Chapter XXXIII

I still looked at Dante in surprise. But he didn't let on and pulled me after Marco to our table. I hadn't even noticed how the room had filled up with guests. Dante pulled me to a bouquet of beautiful white roses, in front of which we stood. He put his hand firmly around me again and pulled me towards him. First, Valeria and Sergio came up to us and congratulated us on our marriage. They both sounded so happy and sincere that I accepted the congratulations with a smile. Sergio handed me a box. I took it with a "Thank you very much" and opened it. Inside I found a brooch and a ring. Both pieces of jewelry were old and must have been very valuable. I looked back at Sergio, who was just staring at me, waiting.

"These are heirlooms from our family. The brooch belonged to Dante's grandmother, Valeria's mother. The ring belonged to my mother, it is a family signet ring. Anyone who sees this ring on your ring will know that you are a Martinelli."

I looked back and forth between Sergio and Valeria, who just nodded at me. I looked again at the brooch, which had the image of a woman on it. It was beautiful and really old. Then I took a closer look at the family ring and took it out of the box.

"Put it on," Dante whispered in my ear. He had been watching me the whole time and I had completely forgotten that he was standing next to me. I was still unsure whether I should put it on. Instinctively, I looked around for help, but I couldn't see a familiar face until Lucas' face suddenly appeared. He also nodded in agreement, so I pulled myself together and tried to put the ring on. Just as I was about to slide it over my right ring finger, Dante stopped me. I looked at him confused, but he took the ring from me and put it on my right index finger. My gaze lingered on the ring when I felt a warm breath on my ear. "You wear it on your index finger, Amore." Then he sat up straight again and looked at his parents. I did the same and thanked them again for the heirlooms.

After his parents, his brothers and Chiara followed. Everyone wished us luck and told us what a beautiful couple we were. Lorenzo was quiet and rather thoughtful as usual, but I caught him smiling twice. Then Lucca came, who gave me a big hug and then winked at me. I felt Luca's support just through his looks or a smile, which eased the tension in my shoulders a little. I even had a few rather nice conversations with Leonardo and Riccardo and could understand more and more why Chiara says they are like day and night. While Riccardo politely congratulated us and ended his speech with a quote from Friedrich Nietzsche, Leonardo joked around and made a few jokes about how lucky Dante was to have me and that he would have been alone forever if I hadn't shown up. He really managed to make me laugh on such a terrible day, even if Dante didn't find it so funny. But that's his problem. Finally, Marco and Chiara came to us, with Marco repeatedly emphasizing loudly that he had a date for the wedding. Chiara was not impressed and just laughed at him. I joined in too.

"Hey, sister-in-law, you're breaking my heart," Marco's theatrically insulted voice rang out. I just rolled my eyes and looked at Chiara.

"Thank you for being my maid of honor today." Chiara hugged me and I hugged her back. "I'm happy to do that."

"Sorellina, make room, I want to too." (Little sister)

Marco pushed Chiara slightly to the side, who glared at him angrily. Then he hugged me tightly, so tightly that I almost couldn't breathe.

"Okay, that's enough then." With these words, Dante released Marco from me and pushed him past us so that the next ones could move up. Marco just laughed at that and shouted to Dante,that I am his and he doesn't have to worry.

"Such a child," Dante whispered to himself and I had to suppress a grin.

The whole greeting and congratulations lasted a good ten minutes. When the last ones finally went to their seats, Dante took my hand and led me further into the room.

We arrived at a beautifully decorated table, where two of the six chairs were still free.

I sat down on the chair that Dante had pulled out for me. Next to me sat Chiara and the girl who had been standing next to her at the altar. The girl was older than Chiara and had chestnut brown hair. She smiled at me in a friendly way, which I returned. I looked at Dante's side of the table, where Luca and Pablo were sitting next to him. The three of them were talking in Italian. I watched them for a few seconds until Chiara spoke to me.

"And is everything as you imagined it would be?"

I looked at her in shock. She knows everything.

Suddenly she burst out laughing and the other girl joined in. Look at her, someone has a sense of humor. I grinned at them both too.

"Hello, I'm Laura, Pablo's sister." I took Laura's hand, which she held out to me.

"Nice to meet you, Laura, I'm An..." I was interrupted in the middle of the sentence by her.

"Anastasia, yes, I know. I've heard a lot about you."

Okay, that could mean something good, but also something bad. Although I was extremely interested in what people were saying about me, I decided not to ask.

The food was served. I, however, just picked at my plate. Even though I had only had coffee today, I had lost my appetite.

Dante was still engrossed in his conversations with the boys, so Chiara and Laura were the only ones I could keep myself occupied with. Not that I wanted to talk to Dante, but I was incredibly bored.

After dinner, the party started to move a bit. The guests were dancing or talking. At least they were having fun.

Suddenly a presence appeared behind us. Out of the corner of my eye I could see blonde hair. I didn't have to guess three times to know that it was my absolute favorite guest.

