Page 71 of Urgent Vows
"You don't need to go today. You still need to heal, but my mother wants to equip you with a wardrobe that suits your position as my wife. The sooner the better."
They'd already talked about it? When? We just got married yesterday.
While I was napping? No. He brought the shopping trip up this morning before pleasure left me exhausted. Did they talk during the reception? They must have. His mother thinks it's such a drastic need she brought it up during the reception.
The parallel I drew yesterday between mine and Severu's marriage and that of my parents comes back to haunt me. I guarantee that if he'd married Carlotta neither he nor Aria would believe today's shopping trip necessary. It doesn't make me feel any better to realize that my sister would not balk at going either.
He might physically desire me more than my sister, but that doesn't mean he sees me as a good candidate for don's wife. If he had, he wouldn't have announced his engagement to her.
I grimace when I have to slip my feet into the shoes I wore for the wedding. They are the only ones I have here, but I hate wearing heels. I wish I could go to lunch barefoot, but Zia Lora would be apoplectic if she knew I was even considering it. And I'm sure Severu's family would not be impressed if I showed up to the table with my bare toes peeking out from beneath my dress.
I really need my things.
~ ~ ~
Severu helps me into a chair, like the gentleman he sometimes pretends to be, before taking his own seat at the head of the table. He's put me to his right.
His mother sits at the other end and though technically that should be my chair as his wife, I do not mind. I like that my husband has placed me close to him.
Aria gives a rueful laugh and stands. "I am sorry,cara. This is your seat now."
She starts to take another seat, but Severu stops her. "Catalina is fine right here, mother."
"Severu, it is her right."
I don't want mother and son arguing over something so inconsequential. Especially as I like this arrangement. "I prefer to sit here."
"I liked that seat when my husband was alive as well," Aria says with a satisfied smile as she returns to her original chair.
Heat climbs my cheek at her words, because they imply an affection I'm not comfortable voicing. However, I remind myself that this seating arrangement was Severu's idea. So, apparently, he would rather me sit near him as well. That knowledge has heat settling in other places besides my face.
Miceli sits across from me and examines my face with his dark gaze so like his brother's. "Hello, Catalina. Survive your unexpected wedding alright?"
"I'll admit the last thing I expected yesterday morning was to end up married to your brother and moving into your family's home by the end of the day." Not that I am actually moved in, with a single dress and a pair of shoes, that are too big for me, my only current wardrobe.
"How are you feeling?" Aria asks me.
I smile. "Good, thank you. Nothing broken."
"That's not a very high bar to set," Guilia says with a concerned look for me. "Are you in pain? Should you be in bed? You could have eaten on a tray."
The thought had never occurred to me. "I wanted to come to lunch. You'll be leaving New York soon."
"I would have come to your room and visited you there," Giulia says, sincerity ringing in her voice.
This family. They are so different from my own.
"I am doing much better today," I reassure her. "Severu is making sure I take my pain meds and putting the anti-inflammatory cream on my bruises."
"Is he?" Miceli gives his brother a strange look. "I've never known Sev to play nursemaid."
"Your brother now has a wife. Taking care of her is not only his responsibility, but his privilege," Raffaele Mancini says with a smile for Severu's sister that somehow encompasses me as well.
Guilia smiles back at her husband, her eyes glowing with emotion.
Their marriage wasn't a love match, but it's obvious that affection has developed between them.
I doubt Severu shares Raffaele's sentiment about caring for me though. He's more patient than I expected, but that's not the same as feeling it's a privilege to take care of me.
