Clara’s eyes welled up with tears. Ava and Adrian’s life together was such that it was filled with complexities. Until this moment, she wondered why the both of them were told the reason why they should be married back then, besides using Adrian’s grandfather as an only explanation for it.
“Adrian and Ava shared a relationship in the past, an unpleasant one to be precise. But looking at it intently, I blamed myself and my late husband why we didn’t explain things to Ava and why their marriage should go that way.
My family once helped Adrian when he was a little boy….” Clara explained things to everyone that when she finished, she was sobbing silently.
There was a long quietness that followed. Everyone was lost in their thoughts and having many questions to ask, a lot of “why” and “what”
“If I get you correctly, Adrian and Aurora were married?” Santiago asked, dazed and surprised at this revelation. Adrian told him his wife was dead and she died with his baby.
So he, like many others in New Jersey thought she was dead and Elsie is definitely the baby he thought was dead. Can this be real? Is he living with Adrian’s daughter without realising it?
Before Clara could answer, Aurora did from the stairs “Yes, Adrian was married to Ava Leon, not me. I want you to know that I kept my past life away from my present and hence, I’ve never said a word about my daughter’s father.
I want you all to accept my decision on that. I don’t know that bastard, I don’t ever want to know him because he’s a piece of scumbag and a terrible beast” she declared and turned to Clara.
“I don’t like this momma. How can you betray me all these years, why? You hide your reasons and marry me off to that asshole, who has long lost his conscience to the dogs.
He never wanted me, you should have given us the chance to make our decisions. What’s the use of keeping promises to each other at the expense of your children’s happiness?
Adrian saw me as a distraction, a third party which came in-between him and the woman he loves. He’d only loved Lola Carrero and not me.
You have no idea what I went through in Lester’s mansion. I was treated like a maid. His mother referred to me as a gold digger who only wants to pest on their Lester family’s fortune.
The one who had me arrested was Anna Lester, Adrian’s mother. Adrian Lester hurt me beyond words and never let me feel or know what being loved by a man meant…” Aurora seethed.
“Your Papa loves you, and you know that I love you too. Do you think, in this life, we could ever do anything to hurt you? That we would ever make a decision for anything less than happiness for you?
You think we betrayed you, Ava? No, we didn’t have that in mind when we decided to keep to our words. Don’t think so unfairly of your Papa and I” Clara declared.
How she wishes to roll this burden off. Adrian acted in remorse when he thought Ava was dead. He felt sorry and came to her to apologise and get things straightened out, but she had always pushed him off.
She couldn’t accept Adrian to be in a close range to her, otherwise he will get to know that Ava was alive as Aurora. But now that he’s known for himself, she wants things to get back to normal.
“If I get things straight here, Aurora you were married to Adrian Lester and invariably, Elsie is Adrian’s daughter” Simon Blake summarised.
“No dad. I’m not his wife. He was married, yes, to Ava Leon not me. And as for Elsie, she’s exclusively mine. My daughter has no father let alone a swine at that…” Aurora was saying when Simon interrupted her.
“I don’t know what the marriage was like, that you had with Adrian. But if you are legally married to him as Ava Leon, you’re still married despite being Aurora. If you want to get things straightened out, get divorced.
And hearing this today after four years is degrading. How can you keep your marital status from all of us? Why wouldn’t you tell us about that part of your life despite being pregnant when you arrived?
And besides, Adrian might have hurt you by getting you imprisoned wrongfully. Get separated from him to ease your mind off the feelings of that hurt.
The next time we talk about this, it should be that the divorce is settled. But please, now that you both met, settle this and get it over as soon as possible” Simon scowled.
Aurora gnashed her teeth. Her eyes welled up with tears. There it goes again, she’ll have to come out as Ava Leon to get a divorce. Then he would bargain for the custody of her daughter.
She sniffled and turned around to leave. Santiago felt her heart bleed at father’s instructions. Was Adrian the man that made her heart stone cold when it comes to love and relationships?
“Aurora” he said and pulled her into a hug. It hurts, he could perceive it. What really happened, what made her marriage to Adrian sour? How can a sweet woman like Aurora be so unreserved in how much she detest Adrian Lester?
“Adrian is a demon, Santiago. I hate him more than anything else in this life. I hate him more than death…” she stuttered.
Adrian got back to his hotel, dejected and mentally drained. So many thoughts and ideas filled his head. She’s alive, and they’re all moaning. Mrs Clara knows and she didn’t blink an eye when she saw how much remembrance every year that he makes for his supposed late wife.
This is nothing short of amazement. Ava is alive, the only daughter of the Blake s, Santiago’s only sister? A daughter of a former president and a rich business tycoon despite her training in medicine.
Now, realising that all he was doing back in New Jersey was just a waste of time and resources, he wished he’d investigated everything.
The ashes buried were mere ashes indeed. It has nothing to do with Ava Leon. Was that what Luna was trying to make him understand and he didn’t realise it?
He’d always wanted to have her forgiveness in the great beyond but alas, things are completely different from what he’d thought for the past few years.
And getting into Ava’s heart is close to being impossible. Except things changed, she appeared so distant and hate-filled for him. Can she forgive him, will she ever be willing to do so?
What about Elsie, will she let him have a right over her as her father?