I was sitting in the living room reading my newspaper 📰 when my butler approached me followed by a girl as he stood behind me. I was frozen in my place with my mind blank as I kept looking at the girl, she greeted me but I couldn't utter a word and kept staring at her yonderly, until my butler signaled me did I reply back and asked her to take a seat. Then I started a conversation by asking her questions like her name, grade and life goals but my mind was full of thoughts 💭 as I kept looking at her.
Why you ask, this young girl in front of me was a carbon copy of my beloved wife, Olivia Valor, it was as if Olivia turned young and came to visit me as in our young days. From her stature to her eyes, hair, personality and the way of her speaking, one could say she is the daughter of Olivia and me. And yes I wondered if she was really my daughter but it isn't possible as our child had died before it could even see the world 🌎. Then did Olivia reincarnate and come as Yves, as in those reincarnation stories which Olivia read when she was young. Millions of thoughts were running in my mind as there was always a lacuna in my heart from that day, when I lost Olivia. Thus, I couldn't stop thinking as we kept talking about various things.
Then we went to have lunch as we were eating I asked about her parents and when she told me, she didn't have any memories of them, how she couldn't even see them, as they passed away while she was still an infant. I felt sad for the young girl, then when she said her mother's name was Emilia Smith, I was taken aback and wondered if she was the same Emilia which I knew, Olivia's sister.
I was lost in my thoughts again, when she suddenly extended a gold pendant with a photo in it. She said it was her parents photo. I looked at the photo📸, I was surprised seeing the gold pendant, it was the same one Olivia and Emilia had. The pendant had a rose carved on one side of it, while a sword on the other side. It was a representation of Burton Duchy's Master and Madam, olivia and Emilia's parents. The rose symbolised The Madam and the sword symbolised The Master.
The pendant was made in honour of their twin daughters birth. My guess was correct, the young lady in the photo is Emilia Burton, I could never mistake her for someone else as the birthmark on her cheek was a clear evidence. Both young ladies of the Burton house were famous for their beauty and looking for an exact copy of each other, that people would often confuse them with each other,except that Emilia had a red birthmark on her left side of the face below her left eye.
Hahh! So, Yves is the daughter of Emilia Burton the only younger sister of Olivia Burton, as she was born a minute later to Olivia's birth. Burton is her maiden name, which means she is my niece but I didn't want to surprise Yves yet as she is still but a young girl. So I returned the photo to her, after looking at it for a good one minute, with a smile telling her, she looked exactly like her mother. I felt happy finding out that, Yves is my niece thinking Olivia would have been excited to meet her one and only younger sister's daughter and also her one and only niece.
After lunch I suggested we take a tour of the garden, the library📚 and the piano 🎹 room, these were the places Olivia liked and spent almost all her time in there, if she did not have any prior engagements.
As we spent time touring the villa, it was time for dinner. We had light conversations while having our meals and soon it was time for Yves to leave. She bid goodbye but what she told next made my heart swell in happiness with a little sadness as it brought back the old good memories.
Yves said the same thing, Olivia told me on the day of their ( Olivia and Emilia) debutante party. She said:'Mr Valor today I really felt like a noble lady of high society I'll never forget this day and once again it was pleasure meeting you' then she began making her way towards the main door 🚪. Hearing those words made me vulnerable.
Yves was about to exit when I called her name. She was turning around to look as I walked towards her and hugged 🫂 her as soon as she turned around while telling her "the valor estate is like a family to me, their happiness is my happiness, their pain is my pain and that she could come to him whenever she is lost" to which she replied 'I will for sure' and once again she bid goodbye 👋🏻 and walked out that was moment, I swore I will give her all the love 💕 and care that she couldn't get from her deceased parents and aunt. She will be my daughter, my whole world. I will give her the world. I stood there til her silhouette was no longer in view.
After she left, I went back to my room. For some reason, I had a hard time falling asleep, hence I went to Olivia's room. The room was kept as it was in her memory. Sometimes when I had a lot on my mind or missed her, I found myself at ease in here.
Rummaging through Olivia's stuff, I found an album of her childhood. There were photos of both sisters. Then I opened up the second album, it had photos of their adulthood. I stopped upon a photo while tears rolled down my cheeks. It was a photo taken at their debutante ball. In the photo, they both smiled so brightly at each other, as if they were each other's world. After finishing the album, I lied on the bed in her room thinking about past and soon fell asleep.