p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"As she was waiting behind the giant doors of the church, Arianna felt nauseous. She'd never felt so nervous and regretful in her entire life. Even when she was in prison for being in Bellezza when she wasn't allowed to, she didn't feel this bad. There came Rodolfo and he offered her his arm, with a small bow. She looked up at him and he nodded at her with a small sad smile on his face. There were so many things she wanted to say to her father, but she didn't think she could open her mouth without throwing up./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"The doors in front of them opened and revealed the church that was filled up with all their friends and family. All of them had come together to celebrate the ducal wedding. But she didn't look at them. She couldn't look at them and pretend to be happy. She only looked at the person standing in front of all those people, at the altar. The man that would soon be hers forever. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Gaetano smiled his famous smile at her and she felt only a little better. She looked past her fiancée now and saw the person she knew would be there but she still hoped wouldn't have been. Was it wrong of her to think about how handsome her grooms best man looked? Was it wrong of her to think about how this day would've been if she'd have married him? Luciano noticed her staring at him and he too gave her the same sad smile Rodolfo had given her. She looked back at Gaetano and saw he was shifting his weight from one leg to another, which indicated how nervous he was. She felt sorry for him. It was her fault he had to go through all this. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"She inwardly sighed when she reached the altar. This wasn't how she'd always planned her wedding to go. She'd always told herself that she wouldn't marry someone without love. She did love Gaetano, but just as a friend, not in a romantic sense. She'd only ever loved one person in that sense, and he stood behind her soon to be husband. The moment she said yes to Gaetano, she'd already known she shouldn't have done it. They both were in love with someone else. Arianna only accepted his proposal out of anger and jealously, if she was entirely honest with herself. A few hours before Gaetano proposed, she'd seen the new Stravagante girl kiss Luciano and that was a sight that she would never be able to forget. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Suddenly, her legs gave in and she didn't see the church anymore. She saw a bed. It was crystal clear it was her own bed, in the Duchessa's master bedroom. There was someone in it. She heard voices quietly talking to each other. One voice belonged to a man, the other to a girl. She stepped a little closer to see who it were and gasped when she realised. Luciano sat there under the covers holding a small bundle in his arms. The baby in his arms, Arianna noticed, had Luciano's features and was just starting to grow black baby curls. There was someone else lying next to him, with her head in his lap. The girl couldn't be older than 5 or 4, and she had the most beautiful violet coloured eyes. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""And then, daddy? What next?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Arianna's heart skipped a beat when she heard that word. There was no doubt that these kids were hers and Luciano's. It was hard to fight the tears, that threatened to fall down her cheeks./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Then the door opened and 7 dwarfs were standing there."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""They can't, daddy. Dwarfs not real."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""They are in my story."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Arianna chuckled softly when she remembered Luciano telling her different 'fairy tales' as he called them. They were stories told to children and according to Luciano, they were very popular in his old world. She remained where she was; she didn't want to interrupt such a pure moment./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""So the dwarfs asked who the girl was and Snow White explained everything. About the evil new queen and the king. She told about the hunter and how she had to run away. The dwarfs listened to every word she said and were really sorry for her."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"It was then that the bundle in Luciano's arms started to cry. Luciano had everything under control though; he began bounding his son up and down while whispering things in his ear. It worked. After several moments the baby stopped crying and started giggling. Arianna's heart leaped at these actions. It was like watching another universe, where she did marry the love of her life. It felt so unreal to her./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Why the baby crying?" their daughter asked, almost in tears herself./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Because she felt sorry for Snow White as well, maybe?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"This cheered the little girl up a bit, and she giggled as well. She then stopped giggling, only to yawn. Luciano poked his daughter in her side, drawing a laugh out of her./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Someone's a little tired."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I don't want sleeping in my bed. Stay here?" she asked with a hopeful look on her face./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Luciano did like he had to think very hard over it. He tapped his chin with his pointer finger and looked at his little girl thoughtfully. