Chapter 4: The Dragonetti Bride

Sienna

Sunday - It was the morning of my wedding and I have been up since 3 am pacing my bedroom floor. This was it. The time had finally arrived, and I was a nervous wreck. I could hear Mama as she paced the floor above me, seemingly as nervous as I was. We had landed in New York the day before because the wedding reception was taking place at Dragonetti Mansion, a vast estate that once belonged to Dante’s parents.

My family and I are currently staying at Dante’s guesthouse, because of the old tradition of the bridegroom not being allowed to see the bride before the wedding.

I got up from my bed and walked towards my wedding gown as it stood on the mannequin. It was a magnificent work of art made of silk and lace, embellished with a diamond bodice and an illusion Sabrina neckline adorned with scattered Swarovski crystal beading. It had an open screen back as well. Running my fingers over the bodice, my thoughts go straight to today and what it would lead to. They would expect a lot of me and this marriage. My position as a Dragonetti wife would depend on how effectively I would be prepared to please Dante.

A knock came at my door. “Sienna, are you awake?” It was my Mamma. I couldn’t help but smile. After the last time Dante and his family visited us, we have grown closer. She would regularly give me guidance and prepared me for the road ahead. As it turns out, she was well informed about Papa and his mistresses but preferred to turn an unconscious eye to it. I still recall what she told me one evening after a few too many glasses of wine.

“Mafia wives have to accept whatever their husbands throw at them, Sienna. We have to be the calm in their storms, the normality they come home and the mothers to their successors. We will eternally be birds in glass cages; always catching glimpses of the surface world, but never being able to join.”

I would forever allow her words to be burned into my head; my Mama was finally honest with me about her feelings and I adored every minute of it. She didn’t remember our conversation at all the following day, and I didn’t remind her of what she had told me; she would have been mortified. So I filed it away, always going back to it in times of need.

“I am, Mama, come in,” I say and she opens the door. My mother was already done up in her wedding attire and looked beautiful; she was a classic beauty, and they always said that I inherited my looks from her. Smiling, she walks towards me, stopping next to my wedding dress, and sighs. “You will make a beautiful bride, Stellina.” She says, referring to me by my precious nickname of ‘star.’

“Thank you, Mama,” I say, and she draws me in for an embrace, brushing my forehead with her lips. “Come, everyone has arrived to get you ready for the day. I will send them up so we can proceed.”

It was time to transform me into The Dragonetti Bride.

The next two-and-a-half hours go by in a blur, and by the end, I didn’t even recognise myself in the mirror. They kept my makeup natural and my hair was curled and twisted into an updo with diamante pins holding them together. In short; I looked glamorous and every part of the Mafia Bride.

“Cara Mia,” my father gushes when he walks into the room, beaming at me as he sees me. I turn to face him and see his eyes brimming with unshed tears. This causes me to frown because I have never seen my Papa show any emotion. Ever.

“Papa,” I say, and kiss his cheek as he embraces me. He looks at me with love in his eyes and rubs my shoulders before turning around and leaving the room again. That was odd. What was that look he gave me just now?

My mother walks towards me and her lips are a thin line. “Your Papa is just worried about you, Sienna. He regrets offering you to il Drago, but realized there was no other way to keep us all safe.” My mother says in a plaintive tone and I could do nothing but sigh. “It is already done, Mama,” I say and walk towards my veil resting on the bed. I pick it up with the attached tiara and hand it over to my mother. “Would you please help me?” I asked her and she gave me a sorrowful nod before placing the tiara on my head.

“Oh!” my mother exclaims, then leaves the room. What she comes back with puts a smile on my face; a beautiful Biedermeier bridal bouquet made up of red roses and pink Peruvian lilies. What amazed me the most was the fact that the centre flower was a sunflower - did Dante know they were my favourite?

“Dante dropped this off earlier.” My mother says with a smile as she stares at the bouquet. In Italian culture, it was customary for the groom to buy the bride’s bouquet. She hands it over to me, but as I take it from her, I notice the other flowers attached or rather, tucked away within the bouquet. My heart stops and I almost drop the bouquet I held.

Dante knew my favourite flower and knew floriculture was my hobby, that’s why he had these attached; he realized only I would figure out the significance behind them:

Yellow carnations signify disdain, white carnations signify death and Aconite, also known as wolfsbane and is incredibly poisonous - this flower signifies revenge.

Disdain, death and revenge. What was Dante trying to tell me?

“Isn’t it lovely, Sienna? He even knew sunflowers were your favourite!” My mother says and I try to push the fear down with a smile. “It’s beautiful,” I reply, and my mother dabs the corner of her eyes before straightening her back and pulling the veil over my face. I take the corner of my veil and tear a slight hole in it before offering my mother a taut smile. She draws me in for an embrace. “Try to make him love you, Sienna. If anything else, try to make him love you, or at least respect you.” She says, and I look at her with horror. Dante was not capable of love. A man who killed children had no room for love in his heart.

“Time to go,” I say, and she leads me out of the bedroom to what I only assume was my demise, no matter how many times I rip the veil.

My father was waiting for me at the foot of the stairs, his stoic expression back as he watched me descend; ah, that was the man I loved. “Ready, Sienna?” He asks me and I nod, “Yes, Papa.” I respond and we walk out of the Dragonetti guest house - to my doom.