draft

Anne finally made up her mind and said," If it's of no problem to you, I'll take up your offer. Thanks very much for your help."

Jake smiled and asked her to follow him. He looked about her and found that she had only a small bag and a sling purse with her. He offered to carry the bags and started walking. She stood up, straightened her clothes with one hand and balanced the baby in the other one and walked forward. Both the men walked slowly to accommodate to her speed.

They walked for about 5 minutes and from in between the trees, a white building with terracotta tile roof came into view. The side view didn't give her an idea about the expanse of the house, but the surroundings were very peaceful and pleasant. They walked into the house. The door was open since Aunt Heather was cleaning the verandah with a mop. She looked up and smiled at the two men. " Mr. Jake, Mr. Ronald", she greeted them and looked past them to the young woman behind them. "And she is...?", she asked.

She's our friend and she'll be sharing the room with you tonight. Please prepare food for 3 of us and for the baby...", Jake paused. Anne answered, " he will have the baby formula. " Hello Miss Heather, I'm Anne. Sorry for troubling you, but can you heat up some water for the formula? He'll wake up soon and he will drink it as soon as he does."

"Call me Aunt Heather like those two boys. No need to be formal. Also please sit down for a while in the living room. I'll prepare extra sheets and pillows in the room. You can rest there till dinner is ready. I'm just about finished cleaning all the rooms. All it needs is the furniture to be arranged. Everything will be delivered early tomorrow morning." She gave a bright smile and went inside a passage. Ronald and Jake excused themselves and went outside since they'd more work to do.

Anne looked around the living room and found that it was plain with not much furniture or decorations. The walls were white like the outside with 4 wooden pillars supporting what looked like a huge skylight. It was still very bright since it was just over 5pm. She arranged the clothes around the baby and left him on the wide window seat which was made of stone and walked around to explore the house. Keeping one eye on the baby, she walked around to find there were 3 rooms in the ground floor and a staircase that led to a closed door at the landing upstairs. She wanted to go up when she heard the light scuffling sounds of her son waking up. She ran to him and took him in her arms and kissed him with a smile on her face. Aunt Heather came just at the moment to call her.

" Miss Anne. Please come this way. The bed is prepared. You can rest while I finish my work. I've kept the kettle with hot water in it on the window sill. I've kept a jug with cold water in it and a bowl and a glass with a spoon. If you need anything else, feel free to call me." Saying thus, she went inside the passage towards the kitchen.

Anne walked to the room with the baby and put him on the bed and looked around the room. It had one sturdy wooden cot in one corner and a foldable steel cot with a mattress on it in the other. It had two large windows which were left open for airing and it was very bright and cheerful inside the room. There was a small bedside table which had the things that Aunt Heather had kept. Anne prepared the formula and fed it to the baby and wiped his face and body clean with a towel she took out from her bag. It contained mostly his things and clothes. She'd brought just one extra pair of clothes and a set of pajamas with her. Her big bag with her clothes and other things were left in the cloakroom of the railway station of the nearest town. She had planned to go back that evening, so she had left it there. She freshened herself up in the bathroom and felt refreshed.

The baby was cooing and was moving his limbs as if he was cycling and it was very funny to watch. She stood near the cot as if to admire her son and her thoughts flew to her past.

