Page 6 of Rome for the Holidays
That’s what she had become after six years of non-stop correspondence. Getting at least a letter a week, if not more.
They had gotten to know everything there was to know about each other and sent pictures and small trinkets along with the letters.
His parents thought it was funny at first. Allowing him to keep sending the letters until last year.
That was when his father had put his foot down and told Vincenzo that this friendship wasn’t sustainable and that he was starting to develop feelings for her.
After he got the first picture of her when they were ten years old, he knew in his heart she was it for him.
Gio thought he was insane for thinking that way, but Vincenzo refused to let anyone make him feel differently.
He looked forward to each letter, each trinket, that he kept in a box under his bed along with all the letters she sent.
He loved knowing about her, until he told Elio about her one day. Elena overheard and ran to tell their father.
He called Vincenzo into his office, then told him to shut the door.
Vincenzo stood by the door, while his father stood by the window, his back to him.
Vincenzo swallowed hard when his father ran a hand through his hair, “Sit down.”
Vincenzo walked over, sitting on the edge of a chair. He was fifteen but worried about what his father was going to say.
He had seen the times his father got angry, and knew it wasn’t always good for the person on the other end.
His father hadn’t become the head of the family without doing all he could to be there.
He finally turned around, and Vincenzo saw the look of sadness on his father’s face.
He felt his brows pull together in confusion and his father leaned his hands against his desk.
“Elena came to talk to me today,” he started, and Vin nodded, staying silent.
“She told me about the girl you are still talking to. The one you started talking to five years ago?”
He nodded again, “I wanted to talk to her. I didn’t want to stop talking to her. It was not fair to either of us.”
His father shook his head, “It was fine, until you started having feelings for her.”
Vincenzo felt his spine straighten, “What did Elena say to you?”
His father shook his head, “That tells me all I need to know. When did you start to develop feelings for this girl?”
“When I saw her picture the first time.”
His father let out a small sigh, “You are not allowed to write to her again. You are promised to someone else. This friendship will not work out. I doubt you will ever see her in real life. You cannot develop feelings for a girl who will never be yours. If you want to write to someone, write to your intended. But you cannot have your heart involved. Even if you never like the girl you end up with, you cannot love another girl when you are promised to someone else.”
Vincenzo stood, “I asked you to let me have my own choice. I choose Harper. I will always choose her.”
His father pinched the bridge of his nose, “I told you that you were promised.”
Vincenzo shook his head, “And I told you that I wanted to choose for myself. I will do anything else you ask of me, but this I will not bend on.”
His father ground his jaw, “You do not have a choice. I know you want one, but we have to protect this family and one of the ways we do that is by growing our family with marriage and the ties that come from the other families in our life. We become stronger, and that is what we need. You are the eldest, and you are to take over for me one day. I did not have a choice in the matter either, but I made it work. I love your mother.”
“I know you do father. That you love her now. But that was not always the case. She stayed because she had to stay. I know you have not always been faithful to her. That for years before you made the choice to have your marriage be beneficial to our family, you slept around. If you loved her that should not have been an option,” Vincenzo shook his head, “I will not be like you. I will not do it father. I will not marry another girl while I am in love with someone else. It is not fair to either of them or to me. I know what I want. And I am willing to do what it takes to have her as mine, and to do all that I can to keep this family safe and protected, but I will not give her up. That is the only thing I refuse to do.”
His father growled, “You have no choice son. Your future is set.”
