Chapter 7

"Candy...Candy..."

She heard someone calling her from far away.

"Candy...Wake up, Candy..."

She opened her eyes slowly and noticed she was on the floor, in the living room of that old but remodeled place. Around her stood, expectant, her two mothers and the three women who only a moment ago had been just strangers.

Oh, no...Have I fainted again? It can't be...How could that happen to me so often? I'm sure I already have the record of the greatest number of faints in so few days...thought Candy as she was trying to get up.

"Wait, Candy! How many fingers do you see?" asked Sister Lane as she lifted two fingers in front of her nose.

"Two..."

"You'd better remain sitting on the floor for a moment. You might have had a low blood pressure and that's why you fainted. Did you have any lunch before coming here?" asked Miss Pony while she was grabbing her wrist with her fingers to check on her pressure.

"I...I don't know..."

"You don't know? Can you remember who you are, how old you are?"

Can I remember who I am? If they had asked me that just a few moments ago, I would have answered without any trouble...My name was Candice White Ardlay. I was an orphan. I was abandoned by my parents a little more than twenty years ago. I was hired as a lady's companion for Eliza Leagan when I was twelve and later adopted by the Ardlays. Profession: A nurse, although socially I am frowned upon. I know how to work, how to cook and how to behave like a lady. However, I'm definitely unlucky in love...I think I should consider myself a real catastrophe in this matter...Yes, I was that person just a moment ago...But now...Who am I? These women say they are friends of my mother...Mother? Do I have a mother? Since when? I have dreamed of this all my life...And now I have the opportunity to know my origins...Who am I? Where do I come from? What is my real family name? Is Candy my real name? And if my mother really exists, why has she never looked for me? Why just now? Why...?

"Candy...Candy...Are you all right? Do you remember what happened? Candy!"

"Yes, yes, Sister Lane...Yes, I remember..."

"Are you feeling better?"

Miss Pony was looking at her seriously. Candy's pale face was not a good sign, and something inside her was telling her that her darling girl had not had any lunch.

"Come, sit in the chair for a moment. Place your feet here; that's it..."

Slowly and gently, her mothers put her in the chair and placed her feet on a wooden bench.

"Stay here for a moment. I'll go and look for something you can eat," said Miss Pony.

"Yes; and I'm going to get a blanket to keep you warm. It seems you were very cold when you came in," added Sister Lane.

None of them waited for Candy's answer, and as quickly as they could, they left the living room, leaving her alone with the three women.

There was silence and great tension. Candy was observing them carefully, but she said nothing at all. The three women were nervous. Their gazes went from the floor to the fire in the fireplace, then from there to their hands which all three of them happened to have on their laps, and then again to the floor. The only one who raised her blue eyes from time to time to look at Candy was the woman who had been introduced to her as Vivienne Abbott, the older one of the three.

"Here you are, Candy. You'll see that with this blanket and with the soup Miss Pony is warming up, you're going to revive quicker than you imagine," said Sister Lane as she covered her affectionately with a thick blanket which she had knitted herself for Candy when she was a little girl.

"Thank you, Sister Lane..." replied Candy gently, looking at her with a slight smile on her lips.

Then she turned again her intense gaze towards the three women who were sitting motionless on the sofa.

"So...you are friends of my mother?"

"Candy, dear...You'd better have your lunch first..." interrupted Miss Pony, entering the living room with an enormous plate of soup in her hands.

"Thank you, Miss Pony, but I have to know...Is my mother alive?" she asked again, without turning her eyes away from the three women.

"Yes, she is alive..." the older one began to speak. "But not for long..."

"What do you mean?"

Candy's look was serious, profound and determined. Sister Lane was looking at her astonished. It was as if in the few minutes that had passed Candy had suddenly grown ten years older. The expression of suffering she had seen in her little girl when she had arrived was no longer in her eyes. Instead, there was a shadow of absolute indifference in them, as if they were covered with a mantle of ice.

"Miss Candy..." said the blonde woman with the grey eyes who was sitting in the middle, "allow us to introduce ourselves again. My name is Caroline Walker. This is Mrs. Vivienne Abbott and this is Mrs. Ashley Lee. And yes...We have known your mother practically all our lives. As Vivienne said, she is still alive, but unfortunately...Your mother is very ill at the moment, and..." – She made a pause as her voice began to tremble. Then, taking a deep breath, she went on. – "And, according to the doctor, she doesn't have much time left to live."

Candy was listening to her attentively, without saying a word. Caroline, realizing that the girl with the green eyes had no intention of interrupting her, continued.

"Your mother's name is Emily Knight Adams, and she suffers from a strange lung disease. The doctors believe it might be cancer...And that's why they don't give her much hope..."

