Once In A Lifetime

Chapter 36: Sacrifice

"The greatest sacrifice is when you sacrifice your own happiness for the sake of someone else."

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Pacita

"Arturo and I were both young when our mother became terribly ill. We didn't have money. My father was just one of the seasonal farmers in the hacienda and could barely support us.

"Arturo, who was just about ten at that time, knowing his biological father is Don Joaquin Santos, came to him begging for help. Unfortunately, he was driven away by one of the servants. When he insisted, the man got furious. He loosened the dogs, chasing Arturo. My brother went home hopeless that night. The following day, mother died cursing the entire family.

"Arturo was aware his father was not a ruthless man, coming from a poor family also, the Don would understand his flight that night. Even though, he was not an acknowledge son, he knew his father would not act that way. Then, we learned Donya Florencia was having a difficult pregnancy and almost had a miscarriage that night, the reason why his father didn't face him. So, Arturo forgave him.

"I was growing and I saw my brother suffered in the hands of my father. He was always drunk and would chastise Arturo even without cause. My brother could leave but he didn't. I want to believe, I was the only reason why he stayed and bore all those sufferings for years.

"Then, one night, father came drunk. He came pressing himself against me. Arturo pushed him away trying to protect me against his sexual assaults. Father was out of his mind, he didn't recognize us. I was pleading but he was evil that night.

"Suddenly, Arturo grabbed something and hit my father over and over again until he fell down on the ground unmoved and seemingly dead.

"The next thing I remember, we were so afraid, we just ran and ran, until there's no more place to run. We were in the hiding for few days with no food and slept on the street.

"Many days after, he persuaded me to go in the mansion with him. I thought, he would seek help from his father. But he left me there. He promised to come back but he never came back. I never heard from him again since then.

"Alone and confused, I did not know where to go. I was crying when he did not come back that night. Then, Don Joaquin saw me outside and he took pity on me when he learned I have nowhere to go. From then on, I lived with them in the mansion. I learned that Don Joaquin was kind and had a heart for the poor. He treated me as a family, gave me things like any growing kids need. But I never told anyone who I was, afraid that if they learn, they would drive me out from the mansion.

"Months later, Ellise and Eloisa were born. We grew up together as sisters. The girls and their brother, Carlo, loved me in a way I did not expect.

"Then the terrible accident happened, leaving only Donya Florencia and Carlo alive. I witnessed​ how Donya Florencia grieved when her husband and daughters died in the car accident. I felt the pain of being alone when she died years later and Carlo left the mansion, leaving me alone to manage the house.

"Few years later, he came back with his wife, Luisa, and made the mansion live again. She was the kindest person I came to know in my entire life. She treated me as a family. She gave me everything I never asked for. She even gave me my dream wedding when I met my husband and allowed us to live in the mansion, too.
Her kind heart is beyond compare, that even in death, I know, I could not repay her.

"Only, fate was not too kind to her. She lost her second child before it was even born. She was devastated, locked herself alone in their room, been depressed for months and we thought she would die as well. Luis, their first child, was very young then.

"Years later, she got pregnant supposedly with their third child, I was also pregnant with my second child then. She gave birth few hours ahead of me but the child died few hours later. Carlo was so worried, knowing if Luisa would learn about the child being dead, it certainly would cause her death as well.

"And so, he begged with me to swap the babies in exchange for the inheritance he would give me and my family with the promise that I, the real mother, would be the child's nanny and would stay in the mansion for as long as I live.

"At first, I did not accept Carlo's pleading. Yet, when I think of Luisa's depression and her possible death, being the kind-hearted woman who had been so willing to share all she has for me, I could not dare to let her suffer over the lost of her child again. So I agreed. Carlo swapped the babies. It was so hard, a decision that I have to live with, no matter what the consequences, for the rest of my life.

"Nobody knew about that arrangement except Carlo and I. The midwife left the mansion when both babies were still alive. My husband believed that our child died that day. And when he died himself years later, he didn't know that Linda is our child. Luisa died also without knowing that I am Linda's mother. Carlo died without revealing​ to anyone our deepest secrets. But even then, I am happy because Linda grew up under my care.

"I have all the chance to tell her the truth after the couple died. But I decided to keep the secret. I can't betray Luisa and her memories in Linda's heart. Also, I can't break my promise to Carlo, who loved me as a sister 'til the day he died.

"Then, Linda died without knowing that I am her real mother. But somehow I have the confidence, she felt a mother's love from me, as well.

"And I love you, Denise, the same way I love your mother in her lifetime, even so now, that she's gone."
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It's a heavy chapter...filled with revelations but I hope you enjoy reading it.😇😇😇 5.3.17