My father had been a widow for eleven years now. His wife died from bone cancer. After his retirement, he passed his company to Jasmine and decided to travel around the world that’s why he didn’t hear the news about my family. That was also the reason why Jeremiah had a hard time locating him. The latter knew who my father was since his mother and my mother were the best of friends.
According to Jeremiah, the day I went missing was also the day that he was supposed to introduce me to my biological father. It was supposed to be his surprise for me.
Eventually, my mom and my dad became friends again. It was dad who paid all of our debts to Jeremiah even if the latter insisted that he didn’t have to. He brought us to his mansion that’s why we now live under the same roof along with Jasmine.
And just last month, my parents announced that they got back together. In fact, they will get married soon.
As for me, I went back to my first love and my first passion: writing. At first, it had served as a distraction to help me cope up, to help me move on from Alexandros. But then my first work got approved. It got published and the readers seemed to like it since I had several book signings after that. And then I found myself writing another story and another until I became who I was now.
‘I was happy to find out that you will achieve all of your dreams. Because that was also my dream and my wish for you. There will be hardships along the way but you could handle them. You will pass them all with flying colors. You are going to be so happy, one day. Your tears, your hard work will be worth it.’
Alexandros’ predictions came true, after all. My dreams did come true. My family became complete once again. I started doing things for myself again. And there were more people surrounding Demi, guiding, protecting, and loving her. She could control her strength and her magic properly now. She was actually doing very well.
After I came back from our world, Demi had been sleeping a lot lately.
Because sleeping had become Demi’s way to see her father. Before I left Arameth, Alexandros handed me something. It was a necklace with a dragon pendant. He said he found that necklace in his bed a few days after they were trapped in the book. It was the ancestors’ gift for him.
Alexandros had researched about the necklace and he found out that the necklace could be used to travel back to the past that’s why he decided to give it to our daughter. He said that Demi could come and see him through the necklace.
‘That is… if she wanted to come and meet me,’ I remember him saying softly.
Every time our little girl would hold the pendant, she would fall asleep. She would wake up inside a dream where she could see Alexandros. And then our daughter would wake up the next day feeling so energetic for being able to meet her father. My stories about him had come to life after she met him in person.
I would have wanted to accompany our daughter there, but the magical pendant would only work for one person at a time.
’Ma? I just wanted to say thank you,’ Demi told me just the other day. It happened after she woke up. Her hair was still messy and her eyes were still droopy when she searched for me and gave me a tight embrace.
I know that even if she was not saying it, she felt sad about her father but that sadness eases away whenever she would tell me about the adventures she had with Alexandros. He may have no idea who our daughter was, but they make each other happy. And Demi said that it was more than enough for her. All she wanted was to meet him, be with him, and to get to know him better.
My brows furrowed. ‘What for?’
‘For being so brave. You had been so strong all these years, Ma. You made it easy for me to become strong, too. Even when you were gone, I was worried but I was not afraid. Because I knew how much you love us. I thought that maybe you just got tired and decided to rest somewhere else but you would eventually come back. I want you to know that if I could become at least half of the woman that you are someday, I will be really proud of myself. I love you and Daddy so much.’
Demi had a way with words just like her father. That’s why there were times when I would be reminded of Alexandros whenever she would tell me that she loved me. It felt as if her father was the one saying those words to me.
I could no longer see Alexandros but I could still feel his love and I would feel it for the rest of my life through Demi, our smart and loving daughter.
“The past had been hard on you. But you made it, Alison Flora Cabrera. I’m proud of you. The future is still uncertain. But whatever it holds, I know you can handle it, too,” I whispered to my reflection in the mirror. I never thought that I would be able to say those words again to myself.
I took a deep breath. I combed my hair, put a powder and a lipstick on, before I straightened my dress and then I stepped out of my room. I was in the living room when I heard the sound of my parents’ laughter.
I caught the couple in the kitchen and was busy baking together while teasing each other. My parents were happy again. Finally. Everything was almost perfect in my life now.
My family had only two wishes left. First, was for Greta to recover one day… and second, for me to be able to find my true match. They would remind me of that almost every day that my ears were beginning to hurt.