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""We'll have a staring contest! If you win, you can stay here. If I win, you sleep in your own bed."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Yes! I'm good at this!" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""3… 2… 1… Start."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"After about five seconds Arianna saw that Luciano purposely blinked./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I win!" their daughter cheered happily. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""You did indeed, princes. You can sleep here tonight," Luciano smiled at his daughter. That was when he noticed Arianna standing there. His smile got even bigger as he told his daughter: "Look, Emilia, your mommy decided to join us as well!" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Emilia's smile was almost too big for her small face as she squealed at leapt herself at her mother. Arianna's reflexes were luckily quick enough to catch her before she'd fall. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Mommy! Daddy said I sleep with you!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Did he?" Arianna raised her eyebrows to Luciano, who spread his hand apolitically and grinned at her. He motioned her to come closer, so she carefully crawled into bed, Emilia still in her arms. She grinned like a fool when Luciano pecked her lips and tugged her in a little under the duvet. As she looked at her daughter again, she noticed that her Emilia was fast asleep. She lay her little girl down on the mattress and turned so she was facing her husband, who was also lying down. No words were spoken but the looks in their eyes said a thousand things. He saw wonder and love and even a little sadness. Or maybe it was guilt? he wondered. She saw nothing but love and admiration an concern, which made her heart race./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Just as she was about to lean in to kiss him again just to make sure everything was real, her surrounding faded and her head began to spin. She closed her eyes and when she opened them again, she looked right at Gaetano's concerned face. She swallowed hard when she remembered her reality. She looked around, still a little dizzy, and saw Luciano standing there as well, who looked even more concerned than Gaetano and was quietly mumbling to Rodolfo. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""What happened?" she asked, to nobody in particular. Her mother stood bend over her, and Arianna now noticed her for the first time. Silvia answered her question./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""You fainted. Probably from the nerves. Drink this." She held a glass of wine in front of her daughter. Arianna did as she was told. She sat up and while drinking her wine, she decided that she wouldn't let this marriage get through. The alternative universe she'd just seen was the only one she wanted to grow old in. She couldn't just give that up./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"The doors in front of them opened and revealed the church that was filled up with all their friends and family. All of them had come together to celebrate the ducal wedding. But she didn't look at them. She couldn't look at them and pretend to be happy. She only looked at the person standing in front of all those people, at the altar. The man that would soon be hers forever. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Gaetano smiled his famous smile at her and she felt only a little better. She looked past her fiancée now and saw the person she knew would be there but she still hoped wouldn't have been. Was it wrong of her to think about how handsome her grooms best man looked? Was it wrong of her to think about how this day would've been if she'd have married him? Luciano noticed her staring at him and he too gave her the same sad smile Rodolfo had given her. She looked back at Gaetano and saw he was shifting his weight from one leg to another, which indicated how nervous he was. She felt sorry for him. It was her fault he had to go through all this. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"She inwardly sighed when she reached the altar. This wasn't how she'd always planned her wedding to go. She'd always told herself that she wouldn't marry someone without love. She did love Gaetano, but just as a friend, not in a romantic sense. She'd only ever loved one person in that sense, and he stood behind her soon to be husband. The moment she said yes to Gaetano, she'd already known she shouldn't have done it. They both were in love with someone else. Arianna only accepted his proposal out of anger and jealously, if she was entirely honest with herself. A few hours before Gaetano proposed, she'd seen the new Stravagante girl kiss Luciano and that was a sight that she would never be able to forget. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Suddenly, her legs gave in and she didn't see the church anymore. She saw a bed. It was crystal clear it was her own bed, in the Duchessa's master bedroom. There was someone in it. She heard voices quietly talking to each other. One voice belonged to a man, the other to a girl. She stepped a little closer to see who it were and gasped when she realised. Luciano sat there under the covers holding a small bundle in his arms. The baby in his arms, Arianna noticed, had Luciano's features and was just starting to grow black baby curls. There was someone else lying next to him, with her head in his lap. The girl couldn't be older than 5 or 4, and she had the most beautiful violet coloured eyes. