Chapter 1: Whispers in the Dark

 

Edward Langston wasn’t an easy man to move. He’d signed multi-million dollar deals without batting an eye, survived corporate scandals, and lost more friends than he dared count. But nothing had broken him more than losing his wife, Lillian.

Since she passed away, his nights were cold, lonely… and filled with regrets. Not his own. But those of his twin children, Emma and Oliver.

They were five years old. Too young to understand death, but old enough to feel its absence like a hole in his chest. Every night, one or the other would wake up crying. And the most disturbing thing: they would talk about “Mom” as if they could still see her.

“Emma says Mommy sits in the corner of her room,” Oliver confessed to his father one night, his eyes as wide as the fear in his voice.

Edward was silent. He didn’t know what to say. Because he had felt her too. In the perfume that still wafted up the stairs. In the song that played alone on the piano. In the fogged-up bathroom mirrors with words he didn’t write.

Chapter 2: Maria’s Arrival

It was Grandma who insisted on hiring a new nanny. Edward refused for weeks, but the lack of sleep and the nightly screams convinced him.

Then she appeared.

Maria.

A young woman with dark hair, tan skin, and eyes that didn’t reveal her age, but told a lot of stories. She wasn’t recommended by any luxury agency, but something in her calm tone and confident gaze won Edward over in less than five minutes.

“Do you have experience with children who have suffered loss?” he asked bluntly.

Maria nodded. “More than I’d like.”

She didn’t explain further. And he, for some reason he didn’t understand, didn’t dare ask.

Chapter 3: The Change

In a matter of days, the twins changed. They slept better. They laughed more. Emma started drawing again. Oliver stopped biting his nails.

And every time Edward watched from the doorway, he saw Maria sitting between them, telling stories in their ears. Not normal stories. Stories “their mom sent them from heaven,” the children said.

“Maria says Mom chose her to take care of us,” Emma said one night.

That made Edward confront her.

“What are you telling them?”

Maria looked at him calmly. “Nothing they haven’t already felt. I just put words where there was once fear.”

He wanted to protest. But he couldn’t. Because that night… he also dreamed of Lillian. And for the first time in years, she wasn’t crying.

Chapter 4: The Portrait

One day, Maria went up to the attic with the children. There, among dusty boxes, they found an old portrait of Lillian, painted before they were married. But the strange thing was, she wasn’t alone.

Beside her, was a little girl.

“Who is she?” Emma asked.

Edward had no idea. He’d never seen that version of the painting.

They took it down and placed it in the hallway.

That night, the house alarm went off by itself. When Edward ran downstairs with his shotgun, he found the portrait on the floor, the glass broken, and a name written on the wall in something resembling lipstick: “Forgive me, Clara.”

Edward had everything checked. Cameras, windows, personnel. No one had come in.

Maria said nothing. She just cleaned the mirror. And the next day, she told the children a story about a lost sister.

Chapter 5: The Confession

Edward confronted her again.

“Who are you, really?”

Maria looked at him, her eyes shining. “The question is: Who was Lillian?”

He froze.

She continued.

“Your wife was adopted. Her biological mother died in a fire. Her sister survived. No one would talk about it. The sister was sent to different homes. Your wife lived with love. Her sister… didn’t.”

“Are you saying you…?”

Maria nodded slowly. “Lillian looked for me. She wrote to me. She found me. And she asked me for one thing before she died: that I take care of her children as she couldn’t take care of me.”

Chapter 6: The Abyss

Edward felt his chest break. How could he not know? How could Lillian keep such a secret?

“And why didn’t you tell me from the start?”

“Because I knew you wouldn’t trust me. Because you wanted a nanny, not a shadow from the past. But children… they feel. They recognized me before you did.”

Edward gasped for air. He walked through the garden, under the moon. And there, by the swing set, he saw her again.

Lillian.

For a split second.

Standing.

Smiling.

And then… nothing.

Chapter 7: Rebirth

Weeks passed.

Edward didn’t say goodbye to Maria.

On the contrary.

He began to invite her to eat with them. To listen to their stories. To watch the children hug her as if she’d always been there.

And little by little, what was pain turned to calm.

It wasn’t immediate. Nor perfect.

But it was real.

Maria nun