CHAPTER 10
It was a beautiful church, a cathedral like no other with beautiful stained glass-windows. All the benches in the cathedral were full. An organ played “Here comes the Bride” as a blonde girl in white walked down the aisle. She was beautiful in her white dress, complete with white veil and some familiar white gloves her mother gave her. If only she could see her daughter now… Waiting at the alter was a taller girl with black hair. For some reason, Julia imagined her in a black dress. The other bride didn’t wear a veil but had matching long black gloves. The blonde made her way down the lonely aisle. Her father was not there to walk with her; no one was. But once she got to the alter, the black-haired bride took her by the hand. Amy stood next to her adopted sister as her maid of honor. She was dressed in a blue dress with matching gloves. Angelo, dressed sharply in a black tux, stood on the blonde’s side. He winked at her. Soon, Rachel and Julia turned to face the minister.
“Dearly beloved,” he read from a Bible, “We are gathered here today in the sight of God to join these two in Holy matrimony.”
As he began to quote The Bible, Rachel became uneasy, looking around the room in boredom. Jackie Giovanni sat in front, crying as all mothers do at their daughter’s weddings. The only familiar face from the Columbo family seated in the aisles was Bobby Gazzo, one of Columbo’s bodyguards.
“Julia Columbo,” The minister looked to the blonde, “Do you take Rachel Giovanni to be your lawfully wedded hus-“ He stopped in mid-sentence to correct himself, “Uh, wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?”
“I do,” Julia smiled nervously and looked to Rachel. The raven-hair was probably hiding her nervousness.
“And do you Rachel Giovanni,” The minister began.
“Yeah!” Rachel interrupted. Julia laughed at Rachel’s unconventional attitude. After all, it was an unconventional wedding.
“If there is anyone who can show just cause as to why these two should not be wed, let them speak now or forever hold their peace.”
A number of hands went up.
“Aside from the fact,” The Preist corrected, “That they are both women!”
All the hands went down. They might have also been scared off by a mean look from Angelo. He then turned to his sister and sister-in-law and smiled.
“Do you have the rings?”
Amy produced a set of gold wedding rings. Rachel took one of them and placed it right over Julia’s gloved finger. Julia looked at the ring realizing that her dream had now finally come true. Her trance was interrupted once Amy handed Julia a ring. Rachel began to take off her glove, but Julia intercepted her hand:
“We’ll match,” Julia smiled and placed the ring neatly over Rachel’s black gloved finger. Rachel smiled at Julia in a way most people never saw.
“I now pronounce you…” The minister once again found himself unsure of the proper lesbian terminology. He finally spat out, “Married! Now kiss.”
Rachel and Julia kissed passionately in front of the cathedral. They continued to kiss until a loud voice interrupted:r32;r32;“QUEENS BLVD!”
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Back on the train home, this was Julia’s stop. Earlier, Columbo’s daughter played every scenario in her head regarding the confrontation with her father. She didn’t have to lie about staying with Rachel that night. Their Amore-Ragazze secret was most likely safe, but why was she staying at Rachel’s place? Julia attempted to re-write last night in her mind. Unfortunately, her mind had escaped to fantasizing about her wedding.
Julia made no attempt to sneak into her house. Her father was obviously aware of her absence. Perhaps the best way to deal with this situation was to be honest with him… well, maybe not completely honest. She turned the key and walked right in the door. No one was in the living room. The blonde expected her father to be in his study. Julia took off her hat and her coat, placing them both on the coat rack. She scratched her neck (her scarf still on) and walked into her father’s study.
There he was. Sitting there in his big chair behind his desk. No one else around. He stared at the doorway as his daughter made her way though it. Julia could almost feel her legs shaking as she inched closer and closer towards the desk. This was the definition of “Uncomfortable silence.”
“So?” Columbo asked calmly.
Julia sighed, “All right look, I was out with Rachel last night. We went to Times Square,” her face now lit up, “It was so cool. I’ve never really seen it. Those lights, all the crazy characters on the streets. Rachel took me to the top of the Empire State Buliding. The City was beautiful,” Columbo remained stoic, “I mean dad, I had so much fun last night. I’ve wanted to do that all my life. For the first time, I really felt like I was seeing the world for myself, I felt like an adult.”
Still no response from her father. Julia could tell he was growing uneasy. She sat down and continued, “I know you wanted me back that night, but afterwards Rachel and I went back to her place. We were having too much fun,” She laughed, “She played me some AC/DC, I mean I don’t think they’re that great, but it was fun. And…” Here’s where it was going to get complicated, “Then we just went to bed. Rachel let me stay there.”
Her father’s silence was intense. Of all the times she had heard her father scream at the top of his lungs, she would have preferred one of those moments to this taciturnity. The man stared at Julia, studying her. There was something different about his daughter. His calm response was even more nerve-wracking, “You stayed at Rachel’s place?”
