Chapter 4 The House Rules
Lily's POV
Mia took my hand the moment we left the sitting room and didn't let go.
She led me down the hallway with quiet purpose, glancing back every few steps as though checking I was still there, still real. When she pushed open the door to her room I stopped in the doorway and smiled before I could help it.
Everything was pink, a fluffy rug spread across the floor as we stepped inside.
A canopy bed sat in the centre draped in soft rose fabric, buried under more pillows than one small person could ever need. Shelves lined every wall, packed with dolls of every size and colour, arranged with a care that told me she took them seriously. A tiny chandelier overhead threw warm light across all of it.
It was the room of a child who deserved every soft thing in it.
Mia dropped my hand and immediately began pulling at her school clothes, ready to be done with the day. I helped her into a soft pink dress that she clearly considered far superior to her uniform, smoothing it down at the shoulders while she stood patiently.
When I looked at her face she was beaming.
I pinched both her cheeks gently and she scrunched her nose and smiled wider, the kind of smile that took over her whole face and left no room for anything else.
"So," I said, settling onto the edge of her big puffy bed and patting the space beside me. "Tell me about school today."
The smile disappeared.
She lowered her head and her small shoulders curved inward and something about the particular shape of that posture made my chest hurt.
"Hey" I shifted closer. "Don't you trust me anymore?"
She looked up at me sideways. Then slowly, she shook her head and reached for her phone.
“Nothing” she typed
She wasn't ready and I understood that. Because trust wasn't something you handed over in an afternoon just because someone was kind to you once.
So I didn't push further, I just sat with her for a moment in the quiet of her pink room, letting her know through the simple fact of staying that I wasn't going anywhere.
I had always been drawn to children. My mother used to say I had a gift for it, that patience like mine couldn't be taught. I thought it was simpler than that. Children hadn't yet learned to hide what they needed. There was something honest about that I found easier than most adult conversations.
Looking at Mia now, at her soft features and careful eyes, I felt something settle in my chest that had nothing to do with the job description or the doubled salary. She was already beginning to feel like a little sister.
And I was fiercely, quietly protective of her already.
"It's okay," I said, wrapping an arm around her small shoulders and pulling her gently into my side. "I'll be your friend first. Everything else can wait."
She relaxed against me slightly.
I waited a beat, then leaned down conspiratorially. "Now" I lowered my voice. "Tell me about Wade"
The shift was immediate. Her eyes lit up the way they hadn't for anything else and she grabbed her phone with renewed energy.
He is stubborn and plays too much.
I laughed out loud "But Mia is very obedient and well behaved."
She nodded seriously, as though this was a fact long overdue for acknowledgment.
Then she typed again
“He picks me up from school late and dad is annoyed”
The light in her eyes dimmed as she typed it. She kept her gaze on the screen after she turned it toward me, not quite meeting my eyes.
And just like that the pieces arranged themselves into a picture I recognised.
She had been sitting alone under that tree crying not simply because she was sad. She had been waiting. Wade had been late and in that gap, She got bullied by other children. She had sat there alone in her pain and made no noise about it because she had learned that making noise didn't help.
My jaw tightened.
"Don't worry about that anymore," I said, keeping my voice steady and warm. "I will pick you up from school. Every day, and early." I squeezed her hand. "Okay?"
She looked at me for a long moment. Then she squeezed back.
"Now." I stood and smoothed her blanket down. "A quick nap, you need to rest your eyes."
She didn't argue, she only curled onto her side, tucking both hands under her cheek, and closed her eyes with the ease of a child who felt, for the moment, safe.
I watched her for a few seconds longer than necessary.
Mia was not going to be the difficult part of this job.
I stepped out quietly and pulled the door to behind me. Then I leaned against the wall in the hallway, exhaled slowly, and called my mother.
It rang twice before she picked up.
"Hi Mum."
"Hi Lily." Her voice came out careful and measured, the way it always did when she was managing pain she didn't want me to hear.
"How are your eyes today?"
"The itching has reduced because I took the local medication."
"Mum" I closed my eyes trying so hard to avoid teary eyes "You need to see a proper doctor."
"Lily, that money is for your textbooks. You are in a better school now and I need to make sure you have everything you need there." She replied her voice trying hard to be strong.
"Mum, I got the job." I let the smile into my voice deliberately, wanting her to hear it. "You don't need to worry about textbooks because the salary is enough to cover everything."
She paused then cautiously asked, "Are you being serious?"
"My boss even doubled it." I responded, my voice clear with happiness
Another pause, this time it was longer. When she spoke again the worry had returned underneath the excitement. "Isn't that too much, Lily? A boss does not just double a salary without something heavy attached to it."
I leaned my head back against the wall.
She wasn't wrong. She was rarely wrong about things like this. The salary was extraordinary and the reason it was extraordinary was because of the extra efforts that was needed.
But I thought about what I had in this house.
Mia's hand in mine, the authority Mr. Gambino had handed me so plainly in that sitting room and the look on Wade's face when I smiled at him.
He could make my life difficult at school but In here, I was in charge.
"There is nothing to worry about," I said. "Please just rest and take your medication properly."
"You too, baby, Study hard. And remember that your mother loves you very much."
"I love you too Mum."
"Bye."
"Bye."
I stood in the hallway a moment longer after the call ended, holding the phone against my chest in the quiet of the Harrington house.
Then I pushed off the wall, checked on Mia one last time through the cracked door, and walked to my own room.
The agency had already sent my luggage ahead. Two bags sitting neatly at the foot of a bed that was larger and softer than anything I had ever slept in. A window with curtains that actually blocked the light.
I sat on the edge of the bed and looked around at all of it.
It was a begining of a new life which I don't know if I was prepared to face