Chapter 3: THE MAFIA BOSS AND HIS BRIDE
I moved away from her quickly and took a few steps back so that she will not realize I had been close and leaning over her.
She sat up quickly in the bed, she turned her head in every direction looking for me, she must have sensed my presence in the room.
“Who is there?” came her soft voice.
I felt my heartbeat accelerate in my chest, and realized that I had heard her speak ever. The ceremony had been rushed one and even then we never spoke to one another and I had left on the wedding night, we had never spoken to one another. I loved the softness of her voice. Everything about her was gentle and soft.
I took my time to admire my beautiful bride-her black had fallen all over her arms, which was a sharp contrast against her pale white skin; her red lips were parted in what I assumed to be fear and her eyes stared at nothing in particular but I could tell she was tensed.
“I know someone is in here, answer me or I will scream,” she said.
A small smile passed my lips before I cleared my throat and said, “You can calm down Andrea, it’s me Emil.”
I saw her noticeably recoil, a frown crossed my face. Why did she have to react that way? It was not as though I will do something to her.
“You are back,” she said. It was more of a startled gasp actually.
“Yes I just returned,” I said as I folded my arms across my chest.
“Welcome back Don Ferrari,” she said. Her vacant staring into nothing.
A hard frown crossed my face this time at the use of my tittle. I had always loved to be addressed as Don Ferrari, it had always sounded so natural but coming from her, it sounded so very wrong.
“Call me Emil,” I said casually.
“I think I prefer to call you Don Ferrari, it reminds me of my situation,” she answered.
I realized that she was not looking as timid as she had looked when I first seen her-there was a strong steely look in her eyes.
I remained quiet for a while, simply staring at the girl before me. I realized that underneath that timid exterior, a very strong woman lurking underneath.
“Your situation? And what might that be?” I asked.
“The situation in which I was laid out like some pricy horse for you to decide if you wanted me or not,” she said with rueful smile playing at the corners of her lips.
“I was of the opinion that you agreed to this marriage willingly, your father had told me you had given your consent to this marriage. Was I perhaps misinformed?”
I had made sure to ask Dante Severino and he had assured me that Andrea had consented to the marriage even before he proposed it.
“You were not misinformed, Don Ferrari. But it does not change the truth of the situation,” she answered.
A small chuckle escaped my lips and I realized the meek Severino daughter was not at all as she appeared and I was glad for that, I was a man who was normally preferred a woman with a bit of back bone in her.
“I have had a long trip Andrea and I will like nothing more than to get some sleep now if you do not mind, we can talk about situations tomorrow when I am well rested,” I said because I was truly tired and I needed to get some sleep.
“Yes I am very aware how long your trip was, so long that you have been gone for the past two months,” she said.
I could have rolled my eyes at her right now but perhaps I was too tired to do even that, what exactly did she want from me? She had sounded like my mere presence irritated her initially and now she was sounding like my leaving her alone greatly angered her as well.
“I was under the impression that you would have enjoyed my absence, why do you sound offended by it all of a sudden?” I said.
“You had wanted to sleep, you should get some sleep” she said.
This time around I could stop my eyes from rolling on their own. I will not deal with her sulking this night, I was too tired for it. Perhaps tomorrow we could talk about things between us but for now, I needed to get some sleep.
I switched off the light and walked over to the bed and settled in, the moment I did this, I heard a loud gasp from Andrea, I sat up quickly and said, “What is the problem?” I wondered if perhaps she was unwell or something.
“Why are you in my bed?” she asked. I could hear the initial fear in her voice again.
I frowned in the semi darkness of the room, “Where are my supposed to sleep then?” I asked, this was my room after all so of course I will sleep here in my bed.
“You should go somewhere else and sleep,” she said, her voice was small now.
I groaned, it was a groan of pure frustration. What was wrong with this woman exactly? I thought.
“I am sorry but this is my room and this is my bed, so this is exactly where I will sleep,” I said and settled into the bed once more.
A few seconds later, I heard her shuffling around and then I felt her leave the bed, I sat up quickly and said, “Where on earth are you going?”
“I am going to find Wilma so that she can prepare another bedroom for me,” she answered.
“Heaven save me from troublesome women,” I muttered to myself before saying to her, “It is 1 a.m. in the morning, Wilma will be fast asleep and could you let the poor woman rest for heaven’s sake? It takes a lot of work to run this house so I am sure she values her rest. Come back to bed and tomorrow if you insist on getting on new room then a room will be prepared for you.”
She was quiet for a few minutes, I figured she was thinking about what I had said to her, just when I was about to speak to her again I heard her soft voice in the darkness, “Fine, just for tonight, I will be gone by tomorrow.”
I frowned my face and said, “Does the thought of sharing a bed with me appall you so much that you are willing to leave so quickly?”
“This marriage was done as a peace treaty, we do not need to share a bed, we are practically strangers to one another” was her reply.
I chuckled darkly and said “As you wish, Andrea Severino.”
I heard move around once more before settling back on the bed, she made sure to stay at the far end of the bed, far away from me.
What had I been thinking when I married a Severino woman? The Severinos were a very stubborn bunch and their hard headedness had gotten them in trouble one too many times and obviously, the family trait was not lost in Andrea Severino as well.
I lay back in the bed when she had settled in. Even from where I lay on the bed, I could feel just how tensed up she was, she was lying very stiff on the bed.
I decided to ignore her. If she wanted to be stubborn then that was her problem, I did not care about her stubbornness. I will take care of her as my wife. I will make sure she was properly taken care of as befitting her tittle of Donna Ferrari but I did not care what she did. I had more important to worry about anyways.
As I lay in bed with her, I found that it was way too hard to ignore her. I could hear every single breath she took and I could how tensed her body was. I could tell she was still awake and I was finding it quite hard to fall asleep because of her.
When I had heard enough of it, I got out of bed. There were many rooms I could sleep before morning, I was pretty sure I will not get any sleep if I remained in this room.
“Where are you going?” I heard her call from behind me.
I rolled my eyes. I did not think she will be bothered about where I was going to, “I am going to go and try to get some sleep, because I am afraid I will not be able to get any while I am here, goodnight Andrea,” I said and I was out the door before she replied.