Legacy of a Forbidden Love

Twelve Years AgoTomorrow is the first day of school. There's a celebration at our orphanage where the schoolchildren are congratulated on the start of the school year and given gifts. I pick at a ragged crease in my dress and crane my neck to look at the guests who have arrived for the celebration.We're standing on the stage of the assembly hall, which is decorated with balloons. We are first-graders, and I am also starting first grade tomorrow. Now, I am waiting for my turn, feeling nervous. I'm even more nervous because Tim Frost is here for the celebration.The headmistress, Mary Stevenson, congratulates the future first-graders on starting school. Tim Frost is sitting in the front row. He brought gifts: clothes, backpacks, and a variety of other school supplies. I saw them unload boxes of pencil cases, pencils, notebooks, and pens from the minibus. I'd like to think he bought everything for me personally, though. I received a beautiful pink backpack with Belle from Beauty and th

Eight Years AgoI keep a diary in which I write to Tim every day to tell him that I love him. First, I recount my day, and then I add a note so he knows.They're really letters, but I can't send them to him. So, I write them all in a notebook. When I turn eighteen and leave the orphanage, I can give them all to him at once.I hide the notebook in a crack between the cabinets and use a plastic ruler to retrieve it. I just got it out, but before I can hide it, Leya comes into the room. She's a normal girl and her butt isn't fat anymore; she's lost weight since we were ten.Leya doesn't know about the diary though, so I shove it under the mattress by the headboard and cover it with a pillow. Lucky, my talisman, sits next to my pillow. I know I can trust him.Today is my birthday. It's not the usual birthday celebration where there's a party once a month for everyone born that month. Specifically, it's my birthday, the one listed on my birth certificate. Today, I turned ten.Not everyone

Six Years AgoI'm sitting in a wheelchair on the pier, feeding seagulls. I've been using a wheelchair for two years now after being hit by a car. I've also been in a sanatorium by the sea for six months.There are all sorts of treatments and dirty places here. The doctors say the prognosis is good, and that I'll be able to walk again if I exercise my legs. I believe them, so I'm not worried. I also know that I was brought here at Tim's insistence. He paid for my treatment and rehabilitation. I don't know how to express how grateful I am to him.First, Stevenson was almost jailed, then she was suspended from her post for a while. Everyone assumed that I ran away because I found out about my parents. But I ran away because I learned that Tim wanted to take me from the orphanage, and they wouldn't let him. It turned out, though, that the orphanage hadn't had a psychologist for a long time, and the headmistress had been writing letters to various authorities. You can't tell a child about

Two Years Ago"Girl! My poor girl!"The woman sitting across from me has a shrill, hysterical voice. I stare at the stranger in surprise.This is my aunt. My mother's second cousin. I don't remember her, but judging by her convulsive sobs and wails, she remembers me quite well. Otherwise, why be so upset?"Why are you acting like you're not my biological child, Ava?" Anna Stevenson nudges me toward the visitor. Judging by her pursed lips, however, she doesn't like my newfound relative much."Where have you been for ten years?" I ask, looking straight at Olivia.She looks like a Hollywood star, and her eyebrows arch at my question."Ava, my dear, I've already explained everything!" Ah, yes, three failed marriages—how could they possibly squeeze in a six-year-old child? And a stranger at that.No matter how much she bats her eyelashes and tries to pretend she's a kindred spirit, I'm a stranger to her. I'm not even trying.Olivia came to tell me that she's planning to become my guardian.

Frost's office is located in the heart of the city—and that's not just a metaphor. It's the name of the business center where Frost has purchased nearly half of the floors. Now, the only thing left to figure out is how to find Tim himself.I push through the beautiful glass door and enter the building. It has a beautiful, formal lobby with a reception desk. The receptionist kindly shows me which floors Industrial Engineering occupies, and I head to the elevator.The real quest begins. Wherever I go, I'm shunned like a puppy."I'm here to see Tim Frost," I tell the two huge, muscular security guards at the entrance."Do you have an appointment?" the men ask."No.""Miss, please vacate the premises.""I'm Ava Gordon. I'm from the orphanage," I explain. They look at me and laugh."Are all the little girls at your orphanage like that?"I blush and pull the hood of my thin hoodie up over my head. One of the big guys takes out his phone."Helen, a girl, is trying to get through to the boss.