The Godfather

 “The Godfather” By Mario Puzo
 
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had not stumbled on this path since she was an infant in diapers. And smiling because 
this was the only way this young man was going to get his hands on her daughter until 
the marriage. 
This went on for two weeks. Michael brought her presents every time he came and 
gradually she became less shy. But they could never meet without a chaperone being 
present. She was just a village girl, barely literate, with no idea of the world, but she had 
a freshness, an eagerness for life that, with help of the language barrier, made her seem 
interesting. Everything went very swiftly at Michael’s request. And because the girl was 
not only fascinated by him but knew he must be rich, a wedding date was set for the 
Sunday two weeks away. 
Now Don Tommasino took a hand. He had received word from America that Michael 
was not subject to orders but that all elementary precautions should be taken. So Don 
Tommasino appointed himself the parent of the bridegroom to insure the presence of his 
own bodyguards. Calo and Fabrizzio were also members of the wedding party from 
Corieone as was Dr. Taza. The bride and groom would live in Dr. Taza’s villa 
surrounded by its stone wall. 
The wedding was the usual peasant one. The villagers stood in the streets and threw 
flowers as the bridal party, principals and guests, went on foot from the church to the 
bride’s home. The wedding procession pelted the neighbors with sugar-coated almonds, 
the traditional wedding candies, and with candies left over made sugary white mountain 
on the bride’s wedding bed, in this case only a symbolic one since the first night would 
be spent in the villa outside Corleone. The wedding feast went on until midnight but 
bride and groom would leave before that in the Alfa Romeo. When that time came 
Michael was surprised to find that the mother was coming with them to the Corleone 
villa at the request of the bride. The father explained: the girl was young, a virgin, a little 
frightened, she would need someone to talk to on the morning following her bridal night; 
to put her on the right track if things went wrong. These matters could sometimes get 
very tricky. Michael saw Apollonia looking at him with doubt in her huge doe-brown 
eyes. He smiled at her and nodded. 
And so it came about that they drove back to the villa outside Corleone with the 
mother-in-law in the car. But the older woman immediately put her head together with 
the servants of Dr. Taza, gave her daughter a hug and a kiss and disappeared from the 
scene. Michael and his bride were allowed to go to their huge bedroom alone. 

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