Chapter 13 - THE HOUSEKEEPER WHO FOUND HER DREAM
I had never planned to remain a housekeeper forever.
I loved Sofia.
I respected Luca.
But before my mother's illness, I'd been studying early childhood education.
I'd left school to help pay the bills.
Then I'd taken the job at the Moretti mansion.
One evening, Luca found my old textbooks on the kitchen table.
He looked at them.
“Emily.”
I turned.
“Yes?”
“Were you studying?”
I smiled faintly.
“Once.”
He sat.
“What happened?”
I told him about my mother's surgery.
The mortgage.
The medical bills.
The classes I'd stopped attending.
He listened.
Then asked:
“Do you want to go back?”
I looked down.
“Yes.”
He nodded.
“Then you should.”
I laughed softly.
“It's not that simple.”
He smiled.
“I know.”
I continued.
“I can't just stop working.”
Luca nodded.
“Then maybe you don't have to.”
Over the following weeks, I researched evening and part-time programs.
I applied for financial aid.
My mother encouraged me.
Sofia cheered.
Luca offered to help with tuition.
I thanked him but wanted to explore scholarships and other options first.
He respected that.
Eventually, I enrolled in a part-time program.
I also decided to leave my position as housekeeper.
Not because I wanted to leave Sofia.
But because I needed a different relationship with the family if Luca and I were going to explore our feelings.
Luca agreed.
We took time.
We dated.
We talked.
We learned about each other outside the mansion.
And slowly, our relationship became something real.
Not employer and employee.
May you like
Not rescuer and rescued.
Two adults choosing each other.
