Chapter 3 - “SHE’S JUST THE MAID”Jasper did not eat dinner.
Valerie pretended not to notice for almost twenty minutes.
She sat at the far end of the polished dining table answering emails while Jasper moved peas around his plate.
Finally she put down her phone.
“You need to eat.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“You said that at lunch.”
“I wasn’t hungry then.”
Valerie sighed.
“This sulking needs to stop.”
Jasper looked at her.
“When is Mabel coming back?”
“She isn’t.”
“Ever?”
“No.”
His eyes reddened.
Valerie softened her voice.
“Jasper, staff changes happen.”
“She’s not staff.”
“Yes, she is.”
“She lived here.”
“So do plenty of employees in large homes.”
“She took care of me.”
“That was her job.”
Jasper looked down.
“She loved me.”
Valerie’s face tightened.
“You don’t know what love is yet.”
“I know Mabel.”
That answer irritated her more than shouting would have.
Valerie pushed back her chair.
“You are seven years old. You don’t get to decide how this household is run.”
“Dad liked her.”
The room went silent.
Valerie’s expression changed.
“Your father is not here.”
Jasper’s face crumpled.
She immediately regretted the harshness.
But not enough to apologize.
“Finish your dinner.”
She left.
Jasper remained alone.
Later, he walked past Mabel’s old room.
The door was open.
Two housemaids were stripping the bed.
One had a cardboard box.
Jasper stopped.
“What are you doing?”
The younger maid looked uncomfortable.
“Your mother asked us to clear the room.”
“Don’t.”
The women exchanged glances.
Jasper stepped inside.
“Mabel’s things are here.”
“Most were packed.”
“Then leave the rest.”
“Jasper.”
Valerie’s voice came from behind him.
He turned.
“Don’t throw her things away.”
“They’re not being thrown away.”
“Where are they going?”
“Storage.”
“Why?”
“Because someone else may use this room.”
Jasper looked horrified.
Valerie dismissed the maids.
Once they were alone, she knelt in front of him.
“Sweetheart, you need to listen.”
He refused to meet her eyes.
“Mabel worked here.”
Silence.
“She was not your grandmother.”
Silence.
“She was not your mother.”
Jasper looked up.
“I know.”
Valerie hesitated.
“She was an employee.”
“She was here more than you.”
The words hit hard.
Valerie stood.
“What did you say?”
Jasper’s courage disappeared instantly.
But he did not take it back.
“When I was little.”
Valerie stared.
“You have no idea what I sacrificed for you.”
Jasper said nothing.
His eyes moved toward the dresser.
Valerie followed his gaze.
One drawer was slightly open.
She crossed the room and pulled it out.
Empty.
Then another.
She searched quickly.
Jasper watched.
“What are you looking for?”
“Nothing.”
“You said Mabel took everything.”
“She should have.”
Valerie checked beneath the mattress.
Then the closet shelf.
The speed of her movements frightened him.
“Mom?”
“What?”
“Why are you mad?”
“I’m not.”
“You look mad.”
Valerie stopped.
She forced herself to breathe.
Then smiled.
“I’m tired.”
She took his hand.
“Come on.”
He resisted.
“Can I keep something of Mabel’s?”
“There’s nothing here.”
“Just one thing.”
“No.”
She pulled him gently but firmly toward the door.
“Bed.”
That night, Jasper waited.
He listened until the hallway became quiet.
Then he slipped from his bedroom.
Mabel had taught him never to wander downstairs after bedtime.
For the first time, he disobeyed her.
He returned to her room.
Moonlight spilled through the windows.
The space looked wrong without her.
He opened the dresser.
Nothing.
Then he remembered something.
Mabel sometimes hid his Christmas presents beneath the bottom drawer.
Jasper pulled.
The drawer stopped.
He tugged harder.
It came loose.
Behind it was a narrow space.
Something glittered.
A small brass key.
And a folded piece of paper.
Jasper’s heart pounded.
He opened the note.
Mabel’s handwriting.
For Jasper, if I ever leave without saying goodbye.
His hands shook.
He unfolded the rest.
Your father loved you more than anything in this world. If anyone ever tells you he wanted me away from you, do not believe it.
Below that:
There are things you are too young to carry. I hope you never have to carry them. But if you do, remember the blue room.
Jasper frowned.
The mansion had no blue room.
At least none he knew of.
Then he remembered.
His father’s study.
Before Graham died, the walls had been dark blue.
Valerie had locked the room after the funeral.
Jasper looked at the brass key.
For the first time since Mabel left, he stopped crying.
Because now he had something stronger than sadness.
A question.
May you like
And somewhere behind a locked door—
an answer.
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