บท 79: Ch 79 - The Confession
"Mom," Debbie said, looking at her mother's face. Tears filled her eyes.
"Don't cry, Debbie." Carla smiled faintly. She wanted to wipe away Debbie's tears, but Debbie was holding her hand.
"Mom, don't move!" Debbie knew how weak her mother was. "How do you feel? Are you in pain?"
Her heart felt like it was being shredded when she thought about how much pain her mother was enduring.
Carla only shook her head slightly. "It doesn't hurt. It doesn't hurt at all."
"Alex, you will take good care of Debbie, won't you?" Carla asked as her gaze slowly turned to Alex. Right from the beginning, she had seen the deep affection he had for Debbie.
"Mom…" Debbie said, understanding the meaning of her mother's words.
"Yes, Mrs. Stonehill, I will take good care of Debbie," Alex said seriously as he looked into Carla's eyes.
"Good, good." Carla nodded her head in satisfaction. Her heartfelt a little lighter. Alex was like family, and he would look after her daughter.
"Debbie, there's something I need to tell you," Carla said, looking at her. Already, her vision was growing a little dim.
Debbie held her mother's hand tightly, her eyes filling with tears.
"I'm not your biological mother," Carla said softly as she looked into Debbie's eyes. This was a secret that she had kept close to her heart for twenty years.
Debbie was taken aback. "Mom?" she asked.
"I had planned to keep this secret for the rest of my life," Carla said, tears gathering in her eyes. "But I felt that I was lying to you, and you should know the truth."
"No… Mom…" Debbie mumbled in a daze.
Carla was the only mother she had ever known, and now she was saying that she wasn't Debbie's biological mother. How could she accept that?
Alex, who was standing to the side, was also surprised when he heard Carla's words. He looked at both women and realized that the two of them didn't resemble each other.
"Silly child, you're as kind as your mother. That isn't good…" When Carla looked at Debbie's sweet face, she saw Debbie's mother. Touched by the reminder, tears slid down her face.
"No, Mom, you are my mother," Debbie insisted, growing anxious.
"Sweet child, I'm not worthy to be your mother," Carla said gently. "Your mother is a dignified and elegant young lady, and I was just her young maid."
Debbie shook her head slowly.
"When my young mistress gave birth to you, her family placed her under house arrest, and she wasn't allowed to go out," Carla said. "To prevent her from escaping, her family forced both of us to inject a poison. We could only survive if we kept consuming the antidote they gave us. Now, the poison has flared up in me. The medicine only alleviates the illness for a while. This time, it's too late."
"Mom, don't say anymore," Debbie begged, but she had already begun to accept that Carla was not her mother.
"If I stop now, I'm afraid that I won't get the chance to say it later," Carla said gently. "My mistress wanted to keep you safe and raise you herself. But then I learned that your family was looking for an opportunity to kill you while you were still a baby."
Carla sighed. "I told my mistress straight away. She was thoroughly disappointed with her family, and had believed that if she stayed at home, she could wait for a chance to make a move against them. But when we heard of their plans, we took you, knocked out the guard, and ran out of the house."
Debbie was hanging onto every word.
"We were very careful," Carla continued. "But we were still discovered by the family. In the end, we were forced onto a cliff. They surrounded us, and my mistress wanted to go back with them, and then find an opportunity to escape later. But the leader of the search party wanted to kill my mistress. She realized that something was wrong, but it was already too late, and they had their guns pointed right at us."
"Oh!" Debbie couldn't help but exclaim softly. Alex's mouth also dropped open a little.
"The men were smiling, so sure of their victory," Carla said. "But then my mistress suddenly hugged me, and we climbed down the cliff a little. I was so scared that I closed my eyes! Then, through the whistling wind, I heard her saying, 'Carla, take the child.' I looked up, and saw my mistress giving me a beautiful smile, and then she turned around and threw herself off the cliff. By the time I realized her intention, it was too late… "
Carla started to cry. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, mistress…"
Debbie was dazed for a moment as if she had also watched that miserable scene play out.
Then Carla began to cough violently.
"Mom, put the oxygen mask back on," Debbie said, trying to put the mask on her.
"Let me finish," Carla insisted, turning her face away. She knew how sick she was. The mask wasn't going to make a difference.
"My poor young mistress," Carla sobbed. "And there you were still looking at me innocently, not understanding what had happened at all. I heard someone saying that they were coming down to search for us, so I didn't dare to stay there any longer. I carried you and left quickly."
A few days later, Carla had carried Debbie into a small town in the northeast and started a new life.
"Mom." Debbie kept trying to put Carla's oxygen mask back on, but Carla wouldn't let her.
"Debbie," she said. "Take off the jade pendant I'm wearing."
Debbie carefully removed the pendant from around Carla's neck. The green part of the pendant faded to crystal white, and there were a few strands of red mixed in at the end. It looked quite extraordinary.
Carla had been wearing it for as long as Debbie could remember. She had always wondered how a poor family like hers could have such a nice-looking pendant. She had asked Carla, but she had never received an answer.
"This pendant belonged to my mistress," Carla said, her voice growing weaker. "I think you should wear it. It belongs to you."
"Alex," Carla said, focusing on him with great effort.
"Yes," he answered seriously.
"All these years, Debbie has suffered just like me," Carla said, her voice growing feeble. "She's too kind, just like her mother, and I worry that she will be bullied. Since she's chosen you, I hope that you will treat her well and protect her from being hurt again." Her eyelids were growing heavier and heavier, and she had to fight hard to keep them from closing. She had to hear Alex's answer.
"Okay," he said, solemnly. "I promise that, as long as I'm around, I won't let Debbie get hurt. No matter how much I'm injured. You can depend on me."
"Thank you," Carla said. "I'm so relieved." A faint smile appeared on her face. She no longer had the strength to move, and her breathing slowed.
"Stop talking," Debbie said. "Please put on the oxygen mask." She was afraid Carla would waste even more energy trying to speak.
"I really miss my mistress…" Carla said softly as she slowly closed her eyes. "I really miss her…"
"You need to rest," Debbie said. She picked up the oxygen mask and pulled it toward Carla's face. But out of the corner of her eye, she saw Carla's hand slide down the bed. It lightly brushed Debbie and then stopped moving.
Debbie looked at Carla, who had her eyes closed, and felt a great sense of emptiness in her heart.
"Mom… mom?" she asked, her lip trembling. She desperately hoped that Carla would respond like she always did, even just with a soft hum, but Carla just lay there quietly, motionless, her face devoid of life.
"Mom?" she asked again, finally realizing what had happened, and a sorrowful wail escaped from her mouth.
She hugged Carla's body and pressed her head against her chest, crying sorrowfully.
The doctors from the nearby hospital finally arrived and were stopped at the door by Sam. They were no longer of any use.
Debbie's mind flashed through scenes of her life with her mother.
She didn't care about her biological mother. She only knew that Carla was the one who had known her and loved her the most. Carla was the woman she was the closest to and now she was gone forever, leaving Debbie an orphan with nothing but memories.
Five minutes passed
Then ten minutes.
Half an hour.
One hour.
Debbie continued to cry. Her mother's smiling face and voice were gone, and Debbie couldn't control herself.
Alex stood silently beside her. Listening to her heartbreaking sobs, his heartfelt torn in two, but he knew that no one could help her. She needed to grieve.
Debbie, please don't cry, he thought. You won't be lonely. Not with me here. No matter what the future holds, I'll stay with you forever.
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