Ethan walked fast down the bright marble hallway of his family home.
He was back in the city after spending three long years away for business.
The air inside the vast white house felt cold despite the summer heat outside.
He checked his watch because his mother wanted him downstairs for dinner soon.
A maid in a navy uniform was kneeling near the baseboard with a damp cloth.
She was carefully polishing the edge of the light marble tiles.
Ethan usually paid little attention to the house staff during his short visits.
But something about the way she held her shoulders made him stop instantly.
Her hand was resting softly over her visible bump under the apron.
Ethan took one step closer as his breathing slowed down completely.
Ethan: Grace?
The woman froze instantly upon hearing his voice call her name.
She slowly set her cleaning rag down on the pale floor beside her bucket.
Grace: Good evening, sir. Do you need fresh towels?
Ethan felt his heart hammer against his ribs like a heavy drum.
Her soft voice was identical to the one he used to hear every single morning.
Ethan: Where have you been? How far along are you?
Grace looked down at her hands as a tear dropped onto her apron.
Grace: I didn't disappear, Ethan. I left.
Ethan took another step forward, wanting to reach out to her hand.
Ethan: You left without saying a word to me back then.
Grace: I had no choice given what was happening around us.
Ethan stared at her rounded belly in utter disbelief and silence.
Ethan: Is this child mine?
Grace looked into his eyes with total honesty and sadness.
Grace: I was pregnant when I left... and your mother knew.
Ethan felt as though the floor beneath his boots was giving way.
Before he could ask another question, sharp footsteps sounded nearby.
A blonde woman in an expensive beige gown walked out from the side drawing room.
Victoria: Ethan, darling, who are you talking to down here?
Victoria stopped short when she saw Ethan standing over the kneeling maid.
She glared down at Grace with deep contempt and disgust.
Victoria: Why is the help taking so long with these hallway floors?
Ethan: Victoria, step back for a moment, please.
Victoria noticed the intense gaze between Ethan and the young maid.
Victoria: This is your wife?!
Ethan did not answer her right away as he processed the revelation.
Grace quietly gathered her cleaning supplies to stand up from the floor.
Grace: I should finish my work in the other wing now, sir.
Ethan: You are not going anywhere until we finish this conversation.
Victoria clasped her hands together tightly in sudden suspicion and alarm.
Victoria: What is the meaning of this drama in your mother's house?
Ethan turned his gaze slowly toward the large grand staircase leading upstairs.
He realized his mother had kept a massive secret from him for months.
The silence in the hallway felt heavier than any storm outside.