”
Antonio was family and a great friend, but he wasn’t Rocco. “I really think he should be invited.”
“Aurelia.” He didn’t raise his voice, but his tone told me to back off.
“What could he have possibly said or done to make you cut him off like this?”
“Let it go,” he said calmly.
“Why won’t you tell me?”
He gave a shrug. “Because it doesn’t matter.”
“I think it does.”
He looked down the pathway to the people walking by, ignoring me.
“Then I’ll invite him as my guest.”
“Go ahead,” he said. “Like he would come.”
When I’d texted Rocco and told him we were pregnant, he never replied. I hoped that he just hadn’t seen it, because the idea that he wouldn’t care broke my heart. How could someone Constantine loved like a brother just ... disappear? How could a friendship that solid just fall apart?
Constantine had a workout session in the morning and the afternoon. His morning seemed to be focused solely on heavy weights, and his afternoon had more cardio and endurance training. I’d see him on the StairMaster or running six miles on the treadmill like it was no big deal.
