There was, once, a young girl named Mary. Mary lived with her old mother in a very minor place. Her father was a soldier in the American Army and he had been killed during war. Anyways, Mary still had a lot of support from another soldier named Bernard. He was a very responsible person in Mary’s father’s eyes. Bernard was given the duty, by Mary’s father, that if he was ever attacked, it would be Bernard’s duty to look after his family. Bernard was managing the family very well.

After sometime, Mary fell in love with Bernard. And they got married, at last. They managed their family the same way like they already had. After, a couple of years, Mary was expecting their first child. There was a happy atmosphere everywhere. But, unfortunately, Bernard had to go to war. It was a very tough decision for him to leave Mary in this situation. “It’s okay,” said Mary, with a wide smile “We will be fine. You can go for war and it will be over even before you know it.”

Bernard smiled back at her and the next morning, he was sent to war. After some months, it was time for the baby to be born. Mary and her mother were so poor that they didn’t have money to pay for a ride to the hospital. So both of them just walked to the hospital. But, on their way to the hospital, the baby was already born on the side of the road. Everyone on the road were in a fright. “Call an ambulance!” a man was heard screaming. “We have an emergency here!” yelled another. After a while, the baby was presumed dead, “That cannot be likely!” screamed Mary, with tears rolling down her cheeks “Please check her again. Do something. My daughter cannot be dead.”

The baby wasn’t moving at all and that confirmed it dead. A white cloth was put on top of the baby and Mary was taken to the hospital. A policewoman was guarding the baby. All the people on the street were feeling very bad for the baby who was accepted, dead. “God has his own ways.” An old lady muttered to herself. “Yes,” continued another “He does everything for a cause. I feel bad for the mother. I wonder how she must be dealing with this whole situation.”

There was a young writer, walking to the near-by bookstall. Her name was Elizabeth. Elizabeth was curious to know what was happening and why there was so much of a rush. She went closer to the crowd and saw the white cloth over the baby. She kept staring at it very closely when she saw that the cloth of beginning to shift. She took the cloth off the baby and to her horror, she notices that the baby actually has pulse and is breathing. Without wasting another minute, Elizabeth hailed a taxicab and rushed the baby to a near-by clinic where the baby was taken care of and was put on a ventilator. And it all showed good results, because the baby had received a lot of strength.

“It’s good you brought the child here on time.” Said the doctor “If you were a little bit delayed, she would have lost her life. You cannot be the mother for sure, who is it then?”

“I don’t know.” Replied Elizabeth “This baby was presumed dead. It was me who saw her alive and rushed her here. I don’t know her parent’s whereabouts. Though, I will have to do that quickly.”

“That’s right.” Said the doctor.

Elizabeth did everything she could to locate the real mother, that is Mary. But when she actually found out about her, they told Elizabeth that Mary was no more. Mary had died on the way to the hospital. She couldn’t handle the trauma of her daughter being dead. Now, Elizabeth was left with a very tough choice of either giving the baby for adoption or to adopt the child as her own. She knew that if she adopted the baby, then the society will scorn her. That she would be frowned upon by her family. But, she was adamant to want to make a difference to the child’s life.

She took it as a decision of God and she decided to adopt the baby. “I am going to name you, Jessica.”

Elizabeth had to face a lot of criticism but it didn’t bother her a bit. Jessica and herself lived in a happy place. Both of them were each one’s support. Elizabeth was just like a mother to Jessica. She didn’t give Jessica a chance to feel the loss of a mother. Elizabeth had a lot of problems balancing her career as well as Jessica. She was all alone and on top of that she had a baby to manage. She had to make sure that Jessica was safe when she was out. It was very dangerous.

During the first few days, everything felt hard for Elizabeth. But as days passed, as days turned into weeks and weeks into months and months into years, everything felt better. Only a woman would be able to handle this. This shows us what a woman’s heart is made of and how it is made.

Jessica, anyways, grew up to be a wonderful young girl. She was very pretty and kind hearted. She was a peaceful girl. She never knew the truth about her real parents. Jessica was always under the impression that her only parent was Elizabeth and her father was dead or something. Elizabeth never told her anything, either. Though, Elizabeth thought she should tell the truth to her. “Good morning, Mom.” Said Jessica as she woke up in the morning.

“Good morning!” exclaimed Elizabeth. “Have you done your latest assignments?”

“Certainly.” Said Jessica.

Both of them got to having breakfast. While Jessica was eating her cereal, she suddenly got a jerk, “Oh no!” she bellowed “I have to write an essay on my first day at school. And whoever writes the best essay wins a lovely prize.”

‘So what is the problem?” asked Elizabeth.

“The thing is, I don’t know what to write. It’s just so difficult to recollect things.”

“Nothing is difficult to do if you keep on trying.” Explained Elizabeth “Just try to remember, how you felt on that day; how you spent your day; the number of friends that you made and so on. Trust me, you will recall everything.”

