Daddy, Why Is Everyone Calling Mommy the Maid?

CHAPTER 3 - THE LETTER IN THE APRON

They moved to a private sitting room off the ballroom.

No reporters. No guests. Just Adrian, Lucia, Noah asleep against Lucia's shoulder at last, Marta by the door, and Evelyn standing with her back stiff as glass.

The folded letter lay on the coffee table between them.

Adrian picked it up. His name was written across the front in the hand Lucia had once known better than her own.

But when he opened it, his expression changed.

"I didn't write this."

Lucia stared. "It said Noah had been asking for me every night. It said if I wanted one chance to see him, I had to come tonight and not contact you first."

"I never sent it."

"Then how did it have your private seal?" she asked.

Evelyn folded her arms. "Anyone could copy stationery."

Adrian ignored her. "Start at the beginning, Lucia."

For a long moment, Lucia said nothing. Her fingers stroked Noah's tiny black sleeve as if the fabric itself could keep her brave.

"The boat never sank," she said quietly. "There was a storm. I hit my head. When I woke up, I was in a clinic on the Sicilian coast."

Adrian's face went still.

"I had no identification. No phone. Nothing. They thought I was a migrant worker from one of the fishing villages. I couldn't remember my full name for weeks."

Marta let out a breath.

Lucia went on. "By the time my memory returned, I learned the news had reported me dead. I tried to call. I was told Noah and Adrian had moved on. That there was another woman helping raise him. That my return would destroy his life."

Adrian turned slowly toward Evelyn.

She lifted her chin. "She disappeared. We all believed she was dead. Noah needed stability."

"So you answered for me?" Adrian asked.

"For everyone," Evelyn said. "Including this family."

Lucia looked at him, eyes burning. "I came to your house once, six months later. Your security turned me away. They said Mrs. Vale wasn't receiving visitors."

The room froze on that title.

Adrian's voice dropped. "Mrs. Vale?"

Evelyn's wedding ring flashed under the lamp.

And Noah stirred in Lucia's arms, half-awake, whispering, "Don't let her take Mommy again."