Barbie put her hands on Dante's shoulders and leaned down to him. She whispered something in his ear, but I couldn't understand what it was.

Pablo didn't interrupt his conversation with Pablo, which made Barbie try even harder. She whispered something to him again, which was the last straw for me.

I got up and excused myself from Chiara and Laura to go to the bathroom.

I went back into the house, up to my room and got my pack of cigarettes. That was exactly what I needed right now. I lit one on my balcony and carefully watched the guests in the garden.

Suddenly I heard a voice behind me.

"Dante won't like this at all. His bride smokes, and at her wedding reception too." I jumped up and turned around abruptly.

Laura was standing in the doorway, looking at me closely. I had already thought that Dante would have something against me smoking. But as long as he didn't notice, I didn't really care.

"Please don't tell him, I really can't use it right now."

I tried to save the situation. Laura was still looking at me emotionlessly.

"But that's going to cost you something."

Great, I'm being blackmailed at my own wedding. "What do you want?" I prayed that it was just about money.

"A cigarette." Laura grinned at me. I breathed a sigh of relief and started laughing. Today I was so tense that it felt good to feel a weight lifted from my shoulders. Laura started laughing too and came over to me. I handed her a cigarette and we smoked together while making fun of the guests.

After a few minutes we decided to go back downstairs. Just as we came through the patio door I saw Dante coming towards me.

"Amore, where have you been?" So he had missed me. I wonder how long it took him to notice my absence.

Why does this make me angry? I mean, we are not really together, not really married. This all just exists on paper. Dante put his hand around my waist, which I immediately wanted to push away, but he didn't let me.

He leaned towards my ear and I heard his quiet but still dominant voice whisper, "Why do you want to run away again, Amore?" I got goosebumps. What was wrong with me? Why did I suddenly have such a reaction to him, or had it always been like that? I pushed the thoughts aside because I didn't want to deal with them today. I had enough other problems.

Dante led me back to the party and I saw a large wedding cake in the middle of the dance floor. All the guests were already standing around it, waiting excitedly for us.

Dante put us right in front of it and handed me a large knife. I had to grin inwardly because one wrong move and he would have lost his hand, which was still on my hip.

We cut the cake together and everyone started cheering. I, however, watched it all rather emotionlessly.

After we were finished, we went back to our seats and sat down. Waiters handed out the pieces of cake, but I didn't touch mine. I was so exhausted from today that all I wanted to do was go to bed. Just as I was thinking about it, I remembered the wedding night. A cold shiver ran through me. How had I managed to suppress this thought for so long? I need a plan and fast, because I'm definitely not going to sleep with him.

After much thought, I came to the conclusion that I would lock myself in the bathroom. It's not a good plan and it certainly won't work, but I haven't come up with anything better yet. If necessary, I can always climb out of the bathroom window and improvise. I was so lost in my thoughts that I hadn't noticed that Dante and I had been sitting alone at the table for some time.

I looked over at him in surprise. He was concentrating on the crowd, as if he was waiting for something. Now I too searched the crowd, but couldn't see any of the Martinellis, until suddenly Riccardo entered the pavilion.

I saw him come to Dante to whisper something in his ear, who just nodded and then turned to me. "Amore, come, we are wanted." He held out his hand and pulled me from my chair. We followed Riccardo quietly into the garden. The three of us walked quietly next to each other for a while until I could see Leonardo, who was staring at the ground in front of him. Marco and Pablo also appeared next to us. We watched Leonardo as he watched the ground in front of him. It was somehow strange, was that what we had come here for?

"What happened? Why aren't the sparklers burning yet?" Riccardo asked Leonardo, confused. His voice was supposed to be a whisper, but Riccardo was so panicked that we could all hear him.

Leonardo turned to us. "They were burning, but you weren't there yet. You should have seen it, it was beautiful." He said, now excited by the display.

"They've already burned down? You lit them too early?" Pablo asked angrily, slowly walking towards Leonardo.

"No, that's my fault. I shouldn't have left him alone with such an important task. Lighting sparklers at the right time, what was I thinking, leaving it to you?" Riccardo said rationally, although I could hear a hint of sarcasm.

"Come here you idiot, how could you screw this up?" Pablo ran towards Leonardo, who tried to avoid him.

"Hey, it's not my fault that it took you so long. Besides, the damn things burn so quickly." He shouted while Pablo chased him around us.

"Took you long?" Pablo ran around to the left to catch him.

"It didn't even take us 30 seconds! You complete idiot" with these words he ran after Leonardo, who had moved his escape to the pavilion. I burst out laughing and Dante had to laugh too. We watched this spectacle for a few more minutes before my gaze slid back to the patch of grass. All that was left were the remains of the sparklers, but when I looked more closely I could read our names. My name and Dante's were really written there in the grass. That would have looked really beautiful lit, I have to agree with Leonardo. This thought made me laugh again and Dante joined in again. He must have recognized the same thing. Just as we stopped laughing our eyes met.

Was that also a gift for me, as well as the Skype connection with Ivan?