Chapter 52

“Zachary isn‘t someone she can handle. Try and get her to move on. You don‘t see other young women hanging around Zachary other than his family. He‘s a heartless man. Why can‘t Elisa listen to reason?”

Clive threw in the towel on his sister.

“I‘m too busy to deal with her now. Honey, I‘ll leave Elisa in your hands.”

“Carry on with your work. I‘ll pick Elisa up now and take her to go shopping with Mom. Mom‘s been feeling down lately.”

Clive‘s wife, Alice, had a great relationship with her mother–in–law. Seeing that her mother–in–law was feeling blue, Alice persuaded her to go out and get some sunshine. A bit of retail therapy might do her good.

Clive fell silent.

He knew the reason behind his mother‘s melancholy. There had not been any news about his aunt. It was the one thing Mom could never stop talking about.

Clive‘s mother, Audrey, grew up in an orphanage. Her parents passed away when Audrey was young, survived by Audrey and her sister who was four years younger. The sisters were then sent to the orphanage. Later, a wealthy

couple came to the orphanage with the interest to adopt a child.

The couple took to Audrey‘s younger sister. At the time, Audrey was eight years old while her sister was merely four. Although reluctant to part with her sister, Audrey knew she was in better hands with the couple. Hence, Audrey agreed to let the couple adopt her sister.

The sisters took a picture as a memento before the fateful separation. It had been decades since they saw each other again.

As she came of age, Audrey left the orphanage and put her wits and skills to the test, working her way up the corporate ladder. She earned the boss’ trust and confidence in return. Plus, she caught the eye of the boss‘ eldest son. Finally, she married into a wealthy family and became Mrs. Stone.

Now that she had the means, Audrey never gave up on looking for her sister but heard nothing back despite her decades of effort.

Not too long ago, Clive came across some news about his aunt. Audrey was overjoyed as they had located the wealthy couple who adopted the girl. Clive and his dad went along with Audrey to visit the wealthy couple and found out that the couple had their own child a year into the adoption.

Since then, the couple stopped being nice to Audrey‘s

sister and told their maid to take Audrey’s sister away to give her to someone else as they only wanted to leave the family inheritance to their flesh and blood. Decades passed, and the maid was long gone. The maid‘s family had no idea about the whole thing, much less to whom Audrey‘s sister was given.

The recent update of the search had been hanging over Audrey.

Now, the only way to locate Clive‘s aunt was through the yellowing photograph that Mom had kept until now. Clive had put a digital copy of it on the web, hoping it might lead them to his aunt or his aunt‘s children.

“Honey, tell Mom that we‘ll find her sister so long as she‘s still alive. Even if her sister isn‘t around anymore, we will locate her children. Mom needs to relax. We still need her to identify her sister when she‘s found.”

Clive loved his mother tremendously.

He hoped his mother could pick herself back up again. Alice replied, “I will. Get back to your work. I‘ll pick Elisa up. Clive, if Elisa won‘t listen , why don‘t we just let her try? Zachary might be indifferent, but he‘s a decent man who Elisa could give herself to.”

Truth be told, all the York boys could be trusted to carry out the marriage vows.

Deep down, Alice supported Elisa. Alice believed Elisa was

a good fit for Zachary and for her to take the plunge to confess to him.

Both families were in the same class. Although the families did not get along because of the competition in business, they would still practice social formalities whenever they crossed paths.

Should Elisa take down Zachary and marry into the York family, it would ease the discord between both families.