03: Què Sera...Sera.

Barbara.

**

I opened my mouth to ask about the marks on his neck, but nothing came out.

Dante was staring at me, and my throat had gone tight.

I had already hurt him by bringing his half brother into our pain, and I did not want to throw an accusation at a man with bandages on his head and hand, so I pressed my lips together and told myself to stay quiet for once.

"You wanted to say something?" he said, tilting his head.

I swallowed and searched my mind for a lie, but the only one I found was so small that I almost laughed at myself.

"I wanted to ask if you will be coming home with me tonight," I said.

He looked at me for a long moment, then walked closer and brushed his fingers down my arm so slowly that my skin tingled.

He kissed my forehead and let his lips stay there a little longer than he needed to.

When he pulled back and looked into my eyes with that soft, loving gaze that always made my knees weak, a quiet voice inside me said that I would choose this man again and again, even after a day like this one.

"I really wanted to go home with you, Barbara.." Dante said quietly, "but after hearing that my half brother stood in my place, I need to be alone for a while."

It felt as if the floor had shifted under my feet.

He had every right to be hurt, and I was the one who had hurt him.

I wish I could go back in time to stop the whole day before it began, so I held his hand in both of mine as if it were the only thing keeping me standing.

"I am so sorry, Dante, this is my fault..." I said. "I was so foolish...please forgive me."

He held my chin and lifted my face until I had to look at him. "Hey, we are fine..." he said. "I just need to clear my head and think about our court wedding."

"Are we not planning another wedding?" I asked, and my voice came out very small.

He frowned as if I had said something silly. "Of course not, who marries twice? We can go straight to the court and continue from there. Altar weddings are only a show for people who want to see two people together, and couples still divorce after them anyway. Those weddings aren't necessary. But once we sign in court we will be bound as one, and I will be your husband no matter what happens."

I laughed and cried at the same time and hugged him, burying my face in his chest.

For a moment nothing else mattered, not Graham, not the wedding, not the woman somewhere in that house, only his heartbeat against my cheek.

Then he gently loosened my arms and took my hand.

"You have to go home now." he said. "It is getting dark, and this place is not good for you."

"Uh...are you sleeping here, at her place?" I asked before I could stop myself.

His face changed, only for a second, but I saw it, and guilt rushed through me so fast that my cheeks burned.

"I am sorry, I should not have said that." I said quickly. "Please tell her I am sorry too...I am sure she did not like the way I walked in here."

"Barbara..." he said, and his voice had turned flat, "you have to leave."

I nodded, picked up my bag and walked to the door he had held open for me.

I stepped outside and then stopped and turned around, because my heart did not want to move another step without a sweet, reassuring word from him.

"Dante..." I said.

He looked at me, and we stared at each other for so long that I could hear a clock ticking somewhere inside the house.

I smiled with my whole face and begged him silently to say stay, or I love you, or even goodnight.

He smiled back, polite and soft, as if I were a guest, and then he closed the door.

I stood there with the wood almost touching my nose, feeling like a woman thrown out of her husband's house.

The worst part was that he had not even asked how I would get home.

A man who loved me would at least have asked that, and the thought stayed in my chest like a thorn, or maybe he was only angry about the half brother shit and hiding it, which was very much valid.

I took out my phone to book a ride, but the network was so bad that the little wheel kept spinning.

I started walking toward the main road in my gown with tears burning behind my eyes that I refused to let fall.

I must have looked like a runaway bride in a sad movie, and I prayed that nobody around there knew my face.

The road was empty except for an old car that rattled past now and then, as if it were tired of life.

Then I heard an engine behind me, slow and steady, and when I looked back and saw the headlights crawling after me, my stomach went cold.

I had heard so many stories about places like this, about thieves and kidnappers and girls who never came home.

My mouth went dry as I walked faster, then pulled off my heels and ran barefoot with my gown tangled around my legs.

The car sped up and swerved across the road to block me, and I stumbled back with my hand on my chest as the window slid down.

