Theo #2
I exhaled slowly and reached for the sleeve of Alisha’s fuzzy soft pink robe hanging on a hook at the end of the rack.
It was what she’d worn for all the late-night feedings. The sleep-deprived mornings. The early hours when Charlotte had been tiny and loud and perfect.
The fabric was still unbelievably soft beneath my fingers.
A lump formed in my throat before I could stop it.
She had been such a good mom.
Patient. Warm. Natural in a way that had always amazed me.
So much better suited for it than I had been.
And yet, Charlotte would never remember any of it. Wouldn’t remember her mom the way I did. She’d only know her mom through the stories I told. The photos on the walls. The way she looked in the videos on my phone.
I should have filmed everything. Captured and treasured every single moment.
I swallowed hard and closed my eyes, letting the grief and regret wash over me.
I’d at least learned that much in therapy. To allow my body to feel all the emotions instead of just shoving them down and locking them in a hidden corner of my chest to feel some other day.
So, I stood there and let the ache and longing and unfairness of it all course over me.
After a minute, I opened my eyes again and looked around at everything that had been hers.
I really needed to go through her things one of these days. It had been on my to-do list for the past two years, since they were just collecting dust at this point.
But when you married an heir to the Vanderbilt Hotel empire, boxing up a wardrobe full of designer couture and dropping it off at Goodwill wasn’t exactly simple.
At least, that was the excuse I kept giving myself whenever the thought of sorting through her things felt too heavy to face.
I sighed and turned off the light in the closet and closed the door gently, then headed back downstairs.
Nora was still at the stove when I reached the kitchen, Charlotte’s voice floating in from the living room.
“Hey,” I said, hoping it came out casually. “Do you know if Charlotte went in my room today? I just noticed one of the doors I usually keep closed was open.”
Nora furrowed her brow, thinking for a moment before saying, “She did disappear upstairs while I was packing for the picnic. But I thought she was just grabbing her swimsuit for the splash pad.”
Before I could respond, Charlotte came padding back into the kitchen, clutching her doll by one arm.
“Hey, Char,” I said, keeping my tone light. “Did you go inside Mommy’s closet today?”
Her whole face changed, guilt washing over her features so fast it made my chest ache.
“It’s okay,” I hurried to say. “You’re not in trouble. I just saw that the door was open.”
She didn’t speak. Just stood there with those big green eyes, watching me carefully.
“Did you take something from in there?”
Her gaze dropped to the floor.
Yeah. She had.
I lowered myself to my knees so that we were at eye level. “There are a lot of pretty things in that closet, aren’t there?”
From behind me, Nora said, “Wait.”
I glanced up as she crossed toward her purse and rummaged inside. She pulled out a pair of oversized sunglasses and held them up. “Would these happen to have come from the closet?”
I stared at them for a second. They looked familiar. I reached out and took them from her.
“Did you get these from your mom’s closet today?” I asked Charlotte softly.
“Nora forgetted her gwasses,” she said quickly. “So I got them for her.”
Nora gasped, her brown eyes going wide. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize these were Alisha’s. I just—I thought they must have been from Charlotte’s dress-up things. I promise I never would have touched them if I’d known where they were from.”
“It’s okay,” I said, even as a strange swirl of emotion moved through me. Grief. Sadness. A flash of fear. “Charlotte was just helping solve a problem. I hate being stuck outside without sunglasses, too.”
“Still, I’m so sorry,” Nora said, looking almost sick. “I really didn’t know.”
I looked down at the sunglasses in my hands, remembering the day Alisha bought them. Our rooftop brunch at her parents’ penthouse in Manhattan. The way the wind had tossed her long dark hair. The way her eyes had danced when she laughed.
It felt strange holding them now. Like I’d opened a drawer I hadn’t meant to.
But Charlotte’s intentions had been good.
I forced a small smile and looked at my daughter. “That was so thoughtful of you to offer these to Nora. Great job being kind and thinking of others.”
Which, honestly, was a big step for my girl since just a few months ago, she’d been biting kids at daycare for stealing whatever toy she’d been playing with.
Growth.
I carefully set the sunglasses on the edge of the counter to take upstairs and put away later.
“Well, uh…” Nora said quietly, clearing her throat. “Your dinner is ready now.”
She shifted as if she was about to slip past me and head out.
“You don’t have to rush off,” I said. “I know we’ve now had at least two awkward interactions in the short time we’ve seen each other today, but you should at least grab a bite to eat before you leave.”
When she hesitated, I added, “Just stay long enough for dinner.” I reached into the cupboard and pulled out a plate. “I know it wasn’t in the official contract, but your employment package includes three meals a day. So you need to just accept that. You don’t want to argue with a lawyer, do you?”
“Yes, Master,” she said.
Then she froze.
Color drained from her face almost instantly. Clearing her throat, she quickly added, “I mean… yes, boss.”
I bit the inside of my cheek to keep my expression neutral.
Yes, Master was… not exactly appropriate.
Nor did it help with the charged-air situation we’d had between us since this morning.
But definitely memorable.