Page 218 of Modern Romance January 2025 5-8
She would like to run...go and hide in the lovely garden and drag in some air. Instead she walked through to the private dining room, where the table was being hastily dressed for a very elegant wedding breakfast—more candles, of course, as well as silver-framed photos on occasional tables. To her surprise Juliet and Louanna were there, as well as a tall gentleman—obviously their conductor—and a harried-looking older lady.
‘Susie...’ Juliet called.
She gave a quick wave. Now and then they’d worked the same venue, but there was no time to stop now. They were busy tuning up, and Susie was busy accepting platters from the main kitchen.
Then she was directed by Pedro to hold a champagne tray at the door.
‘Wait...’ the conductor was saying, and Susie couldn’t work it all out—because surely there was no such thing as a surprise wedding?
Yet there was Mimi, looking stunning in an emerald gown, giving a shocked gasp as she stepped into the dining room.
‘Gio!’ She laughed, and kissed the groom as the music started.
Susie stood still as hands reached for the champagne flutes on the tray she held. No matter how she tried not to notice, she knew which hand was Dante’s.
‘Grazie, Susie,’ he said.
‘You’re welcome.’
Mimi was still happily protesting. ‘This is beautiful...but I wanted to cook for my wonderful husband, my new family.’
‘You think I would have you cooking on your wedding day?’ Gio was delighted as he held a chair for his bride. ‘Sit, my love.’
‘I am not going to sit,’ Mimi said. ‘I have tosing.’
‘Great...’ the other man in the party said under his breath as he took a drink from Susie’s tray. ‘That’s all we need...’
Susie looked up to get her first glimpse of Sev. His comment had clearly been to himself rather than to Susie. In fact, he didn’t even deign to spare her a glance—just took a glass and raised it.
The music paused as Mimi smiled to her small audience and then looked at her husband.
‘My love gets stronger every day...my voice not so much. Forgive me...’
‘You have the voice of an angel,’ Gio said.
Mimi looked towards the string quartet. ‘“Una Voce Poco Fa”? “A Voice I Once Heard...”’
It was the piece Juliet had been practising this morning, Susie realised. Perhaps Gio had told them it was Mimi’s favourite?
There was silence, then a short musical introduction, and then Mimi reached out her hand towards her new husband, and for the first time Susie heard her glorious voice.
Susie knew nothing about opera, and hadn’t really understood before how a song might know exactly how she felt—how a song might mirror the aching desire and the loneliness that had suffocated her since her parting from Dante.
God, she missed him so much...
As the song neared its conclusion Susie dared to look over, but of course Dante was looking at Mimi.
At first, she couldn’t read his features. His chin was up, his lips slightly taut, and for the first time she saw that the very smooth Dante appeared slightly awkward.
‘Bravo,’ he said as Mimi finished.
Possibly it was to do with his brother being there, because there was no hint of awkwardness when he came into the little butler’s kitchen a while later.
‘I didn’t know Gio was getting lunch catered here,’ Dante explained. ‘When he told me about the wedding he said it was just a family lunch and Mimi was cooking. The string quartet and the private lunch was a last-minute thing, apparently.’
‘Good for Gio.’ Susie pushed out a smile, not wanting to make a fuss. After all it was a very special day.
And it wasn’t the wedding that hurt.