Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 116471 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 582(@200wpm)___ 466(@250wpm)___ 388(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116471 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 582(@200wpm)___ 466(@250wpm)___ 388(@300wpm)
Ines cleared her throat, a look of uncertainty on her face. “Are you okay?”
I smiled. “I am, yes.” I held up the photos. “I forgot about these.”
Ines scanned the photos and touched my arm. “I can tell you did ballet from the way you hold yourself and move your fingers and arms. You exude elegance.”
“Oh wow, thank you. Did you do ballet?”
“For a while as a girl before my father decided I shouldn’t wear leotards.”
I nodded. I put the photos into one of the drawers.
“I loved seeing you and Samuel dance. Maybe you could take lessons? If you miss dancing.”
“I do. I guess I’ll have to think about it.” I decided to change the topic as dancing felt personal in a way I couldn’t explain. “Are people still talking about the marriage? About me?”
I didn’t even want to imagine the vicious turn the gossip would take if people found out about a mistress. I hated being pitied. I needed to figure out a way to handle the situation in a way that saved me from heartache and pathetic glances.
“Some do,” Ines said hesitantly, then gave me a reassuring smile. “Don’t mind them. You’re now Samuel’s wife, and that’s all that matters. I’m very happy about it.”
I tilted my head, trying to gauge if Ines really meant it. She was a kind woman, but she was also raised in the mafia, and tolerating people who weren’t perfect by our society’s standards wasn’t our world’s forte. “That’s very sweet of you to say.”
Ines put down a scarf she was about to put on a higher shelf for my winter wardrobe. “I’m being serious, Emma. I’m going to be very open. I was concerned in the beginning. Samuel’s had a few tough years with his sister being kidnapped and some of his friends dying, and just the overall conflict with the Camorra. I wanted a strong but caring woman at his side.”
People needed to stop thinking my wheelchair made me weak in any way. If anything, my struggles have made me stronger. I was fairly sure I could handle almost anything.
I opened my mouth to tell her that my wheelchair didn’t mean I wasn’t strong and caring, but she raised a palm to stop me and continued, “I don’t know you very well, but what I’ve seen so far convinced me that you can be that woman for Samuel.”
“I’ll do my best to be a good wife, if he lets me.”
Ines smiled bitterly. “He can be stubborn and withdrawn. Like his father, he prefers to swallow his problems until they burst out of him. I hope he’ll be a good husband. I know he has it in him, but sometimes he’s his own worst enemy.”
I was surprised by Ines’s openness, but at the same time relieved that she didn’t see Samuel as some sort of saint.
Ines opened the last suitcase, and a heap of lingerie fell out. They were mostly new. I had bought them with Samuel in mind, though I really enjoyed wearing sexy underwear for my own well-being too.
“No reason to be embarrassed.” Ines picked up my underwear, then put it in the drawer I had picked for it.
We finished unpacking in the early afternoon and had coffee together.
“Would you mind if I take a dip in your pool? We don’t have one, and it’s been too long since I’ve swum.”
“Of course I don’t mind. You can have one of my bikinis.” I was glad that Ines wanted to spend a bit more time with me. Maybe she could sense that I longed for company today. I really liked her, which was a relief.
While Ines swam a few laps in the pool, I researched things to do in Minneapolis apart from the charity work I wanted to begin as soon as possible. I stumbled upon an inclusive dance studio that had several dance courses for people with disabilities or, as they put it, differently abled. I loved the term. Everything from breakdance over jazz dance, standard dances to ballet. I felt a deep ache inside me, not necessarily for ballet but for dancing, for moving my body in rhythm with music.
It was a public studio, so I wasn’t sure how happy Samuel would be if I went there. I wasn’t sure if I even wanted to tell him about it. Maybe I could just ask Leo to take me there and pretend he was my husband. Though, Samuel probably wouldn’t be impressed by such a move.
I’d simply discuss my plans with him tonight after asking him about F.
My belly constricted with nerves just thinking about that confrontation.
When Ines returned to the porch after taking a shower, once again perfectly dressed in a skirt and short-sleeved blouse, she sank down beside me.
“It’s getting late. I should leave so you can have a nice evening with Samuel.”