Esther Coleman Orphan Novels & Stories

“It’s an honor to meet you, General Meyers… Mrs. Meyers.” Leonora’s gaze softened. “It’s our honor, dear.” They both glanced down at the child in her arms. “This is Cole, my nephew,” Emily said, her voice trembling. “His parents were… they didn’t make it.” Her brother and sister-in-law’s bodies had just been recovered from Congo. Her parents were arranging their burial back home. Samuel gently added, “He’s now an orphan. We’ve adopted him.” Leonora took the baby from Emily’s arms and kissed his forehead. “Hello, Cole,” she said softly. “You are now our grandson.”

How did Jason not even twitch? As we passed the ‘Lancaster: 5 miles’ sign, Jason commented, “So Esther wants to see you sooner rather than later. She was worried about you. Y’know. For Esther.” I grunted at that. Esther began her human life somewhere in Eastern Europe and sometime in the sixteenth century — and it showed. She was a strong proponent of the sink or swim school of management. “She’ll have to wait until Laurie sees a doctor and gets settled in at home.”

“Wanna walk together?” “Like you have to ask.” Esther lived down the road for my entire childhood and is someone who has always been kind to me. She was cute, with her freckled cheeks always hiked in a smile, her auburn hair curling around her triple-pierced ears, and a cherry mouth painted with bright red. We had the same eye color. “So, you excited for tonight?” she asks with a skip to her step.

On its large tombstone was inscribed the name COOPER HAILWOOD, with the year of death two years ago. Caspian had told Elora everything earlier, in the infirmary, about his childhood with Cooper and Zed, and what Cooper meant to him. Elora couldn’t imagine what it was like to lose a family because she didn’t have one. Even at the orphanage, Elora was never close to other children. Elora always felt that the residents of the orphanage saw her differently. It was as if Elora wasn’t human. It turns out that Elora is not an ordinary human. The irony made her smile sadly.

It would keep her mind moving forward instead of backward. Esther hesitated. No one had ever asked her that question with genuine interest before. “Well…” she began awkwardly. “My name is Esther Jonas. The first daughter of Cyril and Priscilla Jonas.” She rubbed her hands together slightly. “I’m twenty-three years old and…” Her voice trailed off. A small, embarrassed smile appeared. “I’ve never had a boyfriend.” Julian’s eyebrow lifted slightly, but he didn’t comment. “What else?” he asked gently. Esther shrugged. “I only finished secondary school. There wasn’t money for further education, so we all worked on my father’s farm.”