Anohito in CCFS
Myth #5: Albert's Adoption of Candy Didn't Matter
What Albert’s Adoption of Candy Signifies as to His Feelings toward Her
Candice White, the orphan girl who becomes an Ardlay by adoption: The story, implications, and consequences according to CCFS.
To be adopted was the dream shared by all the kids at Pony’s home and their mothers, something expressed by Candy when Annie was (CCFS, chapter 1, part 1, V.1):
- She finally would have a mother and a father…
- That day would be the day she will be happy…
- Her dream will become true…
- She will be in a mansion full of bedrooms and a lot of food…
- She could invite Candy in the future…
- She will be a lady…
For Candy not be adopted was sad and complicated because she remained at the orphanage until she was thirteen. Losing all hope, she was staring to consider herself “too old” to be adopted, something that had never happened before with the other kids. She kept asking herself,
Why no family wanted to adopt her, if she was a nice and good girl that worked so hard.
To not be adopted had also economic implications for the orphanage, because “they didn’t have enough money to afford to take care of the older kids” like Candy (CCFS, chapter 3, part 1, V.1). In addition, Sister Lane and Miss Pony considered at her age she was losing the opportunity of “having good education and learning other things”.
Finally, Candy’s life changed when the chauffeur of the Lagans arrived, making her think as a premonition that the man in the polished car will have her as his adopted daughter. Something that prepares the readers from the beginning of the story, to what is going to happen to her as adopted daughter of a young and rich man, who also had a polished car.
Candy had an important meeting with the man who changed her destiny after falling from the waterfall at Lakewood. Mr. Albert saved her life and she felt she: “could trust in him, telling him all that happened to her until that moment” (CCFS, chapters 12-13, part 1, V.1), something that originated the special relationship they both created since that day.
Candy felt close to Mr. Albert because both “didn’t have a place to go”, according to Mr. Albert’s words, being that Candy was ignorant about his real identity.
She expressed for the first time her feelings for that homeless man before saying goodbye to return to the Lagans saying: “Thank you Mr. Albert… words are not enough to express MY GRATITUDE.” (CCFS, Chapter 14, part 1, V. 1).
Mr. Albert continued being present in Candy’s life without showing himself personally, but through Georges, his secretary, who followed all his instructions. First of all saving her from becoming a worker in Mexico when she was “kidnapped” by Georges (CCFS, chapter 17, part 1, V.1), who explained to aunt Elroy and all the kids why Candy returned to Lakewood:
“Madam, THIS IS Mr. WILLIAM DECISION.”
He gave her a letter in a sealed envelope that said:
“With the present letter I have the intention to inform everyone that I accept the request of Anthony, Alistair and Archibald.”
“Therefore, I HAVE GIVING INSTRUCTIONS THAT CANDICE WHITE BE ADOPTED and become a part of the Ardlay family”
Since that moment Aunt Elroy and the entire family had to accept the decision of the head of the clan: William Albert Ardlay (CCFS, Chapter 18, part 1, Vol.1). Nobody could say or do anything contrary to his will (not even aunt Elroy or the Lagan’s family). From that day, Candy was known and treated as Candice White Ardlay, with some events which confirmed that:
“She received the second more elegant and big room of the mansion, after aunt Elroy’s one.”
Not even Eliza had one like that.
“Her room seemed bigger than Pony´s home, with a soft carpet, heavy drapes, and beautiful furniture. She had more dresses than Eliza, of so many different colors.”
In Candy’s words, Great Uncle William:
Saved her and made her dream come true adopting her, and while she was saying that to her three friends (Anthony, Alistair and Archie) “her eyes were full of GRATITUDE” according to Nagita´s description
(CCFS, chapter 19, part 1, V.1).
In that period, she wrote a letter to the Great Uncle, saying:
”I am very grateful for everything. I pray for you have always good health…”, and Mr. William in turn wished for her “TO BE HAPPY and dedicated to her studies.”
(CCFS, chapter 19, part 1, Vol. 1). Candy as the girl that never gives up, no matter how complicated the situation could be, decided: “to become in a real lady and make Great Uncle William proud” when she heard the servants saying bad things about her (due to the rumors spread by the Lagans, CCFS, chapter 19, Part 1, V.1).
With the death of Anthony Candy returned to Pony’s Home feeling guilty about the accident during the fox hunting celebrated in her honor. But again, great Uncle William decided what she had to do, sending Georges to inform her:
“I am here on Mr. Williams orders. He wants that you go to England to attend a prestigious London School. Everything has been settled, you must go at once.”
(CCFS, chapter 1, Part 2, Vol.1).
Candy had doubts about those orders, because she has left the Ardlay’s mansion without asking permission, and she thought the adoption has been annulled:
“I… was convinced that I wasn’t HIS ADOPTED DAUGHTER anymore…”
(CCFS, chapter 1, Part 2, Vol.1).
However, the orders given by Mr. Albert said the contrary, and she was accepted at St Paul Academy in London, thanks to her being part of a very important and prestigious family. Sister Gray’s words confirmed that in their first meeting:
“I hope that everything was clear to you, Candice White Ardlay. Honor your prestigious name”.
Later that day, at the corridor of the girl’s dorms, Eliza confirmed to the other girls that Candy was adopted by the great Uncle William Albert Ardlay, saying:
“Do you know that she comes from an orphanage and that my family was so kind to hire her? She used to take care the horses”, I don’t know how this shameless girl got a good opinion of Great Uncle. The fact is unexpectedly, HE DECIDED TO ADOPT HER. But, nobody in my family has accepted her!”
(CCFS, chapter 2, Part 2, V.1)
Finally, Candy’s dreams came true, she found herself at “a door which was bigger than the others, without a number. It was the only one with delicate wood inlays… the place resembled that of a princess’s” (CCFS, chapter 2, