“Did my mom hire you to rescue me or you’ve heard my story and came to help out?” Ava asked.
Santiago and Jimmy exchanged glances again. And this time, Santiago decided to do the talking. He gestured that everyone sit down and Ava did.
“Ava, I want to be straight forward here” he said and kept his gaze on her. So identical to their Mom. This Ava is the spitting image of his lady Mother.
“We are siblings. The three of us. You, Jimmy and I. We are kids of the same parents. I am the first, Jimmy is the second and you are the third and only daughter of our parents.
When Mom gave birth to you, you were swapped….” Santiago Blake narrated the whole story to her, telling her how they got to know about her and how their Mom was worried about her.
“Are you saying you are my real family, my biological parents are still alive?” Ava asked. She’d been quiet for a long time after Santiago stopped talking. Taking in every single word he spoke.
She knew she was adopted. She also knows that her mother gave her up because she was a single mother and couldn’t take care of her properly. She doesn’t know who that mother was because she’d been left at the orphanage since she was a baby.
And being a baby was what made her attractive to Sam Leon and his wife. They adopted her and she only grew up knowing them as her parents. And they loved her like their own lives.
“Yes. You’re our only sister and our parents are alive” Jimmy answered. They were waiting for her to say something before boarding the helicopter and returning to X-city.
Ava sighed softly. Honestly, as much as she wants to escape the clutches of Adrian Lester and his mother, she doesn’t want to leave her momma. How can she suddenly realise that she had gone off with other people simply because they told her she’s their sister?
What about her years of tutoring, how about her years of raising her to become a proper woman? How about those nights she stayed awake by her bedside when she was sick?
Many times she would leave her papa alone in the room and stay with her because she had a fever. What about the tears she had shed when she heard what Adrian did to her?
How can she accept this luxurious offer after her loving Papa had died? If Papa was still alive, fine. They both will stay together. If she leaves now, who will be with her momma, who will offer her a shoulder to lean on when she misses Papa?
No, she can’t do that to the woman who took her in and gave her a family and showed her only love and affection. There isn’t any way her biological parents can love her more than her foster parents.
She cannot accept to belong to another family. She would prefer staying with her poor momma and giving her happiness for the rest of her life. She’s the only family her momma has now.
“Well, I appreciate this truth. But I cannot accept any other family as mine besides the one I grew up with. I’m sorry to disappoint you” Ava replied.
Ava’s response was like a disappointment to Santiago and Jimmy’s expectations. Was Mom right to say she might not accept them as her family?
Are they going to return home to tell Mom that her daughter refused to acknowledge her as her mother? Will their mother have a happy life ever again?
They exchanged glances and the excited looks on the faces of the brothers faded away. But what are they going to say more to persuade her to believe them? Or was she thinking that they cooked up the story?
“How do you mean, Ava? You’d reject your real family for the foster family? What about our parents, what do you want us to tell Mom?” Santiago demanded.
“They’ve got you both. My Papa is dead and my momma is heartbroken and mourning his death while I am in prison. They gave me shelter over my head and treated me with love all these years.
How can I leave her to accept another family as mine. What about all those years they spent raising me? I am the only child they’ve got. I’m sorry I can’t leave my momma” Ava explained amidst tears.
There was a long silence that followed. Jimmy kept his gaze fixed on his sister. She’s a responsible woman. She knows better not to turn her back on the fingers that have fed her.
This shows that she’s indeed Blake. But he needed to convince her to come along with them. They will be responsible for her foster mother. They’ll ensure they reward her for raising her.
“We quite understand what you meant and if you are thinking about your foster mother, then that should be the least of the things that should bother you. Just like you’ve spoken, that’s how the true Blake’s are. We don’t forget the good that others have done for us.
Mom would compensate her beyond what you even think. What do you think about Mom and Dad, that they would just take you away like that? Your sensibility comes from Mom, that’s exactly how she is.
As for not coming with us, can you really say so? Do you know how long you would spend in that prison? Do you know how many strings dad pulled to be able to locate you and got you out?
A high prominent personality in this country handled it and we were told we could come and get you home. And you want to return to the family where you were raised?
Do you want to endanger the life of your foster mother? If you are rearrested, what would you say, how will you explain to them that you got out of prison? Do you know those who fetched you out?
Do you know the punishment served to such people who escaped prisons and were caught again? Have you thought it over before saying you are not coming with us?
What about our parents, our Mom who spent years mourning the death of her only daughter who everyone thought was dead. And now the good news came and you want her to start crying all over again?
You really want the woman who gave you life to go through such pain when you are truly still alive? What about dad, he should go into depression because his daughter rejected him?
What about us, we left everything and came over here to get you. Our lives, business, jobs and our parents to get you and now you said you’re not coming with us?
Have you thought it through before saying what you said, Ava Blake?” Jimmy coaxed. He decided to call her Blake. The earlier she comes to terms with that name, the better it would be for them.
If she refuses to come with them willingly, he would use other ways to do so. He doesn’t understand the language when he is busy with serious matters.
For the next five minutes, Ava Leon couldn’t reply to Jimmy.