Chapter 15
Sofia asked for the maid dress two weeks later.
I thought I heard her wrong.
“What?”
“The black dress.”
My chest tightened.
“Why?”
She looked embarrassed.
“Want show Mommy.”
I understood slowly.
Evelyn’s photograph had been replaced.
Sofia wanted to show the picture what happened.
Children create rituals adults would never design.
I brought the uniform from storage.
Not the apron.
Sofia asked for that too.
I hesitated.
Then gave it to her.
Her choice.
She spread everything on the floor.
Dress.
Apron.
Tights.
The little polishing cloth.
Then she looked at Evelyn’s photograph.
“Mommy, bad dress gone.”
My throat tightened.
She turned to me.
“Can we throw?”
“Yes.”
She thought.
Then shook her head.
“No.”
“What do you want?”
“Dress-up box.”
I stared.
Sofia smiled.
“Bear wears maid.”
I almost laughed.
That was better.
She put the apron on a stuffed bear.
The bear immediately became less terrifying than the memory.
Not erased.
Rewritten.
Later Victor came for dinner.
Sofia still called him “new uncle.”
He accepted it.
Miles came too, alone.
No Adrian.
Good.
Adults first.
Miles apologized.
Not to me.
To Sofia.
He kept it simple.
“I helped people treat you badly.”
Sofia looked at him.
“Why?”
He swallowed.
“Because I wanted something.”
“What?”
He glanced at me.
“A bigger place in the family.”
Sofia thought.
Then pointed toward an empty chair.
“Sit there.”
Victor laughed.
Miles did too.
Children hear “place” literally when adults poison the word symbolically.
Maybe that was healthy.
During dinner, Sofia asked if she could have dessert before finishing vegetables.
I said no.
She frowned.
Victor looked amused.
“Careful. Discipline.”
I stared at him.
He smiled.
Sofia ate three peas with theatrical suffering.
That was normal discipline.
Not humiliation.
Not hierarchy.
A child being told to eat vegetables.
The difference matters.
Afterward, Sofia climbed into my lap.
“Daddy?”
“Yes?”
“Am I servant?”
“No.”
“Boss?”
I smiled.
“No.”
She frowned.
“What am I?”
I looked at her.
“Sofia.”
She considered that.
May you like
Then nodded.
Exactly what Evelyn wanted.
