The Wedding Gift That Changed My Life
My name is Anna Brooks. I’m twenty-six years old, born in a small Texas town where the sun burned hot and the air smelled of dust and grass.
My father passed away when I was little, and my mother’s health failed soon after. I left school at sixteen to work as a maid in Houston, cleaning houses just to keep us alive.
That’s how I ended up working for the Harrison family — one of the wealthiest real-estate families in the city.
Their only son, Ethan Harrison, was thirty-one. Handsome, well-educated, and distant. He spoke little, smiled even less.
I worked quietly for nearly three years, learning to move like a shadow — cleaning, cooking, bowing my head. I never imagined that one day my name would stand beside his.
A Proposal I Never Saw Coming
One morning, Mrs. Caroline Harrison — the matriarch of the family — called me to the living room.
She set a marriage certificate on the table and said calmly, “Anna, if you agree to marry Ethan, the $2-million lakeside villa in Austin will belong to you. It’s a wedding gift from our family.”
I froze.
A maid like me? Marry the only son of the Harrisons?
I thought it was a cruel joke. But when I saw her eyes — serious, almost pleading — I knew she meant it.
My mother needed treatment, and this might be the only chance to save her. My heart whispered “yes” before my mind could stop it.
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