"Get in." a voice said.

I let out a shaky breath that almost turned into a sob, because it was Graham, and my fear changed into confusion so fast that I felt dizzy.

"You said you were going to the airport..." I said.

He did not answer.

He only looked at me with a tight jaw, and I knew better than to argue, so I got in and tucked my bare feet under my gown.

The silence in the car felt heavy.

I wanted to ask what he knew about Keisha, but my pride would not let me ask that man for anything twice in one day.

Dante's words kept playing in my head, sweet and reasonable, yet something beneath them felt wrong, like a bad note in a song I loved.

I thought about the marks on his neck and begged my mind to believe they were bruises, since I had never been in an accident and did not know what one looked like on a body.

By the time I finished arguing with myself, we were back at the reception hall.

It looked like the place where a battle had just ended, with plates, ribbons and broken balloons all over the floor and a few guests still sitting around, the kind of people who would rather stay at a stranger's wedding all night than go home to their own marriages.

I walked in barefoot and saw Julian across the hall, and shame rose in me, because she had called so many times and I had ignored every call.

I wasn't angry with her, but Julian asked too many questions, and I had no answers left to give.

She rushed toward me with wide eyes. "You scared me half to death, where have you been?" she asked.

"I found Dante." I said, trying hard to keep my voice steady. "He had an accident, and he is getting treatment somewhere."

"Oh God, I hope he is okay." She hugged me tightly.

Of course, I did not tell her where he truly was.

Julian would give me a hundred reasons why my man should not be in another woman's house, and I did not have the strength to defend him when I could barely defend myself.

"So is he planning another wedding for the two of you?" she asked.

I let out a tired breath. "He is really upset that we called Graham."

She looked at me with soft, sorry eyes, and we stood there with nothing to say until my phone buzzed in my hand.

It was an email from my bank.

I opened it expecting nothing, but after the first line my fingers went cold, and by the third line my heart was beating so loudly that the words began to blur.

I read it again and again, and it said the same impossible thing every time.

"Excuse me..." I told Julian, and I walked away on shaky legs and called Joe, one of my bank managers.

"Good evening, Miss Lincoln." Joe said cheerfully when he picked up. "Congratulations on your wedding."

I rolled my eyes so hard that it hurt, since everyone wanted to remind me of the wedding where I was left standing, but that was a pain for another day.

"I saw the email you sent, Joe." I said. "What is going on?"

He went quiet, and the silence made my skin crawl. "I am sorry, ma'am, but I thought you were aware of the changes."

"What changes?" My voice rose, and I quickly lowered it. "What are you talking about?"

He cleared his throat. "A few minutes ago, your husband, Mr. Dante, instructed us to move all the money in the joint account to another account."

I gulped and pressed my hand flat against my chest as if I could keep my heart in place, and the ground seemed to tilt under my bare feet.

"Yes, I read that part..." I said. "Was it moved to his own account?"

"No, ma'am, the account belongs to a woman." Joe said.

My whole body went stiff, and a hundred thoughts crashed into each other in my head.

Has he sent everything to Keisha as a thank you for helping him after the accident??

But Dante had never given a coin to anyone in need, so why would he start now?

Even if he had a reason, he should have told me, because that money was mine, my father's and mine, and the only thing Dante had ever added to that account was a job I had begged someone to give him.

My hands began to shake, and I pressed my nails into my palm to stay calm.

"Joe...." I said, and my voice came out thin and cracked, "what name is on the account?"

He cleared his throat. "Miss Lydia White."

I froze, and the phone almost slipped from my fingers.

I did not know that name.

I had never heard of it, not at his family dinners, not on his phone, not in any story he had ever told me, and nobody close to him carried it.

The cold started in my chest and spread to my fingertips as I stood there in my ruined gown, with my heart pounding in my ears and one question going round in my head, so loud that it drowned out everything else.

Who the hell is Lydia White?