She could just remember her mother leaving her in the railway station and fleeing inside the moving train without even looking back at her. Anne was just a girl of four and a half years then. She couldn't understand what was happening and she had cried when she saw that her mother left her alone on the platform. There were some men who were chasing the train shouting something which she couldn't understand and they'd to stop since the train sped up. She was found by the kind station master who found her bawling near the stone seat which was meant for waiting passengers to sit on. She couldn't answer him about her whereabouts and her parents. She only told him her name and she was asking him to find her mother who went away on the previous train. She said that her mother's name was Georgina and her father's name was William. She didn't know where her father was since she seldom saw him. Whenever he came home, he and her mother would be quarrelling inside the room and she was afraid of her father because of it. She thought that he was a bad guy and that's why he always scolded her mom. She couldn't even remember his face or information much to the surprise of the station master.He had no other choice than to take her to the police station after his duty hours ended for the day. He was very kind to her. He shared his lunch with her and bought her a cup of warm milk to drink. She hadn't eaten anything since the last afternoon since her mother was more interested in moving out from their house than to feed her child. Anne had gratefully eaten and drank whatever the station master had provided her with. He took her to the police station at around 6pm and left her with a lady constable who looked very strict on first sight. As she stayed there the whole night with her, she knew that only in appearance was the constable very rough and strict, but was very kind to her. She said that her name was Mary and she had a daughter of 2 years at home. The next day, the police made thorough investigation into the matter and found that her mother had borrowed lots of money from loan sharks based on the fact that her husband was in the military and he was up for a promotion soon. She'll return their money as soon as he comes back home the next time. She had married him in the hope of rolling in money since she hated her poor life since childhood. She pursued him, married him and had Anne with him. The times Anne's father could come home was few and far because he was frequently sent on secret missions and he couldn't bond with his daughter much, though he loved her dearly. Whenever he came home, he'd bring her toys, sweets and other things for her, but since Anne's mother would start a quarrel about money or material things with him, he would leave soon and didn't have enough time to spend with his daughter. He regretted it very much in his life till his last breath. The police couldn't find her father's whereabouts since they didn't know his last name and they weren't sure whether the name given was his real name. Many military officers had an alias in real life since they faced constant threat of recognition from spies and enemies. The police had no option but to keep her either in the remand home or in an orphanage. They waited till the next day to admit her to one of the 4 orphanages in the vicinity. It was called 'HOPE orphanage'.

Her mother always used to care about herself and she never provided her child with the love and care it needed. Anne had come to accept the fact that she was not loved by anyone and she had become complacent to joys and sorrow. She was almost emotionally numb. In Hope orphanage, there were many children of various ages and soon she found out that each had a sorrowful story behind their coming to this place. Anne was very quiet as a child. She could just be seen, not heard, unlike other children. She never fought for clothes and toys. She never was the first to be chosen by parents who wanted to adopt. She was very intelligent, and understood things, rather than mugging up and write it as it is. She used the orphanage library as well as the local public library near the orphanage to read books and she improved her vocabulary and knowledge in many languages and subjects. The only drawback she had was the ability to reproduce the words from her textbooks and that's the reason why she always scored less in terms of marks and was deemed as an average student. She never shone amongst her peers. Her intellect and resourcefulness were lost in her silence and the shyness to communicate with people. The best education she could get was a tutor who taught all of them according to their ages, inside the orphanage. The orphanage couldn't afford to send everyone to schools. Though public schools were almost free, the uniforms and books were yet to be paid for. Taking the number of children to be sent to school into consideration, the management had arranged for a tutor to teach very young students of about 3-4 years of age and ages 10 and above. The in between age group were taught by elder children who were certified as the brighter ones amongst them. Children above 16 were sent out to do odd jobs for small companies so that they could earn their educational fees. Anne had managed 3-4 jobs to save as much of money as she could for her education. She completed her high school and wished to attend college. She had an interest in reading books and hence she had an ambition to become a librarian or a teacher, since both the jobs would give her unlimited access to books. The orphan had a rule that children who attained the age of 18 must leave the orphanage and look after their own lives in order to make room for new children. Anne had worked in many places and knew many things. She could do any job well, but she didn't have the educational qualification and certificates companies asked for. She was a Jack of all trades. Nobody could guess that such a talent existed in such a quiet girl. Comsidering the time she was brought to the orphanage and the date of birth she had told them while joining, they had recorded it as May 18th. Come next month, she'd turn 18. Where would she go? She didn't want to leave this place which was the closest she could associate for a home. She had requested the warden so many times to let her continue staying there. She would pay them for the food and accommodation, she would take up more jobs to fulfill it, but let them please not send her out of here. The warden had a tough time deciding whether to let her live here or not. She spoke to the management and summoned Anne to her office one day. She said, " Anne I've spoken to the management about your request to continue your stay here. They've suggested something and if you consider it, you can stay here. Otherwise, you should be prepared to move out on your own by the end of next month."

With a voice full of anxiety, Anne asked," What is the suggestion?"

Warden said with a deep sigh, " You can stay here for one more year. In the meantime, if the orphanage could set up a marriage for you, you must marry the man who is chosen. You'll be benefiting from the marriage,