Page 17 of The Housemaid's Wedding

Last, I wash the blood off my knuckles at the sink. I do not want Millie to know what I have just done. I cannot upset her—it has already been a difficult day for her without knowing a man has been following us all morning. I have taken care of it. I will not let this ruin our wedding day.

I will protect her. As long as I live and breathe, nobody will ever hurt her or our children.

When I get out of the bathroom, Millie is waiting for me. She smiles at me. “You took a long time in there! You’re usually so much faster than me in the bathroom.”

It would not do to tell her I took a little longer because I had to break a man’s nose and threaten his life. “I am sorry.”

“By the way…” She fingers my sister’s pin on her chest. I truly believe part of my sister’s spirit is in that butterfly pin, and because Millie wore it, Antonia was here with us today. Ifelther presence, and it made me smile. “I was thinking a little more about baby names.”

Millie never likes my ideas for names, although I am mostly joking in my suggestions. It is still early, and we have much time to decide. “Oh yes?”

“Yes.” She nods. “I thought… maybe we could name our daughter after Antonia?”

I suck in a breath. I would love to honor my sister, but I also worry that giving her the same name will be too much. I can barely say her name without feeling a deep sadness that she left us much too young.

“Not the same exact name,” Millie quickly amends, reading my face, “but something similar. To honor her. Like… Allison. Or Ada.”

“Yes.” I put my arms around my wife, drawing her close. “I like that.”

And then I go home with my wife and unborn child, leaving the man who threatened us in a puddle of his own blood on the men’s room floor.

THE END