\u201cIt\u2019s Mary, isn\u2019t it? Or Mara?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMartha, sir.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOkay. I\u2019m looking into my father\u2019s cases. Meet me at the office in ten minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n
He left before I could answer. Mr. Whitaker had once promised that I would always be looked after, but I assumed he was just comforting an elderly housekeeper. I straightened my apron and walked into the office, where Julian stood behind his father\u2019s desk, patting a white folder in his palm.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll be brief. We no longer require your services.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t understand. Your father said I would always have a place here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father is dead.\u201d<\/p>\n
His words touched me more deeply than I expected. He pushed the envelope onto the desk.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s four hundred dollars in there. A week\u2019s compensation. More than most housekeepers would get.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy position?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re an employee, Marta, not a member of my family. I want you to leave before sunset.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eighteen years of meals, medicine, solitary vacations, and late-night conversations had been reduced to four hundred dollars. I asked if I could have the little radio I kept in the closet. Julian said I could have anything that really belonged to me. Near the window hung a framed photograph of the mansion at sunset. Mr. Whitaker had given it to me years before.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe told me I could have this photo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Julian just looked at it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis cheap thing? Take it and go.\u201d<\/p>\n
I pressed the frame to my chest, not knowing that it contained the only thing that would protect me. Upstairs, I folded my apron, put the radio inside, and wrapped the photo in a tea towel. Miguel, the gardener, saw me leave through the side door.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere are you going;\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAt my daughter\u2019s house. Julian kicked me out.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe can\u2019t do that. Mr. Whitaker promised\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n
Miguel stopped<\/p>\n
abruptly, as if he had almost revealed something. I told him that Julian could do whatever he wanted now and got on the bus. Forty minutes later, I arrived at my daughter\u2019s apartment. Danny was finishing his homework at the kitchen table.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbuela, why are you home on Tuesday?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m tired, kiddo. Finish your math.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you okay?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI will be.\u201d<\/p>\n
I placed the photo on the windowsill and started thinking about finding another job.<\/p>\n
PART 2: THE CALL THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING
\nPART 2
\nFor three days, I contacted every family I had worked for before joining the Whitaker household. Most didn\u2019t remember me. Two politely explained that they had no vacancies. By the third night, I sat at the kitchen table without touching my dinner. Danny had gone to bed early, sensing the anxiety I was trying to hide. The photo caught the last light of sunset, reminding me<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cIt\u2019s Mary, isn\u2019t it? Or Mara?\u201d \u201cMartha, sir.\u201d \u201cOkay. I\u2019m looking into my father\u2019s cases. Meet me at the office…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5575,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saborencasa.delicedcook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saborencasa.delicedcook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saborencasa.delicedcook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saborencasa.delicedcook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saborencasa.delicedcook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5573"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/saborencasa.delicedcook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5573\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5576,"href":"https:\/\/saborencasa.delicedcook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5573\/revisions\/5576"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saborencasa.delicedcook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saborencasa.delicedcook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saborencasa.delicedcook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saborencasa.delicedcook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}