She thought very carefully about her next response. Columbo began to grow suspicious of her hesitation. “Yes,” Julia said, “It was late, I’m sure you wouldn’t have wanted me wandering around Brooklyn that late at night anyway.”
Columbo raised his eyebrows and nodded his head to agree, “Makes sense.” Julia sighed like she never had before. What a relief. “But I’m curious,” Columbo said, “What did you girls do all night?”
Uh oh, Julia thought, does he know? Don’t give in yet, he may be bluffing. “I told you, we listened to music, we talked for a while and then we went to bed.” Julia was praying in her mind that her father wouldn’t ask details about the sleeping arrangements.
The boss nodded his head again, “Were you drinking at all?” He asked very calmly.
“Dad I’m 21 years old,” Julia was getting bold, “I’m a grown woman, I can do what I want.” This time, Frank didn’t even blink, “No, I didn’t drink!” She responded.
Another motion of the man’s head moving up and down. Now his voice changed, “Are you sure you were at Rachel’s place? Are you sure you weren’t spending the night with that asshole brother of her’s?” By the end of the sentence, his voice was very angry.
Julia was taken aback. At first she was afraid her father was onto her relationship with Rachel, but now he was accusing her of sleeping with Angelo? Julia didn’t know whether to be relieved or nervous over this: “What?” She spat back at her father, “Dad, I told you I was with Rachel last night.”
“Really?” Columbo was obviously angry. He got up and pulled out his cell phone. After a touch of a few buttons, Columbo showed the screen to his daughter, “Bobby took these.”
Julia looked a pictures of her and Angelo walking on the streets of Brooklyn. The last picture was Julia and Angelo hugging. Something was going on between those two. Oh no! Julia thought to herself. Perhaps there was still a way to cover this up.
“OK yes,” Julia tried to cover up, “Angelo came by this morning. I think he’s taking Rachel somewhere-“
“You lied to me,” Columbo snapped. Julia tried to get a word in, but his screaming voice wouldn’t allow it, “I don’t want you hanging around that fucking piece-of-shit! Who knows what he’ll do to you. Oh God, if he touched you last night, I’m gonna kill-“
“DAD!” Julia screamed and jumped from her seat in a way she had never done before, “I DIDN’T SPEND THE NIGHT WITH ANGELO!” She and her father calmed down, “I told you I spent the night with Rachel. Angelo came over this morning, Rachel and him had stuff to do. I put my clothes back on, Angelo walked me to the station and I-“
“Wait wait wait,” Frank held his palms out, “Put your clothes back on? What were you doing with your clothes off?”
Now Julia was digging herself into a hole. Hesitation filled the air. She needed some damage control, “Well yeah, I mean I didn’t sleep with my jacket and stuff on. I put my jacket on-“
As Julia tried to justify her story, her father looked to her neck. He quickly ripped off her scarf silencing her. There was a big brown hickie on her neck. Realizing this, Julia quickly covered it up with her hand. Frank Columbo looked at her with eyes she had never seen before. These eyes were scarier than those of a shark. He knew everything that had happened that night, even if he had the wrong Giovanni sibling. Someone had defiled her!
“Dad,” Julia tried again to dig herself out of this hole.
Instead Columbo picked her up like a doll and flung her over his shoulder dragging her out of the study. Julia could only see the floor as the man carried her. She could not overpower this man.
“DAD!” Julia screamed. Her father dragged her up the stairs until he was in her room. He dropped her onto her bed, but Julia screamed back, “DAD, I DIDN’T GET THIS FROM ANGELO!”
Columbo looked at his daughter, “Then who?”
“I-“ Julia hesitated. Right now, her father was convinced that his daughter had slept with the son of his enemy. Obviously consequences would unfold from this news. However, if she was to tell her intolerant father that she was in a lesbian relationship with the daughter of his enemy, the consequences would be even worse. Julia would be sent to an asylum, and the girl of her dreams would be killed. Julia could not say anything.
Frank Columbo stormed out of the room. Julia now screamed “Dad!” The man paid no attention to her. He slammed the door just as Julia was running for it. The keys were out of his pocket and he locked the door before Julia could open it. The doorknob jiggled to now avail. Screams came from the other side of the door. Frank grabbed one of his servants and dragged her to the door:
“This door doesn’t open! Nobody goes in! You got it!”
The maid nodded and watched as her boss walked away. Walking down the stairs, Frank Columbo pulled out his phone and made a call. As soon as he was in the living room, he was heard speaking, “Snakes… Listen I need to talk to you NOW!” There was silence, “I don’t give a shit how bad your arm is, this is serious. Look I’m coming down-“ He was stopped as soon as he heard another phone ringing, “Hold on a second.”
He walked over towards the coat rack where the ringing was coming from. He reached into the pocket of Julia’s coat and pulled out her phone. The name on the screen was “Rachel.” Columbo did not answer it. Eventually the call stopped. A missed call icon appeared on the screen. He returned to his conversation with Snakes: “I’m coming over in half an hour.”
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