The house is still quiet when I walk out into the hallway, but I hear voices when I get closer to the kitchen, and I see candles are being lit in the downstairs rooms. I’m about to push the door to the kitchen open when Antonia comes through, wiping her hands on a dish towel and giving someone instructions over her shoulder.

“Ivy. You’re up early,” she says, obviously surprised to see me there.

“I…” I quiet as a maid slips past Antonia into the kitchen. “This is embarrassing, but I got my period, and…um, there isn’t…” I clear my throat and tell myself to grow up. It’s a fucking period. “I need tampons.”

After the briefest of moments, Antonia nods, but I swear I see something on her face in that split second of time that gives me pause.

“Of course. Come with me, dear.”

I follow her as she walks past the kitchen and down several corridors to a door farther away from the center of the house. That door, which she uses a key to unlock, which I knew was locked because I’d tried it on one of my explorations of the house, leads to a corridor different from any in the house. For one thing, it’s lit with electrical lights, and for another, it’s nowhere near as ornately or beautifully decorated as the main part.

“What’s here?” I ask, appreciating the brightness.

“Staff rooms. Three maids live on property plus security and myself, of course. These are our rooms.”

“Oh,” I say, remembering Santiago’s rule that I not enter the servant’s quarters. I roll my eyes at the memory.

“Here we are,” she says, unlocking a door. When she opens it, a light automatically blinks on, and I see it’s a laundry room. I smell detergent and watch one of the washing machines already spinning its load.

“This is like a hotel,” I comment.

She smiles and heads to a shelf where I see several boxes of tampons. “The house is old and requires a lot of upkeep. I’m just glad your husband does it, although he has closed off some rooms since he became head of the household. With only him and Mercedes, it made sense, but now...” She trails off.

“How big is it?” I ask, watching her count out five tampons.

She holds them out, and I hear her talking, but I stop listening because I realize something.

This wasn’t an oversight.

“I’ll just take the box. I’m sure I’ll need more than five,” I say, irritated not by her but hearing my tone, nonetheless. I know she’s just doing what he’s told her to do.

Antonia’s gaze falters, and she takes a deep breath in. “I’ll give you what you need. Just ask me, Ivy, but...” She trails off.