Chapter 331 - Elora Village

10 Months later

In a beautiful village of Elora, located 12 miles northwest of Guelph, several small children coul be seen running in a large yard as they laughed together, chasing each other. Elora was also called "Most Beautiful Village in Ontario". This rural area was Elora Gorge, where 80-foot limestone cliffs overlook the banks of the Grand and Irvine Rivers. This village was often used for camping, hiking and even a very comfortable and beautiful place to do kayaking with your family. No wonder that during the holiday season, this village would be very crowded with local tourists who wanted to spend time with nature. The local tourists usually came to see the 19th century buildings that still stood firmly in this village, as if they were traveling in time when they were in Elora. 

A handsome young man dressed all in white in his oversized coat looked out of the clinic where he worked with a smile. He walked to a house that had a large yard where many children played. Without knocking on the door, he entered the mansion and continued his steps, as if he was looking for someone. His eyes were tracing all the rooms in the house. He opened almost all doors and looked almost frustrated because he didn't find what he was looking for until finally his steps stopped when he looked at the rocks near the lake. There were several people playing there, he quickly walked towards the lake side. 

"Are you already finished, Adam?" shrieked a small child aged eight years, bumping into the man dressed all in white with a lisp.

"Yes, I have already finished, be careful not to fall," replied the young man, who had been called Adam, warning the little boy who had just hit him. 

"Yes, Adam," said the little boy in unison with several other small children of his age, cheerfully. 

Adam smiled at the little boys' behavior. He then continued his steps towards the lake, to his destination, where a woman, who was around sixty-five years old, was sitting with a beautiful girl with shoulder-length hair, enjoying their afternoon drinking tea by the lake. 

"I always say, don't stay outside for too long," said the a young man named Adam with a rising voice as soon as he reached the shore of the lake. 

"Oh, Dear, my dear son has come home," the woman replied, quickly, with a smile.

"Mom, you always make me unable to be angry, you should have listened to Doctor Steffi's advice to maintain your health, Mom," Adam said, pouting, showing his deep disappointment.

"Mom also need fresh air. It's good for her to be on the shore of a lake like this to help her relax all her muscles, Adam," said the beautiful girl, with shoulder length hair, trying to defend her mother, who was sitting beside her. 

"You're just the same, Anji, always obeying Mom's words. You have to be a little firm to Mom, so that Mom would obey and want to rest at home," Adam fiercely scolded the beautiful girl he called Anji. 

Hearing Adam sulking, Anji only smiled broadly. She then invited her mother to return to their big house not far from the lake. Guided by Adam and Anji on the right and left, Mrs. Deborah smiled, her sad face looked very happy to find the foster child she had been looking for for years.

Debora Esteban was the adopted sister of Maria Jessica Horrison, who was none other than the woman who owned the Light Orphanage in Ottawa, she and Maria built an orphanage together, taking care of children that were unwanted by their parents together, until they finally separated themselves to make a new orphanage because she couldn't accommodate all the children in the Light Orphanage at that time. Maria Jessica still led the Light Orphanage, while Debora Esteban built a new orphanage called the Love Orphanage, which in the early days was assisted by Maria Jessica. They promised from the start that they would share their whole life with abandoned children, give them love, until they were grown ups and could live their respective lives. 

Debora Esteban went to the Love Orphanage that she founded in Elora with a boy that she loved the most, just like Maria who had one favorite child. They even often said that the child they loved was their own. Deborah Esteban brought Adam Morgan, while Maria still took care of Viona Angel, who became her favorite. They finally separated and managed the orphanage independently when Adam and Viona were eight years old. Since then they never met, even when Maria Jessica died, Deborah never saw her sister again. Until one day, she got a letter that she found seven years after Maria Jessica died. Apparently, when Maria realized that she wouldn't last long, she had sent a letter to her sister, Debora Esteban, and asked her to continue her duties by looking after her beloved daughter who had grown up at that time. Apparently, still not siding with the girl named Viona Angel, the letter Maria Jessica sent to Debora apparently went unanswered until finally Viona Angel had to live alone in the world after Maria Jessica died, even though Maria Jessica had asked Debora Esteban to take care of Viona Angel in the letter she sent. 

The will that was made by Maria Jessica was finally read by Debora Esteban while she was tidying up her old files, she read an old letter tucked between her old files. When she saw the letter for the first time her whole body felt cold, because she saw that the year stamp on the letter was seven years ago. 

Out of curiosity, Deborah gained the courage to read the letter and was devastated after she finished reading the letter she was supposed to read seven years ago, a will that her sister wrote. That night, Deborah Esteban asked his beloved son Adam Morgan to go to town, he wanted to go to an old cemetery complex on the western border. An old tomb dedicated to those who contributed during World War II, Deborah Esteban headed for the tomb because she was sure that her beloved sister was there. In the letter she read, Maria said that she was not going to last long because she had blood cancer. It was not clear what made Deborah believe that she had to go to the old cemetery that night. It was as if Deborah had gotten a whisper asking her to come to the old cemetery that very night, even though when they went to the city it was already late. 

Arriving at the grave, they were shocked when they saw a beautiful girl who appeared to be prostrated in front of a tombstone with the name Maria Jessica Horrison written on it in a sad, pale, and exhausted state with her pants soaked with blood. Without thinking, Deborah and Adam brought the helpless girl who had fallen down to a clinic not far from the cemetery complex. After receiving treatment, in the morning the girl woke up from her fainting. 

"Angel... Viona Angel," said Deborah Esteban, stammering when she saw the girl she saved opened her eyes, slowly. 

"Who are you?" Viona asked weakly trying to gather her last memory of where she should be in front of her mother's grave, crying there, lamenting her fate. 

"I am Deborah, child, the sister of Maria. We used to live together in the Light Orphanage until finally I had to move with Adam. You were eight years old," said Deborah, sobbing.

"Mrs. Deborah…" Viona said, stammering, repeating the words of her mother who was standing in front of her with teary eyes. 

"Yes, child... Why are you like this? What happened to you, my dear...?" Debora stammered, she was shocked when she found out that her Viona Angel had a miscarriage. 

Viona, who was still shocked because she met her mother again, immediately cried like a child, she took it all out, the sadness that she buried all this time. Crying in front of Deborah, who she knows as a mother who was good at making her favorite pancakes when she was a child when they lived in the same orphanage. 

"Mom is here, child, you're safe now... I'm sorry, Dear, I was late at picking you up. Thank you, Maria, for guiding me to come to your grave tonight, I'll take care of our Angel just like you want... I'm sorry I'm late in reading your letter..." said Deborah, gratefully while hugging Viona, who she called Angel, her favorite name to call her sister's favorite child.

To be Continued