Chapter 1
I placed my mother’s apron on the kitchen table.
Celina stared at it as if I had laid down a death sentence instead of a piece of stained cloth.
“My mother doesn’t serve you. Starting tonight, neither does this house.”
Her face changed.
Behind me, Ivy and Owen wrapped themselves around Teresa’s legs. My mother’s hands were still trembling from the weight of the cooking pot. Dark bruises marked one forearm.
I looked at the twins.
“When did you last eat?”
Celina answered immediately.
“They had lunch.”
I did not look at her.
“I asked them.”
Ivy’s eyes dropped.
Owen whispered, “Yesterday.”
Everything inside me became still.
Celina laughed nervously.
“They snack constantly. They don’t understand time.”
Teresa closed her eyes.
That told me enough.
I crouched in front of my children.
“What did you have today?”
Ivy thought carefully.
“Water.”
Owen nodded.
“And half cracker.”
My jaw tightened.
I stood.
Celina’s confidence finally cracked.
“They refused breakfast.”
Teresa looked at her.
“No.”
One word.
Weak.
But clear.
I turned toward my mother.
Celina moved between us.
“She’s confused, Gianluca. She forgets things now.”
I slowly looked at her.
My mother had managed Serrano kitchens, accounts, family gatherings, and half my father’s tempers for forty years.
Now suddenly she was confused.
Convenient.
Teresa spoke again.
“She locks the pantry.”
Celina went pale.
The twins tightened around their grandmother.
I looked toward the pantry door.
A new lock had been fitted beneath the handle.
I had never seen it before.
“Who put that there?”
Silence.
I walked over.
Celina stepped forward.
“You’re making this dramatic.”
I turned.
“No.”
My voice stayed low.
“I’m discovering how much of my own house I stopped seeing.”
That frightened me more than anything Celina could say.
May you like
Because I had been working fifteen feet away.
And my children were hungry on the other side of the wall.
