Chapter 105: The perfect sweetness

For days now, everyone seemed to move with a kind of lightness that was rare. Flowers came in from the florist every morning, boxes of champagne stacked by the dining room wall, ribbons, candles, and endless trays of silver cutlery gleamed under the chandelier.

And through it all, Martha moved like she was born for it.

She’d been with Valerio long before I came, and in many ways she’d become like family…soft-spoken, steady, always one step ahead of what I needed.

“Careful, ma’am,” she said that morning as I reached for the heavy glass vase. “You shouldn’t lift that. Not with those delicate hands.”

I smiled, setting it down. “Martha, you’ve done so much already. You should rest.”

She shook her head, that usual gentle smile on her lips. “You only turn twenty-six once, dear. It has to be perfect.”

She fussed with the flowers, adjusting a single white rose in the middle. Her hands trembled slightly before she caught herself and folded them behind her apron.

I didn’t notice it then.

Valeri