Jessica was out of her senses when she started blabbering about Mam Camila, saying what she didn't know and trying to tarnish the woman's image. However, she didn't do that while the woman was around. Infact she behaved as if she was happy to meet her step grandmother but as soon as the woman left and I returned to the ward, what I met really disappointed me. And that led to a very serious argument between her and I.
Eventually, one of the doctors came and settled us. She was concerned about Aunt Vicky's health as that may delay her full recovery, or even land her into another coma. As soon as we were settled, they told one of us to leave. In normal circumstances I was the one that supposed to leave I wasn't closer to her than Jessica, but then she told me to stay and that Jessica should go home and rest. Anyways, I think that was a good idea.
After all, Jessica had been with her since the day prior. Exhaustion must have been taking its toll on her, making her not to reason like a sensible person. But perhaps if she go home, have some shower and some rest now, she would gain back her mental sense. Or so I thought. She left angrily, I just hope she returns soon. Although I believed even if she would return, it might not be soon. She might even decide to wait unti the next day. Who knows? I thought to myself and heaved a sigh.
Hence, Aunt Vicky and I had a broad discussion further about Mam Camila before she napped. She told me she never knew she would meet her stepmom again but all thanks to me without whom she might not have known Mam Camila was still alive or even in the States. She was really happy. And again, she talked about my mother. She said my mother would have been more than happy to see her again, but sadly she was no more.
I was touched again by the mentioning of my mom, but then I tried to control myself because I wasn't growing any younger. And it wasn't as if I could bring her and my dad by shedding tears every now and then, whenever people mention their names to me or talk about them. I had to be strong, for my mental health. Yes, for my own good. I really had to.
I got to learn more about Mam Camila from her, that the woman had complications. And that she was unable to conceive for my grandfather before she left. But perhaps if she had stayed long, she would have given birth for him in the long run. But the pain my grandmother subjected her to was unbearable. She tried as much as she could to bear it but eventually decided to stand up for herself, not to fight but to boldly runaway. Sadly for her, non of re relatives cared about her wellbeing. They told her to go back to her matrimonial home.
However, she couldn't. She knew going back would only subject her to more pain as my grandfather was angry that she left in the first place. Hence, she decided to leave the town for good. And since then we had not seen her, but we used to hear about her from people. They said she lived in a nearby town with a group of single women who lived in trenches under the bridge. Those women were mostly jobless, they were working as prostitutes.
People said wondered if she had joined them to become a prostitute too or if she was under the care of someone she knew there. Nevertheless, everyone had their own belief. My grandmother and grandfather however concluded she had become a prostitute and that bringing her back to her matrimonial house was a taboo, for that reason there would no longer be string attached to her and grandfather and that their union had ended.
My grandmother was so happy about it, that was exactly what she wanted. And one unimaginable thing was that she didn't just stop at being happy, she went around telling people bad things about Mam Camila so that they could hate her mother then they already did. It was one of the saddest things I had ever heard in my life, I never knew I had such a wicked grandmother. I didn't even know when I opened my mouth and told Aunt Vicky I wasn't happy with what grandmother did to Mam Camila even though it had happened a very long time before.
But I really wasn't happy at all. My words made her to smile, she placed her hand on my cheeks and told me everything happened for a reason, and that grandma being bad to Mam Camila must have been the reason why Mam Camila was still alive because during the riot that broke up meaning adults were killed, and if she had been around she would have been killed too.
However, where she was didn't get the hit as they did. And as soon as they heard what was going on, most of them ran to the States. And here she was. Hence, every disappointment from God is a blessing. But sometimes, we tend to lose our minds that we forget God's plan is the best. All we want is to be happy, but we can't always be happy. We have to face reality.
She was actually right, but I couldn't still stop feeling bad about what grandmother did. Thus, she told me Jessica must have gotten grandmother's attitude. She used to wonder about it often but didn't used to take it seriously since, after all Grandmother was a nice woman until after Grandfather married Mam Camila. That means she had her reasons for turning herself into a monster, but how about Jessica? Why was she being a monster on her own part?
Was it because she grew up not knowing her father in real life or because she never had a sibling to play with? But if it was about having a sibling, why was she harsh to me when infact I was her cousin and we could be as close as siblings could be? Perhaps she had another reason for being who she was, perhaps she was just born to be the selfish and stubborn girl she was. Hopefully, though, she would change in the future. But right now, there was nothing good about her to write home about. The only thing she knew was how to cause people, and how to argue unnecessarily despite knowing the truth about something.
As Aunt Vicky continued to sleep, I kept on going through my phone. Shirley was only, hence I chatted with her about Suzanna. I told her about the message Suzanna sent me and she said I should just stay away from Suzanna, that she was even the one that calm her down otherwise she wanted to hurt me beyond words.
Her words made me pause for a moment, hurt me beyond words... like seriously? Well, it was all my fault that I agreed to be looked down upon by someone like her. However, the day she would hurt me... I would make sure I revenge. The law frowned against jungle justice or taking laws into one's hands but that's exactly what I would do.
