Page 39 of Bedazzled
We were standing in the narthex - the entryway to the cathedral - with my mother and sisters clustered together on one side and the frowning priest on the other. I knew he was not happy about being the one to marry us but at this point, I was incapable of caring.
There was a cautious jubilation rising in my chest, no matter how many times I tried to push it back down. I was going to marry Tania after all.
Patrick walked up to us, holding Tania’s purse. “Sovietnik,Ella told me that there’s a ring and a letter in here. She thought you would want to use the ring for the ceremony.”
“Do not waste your time with the innocent act,Obshchak,”I said coldly. “You are the only one who could have helped her pull this off. We will discuss that later.”
Patrick’s poker face was good, I had to give him that. He sighed and offered the purse again. I stared at it, suddenly furious. Why couldn’t Tania just… behave? If O’Rourke had not popped up with that extremely helpful testimony, we would already be in a firefight with the Balabanov Bratva. Though I would give my life before I let anything happen to her, it was quite possible both of us would have been dead, or worse.
“I will use my signet ring,” I brushed him off, “that will be good enough.”
Maksim raised one brow, but he said nothing. Glancing at my sisters, I saw Ekaterina grin and give me a subtle thumbs-up. They both liked Tania immensely and were very unhappy with me when I announced my engagement to Ksenia.
I did not know how to process this. I was so angry with Tania for risking her life with such a ridiculously stupid stunt. I would never kill Patrick, but he might wish I had by the time I finished with him.
The priest cleared his throat. I looked up to see Ella gently dragging Tania into the room. “Let us begin,” he intoned.
Tania took her place next to me. She was shaking and refused to look up. I could see her body angling toward the entryway, like she was seconds away from making a run for it.
“We will conduct the ceremony here,” the priest said sourly, “because the sanctuary is a holy place and not appropriate for this.”
I felt a surge of anger and narrowed my eyes at him. There was no reason to shame Tania. “Please continue,” I said.
He got the hint and hastily began the ceremony.
Tania…
I was sweating like a sinner in church and well… I was a sinner and this was a church and I was marrying the love of my life who now apparently hated me and who could blame him?
If I’d been capable of paying attention, I would have remembered the movements and words from Ella’s wedding. That had been done with much pomp and circumstance and here, the priest was rushing through the ceremony as quickly as possible like he was ready to throw up. Which he might be. I was pretty sure weddings in the awe-inspiring Kazan Cathedral weren’t usually held in the entryway with a scowling groom and a bride in a wrinkled dress.
I jumped a little when Yuri took my hands, and tilted his head at the priest, who was leading us in circles. I tried to pay attention until the end, when he slipped his signet ring on my finger. My heart sank. I knew Patrick handed him the engagement ring he’d originally meant to give me, once upon a time. After reading that beautiful letter and knowing he’d gone to such lengths to find a diamond that matched my eyes, the ring’s absence on my finger was even more painful.
I deserve it,I thought bitterly,thinking I was charging in to save the day and nearly starting a Bratva war instead.
Ella and Maksim tried to make the clusterfuck more of a celebration. “Let’s go back to the house and have some champagne,” she said, smiling brightly.
Mrs. Morozov - who hated me which I never took it personally because she hated everyone - asked, “What shall we do with the banquet and wedding cake at the Hotel Astoria?”
Ella and I winced together.
Yuri glanced down at me expressionlessly. “What would you like to do with it?”
“Isn’t that… um, the other bride’s… her thing?” I said weakly.
Smooth, Tania.
“I believe the family will be on their jet and halfway back to Moscow by now,” Yuri said. “So the decision falls to you.”
I still couldn’t meet his gaze, so I focused on Mrs. Morozov, who looked like she was contemplating the most effective way to murder me and dispose of the body. “How many were expected for the wedding reception?”
Her left eyelid twitched. “Eight hundred guests.”
My eyes bulged, “Eight hundred people? Uh… you have homeless shelters around here, right? Group homes for women and children?”
Mariya jumps in, “Oh, yes. Absolutely!” She grins spitefully at her brothers. “Everyone loves lobster and wedding cake, right? I’ll bet the hotel would be thrilled to deliver the food.”
Yuri and Maksim are both looking at her with chilly expressions, and it makes me love her even more. She was the family’s youngest, tall and skinny. She looked like Yuri, with her blonde hair and bright blue eyes.
