Part 4: The Price of Love
Nathan felt tears stinging his own eyes. The image of a young, terrified Emily standing between her siblings and death shattered something deep inside him. The woman his friends had mocked, the woman his mother had called “loose” and “baggage,” was a hero.
“To keep them together, I had to send them to a specialized boarding community in West Virginia that accommodates trauma victims and provides full-time care for Lily, who suffers from chronic asthma from the smoke inhalation,” Emily explained. “It costs thousands of dollars every month. I took the job here because Greenwich paid the highest wages for housekeepers. I let everyone believe the gossip because it was easier than explaining the tragedy. It stopped people from asking questions I wasn’t strong enough to answer.”
Nathan pulled her close, burying his face in her neck, his own tears wetting her skin.
“I am so sorry,” he murmured repeatedly. “I am so sorry you had to carry this alone.”
“When your mother called me a servant with baggage, she wasn’t entirely wrong,” Emily said softly, looking up at him. “My body is ruined, Nathan. I am drowning in financial debt for my family. This is the woman you married. A maid with a broken past.”
Nathan took her hands, looking deeply into her eyes with an intensity that took her breath away.
“Your body isn’t ruined, Emily. It is a testament to the purest love I have ever known,” Nathan said, his voice ringing with absolute certainty. “You carried the weight of an entire family on your shoulders when you were just a girl. You aren’t a servant. You are the strongest woman I have ever met.”
