Chapter 2

"Please,be calm." adviced the bishop "Everything will be alright Mrs-"

"What do you mean,all right??!" Mrs Genovese forgot she was talking to a bishop of the biggest church in Riverdale.

She glared at the poor man as indignantly as she would at anyone else who she believed was treating her like a fool.

"All right? All right? How can it be all right,when there are hundreds of kinfolk and friends out there, witnessing this insult to my son and our whole family?!" she hissed

"And what about the money we've spent?! It's no secret that our side has paid for the wedding feast that is ready and waiting at the Imperial Hotel-and that cost something,I can tell you!"

She continued "Why,the wedding cake alone cost-"

The bishop raised his hands as if to ward off the full blast of Mrs Genovese's attack.

"Please,listen to me madam" he implored "There is no reason for not going ahead with the wedding feast.I am confident that Aurora will wish to go through with the ceremony as soon as she has had time to think things over."

"Surely the cake will keep? Meanwhile,the guests can enjoy the feast.And your son, Luca and Aurora can be quietly married in a side chapel at some later date"

"Never!!" Mrs Genovese spat out the word and flounced back into the vestry.Standing over Mr Tate,she hissed,

"Your daughter deserves to be whipped! I will never forget the shame she has brought on our heads! If she looks in my son's direction again,I swear she will regret it for the rest of her days!"

On her way out she bumped into her younger son,tears forming in her eyes.

"Mum, the guest are agitating.What's going on?? Where is Aurora?" Leo Genovese looked worried

"She..she ran away." she broke the suspense.

Leo had guessed so.He knew that the grounds at which this marriage was arranged this would happen.

His elder brother,Luca Genovese had not wanted to get married again if not for the constant pestering of his mother.

Besides,he believed that every woman wants him for his money unlike his first wife who was now dead.

Andrea Genevose rushed in.She is Leo's wife.

"Mum, I'm afraid Luca will do something crazy! He's just sitting there as still as a stature!!" she cried out.

The poor woman fell onto the nearby chair.Her hat with the feather even looking more silly as before.

"How..how would he take it??" she lapsed into oblivion "What are we going to do?"

Just then,the devil himself walked in.

Mrs Genovese stood up on his entry.He glanced at Mr Tate who was quietly sitting at the far corner of the vestry.

Luca pulled out a cigarette.

His sky blue eyes searching the anxious and nervous faces of his mother,brother and sister-in-law.

"Luca.." Mrs Genovese came to him,her voice trailed off. "She..she.."

"-ran away?" he finished

Mrs Genovese could only nod.

Luca too nodded,but his nodding didn't mean he understood.Nor did it mean he would take what just happened lightly.

Leo knew his brother very well.

"Luca..please be calm..try..try to understand that she..she must have felt shy since this is her first wedding" Leo explained.

In other words,trying to save the runaway bride from his brother's madness.God knew what he might end up doing to her.

"No!" came the countering voice of Mrs Genovese "Believe me,she had this planned all along! She definitely knew what she was doing!"

"Still,mother it's normal for-" Leo began when he felt the dangerous stare coming from his brother.He knew the right thing to do.

"Luca" called his mother "Let's leave through the back door!"

Luca said nothing.He only turned and left.

Eyes followed the muscularly built up body of the Mafia Lord,Luca Genovese.

Even though they were earlier agitating,they dare not even utter a sound.They could only watch the bridegroom leave in his Maybach,his bodyguard trailed behind.

Back in the vestry...

"Mum, let's just go back the same way we came." Leo suggested

"I know you've invited your country friends.All you have to do is tell them the bride fell ill"

"I can't..I can't face them"

Leo turned to his wife. "Please do it.We have to take mum home.She is already stressed out"

Andrea nodded.

She left the vestry and took the pulpit where she lied that the bride had fallen ill which is why the wedding would be postponed.

Immediately after which,a crowd gathered demanding for more information.

The bodyguards left behind,took care of that as Leo helped his mother and wife pass through the angered crowd.

Anxious questions from the guests now gathered on the cathedral steps,which masked their avid curiosity,were ignored.

Mrs Genovese's stony face gave rise to rumour that tragedy had indeed struck:that it was quite possible that the bride had been snatched away to her heavenly reward.

And this rumour was strongly reinforced when Mr Tate,haggard and distressed,was spotted being escorted to a car by no less a person than the bishop himself,and speedily driven away.

Within seconds,guests, bridesmaids and groomsmen had piled into every available vehicle and were on their way to the Tate residence.

They were ready to offer condolences,should condolences be necessary or at least hoping to learn the truth behind the cancellation of the wedding.

Many were already dabbing their eyes and working themselves up into a fitting state of mourning fervour before they were out of the cathedral precincts.

There was no escape for Mr Tate.With his wife under sedation in the bedroom,and other members of his immediate family keeping vigil over the prostrate mother,it was left to him to explain the situation to the horde of sympathisers and would-be-mourners.

As he reasoned it,Aurora Tate,his daughter must have changed out of her wedding clothes while he sat in the living room..

..waiting to escort her to the cathedral.She must sneaked out of the house through the kitchen,taken her car and gone.