Chapter 1 - The Letter in His Hand
For a moment, I couldn’t hear anything except Noah’s breathing.
His little fingers were tangled in the fabric of my uniform. His cheek
was pressed against my shoulder, and every few seconds his body gave a
small, frightened shudder.
Alexander still held my resignation letter.
“Were you planning to leave tonight?” he asked.
I swallowed. “Before sunrise, sir.”
Noah lifted his head.
“Why?”
The question came from Alexander, but Noah watched my face as if the
answer belonged to him.
I lowered myself until my eyes were level with his. “Because I thought
it would be easier if I left while you were asleep.”
His mouth trembled. “You said people stay.”
“I know.”
“You said you would be here for breakfast.”
I had said that yesterday. I had promised him pancakes on Saturday, the
way I did whenever his father returned from a business trip and Noah had
spent too many evenings waiting by the window.
“I wanted to be,” I whispered.
Alexander looked down at the letter again. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Eleanor answered before I could.
“Because she understood the arrangement. She is an employee, Alexander.
She has become far too attached to the child.”
Noah flinched.
I felt it in my arms.
“Please don’t talk about me as if I’m not here,” I said.
Eleanor’s expression sharpened. “You are speaking to the head of this
family.”
“And I’m holding a five-year-old who thinks he’s being abandoned.”
Alexander’s eyes moved to his mother.
“Why is Emma resigning?”
Eleanor lifted her chin. “I gave her a generous opportunity to leave
with dignity. Her behavior has become inappropriate. Noah calls her
Mommy. She encourages it.”
“I have never asked him to call me that.”
“Children repeat what they hear.”
“Then perhaps you should ask him what he hears.”
The room went silent.
Alexander stepped closer. “Emma. Tell me the truth.”
I looked at the three empty places where the chosen brides had stood.
The white roses. The abandoned champagne glasses. The phones still
raised in the hands of guests who had not left quickly enough.
Then I looked at Eleanor.
“She told me two weeks ago that Noah needed a mother from his own world.
She said the family had already decided I would be dismissed after
tonight. She offered me a month’s wages if I signed a resignation letter
and promised not to discuss what happened in this house.”
Alexander’s face changed.
“Mother?”
Eleanor’s voice became icy. “I was protecting the family.”
“From what?”
“From a servant who has forgotten her place.”
Noah tightened his arms around my neck.
Alexander looked at him, and whatever he saw in his son’s frightened
face seemed to settle something inside him.
“Everyone out,” he told the remaining guests.
Eleanor started to object.
“Not you,” Alexander added. “You stay.”
He turned to me. “And Emma, please don’t leave until we’ve spoken. Not
because I employ you. Because my son is asking you to stay, and I owe
him an explanation.”
I wanted to say that his son was not the only one who deserved one.
But Noah’s face was wet, and he was still whispering the same question
against my shoulder.
“Are you going?”
I held him carefully.
May you like
“Not tonight,” I said.
It was the only promise I could make without lying.
