Chapter 4 - A Mother's Pride
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The enormous dining hall was hollow and quiet now, save for the faint clatter of silverware being cleared in the distance.
I suddenly became acutely aware of how ridiculous Emma and I looked standing in the center of the palace.
My daughter was wearing a cheap polyester graduation gown, holding wilting flowers.
I was dressed in a black polyester maid uniform with a stained lace apron tied around my waist.
“Mr. Moretti,” I spoke softly, my voice cracking under the weight of exhaustion and lingering adrenaline.
“I should take Emma home now.”
Luca stopped pacing and turned toward us, his sharp facial features softening instantly.
“You are not going anywhere on an empty stomach, Caroline.”
“Sir, please, we don't belong here,” I pleaded, looking down at the grand table still laden with untouched crystal and silver.
Luca walked over to the head of the banquet table and pulled out the heavy carved chair.
“Sit down, Emma.”
My daughter looked at me with wide, hesitant eyes, unsure if she was allowed to obey.
“Go on, sweetheart,” I whispered, nudging her gently forward.
Emma walked slowly across the polished floor, her blue graduation gown swishing softly against her ankles.
She sat down in the massive leather chair where Don Moretti had been seated just moments earlier.
Luca looked toward Marco, who was waiting near the service door with a white towel over his arm.
“Marco, tell Chef Giovanni to prepare the finest prime rib and handmade pasta we have in the kitchen.”
“Right away, Boss,” Marco replied with a genuine, warm smile before disappearing behind the swinging doors.
Luca then pulled out the chair directly beside Emma and looked at me.
“Sit, Caroline.”
“Mr. Moretti, I am an employee,” I protested, my face heating up with embarrassment.
“I cannot sit at your family table in this uniform.”
Luca reached out, took the dirty serving towel from my shoulder, and dropped it into an empty silver bin.
“Tonight, you are not my employee, Caroline.”
“Tonight, you are a mother whose child just accomplished something incredible.”
Reluctantly, my knees gave out from eighteen hours of standing, and I sank into the plush velvet chair beside my daughter.
Emma looked across the gleaming table, staring at the golden candleholders and the sparkling crystal goblets.
Then, she reached behind her neck and unclasped a heavy, shiny brass medal hanging from a red-and-white ribbon.
The medal read: Summa Cum Laude – Top Honors.
Emma turned toward me, her eyes shining with fresh, pure tears of happiness.
“Mom,” Emma whispered, her voice trembling with emotion.
“This isn't mine.”
I shook my head, smiling through my own blurred vision.
“Of course it’s yours, Emma, you worked so hard for four years.”
“No,” Emma insisted, leaning across the armrest of the ornate chair.
“You worked two jobs so I could buy books.”
“You woke up at four in the morning to pack my lunches every single day.”
“You stayed up with me when I was crying over chemistry finals, even when your back was aching from scrubbing floors.”
Emma lifted the ribbon over my head and gently placed the golden medal over my maid collar.
The cold metal rested heavily against the white carnation pinned to my chest.
“You graduated tonight too, Mom,” Emma sobbed, wrapping both of her arms around my neck.
I buried my face into my daughter’s navy blue gown and wept openly.
All the humiliation, the exhaustion, the terror of unpaid bills, and the loneliness of the past eight years poured out of me.
Luca stood a few feet away, watching us with his arms crossed over his broad chest.
For the first time since I had started working for the Moretti estate three years ago, I saw a tear slip silently down the mob boss’s cheek.
He quickly wiped it away with the back of his hand, cleared his throat, and looked up at the ceiling.
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“Giovanni better hurry with that food,” Luca muttered softly, his voice thick with uncharacteristic tenderness.
“A top-honors graduate shouldn’t have to wait for her victory dinner.”
