The Scarlet Thread Read Online Free Page B

his lips apart.
    â€œIt might hurt the baby,” she said.
    â€œI’m going to marry you.” He had taken her out in the jeep and driven down to the quayside, where the sea breeze brought coolness.
    It was dark, and they held each other close. Christine , she thought, how very wrong you were .
    â€œI’m going to find a way.”
    â€œYou can’t,” she told him. “After the war is over; we’ll get married then.”
    â€œAnd have my boy a bastard?” He cursed in Italian.
    Angela had never seen him angry. She was calm and happy and reassured. She teased him. “How do you know it’s a boy?”
    He frowned and said, “Because I know it is. Boy or girl, it’s my child. Our child. Don’t make a joke, Angelina. We’ll get married. I’ll find a way, even if I have to—” He stopped and eased her a little away from him. “You want to marry me, don’t you?”
    â€œI don’t care,” she said. “I love you; that’s what’s important. I’m so happy about the baby, I don’t see that anything else matters.”
    He was silent for a moment. He was angry, and she realized it suddenly.
    â€œYou don’t understand,” he said. “It matters to me that my child is a Falconi, born into my family. And that they accept you. They will, cara mia . They’ll love you and be happy for us. But not if the child is born in dishonor.”
    Dishonor! She said slowly, “Steven, you sound like something out of the Middle Ages. We can’t get married because they won’t give you permission. Everyone knows it’s American policy to stop this sort of thing. There’s nothing we can do about it except for me to have the baby. Then we’ll get married and make it right as soon as we can.”
    â€œIt won’t be right for us,” he answered. “You don’t realize, people will disrespect you. Listen to me, sweetheart. You’re happy and not making any sense. Let me decide what to do and how to do it. You must be protected. You must have my name. I’ll think. I’ll find a way. Now I’m taking you back. It’s late.”
    He walked her to the nurses’ quarters, stopped and took her in his arms. She had been quiet during their drive back. He had upset her. He had been a fool, forgetting that she wouldn’t understand.
    â€œListen to me, my darling,” he said. “You think it’s just because of the baby? You don’t think I care about you? I don’t want our child to be a bastard. I’m not going to let it happen. But it’s more; I won’t have people disrespecting you—pointing at you. And do you think I’d let you have this baby without a husband to protect you, to see you through it? Without support, except some promise to marry you sometime after the war? I’ll soon be sent away from here. And what happens to you when I’m gone? Just another girl who got herself knocked up by an American—that’s how it would look. That’s how you’d be treated. No. No, my Angelina. You will be married to me, and everyone will know it.”
    He held her close to him. She could have faced the future secure in his love and his promise. But what was possible for her was inconceivable to him. Dishonor. His family. She didn’t understand, but she didn’t doubt that he meant it.
    â€œI’m so happy about the child,” he said. “I want to be with you for the rest of my life. I’m going to take care of you, cara mia , you and the baby. There’s only one way to make sure of that. Will you trust me? Will you do what I ask?”
    She nodded, blinking back tears.
    â€œFriday is your free day?”
    â€œYes,” she said. He kissed her on one cheek, then the other, and lastly, with great tenderness, on the lips.
    â€œI will have arranged something by then,” he said. “I promise