Page 241 of Modern Romance March 2025 (5-8)

“I always thoughtmaque chouxwas such a fancy name for such a simple dish.”

Her mother chuckled. “Eat up.”

Valentina combined the corn and peppers with her rice, the way she had when she was a kid. She liked the candy-sweetness of the corn alongside everything else. As she ate, something was loosening in her chest—a knot that had been there since she’d arrived in Louisiana with a headache from crying on a sixteen-hour flight.

It finally allowed her to speak.

“He left, Mama,” she whispered. And then the whole story poured out, her spoon clattering down on the willowware because if she took another bite she’d stop talking and might never start again. When she’d finished, the food was cooling on both their plates and her mother was staring across the table at her as if she were a stranger.

“So… Malik left you in debt,” her mother said slowly. “And you went to prison? In the MiddleEast?”

She swallowed hard. Her mother’s face was losing color. “Yes.”

“Are we really so bad, that you couldn’t phone home for help?”

It was very hard not to cry. “You had—I didn’t—I felt like I was taking up space, Mama, after you married Russell. It was time to make my own way. And I made such a fuss about marrying him that I… I couldn’t.”

Her mother looked faintly sick.

“And then you worked as amaid!”

“A nanny, Mama.” Valentina tried not to regret opening up about what had happened. “A companion. To young ladies.”

Her mother ignored this correction. “And then you met a man that paid off your debts?”

She knew how it sounded. Val looked down at the table. When her mother didn’t speak, she looked back up to find her mother was staring at her, something indecipherable in her eyes.

“Youpretendedto be his…wife?”

“Yes, ma’am,” she said softly. The various colors were congealing on her plate and she chose to focus on them.

“Can you show me— What does he look like?”

Valentina looked up a photo from the celebration event and showed her mother. His head was tilted and he was looking at her with an intensity in his eyes that leaped off the screen. Andherface…

Her ears began to burn.

There was a silence through which all she could hear was the ticking of the kitchen clock and the humming of the air conditioner.

“He’s handsome,” her mother said.

“Yes.”

“I thought you said he was younger than you.”

“He is. He’s just…tall.” Well, that and his experiences had probably etched years onto his face. But she didn’t want to get into that now.

“Were you—? Did you—?” her mother paused delicately so that her meaning was clear.

“We did,” Val admitted.

Her mother pursed her lips. “And you came running back here.”

“It’s not like you think, Mama. He was…he’s a good person. I just, I couldn’t…”

Her mother watched her flounder for a long moment before putting her daughter out of her misery. “Do you love him?”

Heat rushed to Valentina’s cheeks. “Mama. No!”

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