Ruthless Mafia 17

He laughed and shook his head as the man at his right stepped forward. “Vodingo, this is my bride, Zorah Maria
Lucchesi. Zorah, this is my best friend, my cousin, the only person on the planet I would trust with my life and yours without a single second thought. Where I go, he always goes, in one way or another. We are rarely an hour or two apart
in distance.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
She held her hand out, “it’s nice to meet you Vodingo. Thank you for being here.”
“It is my pleasure, Zorah Lucchesi to be at your disposal from now until death. However, you are currently standing in the
way of something I want. Would you mind switching places with Sidonia?”
Her eyes widened as she finally caught up and Sidonia gave a gasp.
Vodingo grabbed Sidonia by the hands and pulled her closer, “you do not know me. I do not know you. What I do know,
is I saw you at the back of this church and knew I could not leave it without you being mine. You do not understand, and
I do not expect you to yet, but I will explain to you later, when we are alone. For now, if for no other reason than I
promise to make sure you and Zorah are never apart and I will bring you with her wherever we are, will you do me the
honor of marrying me right here, right now.”
Sidonia was wide-eyed as she stared at the oversized man. “I’ll get to be with Zorah?”
“She is your sister, no? You love her more than life? She loves you more than life.”
“She is only here today because she wants to keep me safe,” Sidonia nodded her eyes watering as she looked at Zorah.
“I will keep you both safe and nobody will ever hurt either of you.”
“My parents.”
“Agreed to the dowry promise so long as you agree to be mine.”
“It won’t be legal,” Sidonia shook her head in confusion. “We have no license and no –”
He stepped closer to her, gently lifting her chin, “do you care for the laws of man or do will follow the vows you speak in
a church? The rest we can iron out later, but I want to hear your name with mine reciting vows to God.”
“You believe in God?”
“He gave me you, didn’t He?”
Zorah considered Vodingo might be the smoothest talking man she ever met and when she looked at Icaro the laugh on
his lips made her grin back at him.
“Okay,” Sidonia shocked the entire congregation. “If you promise to make sure I go where Zorah goes, I will marry you
right now.”
He lifted a chain off his neck from under his tuxedo, “this,” Vodingo held it up displaying a ring on it, “was my maternal
grandmother’s ring. She died many years ago and she swore me to wear it until the day I put it on my love’s hand. You will wear this today and for all the days of your life.”
Sidonia was flabbergasted. “I don’t have a ring for you.”
“Hey!” one of the men called out as he climbed over the pews. “I’m Amauri and I’m his little brother,” he motioned at
Vodingo as he approached Sidonia. He looked at Vodingo, “she’s the one?”
“She’s the one.”
“Cool. You can have this,” he was pulling a ring off his finger. “Vod has been after me for years to give him this ring. It
belonged to one of our uncles and Vod used to admire it. I won it off the old man in a card game. I like to use it to make my big brother jealous because I have something he has always wanted but since this is such a special day, you can have
it.”
“What is happening?” a voice from the pews called out.
Zorah turned to the nun who appeared confused sitting next to her mother. “We’re having a double wedding. We’ll be
done shortly, Sister, and then you can clean up and get the church ready for evening mass.” She drew her spine straight
at the disbelief in the woman’s eyes. This particular woman was one who liked to tattle to Zorah’s mother and uncle
about everything she did. “If you can simply sit still and not disrupt the service, it would be appreciated.” She echoed a
command the woman issued to her countless times in the past.
Icaro leaned closer, “there’s the fire I love so much. I know we’re supposed to stand on either side but come stand with
me while they do their vows.”
He tugged her so she was standing with her back to his chest, his arms wrapped around her middle holding her close to
his chest. He whispered in her ear while her uncle began the impromptu ceremony with clear reservations.
“In our family, we are very blessed to always find our perfect soulmate. With nothing more than a glance we know in
here,” Icaro tapped his finger against her chest, “when we find the one. Sometimes we have to wait decades for girl to
grow up and be a woman,” he nuzzled her ear, “other times, we’re all grown up when we find her. My grandfather met
my grandmother when they were both four on bus to school and they grew up together. I found you when you were a mere infant, and you looked up at me with eyes the color of cinnamon toast. I was thirteen and it was all I could come up
with, but it was what stuck. Fresh warm bread with cinnamon sprinkled on it. Made me never want to let you go. Today,
Vodingo saw his soulmate across the room.”
“This is weird,” she whispered. “We cannot be soulmates. I don’t know you.”
“You will. We have a lifetime to learn about each other.” He nodded at his friend, “as they now also will. She is marrying
him to stay close to you, but I promise you, in a year or two, she will love him deeply.”
“How are you so sure?”
“Because not all gifts from God are good,” he looked at her uncle meaningfully, “and not all sacrifices are done for the
right reasons. But sometimes the gifts we are given in this life are pure and real. We are not good men, Zorah and we
don’t lie and say we are. However, we are faithful from the moment we pledge our vows of marriage. This knowledge of
knowing our other halves is a reward for never breaking our vows.”
“It sounds like witchcraft, which is a sin.”
“Or the work of a pure heart who prayed with pure intention for the benefit of all of her sons, grandsons and their sons
and grandsons hundreds of years ago and was blessed with an answer to her prayers.”
She looked up at him, “you believe in this?”
“With all my heart.”
Zorah found herself wondering if she was trading in one religion for another as his words settled deep.