Melissa had been all alone since she was born. Her grandparents never knew her father, because her daughter did not confess, and she herself did not survive childbirth. So Melissa grew up in her grandfather’s house. Her grandmother took her out, taught her everything, and her grandfather spoiled her as his only and favorite granddaughter.
The sooner the girl grew up, the older she became, the more clearly the features of her dead mother and someone else could be seen in her. Her grandmother could not guess it herself, but the neighbors were always whispering that Melissa was a spitting image of the head of the neighboring village.
The girl inadvertently overheard these rumors, but she did not dare to check anything herself. So she would never in her life have checked to see if the aforementioned father was her father, had it not been for a violent quarrel with her grandmother when Melissa was thirteen. Her grandmother scolded her badly for hanging out with the boys next door, telling her that she was still young and should not become “just like her mother. Melissa was greatly offended by this, and she ran away from home. While wandering around the street, she reached the next village. She had made a stop near a store when she heard one of the men shouting: “Frank, come on, sell that land! Why do you need so many acres alone?”
Melissa caught on to the familiar name and followed the man to the house itself. When all the guests had left it, she slipped into the yard and knocked on the door.
– Are you the head of the village? Frank? – she asked.
– Yes, I am. And who will you be? – answered good-naturedly a man of about thirty-five.
– And I am Melissa. But you probably don’t know anything about me, because my mother didn’t tell you. I am Rebecca’s daughter, who died in childbirth. And others say that you are my father.
Frank’s thoughts flashed back to those moments with the girl he liked a lot. His parents had been against marriage and they had had to break up over ten years ago. He really knew nothing about the child, but now he looked at the girl and recognized himself in her.
Frank returned with Melissa to her home to say hello to her grandparents, tell them what he had learned, and offer help. He had enough land, and three houses per village.
– Move closer to me. We have a school in our village, and the city is at a stone’s throw. I’ll help you with the money and the gardens. And you… just let me see my daughter more often.