“I hope so.” Said Jessica and she left for school. On her way to school, as she was trying to remember what had happened on that day, she recalled children being dropped with both their parents. She recalled the love they got from both their parents and this got her very keen to know where her father was at that time. She knew that there surely wasn’t anyone except Elizabeth who dropped her to school on that day. This made her feel very sad and even more keen to know more.

“I have to ask Mom about this.” she said to herself “I have all the rights to know about my father.”

During the day, Elizabeth was thinking for the next topic that she would write on, that too, online. She kept thinking and thinking but had no clue what to write about. She spent the day thinking of something interesting. And that was the time when Jessica normally came from school. Elizabeth didn’t know that there were some hard interrogations coming up for her shortly. For her, Jessica was like her real daughter and the past had been rubbed off her mind.

Her family had disapproved of Jessica and refused to support Elizabeth if she needed anything related to Jessica. After a few minutes, the doorbell rang. When Elizabeth opened the door, she saw a bubbly, Jessica there as usual. “How was your day?” she asked Jessica “Did you submit your assignment?”

“I did.” Replied Jessica. “And I also recalled something. I wanted to ask you something.”

“Go on.” Said Elizabeth.

“On my first day at school,” started Jessica “Everyone was present there with both their parents. How come it was just you with me? Where was Dad?”

Elizabeth didn’t know what to answer. Her brain was frozen at that point of time. And somewhere deep within her, she knew that it was time to tell Jessica everything she had to know. “Mom?” asked Jessica again.

“Jessica,” Elizabeth didn’t want to do this at all “I am really sorry. There is something I have to confess to you in order for you to get your answer.” Jessica seemed a bit confused. “I am not your real mother.” Professed Elizabeth with great courage “I am just like a guardian to you.”

This was shocking news for Jessica. It made her freeze where she was sitting, “What do you mean?” she asked. Elizabeth had tears filled in her eyes. She loved Jessica so very much that she didn’t want to give her up for any reason. She always wanted to keep this a secret.

“When you were born,” continued Elizabeth “at that time, you were presumed dead. Your real mother was in a massive shock and that caused her to pass away. I guess, God sent me that day and it was me who saw that you were still alive. There was no way that I was going to leave you there that night, so I rushed you to the hospital. You would have been dead if I had delayed it a second longer. I had a choice of giving you up for adoption, but, I just asked myself some questions that day.”

Jessica just sat still there and waited for Elizabeth to talk again. She wanted to know everything today. “I asked myself,” started Elizabeth “Why was it me who noticed you that day covered with a white cloth? Why was it me who actually saw you come to life? Why was it me who chose to adopt you? And when I got the answer, it was clear that it was God’s sign of telling me that I have to be the one looking after you. Jessica, nobody approved of you. I lost everyone. But, I never gave up. Because you would always be there for me. I’m sorry. I know I should’ve told you this earlier.”

“Yes, you should’ve.” Nodded Jessica “So basically, I’m an orphan, right?”

“No.” said Elizabeth “I am there for you. You still have your mother with you, right?”

“Right.” Said Jessica “I am so thankful to you, Mom. I mean, if you weren’t there then I probably must be lying in some adoption center right now. But, I want to know where my father is.”

“I don’t know whether that will be possible.” Said Elizabeth.

“Everything is possible if you try.” Jessica reminded Elizabeth the words she had said.

The whole day passed very gloomy. It wasn’t the same as every day. Jessica sat in a corner writing her essay and Elizabeth was on her laptop. She finally wrote the story about how she found Jessica and where. Elizabeth would have to give Jessica now to her real father. And she thought that if she wrote this story online then someone would be able to give her a clue on the father’s whereabouts.

A couple of days later, Elizabeth got a call. “Elizabeth Gorge speaking.”

“Hello, I’m studying to become a lawyer and my name is Brian.” Said the boy. “I just read your story online and I think I have good news for you.”

“That’s great!” shouted Elizabeth.

“I am the son of the cop that was guarding the child.” Started Brian “My mother told me this same story and when I read your story, I linked both up and it all made sense. I know, you must be wanting to find the real father. I will help you to do that.”

“Oh thank you!” said Elizabeth happily.

The next morning, when Jessica was off to school, Brian helped Elizabeth to locate the mother’s address through hospital records and told her how she would be able to contact the father.

“Hello?” spoke Bernard. Elizabeth thought twice before telling him that she had his daughter. But, she couldn’t help it now.

“Is this Mr. Bernard?” asked Elizabeth. “Yes.” Replied Bernard.

“Mr. Bernard, I have some good news for you. I have your daughter.”

She carried on and told him everything that had happened. Bernard was so happy and thankful to her. He wanted to meet his daughter. So when, Jessica returned home, Elizabeth took her to meet her father. Bernard was so shocked to see his daughter turn into such a beautiful young girl. It was a very emotional thing. He asked Jessica whether she would come to stay with him and she surely did.

“You won’t forget me, will you?” asked Elizabeth, crying bitterly.

“No.” smiled Jessica “I will come to visit you every single day. You are my mother, right?”

And everything was settled. Jessica visited Elizabeth every day without fail. And Jessica got her parent’s support back and all lived happily ever after…