Page 252 of Marcello

I stood there, looking at her blank face, searching for a sign of how she felt –

When her brow knit in fury, and she slapped my face as hard as she could.

It wasn’t a tenth as bad as Cesare’s suckerpunch earlier –

But it hurt a thousand times worse.

I deserve that.

I deserve her hating me.

I stood there, my face burning with shame –

And then suddenly she burst into tears and buried her face in my chest.

I held her in my arms as her shoulders heaved.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I’m so, so sorry.”

“I’m sorry, too,” she sobbed.

“But… you didn’t do anything.”

“Yes, I did,” she whimpered. “I could’ve told you about my family. But I thought if you knew what they were… if you knew what I was… then you’d never want to see me again.”

My heart broke for her.

I put my fingers under her chin and lifted her tear-streaked face to look at me.

“We were afraid of losing each other, so we both lied,” I whispered. “I know I might’ve already lost you – maybe you hate me now – ”

“I don’t,” she sobbed.

It was one of the sweetest things I’d ever heard in my life, and I smiled through my pain.

“Good. Because I love you more than ever, and I swear to God I’m going to get you out of here.”

“And then what?”

In retrospect, I think she meant, And how do we get out of the house?

Or maybe How do we get out of Naples?

But without thinking, I blurted, “I’m going to marry you.”

Her eyes widened in shock –

And she burst out laughing.

I was utterly devastated –

Until she gestured to her cobwebbed hair and said, “You want to marry me even when I look like this?!”

I grinned. “More than I’ve ever wanted anything in my entire life.”

Her incredulous smile turned to pain… or maybe she was overcome with bittersweet joy…

And she tilted her face up to me and stood on her tiptoes.