Chapter Eight: Sorrow
851 Words
If Giuseppe had known that his trip would lead to this, he would never have done it. Giuseppe planned a trip to travel Europe. The day they left everything was going great, they boarded a boat to begin their travels. The first few days were wonderful. They had a great time and were able to finally get back to making love again without any hesitation from Constance. It was finally back to normal for them.
The fourth day of their trip it happened, Constance got ill, at first it was just feeling weak and tired. Then the fever came. Giuseppe was getting worried, it was almost her twenty-first birthday, he had lost her the last time she turned that age. He prayed that this illness would pass and she would get better. But as her birthday got closer, her illness got worse.
Constance knew what was happening, she knew she was dying. After all she had felt death before. Giuseppe stayed by her side, but she knew it was time to tell him the truth.
“Giuseppe, we need to talk,” she said her once sweet soft voice, was hoarse and raspy now. She coughed for a few moments, and then looked at him.
“What is it my dear?” He asks her.
“You and I both know what happened to me on my last twenty-first birthday. This is no different. I can feel it. I know the feeling of death now, and I can feel it coming to consume me. I'm not going to get better, on my birthday, I will die. We both know this.” Constance tells him.
Giuseppe let out a sigh, “We don't know that for sure Constance. You could get better. This could just be an illness.”
Constance shook her head slowly, “Stop fooling yourself my love, we both know how this ends. We don't get to have our happily ever after. Fate has other plans for us it seems.”
The next few moments were very intense between them, Giuseppe knew that what she was saying was true, but he didn't want it to be true. Constance knew that this was the end for her. Even with all the doctors were trying to do for her, this was it. She had two days before she turned twenty-one. She was going to make the most of it and spend her time with Giuseppe, and if they could make it back in time, her family.
“Giuseppe, I want to go home, if this is the end, I want to say goodbye to my family.” She tells him her eyes tearing up. Then the pain took her and she passed into a deep sleep.
Giuseppe let out a sigh and then went to do whatever he had to do to get them home. He managed to get the captain to get them home a day before her twenty-first birthday. Constance hadn't woken up the journey home and he hoped she would wake up being around her family. He took her to their home, and had his manservant go get her parents.
Francesco was heartbroken, he knew when he looked at her, she wasn't going to last long, her mother cried and held her pale hand. Her father sat one side of her while Giuseppe sat on the other.
Francesco was heartbroken, he knew when he looked at her, she wasn't going to last long, her mother cried and held her pale hand. Her father sat one side of her while Giuseppe sat on the other.
The morning of her Twenty-first birthday Constance did wake up, and there she was surrounded by all the people she loved and cared for. Her mother and father on one side, and her soulmate, the love of her life on the other side of her. She looked at her father and mother and gave them a weak smile.
“I want to say thank you, for loving me so much, and giving me a life, I never thought I could have. I love you both so much.” Constance says barely above a whisper.
Her father was in tears as was her mother and he spoke for them both, “We love you to princess. It will be alright; you'll get better you'll see.” Her father says gently.
Constance smiles at him and he knows that she knows she isn’t going to get better.
Constance turns and looks at Giuseppe, “And you my love, thank you for waiting for me all this time. Even though our time was short, I loved every moment with you. I love you Radames. Forever.” She says losing her breath for a moment.
Giuseppe kisses her forehead, “This isn't forever, you'll come back I know you will. And just as I waited for you this time, I will wait for you again. We will be together again, just wait and see. Because I love you forever.”
She gave them all one last smile, and then her eyes closed, and she breathed her last breath...
- Writer
