Chapter 6 - GRACE DONOVAN
Grace had been Eva’s nanny since infancy.
Forty-two.
Calm.
Impossible to impress.
She loved Mara.
She liked Celeste.
At least initially.
Grace asked to speak privately.
“Did you know Ms. Marlow told me not to say ‘your mother’ around Eva?”
“When?”
“Two months ago.”
“What exactly?”
“She said when I show old photos, I should say Mara instead of Mommy.”
I stared.
“Why?”
“She said Eva was confusing roles.”
“Was she?”
“No.”
Grace continued.
“Eva knows Celeste is Celeste.”
“Did Celeste ask Eva to call her Mom?”
“Not directly.”
Good.
Then:
“She asked me whether I thought Eva might naturally start after the wedding.”
Reasonable question.
“What did you say?”
“That children choose names.”
“And?”
“She said children need guidance.”
There.
Then Grace told me something worse.
Celeste wanted Grace replaced after the honeymoon.
Why?
“Fresh routine.”
The proposed nanny was qualified.
No sinister background.
Excellent references.
Why replace Grace?
Celeste wrote in an email:
Grace is too identified with Mara-era household habits and may unintentionally undermine transition.
I read it.
Then again.
Grace said:
“I was going to tell you.”
“When?”
She looked down.
“After the wedding.”
“Why after?”
“Because Ms. Marlow said you knew.”
There it was again.
Adults using my supposed approval to create silence.
I had not built that alone.
But my reputation for certainty helped.
May you like
People assumed if someone spoke firmly in my name, I must have already decided.
That would change.
