The child didn’t look up. She just kept crying.
“Your name, little one?”
Soft, almost like the wind: “A-Aya, ma’am.”
And there began the breaking of the promise Lola Enza had kept her entire life.
At first, she only brought Aya home to warm her up and feed her. Just for one night, she told herself. Tomorrow, I’ll take her to the barangay hall.
But when she saw the child’s hunger, the thin blanket she carried, the fear in her eyes… it was as if a part of her heart that she thought had been closed for good was suddenly nudged open.
“Sweetie, you sleep here for now. I have a mattress in the living room,” she said softly.
“Please don’t leave me,” Aya held tightly onto her arm.
It was as if something tore at Lola Enza’s long-hardened emotions.
“I… I won’t leave you… tonight,” she replied.
The next day, she went with Aya to the barangay hall. While waiting for the social worker, the child sat on her lap, holding tightly to her dress.
“I’m scared, Lola…” she whispered.
She shouldn’t be affected. She shouldn’t be hurt. But at Aya’s tone, the firm Lola Enza seemed to soften like cold clay.
When the social worker returned, her face was serious. “Aya has no record. There are no reports of a missing child matching her description either.”
“How is that possible? Can’t we… take care of her for now?” Lola Enza asked, unable to believe her own mouth had uttered those words.
“If there is a responsible guardian, it’s better for the child. But it’s only temporary.”
Temporary.
That was the word.
But as they walked home and Aya held her hand, she knew something was changing that she couldn’t stop.
Days passed. “Temporary” became a week. A week became a month.
Aya had learned to sit in the garden with Lola Enza. She would happily shout:
“Lola! There’s a new sprout!” And Enza would smile, a smile she couldn’t remember the last time she had worn.
One night while putting Aya to sleep, the child looked up at her.
“Lola… do you love me?”
It felt like a rope tightened around her chest. “What kind of question is that, little one?”
“Because I… I love you.”
A simple sentence. But it was enough to shatter the promise she had held onto her entire life:
I will not have children.
But what if the child… came to you without you asking?
One afternoon, the social worker came again. “There’s a possible family in the next province looking for a child. We need Aya today.”
Lola Enza’s world seemed to crumble. “What? You won’t even give us time—”
“This is protocol, Ma’am.”
“Lola…” Aya hugged her tightly. “Don’t give me away… please.”
For the first time in years, she couldn’t stop the tears.
“I can’t lose you, Aya… I can’t.”
“Very well,” the social worker said, “but we need to verify if they are truly her family. You may come with us.”
When they arrived, Lola Enza’s heart pounded. A couple was waiting. The situation looked complicated, filled with anxiety and doubt.
As Aya approached, the child barely looked at the two. “I don’t know them,” she said softly.
The couple explained: their missing child was a five-year-old boy—not a girl. So, Aya was not who they were looking for.
With immense relief, Lola Enza sat down and burst into tears. She couldn’t hold back. Aya sat beside her and hugged her.
“Lola… can I just… be your granddaughter?”
No answer was needed.
She hugged the child tightly, as if she had found the part of life she had long denied herself.
Six months later, the paperwork was finalized. And when her guardianship of Aya became fully legal, the whole village could hardly believe it.
Lola Enza, the woman who said she had no intention of having children, now had a child always clutching her hand.
And for the first time in 65 years, her world changed.
That evening, she and Aya sat in front of the garden, watching the fireflies.
“Lola,” Aya said, leaning against her, “what is the best thing that ever happened in your life?”
Lola Enza held the small hand of the child she loved unexpectedly.
“You, Aya. You are my miracle.”
And in the quiet night, amid the glow of the fireflies, she felt something she never thought possible:
She wasn’t lacking. She wasn’t alone. And it wasn’t too late to love.
Because sometimes, the family we are looking for… finds us.