Claudio refuses to fall under the Scorsolini Curse. He hates what it did to his father and his own life as a child. He marries Therese for many good, practical reasons...none of which are love. Therese loved Claudio from the moment they met and married him knowing his stilted view of tender emotion. She believes she will be content to be his wife and bear his children because she knows she can trust him to be faithful and though he does not love her, he respects and desires her. Her outlook begins to change when Claudio's brothers remarry and show her what a Scorsolini man in love acts like. She doubts her importance in Claudio's life as duty often takes him away from her and then she discovers she won't be able to give Claudio the children they planned on. She knows for her sake and his, she has to end the marriage and let him go...but Claudio isn't ready to lose his convenient wife.