Tainted Faith

BONUS CHAPTER I

Liliana and Marcello had been married for just over nine months now.

That meant, of course, that Liliana was now so pregnant that the sight of her own feet was but a distant memory.  All of her clothes, the maternity ones that might as well have all been shapeless rags at this point, barely fit her. She was unable to put her own socks on in the morning, and putting on any shoes that required laces was just as much of an impossibility.

That night, she'd even had to have Angelo help her into bed - a bed that Liliana hadn't realised until she was too pregnant, was far too low. Marcello - her husband - was usually the one to help her with such things, but she hadn't seen him all evening. Except for right this moment, just as she was about to switch off the bedside lamp and go to sleep.

"Why won't you look at me?" she asked him, eyebrows knitting together as she watched her husband cross the length of their bedroom without so much of a glance towards her.

"You know why," he uttered, searching through his underwear draw until he pulled out a bundle of blue.

"What's that?"

"Socks."

"You don't have sock in the spare bedroom?"

"I need these socks."

"Right," Liliana drawled, overall unimpressed with the entire situation. "I think you're being ridiculous."

"Yes," Marcello huffed, with his back still turned towards her. "You've made that very clear."

"So why are you insisting on this? Don't you know it's bad to ignore the wisdom of your wife? Even more so to ignore the wisdom of your very pregnant, hormonal wife who is more than prepared to resort to violence if she doesn't get her own way."

Still hunched over one of his draws, Liliana saw his shoulders shaking with barely restrained laughter. She barely resisted the overwhelming desire to throw something at him. She'd been awfully irritable lately, for obvious reasons, and him laughing at her didn't make that any better. 

"And just what sort of violence are you threatening, when you can barely get up from the bed by yourself?"

Liliana's fingers curled around her phone tightly, and it took everything in her to resit aiming for his back. The fact that she was still talking to the back of his head was ridiculous. "Are you sure you want to be angering me tonight?"

"I'm not sure that there's much chance of a runaway bride at this point," he mused, the amusement apparent in his tone. That smug asshole.

"I'm sleeping in tomorrow, I'm missing it."

"You're not."

"I'll go for a walk with Gio."

"You won't."

"I'll take a long hot bath, that lasts throughout the whole ceremony."

Marcello faced her now, his blue socks in hand, and looked at her with bright eyes and a smile that gave away just how much he was laughing at her. For one second, Liliana's expression softened as she appraised his handsome face. Only for one second. Then, he opened his mouth once again and her glare was back with great enthusiasm. 

"And how will you be getting in and out of the bath mia amore?"

"Sophia and Zia Adelina will help," she huffed, leaning back against her arms. Marcello's attention fell to the dramatic curve of her bulging stomach, his grin widening. 

He glanced over at the long, black bag hung by the wardrobe that protected her dress. "I think they might prefer to help you with your dress, makeup and hair that you've all been talking non-stop about for weeks."