292 Along memory lane (2)
Thirty years ago.
“Lucinda!”
Lucy turned at the call of her name and huffed when she saw her sister running towards her. The last thing she wanted was to associate with her family. She had been forced to be engaged to the last man she would ever agree to have any relationship with and she had endured it, until the man and his family found it fun to suggest they have their wedding within a week.
“What do you want, Lynn?” She snapped at the approaching Ava. [1]
Ava stopped when she got close enough to her. “You have to calm down, sister. You cannot make a scene on…”
“On my engagement? I don’t want to marry that dork. Have you considered that?” Lucy blew up. Ava carefully approached and took her hands. “I understand you. Can I tell you something that might make you hate me?”
Lucy frowned at her choice of words. Ava was her half sister but their relationship was closer than that of many siblings. Why would she ever assume there was something that could cause a rift between them? “What is it?”
“Well, the dork you just mentioned…Owen, I…”
“What?”
.....
“I like him.” She revealed.
Lucy’s eyes widened. “You like Owen? Forget about your horrible taste in men. Why didn’t you say a word? You let father arrange my marriage with a man you like?”
Ava played with her fingers. “I didn’t know him yet…but that doesn’t matter. I like him and I’m sure you don’t since you love that guy you met a few months ago.”
“What do you have in mind?” Lucy instantly understood her sister was planning something.
“If you somehow disappeared, father would try his best to appease the Sparks. Although he doesn’t care about my mother and me, I’m the only other daughter he has. He would have me marry Owen in your place.” She suggested. Seeing that Lucy was caving, she continued. “You have to go through with the engagement banquet first. If you leave right now, they will do their best to get a hold of you.”
“I have a better idea.” Lucy grabbed the skirt of her gown. It was way too regal and long for her liking. It was a good thing that Theodore didn’t like her in expensive clothes. She reached over to Ava and pulled the latter’s hair to one side. “You are very beautiful, sister. If Owen fell in love with you, he wouldn’t want me.”
Ava swallowed and forced a smile. Beautiful? That, she was. But her looks couldn’t hold a candle to Lucy, who had inherited her looks from her late grandmother, Lucinda, who was known to be the most beautiful woman in her time. Her mother definitely knew what she was doing when she named her after the woman whose looks had been talked about for ages. Ava had always been secretly jealous of her half sister’s looks.
“How do you make a man fall in love with another woman?” She asked, swallowing past a lump. She would have assumed Lucy was taking her for a ride if she didn’t know what kind of person she was—one who would try her best to do the impossible and only stop once she accomplished it.
Lucy responded by holding her hand and going back with her to her room. She knew everyone was waiting and the banquet hall was in chaos thanks to her sudden departure, so she hurriedly grabbed a gown as soon as she got to her room. Ava was wearing a golden gown but the one Lucy had chosen was aquamarine and had a lower cut at the chest.
“I think it would highlight the color of your eyes.” She suggested. Ava quickly changed into it—Lucy had a remarkable fashion sense—and followed her sister back to the banquet hall.
“There you are. I thought you had run away.” Owen remarked when he saw Lucy return.
“Forget that. Have you met my sister yet? Ava is smart and witty and do I need to mention how beautiful she is?” She introduced the two.
“No one told me you had a sister.” Owen looked intrigued. Soon after she shook hands with Ava, Lucy stepped closer to whisper to him. “They say marrying a woman who loves you is the best decision a man could ever make. My sister has always dreamed of you.”
Ava’s face flushed in embarrassment but she couldn’t deny it. As if magically, Owen asked her for a dance. When she met Nathaniel’s eye, she saw how furious the latter looked but that didn’t stop her from enjoying the dance.
…
The next time she met Lucy, the latter had been locked up in her room as punishment for the stunt she pulled at what was supposed to be her engagement banquet. Owen had preferred to be with Ava, who was head over heels for him, instead of Lucy who couldn’t wait to grill him with her witty question and overboard sarcasm. No one wanted women like Lucy. In his fury, Nathaniel had banished Ava from his house—not that she had much access in the past—and locked Lucy up.
