I was born in Montega. My father, Jacobo Esteban, was quite wealthy, and as I was his only child, he doted
on me. By the time this picture was taken, I pretty much knew I could have anything I wanted. Except the
only thing I really and truly wanted, which was a mother. I had no memories of her. All I knew was that her
name was Mary Ellen Walters. My father told me she'd died when I was very young.
And so I lived a life of, more or less, ignorant, pampered bliss. I went to the university and trained to be a nurse, and I dated a very appropriate young man, Tonio Reyes. All of that came to an end, however, in 1985, when revolution broke out and a band of guerillas kidnapped my father and captured Tonio. After that, everything changed. My whole world fell apart. I was told Tonio had died, and suddenly, I was out on the street, forced to fend for myself amidst flying bullets and guerilla thugs strutting around, thinking they could grab and have any woman they wanted simply because they had guns and we were helpless. To protect myself, I dressed up like a boy and hid as much as I could. I even tried to bury my poor father's body in secret. But, it wasn't to be. A wealthy American woman I only knew as Lucinda Walsh had sent a junior executive of hers, Craig Montgomery, down to Montega to rescue me. He found me at my father's grave and whisked me to safety. That night, he and I talked in a way I'd never talked with any man, not even with Tonio. I felt like I could tell Craig anything. I felt like we were connected, like we had known each other before - maybe not in real life but, definitely in a dream - and were only now coming, inevitably, face-to-face. To me, Craig Montgomery was the most heroic, decent, caring gentleman I'd ever met. But, no matter how enchanted I may have felt, I still had other concerns. Before we left Montega for Oakdale, a former servant of my father's gave me an emerald earring that had once belonged to my mother. It was all I had to cling to as I began my new life in America. |
