amused and failed. “Children do become attached to servants, don’t they?”
Elena flinched.
Liam lifted his head, startled by the sharpness in the air.
Alexander turned to Vivienne.
The warmth had left his face.
“Do they?” he asked.
Vivienne’s confidence faltered, but only for a second. “I only mean it is natural. She is familiar to him. That does not make her suitable for a position in your family.”
Clara gently added, “A child’s affection is precious, of course. But children cannot understand what a household of this standing requires.”
Rose stood, brushing invisible dust from her gown.
“I think everyone is being carried away by a sentimental moment,” she said. “A baby cannot choose a wife.”
The words hung there.
Alexander looked at Elena, who had gone white with humiliation.
She tried to stand while holding Liam. “Sir, I am sorry. I should not have come near the dining room. He heard me earlier in the nursery, and sometimes he reaches for me when he is tired. I never intended…”
Her voice broke.
She lowered her eyes.
“I never intended to disrespect your guests.”
Alexander walked toward her.
The entire room watched.
He stopped close enough to see that Liam’s tiny fingers were curled tightly in the fabric of her sleeve.
“How long?” Alexander asked.
Elena swallowed. “Sir?”
“How long has he trusted you like this?”
The question seemed to hurt her more than any accusation could have.
“I do not know,” she admitted. “Since he was very small, perhaps. After Mrs. Whitman passed, the nursery nurses changed often. Some left because the house was sad. Some because the nights were difficult. Liam cried a great deal then.”
Alexander’s jaw tightened.
“I remember,” he said.
Elena nodded carefully. “You were grieving. Everyone was. I only helped when I could. Sometimes I sang to him. Sometimes I sat beside the crib until he slept. That is all.”
“That is all?” Alexander repeated softly.
Elena looked at him then, and for the first time that night, he truly saw her.
Not as a member of staff.
Not as part of the machinery of the mansion.
As a woman who had entered the emptiness his grief had left behind and quietly given his child comfort without asking for credit.
Vivienne folded her arms. “Alexander, surely you are not taking this seriously.”
He did not look away from Elena.
Clara tried again. “This evening was arranged for a reason. You said yourself Liam needs stability.”
“He does,” Alexander said.
Rose’s voice sharpened. “Then do not confuse attachment with destiny.”
Alexander finally turned back to them.
For a moment, he saw the three women clearly.
Vivienne, offended that a servant had outshone her.
Clara, calculating how to regain control of the room.
Rose, angry because the role she had rehearsed had been given to someone who had never auditioned.
His decision became painfully easy.
“I invited you here because I thought I needed to choose a mother for my son,” Alexander said. “But tonight I have learned something important.”
No one spoke.
He looked at Liam, who had tucked himself against Elena again.
“My son already knows what love feels like,” Alexander continued. “I was the one who needed to be reminded.”
Vivienne’s face burned.
Clara lowered her gaze.
Rose let out a small,