Candy's eyes moved slightly away from them when she heard those words but even so, she remained impassive and completely silent.

"Miss Candy..." said the woman who looked the youngest of the three, and the only one who had been silent until that moment, "...we know that hearing all this is not at all easy for you...We only ask that you give us a few minutes of your time so that we can tell you a little about your mother's life, and so you can understand why you ended up in this orphanage..."

Candy remained in the same position for a few minutes more. Then she left the plate with the soup which had already been cold and untouched on a small table in front of her. She let out a deep sigh and looked at them again steadily.

"I'm listening."


In front of his desk, inside his study in the Lakewood mansion, surrounded by papers, there was a handsome blond man with crystal clear blue eyes. The fingers of his left hand which were stained with black ink and his unkempt appearance showed that he was not at his best.

While his right hand was holding nervously a pen, in his left hand there was a white sheet of paper with some rather illegible lines written on it.

"Dear Miss Candice White Ardlay,

The reason for this letter is to apologize for my bad behavior in our last meeting..."

"No, that's too impersonal!" the nervous blond man cried enraged as he crumpled the piece of paper and threw it behind him.

Then, after breathing deeply several times, he took another white paper and started writing again...

"Dear Candy,

We had such an unusual meeting this morning, didn't we? I think it's the first time we face each other in that way...Candy, I wish with all my heart that you accept my apology. I had never intended to shout at you, although I have to admit that I have never seen that expression on your face..."

"Oh, no, this is no time for reproaches!"

Another crumpled piece of paper was thrown behind him. With a heavy sigh, Albert dropped on the back of the chair bringing his hands to his head. Then, straightening up quickly, he took up the pen again and began to write on a new white sheet of paper.

"Dear Candy,

I only wish you to forgive me for our meeting this morning and come back to the mansion...Candy, since you left I don't do anything but think about you...Please, Candy; I don't want things to be like that between us...

Candy...I miss you so much..."

At that moment, a young lady, elegantly dressed, crept into the study in order to surprise him but she was surprised herself when she realized that the handsome young man hadn't even noticed her presence.

"Willie, my love! Here you are...I have been looking for you all through the mansion...Are you still working? It's not good for your health to demand so much of yourself; you might fall ill. Besides, you have promised me that you would take a holiday..."

"Josephine!"

With a quick movement, Albert grabbed the piece of paper on which he had been writing, and as he vainly attempted to put it in one of the drawers of the desk, the letter fell to the floor.

"Did I surprise you, darling? If I did, my mission has been fulfilled," said Josephine while she came dangerously close to Albert with a seductive smile.

Standing in front of him, with the soft fingers of her right hand she began to caress the bearded chin of her fiancé, while with her left hand she pointed at the disheveled appearance of his shirt.

"What's the matter, William? Why do you look like that? Does anything disturb you that I don't know of?"

"Eh...No, no...It's about work, nothing else..."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes..."

"All right, if you say so...Today, while we were having our tea, Madam Elroy asked when you planned to go back to Chicago. She and my mother think that we'd better stay here to organize the engagement party..."

"Josephine...You know that is impossible for me...I have business to attend in Chicago, but you can stay if you want to..."

"Do you promise to come visit us every week?"

"I promise to visit you whenever it's possible for me..."

"All right, if it is so, yes...I accept. Oh, darling, how I wish these months would pass quickly so that I'll finally become your wife. I'm dying to be your wife..."

Josephine began to approach slowly her face to Albert's face while her fingers were playing with the buttons of his shirt.

A knock on the door forced them to separate.

"Excuse me, sir; Mr. Villers has telephoned. He says it's urgent," said a maid entering the study.

"Thank you, I'm coming."

And saying this, Albert came quickly out of the study, leaving behind an upset young woman.

Josephine dropped on the chair in front of Albert's desk, bringing her hands to her chest.

"I don't know if I'm going to stand it for much longer...William, you really drive me crazy...You are so handsome, young and a millionaire...You are perfect for me...Even like this, with that disheveled look of a young rebel..."

Looking all around the enormous study, she saw a white sheet of paper at her feet. She picked it up, thinking it was something unimportant, but her curiosity got the better of her when she managed to see to whom it was addressed. As she was reading those lines, her face hardened. She crumpled the paper with both hands pronouncing those words she had been trying to ignore for days:

"I knew it...Candice...I knew it..."

To be continue...


Hola! Mil disculpas por la tardanza! Espero que lo disfruten muchísimo y muchas gracias por leer y comentar.

Mil gracias Fay por la traducción. Abrazo enorme a todas!