Chapter 6 - MARIA WAS NOT A MAID FOREVER
Six months after Alexei collapsed, Maria gave notice.
He stared at the letter.
“No.”
She blinked.
“You cannot reject my resignation.”
“I can dislike it.”
“Allowed.”
“Why?”
Maria sat across from him.
“Because Sophie starts preschool full-time next month.”
“And?”
“And I got into nursing school.”
Alexei stopped.
“Nursing?”
She smiled.
“I was a medical assistant before cleaning work.”
“I never finished the degree.”
“My husband died.”
“Bills happened.”
“Sophie happened.”
“Life happened.”
Alexei looked at her for a long time.
Then:
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You never asked for my résumé.”
Fair.
He looked toward Sophie, who was playing doctor with one of the security men in the hallway.
Poor man.
His blood pressure had apparently been checked eleven times.
“You should go.”
Maria smiled.
“That sounded painful.”
“It was.”
Alexei offered tuition.
She refused.
He expected that.
So he offered something else.
A formal employee education scholarship available to all household and facilities staff.
Not just Maria.
Transparent criteria.
Independent selection.
She still refused to guarantee she would receive it.
Good.
She applied.
Won partial support along with three other employees.
The rest she covered through grants, savings, and work.
That mattered to her.
Two years later, Maria became a registered nurse.
She worked in pediatric emergency care.
Sophie told everyone:
“My mommy is a real doctor nurse.”
No one successfully corrected her.
Alexei and Maria remained in each other’s lives because Sophie refused to let Alexei disappear.
Every birthday she sent him a toy stethoscope upgrade.
By age seven, he owned five.
Dmitri displayed one in his office.
May you like
Blackmail material.
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