Chapter 3
And before the night was over, he was going to find out why.
PART 3: Gabriel remained on the bottom step, the little blue star trapped between his fingers. He could hear the grandfather clock ticking somewhere behind him, each sound suddenly louder than it should have been. “Where is Mrs. Brooks?” he asked, and every servant in the hallway seemed to hold their breath. Elsie pointed toward the kitchen and said, “She went to make tea.”
Gabriel stood slowly, but he did not move toward the kitchen. Instead, he looked at Elsie and asked, “What exactly did she tell you about your mother?” The girl frowned, trying to remember. “She said Mommy was kind,” she answered. “She said Mommy used to sing when she made stars, and she knew a man named Gabriel.”
Gabriel felt the blood drain from his face. Thirty years ago, there had been only one woman who had called him Gabriel without fear. Her name was Clara. She had been seventeen when they met, and she had been the only person who could make him laugh before the Rinaldi name became something people whispered about. Then one winter night, Clara disappeared without saying goodbye.
Gabriel had spent years believing she had chosen to leave him. His father had told him she was gone, and eventually Gabriel had stopped asking questions. But Clara had left him one thing before she disappeared—a small blue paper star with the words *You are not alone* written across it. Gabriel had kept it hidden in a wooden box until the night his father discovered it and ordered him to burn it.
He had obeyed.
Or at least, that was what he had believed.
“Elsie,” Gabriel whispered, “what was your mother's name?” The little girl looked up at him with complete innocence. “Clara,” she said. Gabriel stopped breathing for a moment. Somewhere in the kitchen, a cup fell and shattered.
Mrs. Brooks appeared in the doorway, her face pale. She looked at Gabriel, then at Elsie, and immediately understood what had happened. “You weren't supposed to know yet,” she whispered. Gabriel's expression hardened. “Know what?” he demanded. Mrs. Brooks looked toward the servants and quietly told them to leave.
When the hallway was empty, Gabriel stepped closer. “Tell me the truth.” Mrs. Brooks folded her hands tightly in front of her. “Clara never abandoned you,” she said. “She was forced to disappear because your father discovered she was carrying your child.”