Chapter 2 - The Fitting and the Fortress
By noon, the quiet third floor of the Bellandi mansion was transformed into an epicenter of silent, high-stakes activity.
Madame Laurent, an elderly French woman with silver hair pulled into an immaculate chignon, arrived with four assistants carrying racks of silk, velvet, cashmere, and tailored wool. She didn't speak much English, but her sharp tape measure spoke fluently.
"Ah, mon dieu," Madame Laurent murmured, running her tape along my waist. "So thin. Like a bird that has been kept in a cage with no seeds."
I stood on the velvet podium in the fitting room, wearing a simple white slip, while her assistants pinned, measured, and draped expensive fabrics over my shoulders.
"She was starved," a small voice echoed from the doorway.
I turned my head slightly.
Standing in the frame of the double doors were the triplets.
Leo, the eldest by seven minutes, stood in the center with his arms folded across his dark woolen sweater. Mateo was tucked slightly behind him, holding his faded blue blanket against his cheek. Livia was holding Miss Pearl, the one-eyed rabbit, by its floppy ear.
"It's polite to knock before entering a fitting room," I said mildly, keeping my arms raised as Madame Laurent pinned a navy cashmere hemline.
"This is our house," Leo pointed out smoothly. He had his father's sharp jawline and calculating gray eyes. "We don't knock on doors in our own house."
"You do when someone is changing clothes," I replied, catching his gaze in the mirror. "Unless you want me to start walking into your room while you're putting on your socks."
Leo’s eyebrows twitched. Mateo let out a tiny, stifled giggle behind his blanket, quickly suppressing it when Leo shot him a glare.
Livia stepped into the room, her small shoes making faint clicking sounds on the hardwood floor. She walked straight up to the podium, looking up at the emerald silk dress hanging on the garment rack nearby.
"Is that for the wedding?" Livia asked.
"Yes," I said softly.
"Are you going to wear white?"
"No," I replied, looking down at her. "I'm wearing navy blue. White is for girls who are starting a fairy tale. Navy blue is for women who are going to work."
Leo took two steps forward, his hands shoved deep into his pockets. "Our last nanny wore pink. She cried when Mateo threw his oatmeal at the wall. She called our father a monster when he brought his associates into the kitchen."
"Did she?" I asked calmly. "Well, oatmeal is easy to clean, and I’ve seen monsters before. They usually wear three-piece suits from Savile Row and talk about prenuptial agreements."
Leo stared at me for a long moment, processing the answer. He didn't ask who I was talking about. He didn't need to. Children raised in dark houses have an uncanny sense for recognizing recognized pain in adults.
"Father said you're staying," Leo said, his voice dropping into a quieter register. "He said you signed the red paper."
"I did."
"That means you're our stepmother."
"It means I'm your father's wife," I corrected gently, stepping down from the podium as Madame Laurent finished her last pin. "And it means I am here to make sure this house runs properly. You don't have to call me 'Mother' or 'Stepmother' if you don't want to. 'Evelyn' is fine."
Mateo peeked out from behind his blanket. "Can you read the book with the dragons?"
"Which one?"
"The big red one on the high shelf in the library," Mateo whispered. "The last lady said it was too scary."
I walked over to the garment rack, grabbed my worn coat from the chair, and pulled out my twenty-six dollars, setting the two folded bills on the vanity table.
"I like dragons," I told Mateo. "Especially the ones that bite people who don't knock on doors."
Livia reached out and touched the edge of my coat sleeve. Her tiny fingers wrapped around my cuff.
"Do you have a rabbit?" she asked.
"No," I said, crouching down to her eye level, keeping my promise from the night before by not touching her hair. "I only have twenty-six dollars and a very long memory."
Livia considered this for a second, then nodded solemnly. "Miss Pearl says twenty-six dollars is enough to buy six boxes of strawberries."
"Miss Pearl has excellent economic sense," I said.
For the first time since I stepped into the Bellandi fortress, Leo let out a short, genuine laugh. He looked at his siblings, then back at me.
"Dinner is at seven," Leo said, turning toward the hallway. "If you're late, Enzo gives your dessert to the dogs."
"I am never late for dinner," I called after them.
May you like
As the three children filed out of the room, Madame Laurent looked at me through the mirror, her eyes soft with an old, knowing wisdom.
"Madame," she whispered, smoothing the navy silk over my shoulders. "You think you signed a contract for protection. But I think those children have been waiting for you for four years."
