Chapter 6
Celeste called it protection.
Of course she did.
“I needed to know Mae wasn’t coming back for money.”
Mae laughed bitterly.
“You controlled every place I worked.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“You had me fired twice.”
“You were incompetent.”
“You had Nora removed from daycare.”
“She bit another child.”
“She was eighteen months old.”
Celeste shrugged.
“And?”
I knew that word.
People who treat children cruelly always seem to love it.
And?
Mae looked at me.
“She made sure I stayed poor enough to need Ashford House.”
I stopped.
“You came back because Celeste arranged it?”
Mae nodded.
“An agency called me.”
Celeste smiled faintly.
“I gave her work.”
“No.”
Mae stared at her.
“You brought me close enough to watch.”
Silence.
There it was.
Celeste didn’t want Mae gone anymore.
She wanted her controlled.
“Why?”
I asked.
Celeste laughed.
“Because she had your daughter.”
Finally.
Open admission.
Nora hugged Mae’s leg.
Celeste continued:
“Do you have any idea what would happen if people knew?”
“What?”
“That Nolan Ashford fathered a servant’s child before marrying into Wainwright power?”
I stared.
“Nothing.”
Marcus laughed.
“You’re naïve.”
“I run the Ashford organization.”
“Exactly.”
He leaned closer.
“Old men care about appearances.”
“No.”
“They care about control.”
That I believed.
Marcus continued.
“If Nora became public, Mae became influence.”
Mae shook her head.
“I wanted nothing.”
Marcus smiled.
“People always say that before they realize what a child can buy them.”
Nora didn’t understand.
Good.
I did.
They believed parenthood was leverage because leverage was how they understood relationships.
I looked at Mae.
“What happened after you returned?”
Her face changed.
Celeste answered first.
“She worked.”
Mae whispered:
“She punished Nora.”
Celeste rolled her eyes.
“For touching things.”
“Food?”
Mae nodded.
“Sometimes.”
“How?”
“If Nora entered the main dining room, we lost dinner.”
I turned toward Celeste.
She smiled.
“Boundaries.”
“You starved my daughter.”
“She ate eventually.”
Nora whispered:
“Mommy gave me hers.”
My chest tightened.
Celeste laughed.
“And look how dramatic that sounds.”
Mae’s eyes filled.
Then Nora said:
“Aunt Celeste said Daddy would hate me if he knew.”
Nobody moved.
I crouched.
“She said that?”
Nora nodded.
“She said you already picked her.”
Celeste closed her eyes.
Too late.
I stood.
May you like
My daughter had lived eight months under my roof believing her father would reject her if she spoke.
And I had walked past her in hallways without knowing why she stared.
