The Maid Who Was Told to Leave the Boy Behind

CHAPTER 1 - Leave Now

"You no longer work in this house. Leave now."

The words came from Lady Eleanor Ashford as if she were dismissing a stain from a marble floor.

I stood in the corridor of the Ashford house with Tomas in my arms, feeling his small body shake against mine.

"Don't go, please don't leave me," he sobbed.

I was twenty-four, a maid with sore feet and no power at all in that house. But for six months, Tomas had followed me through the kitchens, the galleries, and the winter garden like I was a safe place he could hold onto.

I bent and wiped his tears with trembling thumbs.

"My little lord, I'm so sorry."

Eleanor's mouth tightened at the word lord, as if kindness itself offended her.

"Stop crying. Enough."

Tomas snapped his head toward her, red-faced and furious.

"No! You always take away the only good thing I have!"

The man in the dark suit near the archway shifted, but said nothing. He had been silent since I entered the corridor. Too silent.

I looked at Eleanor. "Mrs. Ashford, if I've done something wrong, tell me what it is."

"You've done enough," she said. "This ends today."

Tomas buried his face in my shoulder. I could feel his tears soaking through my uniform.

I had not expected gratitude from that house. Only wages. Only a roof over my head. But I had also not expected to love the boy who had lost his mother before he could remember her face.

Eleanor stepped closer, her voice low and sharp.

"He needs to forget you."

Tomas lifted his head at that, his eyes wide with panic.

Then he said something that made the blood drain from my face.

"She's not a maid," he whispered. "She's my mama."

Eleanor went still.

The man in the dark suit looked up for the first time.

And I realized he had been waiting for Tomas to say that.