“Sister, I came to help you escape.” She whispered as she woke Lucy.
Opening her eyes from the nap she had taken, Lucy wanted to laugh out loud. “How will you do that? No matter where I am, father will find me as long as I am in the city.”
“It’s a good thing, then, that I have made plans for you to leave the city.” Ava revealed with a smile. She helped Lucy out of her shackles and hugged her. “I know what you have been through. I told Theodore everything. He will be waiting for you in Hustace and the two of you can get married when you get married.”
“How will I get to Hustace under all this scrutiny?” She found it unbelievable.
“Owen’s family owns a private plane. His parents let us borrow it for the day.”
Lucy wrapped her arms around her tightly. “I can’t believe you would do this for me.”
“You helped me gain the interest of the man I love. I figured I should return the favor by letting you get together with Theodore.” She turned around and grabbed a bag, in which she shoved a few of Lucy’s dresses. Sneaking out of the house was harder than sneaking in but it was all worth it. She managed to get Lucy to the airstrip without any qualms and showed her to the plane.
“Goodbye, sister. Say hi to Theodore.” She waved as Lucy got in. The latter lingered at the entrance for a few seconds and when she finally got in, Ava snickered.
“See you never, sister.” She rubbed her belly. “Don’t call me heartless. I just want to make sure you will not change your mind. Especially not when little Nathaniel or Natalie is on the way.” She then pressed the red button on the tiny remote control in her hand, sending the plane into flames.
_____
It call came rushing back to Ava like a nightmare. “That can’t be. She entered the plane. She couldn’t have survived!” She took forced, deep breaths.
“And even if she somehow caught on and escaped before the explosion, how would she recognize me? I went by the name Lynn back then. No one ever remembered my full name was Avalynn. Luci certainly didn’t know Lynn was the short form of my name. She wouldn’t pin the pieces together even if she met me.” She frantically explained to Owen.
“You think she would forget me? She knew my name is Owen Sparks.” He retorted.
“Couldn’t you have married someone else? Someone who is not her half sister?” She trembled, remembering she had used the blast to fake her death. “Avalynn Su is supposed to be dead. Or Lynn Su, according to Luci.”
Owen had thought for years that it was the case, but he had started having doubts every time the name Lucy Roatta came up. He had often had a feeling she was Lucinda Su, but he had not thought much of it before the accident.
“The private plane headed for Hustace. She is your sister, and she did all this to let us know that.” He concluded, feeling nauseated by all of this.
“What do we do now?” Ava froze when she remembered a detail from the airstrip thirty years ago. She had mentioned Little Natalie or Nathaniel, thinking Lucy was too far to hear her. What if Natalie Sparks was the evidence she needed to locate her as the long lost sister who tried to kill her?
“She’s been getting close to Natalie.” She whimpered.
….
“Mom, dad?” Natalie rushed to Ava’s ward frantically when she got to the hospital, having just received the news. Owen was more injured than she thought, with bandages wrapped around him.
“Dad,” her heart broke.
“This is all your fault.” Ava spat out.
“What do you mean it’s my fault?” Natalie frowned.
“If you were not close to that woman, she would never have done this to us!”
Natalie’s frown deepened. “Zaria? I assure you, no pregnant woman in her right mind would risk the life of her child just to set up or detonate a bomb.”
Ava swallowed a hard lump. “Not her. Lucy.”
_______
AN
[1]…..I hope it’s not confusing but to clear it up, Ava’s full maiden name is Avalynn Su while Lucy’s is Lucinda Su. They both tweaked their names for the following reasons; Avalynn changed hers to Ava sparks to escape the crime she had committed while Lucinda changed hers to Lucy Roatta to be with Theodore and later get revenge.
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