Thanks for coming with me," Evy said tying her scarf around her neck.
"It's no big deal," Ian muttered.
When they got home, they were told Britt was asking for them, so, they went upstairs to meet her.
"Evy..." Britt said weakly, she coughed, using a handkerchief to clean the blood she'd coughed out.
"Ian..." She called, and they went to sit at her bedside.
"Mom," Evy said.
"Ian..." Britt called again.
"Yes lady boss," Ian finally answered. She took his and Evy's hands, placing them together with great effort.
"I want you to promise me something," she said in a whisper.
"Always take care of Evy, make sure you're always by her side and she doesn't get hurt," She whispered coughing.
"Promise me this Ian," she said.
"I promise, i'll take good care of the young missus and protect her in your absence, you don't have to worry." Ian promised, smiling sadly.
"Thank you." She turned to Evy.
"Alva my dearest," she kissed her forehead.
"Remember your true identity, you're Alva Amana before you're Evy Katz. Get your revenge if you must, but promise me something," she whispered.
"You'll let Ian guide you, tell him your plans before executing them, and when things get tough, you must come back here and lead a happy life with or without your revenge, promise me."
"I... I promise you mom, I promise I won't let you down and I'll get my revenge then come back to lead a happy life," Evy answered, and Britt started coughing.
"Stop talking now, i'll go get the nurses to prepare for your therapy," Evy said and left to do what she said.
"Ian... Evy is a very stubborn girl, so I'm putting her in your care in the absence of Arvid. When things get tough and it seems like her revenge plan isn't going as planned and she's gonna get hurt from it, you have to inform Arvid, and if he isn't around, you must force her to come back, okay?"
"OK ma'am."
"Tell Evy that I love her so much and that I had loved her the moment I saw her in the woods that day, tell her she was the biggest blessing I ever recieved and i'm grateful to her for giving me the chance to be a mother to her and watch her grow into the beautiful woman she is today. Even though our time together was short, I loved her, I love her and will always love her, from the moment I saw her to my last breath." A tear dropped from Britt's eyes.
"I'll tell her ma'am," Ian cleaned the tears away from her eyes and she held his hand and kissed it.
"Ian, you were like the son I never had and I always loved you even if we never spent much time together. You must take care of your self and on no circumstances should you get hurt, you and Arvid are all Evy has now, don't ever leave her like me and her biological parents, okay?"
"Yes ma'am,"
"I love the both of you and will always be with you, take care of your self." Britt whispered, Ian nodded, he couldn't say a word or his emotions would be all over the place.
"Call Arvid on your way out,"
"Yes m.. m... mom," Ian whispered and Britt smiled.
"You can't go in," Ian said blocking Evy's path.
"Why," Evy asked, totally pissed.
"The boss is in there," Ian said.
"And so? He's my dad and he's in there with my sick mom, I need to go see her, so, out of my way," Evy retorted.
"This is the lady boss's order," Ian said calmly, and Evy sighed, she wasn't ready to argue with him, so she went to sit.
Few minutes later, they saw nurses running into the room in a hurry.
"What's going on?" Evy asked, Ian shrugged and Evy scoffed.
Arvid came out looking dejected, his and Evy's eyes locked and Evy stood up.
"Dad?" She called. Arvid slowly walked close to her and hugged her tightly.
"I'm sorry Ev's, I'm so sorry, please forgive me," he muttered.
"For what?" Evy laughed.
"You haven't done anything," she added.
"I... I wasn't able to save her, your mom... She's gone," Arvid whispered.
Evy froze.
"I'm so sorry," Arvid repeated, releasing her to look at her face. She had a blank expression.
"That's impossible, I had asked him, I... I... I asked him to save her and i'm sure he answered my prayers, you were there right? Ian," she said and Ian nodded looking at her with pity, she was behaving like she had lost her mind.
"I don't believe you dad, mom can't leave me, I prayed so much and he answered, Ian was there too," she walked past Arvid and headed to Britt's room.
She saw Britt in all her beauty, her eyes were closed but she could still remember those big brown eyes that stared down at her in the woods that day, that eyes that looked down on her and said "call me mom."
She looked like she was asleep but Evy knew better.
God had betrayed her, AGAIN.
..................
1st june 1997
10:00 am
"Oh no! If you don't want to talk about it, then it's fine," Britt said wiping tears off Alva's face.
Subconsciously, Alva touched her neck, when she didn't feel her necklace which had her father's ring in it, she panicked.
"Is there something wrong dear?" Britt asked, clearly concerned.
"The necklace... It's... It's... Gone," Alva managed to whisper.
"Oh! I'm sorry, I forgot to put it back," Britt said taking something from the cupboard at the side of the bed.
"Here it is, it was dirty, so I took it off and..."
"Give it back," Alva shouted and yanked the necklace off Britt's hand, and kissed it.
Realizing that she may have startled this kind and beautiful lady who saved her, she stopped.
"It was Papa's." She said, placing the necklace back where it belonged, she closed her eyes, pretending to be asleep.
It occurred to Britt that Alva had said 'was', does it mean her father was dead? Then what about her mother? Britt had so many questions and she needed answers, but she didn't want to scare Alva, so she was ready to wait till Alva was ready to tell her.
Someone knocked the door.
"Ma'am Britt, Master Arvid has just returned from his trip and has Inquired about you, he is on his way here," the house keeper announced.
"Thank you sarah," Britt said.
Few minutes later, another knock was heard.
The door opened revealing a man who looked to be in his late twenties or early thirties, he was probably 2 or 3 years older than Britt. He was tall, maybe 5'10, and he had a very fit physique, his eyes was blue and his wavy short hair was a dark shade of brown.
"Hey," he said, his name was Arvid and he was Britt's husband. His eyes roamed the room and landed on Alva, her jet black hair was something of attention, and her long bangs made it more beautiful.
"Hey," Britt stood up and gave Arvid a light kiss.
"Is she the girl you talked about over the phone?" He asked and Britt nodded.
"Her name is Alva," she said.
"And has she told you anything? Like what she was doing in the woods and who her parents are?" He asked.
"No, she seems frightened to talk about it, so i'll wait till she's ready."
Arvid sighed.
"I've missed you," he said hugging her.
"I've missed you too," Britt replied hugging him back.
They left the room and Alva opened her eyes.
In the night, Alva woke up feeling thirsty, she came down from the bed and made her way out of the room, going through the long hallway, then she heard voices coming from a room. It sounded like that woman was having an argument with that man from earlier today, she decided to go on her way.
"Adopt her?" She heard the rage in the man's voice and she stopped, deciding to listen in on them, she had a feeling they were talking about her.
"Yes Arvid, let's adopt her, she's an adorable little thing and maybe this is the lord's way of giving us our own child," the woman said.
So they didn't have children, Alva thought.
"That's not gonna happen, we don't know where she's from and what if her parents come back for her, moreover, she could be a spy or an imposter sent by our enemies. We are sending her back to wherever you found her first thing in the morning, and that's not arguable." The man said.
It frightened Alva, they were going to send back to the woods where she would be devoured by wild animals. She had to leave this place before morning, forgetting about the water she came to take, she turned to go back to her room but her hand mistakenly brushed past a glass vase, it fell on the ground, making a loud shattering sound.