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""And then, daddy? What next?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Arianna's heart skipped a beat when she heard that word. There was no doubt that these kids were hers and Luciano's. It was hard to fight the tears, that threatened to fall down her cheeks./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Then the door opened and 7 dwarfs were standing there."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""They can't, daddy. Dwarfs not real."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""They are in my story."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Arianna chuckled softly when she remembered Luciano telling her different 'fairy tales' as he called them. They were stories told to children and according to Luciano, they were very popular in his old world. She remained where she was; she didn't want to interrupt such a pure moment./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""So the dwarfs asked who the girl was and Snow White explained everything. About the evil new queen and the king. She told about the hunter and how she had to run away. The dwarfs listened to every word she said and were really sorry for her."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"It was then that the bundle in Luciano's arms started to cry. Luciano had everything under control though; he began bounding his son up and down while whispering things in his ear. It worked. After several moments the baby stopped crying and started giggling. Arianna's heart leaped at these actions. It was like watching another universe, where she did marry the love of her life. It felt so unreal to her./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Why the baby crying?" their daughter asked, almost in tears herself./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Because she felt sorry for Snow White as well, maybe?"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"This cheered the little girl up a bit, and she giggled as well. She then stopped giggling, only to yawn. Luciano poked his daughter in her side, drawing a laugh out of her./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Someone's a little tired."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I don't want sleeping in my bed. Stay here?" she asked with a hopeful look on her face./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Luciano did like he had to think very hard over it. He tapped his chin with his pointer finger and looked at his little girl thoughtfully. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""We'll have a staring contest! If you win, you can stay here. If I win, you sleep in your own bed."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Yes! I'm good at this!" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""3… 2… 1… Start."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"After about five seconds Arianna saw that Luciano purposely blinked./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""I win!" their daughter cheered happily. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""You did indeed, princes. You can sleep here tonight," Luciano smiled at his daughter. That was when he noticed Arianna standing there. His smile got even bigger as he told his daughter: "Look, Emilia, your mommy decided to join us as well!" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Emilia's smile was almost too big for her small face as she squealed at leapt herself at her mother. Arianna's reflexes were luckily quick enough to catch her before she'd fall. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Mommy! Daddy said I sleep with you!"/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""Did he?" Arianna raised her eyebrows to Luciano, who spread his hand apolitically and grinned at her. He motioned her to come closer, so she carefully crawled into bed, Emilia still in her arms. She grinned like a fool when Luciano pecked her lips and tugged her in a little under the duvet. As she looked at her daughter again, she noticed that her Emilia was fast asleep. She lay her little girl down on the mattress and turned so she was facing her husband, who was also lying down. No words were spoken but the looks in their eyes said a thousand things. He saw wonder and love and even a little sadness. Or maybe it was guilt? he wondered. She saw nothing but love and admiration an concern, which made her heart race./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"Just as she was about to lean in to kiss him again just to make sure everything was real, her surrounding faded and her head began to spin. She closed her eyes and when she opened them again, she looked right at Gaetano's concerned face. She swallowed hard when she remembered her reality. She looked around, still a little dizzy, and saw Luciano standing there as well, who looked even more concerned than Gaetano and was quietly mumbling to Rodolfo. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""What happened?" she asked, to nobody in particular. Her mother stood bend over her, and Arianna now noticed her for the first time. Silvia answered her question./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 35.4pt;"span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;""You fainted. Probably from the nerves. Drink this." She held a glass of wine in front of her daughter. Arianna did as she was told. She sat up and while drinking her wine, she decided that she wouldn't let this marriage get through. The alternative universe she'd just seen was the only one she wanted to grow old in. She couldn't just give that up./span/p