I died.My body felt light, like a wisp of smoke.I floated up to the vaulted ceiling of St. Patrick's Cathedral and watched Marco holding my cold body.As if he were holding the ruins of his world.So this was it. The soul wasn't a myth after all. Just a wisp of smoke, weightless and invisible.I watched him hold a grand funeral for me.All the important people in New York were there, their faces masks of fake sadness.I watched Isabella's family crumble overnight.Her "fiancé" over in Italy had a mysterious "accident."She herself was sent to a mental asylum no one had ever heard of.This was Mafia revenge.Cold. And total.I just floated and watched, feeling no satisfaction, no emotion at all.Then, I saw Marco do something even crazier.He booked St. Patrick's Cathedral again.He decorated the whole church exactly as I had described it in my final hours.Thousands upon thousands of white peonies, flown in from Holland, were piled into a sea of dreamlike flowers.Warm yellow light
In my last few days, I asked Marco to do one last thing for me.He pushed me in a wheelchair from the hospital to St. Patrick's Cathedral.This was where I had always dreamed of getting married.A long time ago, I had come here countless times, measuring every corner myself, making sure every detail of the design was perfect. I had dreamed all my beautiful dreams here.I never thought that three years later, we would return to this place like this.Marco looked at me in silence. He obviously knew what was happening.He looked more like a ghost than I felt. Wasted away, with hollow eyes.But when he saw me, a little bit of life returned to his face, a faint light in his eyes.Then I started talking, and that light went out.I smiled, my voice soft as I walked him through the dream. "Our photo would have gone right there," I'd say, pointing to the foyer. "And the guestbook here... The peonies had to be arranged in cascades, not bunches. And the light... it had to be this warm, yellow gl
I said no to Marco's proposal.But he didn't give up. He stayed by my side day and night, ignoring all the pitying looks.I knew what it was. He was just trying to ease his own guilt, to pay for his sins.When my parents came, he’d retreat to a stool in the hallway, keeping a silent vigil.At this point, my parents didn't blame him for my sickness, but the resentment was still there. They were afraid seeing him would upset me.But I just smiled and told them it didn't matter anymore. He was just a stranger now.I knew he was standing right outside the door when I said it.But he still didn't leave.He even cancelled all his family business, just so he could be there to help when my parents weren't around.Slowly, my parents started to accept his presence.I stayed in the hospital at first because the doctors recommended it. They said surgery was a long shot, but it might give me a little more time.My parents, heartbroken, told me they'd respect whatever I decided.Of course, I di
So that was it. Marco had just been another pawn in Isabella’s game. The whole wedding was a sham, designed to make some rival heir in Italy jealous.She used Marco as a stand-in, putting on a show to make the other guy regret leaving her, or maybe even show up and stop the wedding.But the guy had already forgotten she existed. He was still living it up overseas.Even the wedding deposit was just the "breakup money" he'd given her.And stealing my wedding plan? That was just her sick, twisted need to win, to feel important."If I can't be happy, no one else gets to be either."He repeated the words Isabella had spat at him after her mask finally came off.But to me, the source of the pain didn't matter. The wound felt the same.He stood up and collapsed back into his chair, like all the strength had been sucked out of him, his eyes empty.He confessed that he’d been drawn to her at first, that they had almost gotten together. But then he heard the truth from other people, saw her
I went back home and packed my bags. Fast.I quit my job in New York and went back to Seattle, to my parents' little Italian restaurant.Mom and Dad assumed it was just a bad breakup. They kept trying to coax the story out of me, treading carefully around the subject. They even offered to go talk to Marco themselves, to set him straight.But I couldn't tell them the truth.It wasn't just the humiliation, or how cold Marco had been.Mostly, I was afraid they couldn't handle the news that I had cancer. My mother's health was already fragile.So I just played the part of the good daughter, trying my best to distract them.Seeing me like that, they stopped pushing.But late at night, I'd hear their muffled sighs through the bedroom wall.I tried not to think about Marco.But at night, the grief would claw its way back, a dull, pulsing ache in my chest. I couldn't sleep.Two months passed like that. Then it was Christmas.You know how relatives are—always running their mouths. They'd co
That's when I learned that Isabella had rejected all ten revised plans.I was exhausted, physically and mentally. All I could do was tell him what the doctor said."I went to the hospital yesterday. The doctor told me I need to rest."His tone softened. He walked over and pulled me into his arms.As if he’d finally remembered that I was the one who was supposed to be his fiancée."It's all my fault. I've been so busy lately, I haven't been taking care of you.""Baby, for me, just help me this one last time, okay? After this wedding is over, I'll take you to Sicily for a vacation."Tears pricked my eyes.How many times had I begged him to take me away, only to be shut down by that same excuse? "Family business."The dull ache in my chest started again.He noticed, and gently laid me down on the bed. He placed a warm compress on my chest and started to massage it gently, his face full of concern.It's easy to give in when you feel weak.I remembered how it was when he was courting me.