Page 112 of Captured Fantasy

“Once we’re married, I’d like to get a tutor so I can finish high school and get my degree.”

“Of course, baby,” he said. “Anything you want.”

I turned over, curling up against his chest. He was so strong, his firm arms cradling me in a cocoon of safety. “I might try to take college classes after. I don’t know…what do you think?”

He was quiet for a second. “I think if that’s what you want, you should do it. I have the money for you do what you please.”

“Don’t brag,” I murmured sleepily.

“Hell I will,” he said. “I work my ass off and I’m fucking good at my job. It’s a point of pride that my wife will be able to have everything she wants.”

I slid my arm around him, pressing myself so close I wasn’t sure where he ended and I begun. With my face buried into the heat of his chest, the hair tickling my forehead, I finally had the courage to ask a question that had been nagging me for days.

“Do you want babies?” I whispered.

“Yes,” he said, without hesitation.

“Oh. How many?”

“Hmm, let’s just get you off birth control and see how many I can put in you.”

“I don’t know if I want to be pregnant into my forties,” I said slowly.

“You’re thirty-one, Enza, we have time,” he said. “How do you feel about it? You want babies?”

I nodded, an ache starting in my chest. I’d married Gino knowing he didn’t want children so I’d resigned myself to never having them. That didn’t mean I hadn’t watched the other women at church with their children and quietly envied them.

“Let’s decide where we want to live, get married, get things settled. Then you can start working with your tutor and I can work on getting you knocked up. How does that sound?”

“As long as I have help with the baby, I’m fine with it,” I said.

“I’ll make sure you have everything you need.”

His hand moved up my back, his finger slipping beneath the clasp of my necklace. He traced the skin as if trying to memorize the feel of it. Then he pressed me onto my back and his mouth moved over my collarbones, kissing me and sending shivers down my body.

It was Olivia who helped me through the next few months of wedding preparation. Iris assisted when she could, but was gone in Cairo with Duran for everything except the dress shopping.

Olivia was ecstatic to have me for a sister-in-law and when she wasn’t calling me to chat about the silk napkins she’d found or whether lilies or roses would better for the alter decorations, she was dragging me out for drinks and lunch.

It was early June when she had a tailor and designer come out to the Esposito mansion with their summer collection of wedding dresses. I arrived in the early morning and we had breakfast in the kitchen. Olivia chattered aimlessly as she scrolled through her phone. I was quiet, leaning back in the seat, the sun warm through the window.

This felt good, it felt right. Like I was finally welcome somewhere.

“Are you going to walk down the aisle alone?” Olivia asked out of the blue.

My stomach sank. I hadn’t even thought about who would walk me to Cosimo on our wedding day.

“I guess so,” I said quietly.

Olivia’s brows drew together, her expression sympathetic. “I wish I hadn’t had my father do it for my wedding, but I wasn’t comfortable enough to speak up. I wish Cosimo had done it.”

“I’m an only child, I don’t have any brothers,” I said.

Olivia crossed her legs, wrapping her arms around her knees. “Do you have any good friends? Any cousins?”

“Amadeo is a close friend to both of us, but he’s not in a good place to be walking me down the aisle.”

“What about Lucien?” Olivia piped up.

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