Why would she even say that? Why hurt someone beyond words as if what I did was wrong? Wasn't she the one that first looked for my trouble? Anyways, I brought it upon myself. I was too calm hence Jessica and her friends, with the exception of Shirley and Fred, looked me in disdain thinking I was below them or I was too weak.
Shirley, sensing how angry I was decided to calm me down too. She implored me to stay away from Suzanna and to never say a word to the girl again to avoid ending up in an unfavorable situation with her. I paid heed to her advice and remained calm as advised, however I wasn't happy at all.
In the evening Aunt Vicky woke up and asked if I had eaten anything. I shook my head and told her I haven't. Thus, she asked if Jessica would be coming with something. However since I wasn't sure about it, I told her I didn't really know. But surprisingly, just as she asked me to call her Jessica walked into the ward with a food flasks and some items in a basket.
"Hey, mom" she said and gently walked over to her mother, pecked her on her forehead and then dropped the items close to her as she sat down on a chair by the bed. "I brought you some food, I hope you would like it"
I kept staring at her, same also Aunt Vicky. We were both surprised, we never knew after our previous argument she would be so keen to prepare dinner and even think about bringing some to her mom. Well, like I always used to say she was unpredictable. One minute she was a saint, another minute she was a devil. More like a chameleon with no permanent color.
"Thank you, Jessica" Aunt Vicky smiled and then turned to me. "Laura, you should go home now. Take your dinner and have some rest. I would be glad if I don't see you soon until tomorrow, you've done a lot for me and I really appreciate it" she said, and to be honest I wasn't happy. However I pretended as if I was okay by her words.
Actually, the reason why I wasn't happy was because I didn't expect her to tell me to remain at home until the next day. I mean, what if Mam Camila comes later and I wasn't able to see her? What if an argument erupts between her and Jessica and I wasn't there to calm both parties down or talk some senses into Jessica?
Well, it was obvious Jessica wouldn't try anything crazy anymore and talking about yarning to see Mam Camila again, I am pretty sure I can do that any time. I would just have to call Frank and he would send his driver to and take me to her at their mansion.
As easy as it is. He could also come by himself or send her to come and see me together with his driver. But wouldn't that sound disrespectful? Asking my step-grandmother to come and see me? I thought to myself and kept on thinking while on my way home.
It was getting dark already, and the street lights had began turning themselves on one after another. Actually, they were used solar technology. The technology makes them to store energy from the sun through their panels during the day, the energy would then be transformed into electricity and then be stored in a battery which would later be used during the night to power the bulbs that would light the streets.
As soon as the weather began turning dark, the panels would stop receiving energy from the sun and that would tell the main board that it was time for it to start distributing the energy it stored in its batteries during the day. And as soon as the weather becomes bright and starts receiving energy from the sunlight, the board would turned off the lights acknowledging thr fact that it was time to start re-charging itself.
Wondering how I knew all that? Well, it was because I was a curious girl and I loved knowing about things. Different kinds of things, even those that weren't related to my field of study. I really loved to explore and to learn more. I also loved history, learning about the things that happened in the past. Hopefully one day, I would be able to travel around the world and see places that hold dear in the minds of the people due to its historical value.
Frank and I once discussed about thr places we would like to go someday and I told him I would like to go to many places, of which Egypt was mandatory. I would like to go and see the pyramids. I had been hearing about them, wouldn't it be great if I see them with my two eyes in real life? Actually, that would be great and I couldn't just wait for that moment to come that I would be standing in front of one of them, and smiling broadly like I had seen my safe haven. Talking about safe haven, my safe haven would be Frank's apartment after getting married to him. There, I would raise our babies together and take good care of him.
But first, I would have to wait for his parents to come back first and decide whether I would be good for their son or not. If they find me worthy of becoming their daughter in-law, I would be more than glad. Only then would I start thinking about how to take good care of him and our future kids. By the way, I had never even talked to him about our future kids before. To me, it was kind of bizarre to do that. I would even be shy since, after all I wasn't used to such kinds of conversations in the first place.
But judging from their family background, I believed he wouldn't like to have many children. Just like he was the only child of his parents, perhaps he would only want to have one child with me. Although, people can be different. And just because his parents didn't give birth to many children doesn't mean he might not desire to give birth many. Although in this part of the world, people prefer to give birth to the children they can take care of. This means, if they can't take care of more than one child they would only give birth to one.
Albeit, some were rich. Just like the Wakters Family but still opted to give birth to only one child. Good for them though, at least they wouldn't have a hard time trying to control those children as some children could be very stubborn, to say the least. What happens if a family have three Jessicas? That would definitely be catastrophe upon catastrophe because there would be a glimpse of peace in that house. Three of her kind would be enough to terrorize an entire town, or so I thought.
And having more than one Paul would have made the Count lose his mind. But since it was only one, he didn't care about the behavior of his child. Anyways, the people of Cornfield obviously didn't care about it. Or maybe they viewed it as something minor, hence decided to just remain silent about it. But I am sure, the day he would recklessly drive into the street and kill someone's child with his car, that day the whole police department won't be able to quench the riot that would insuit.
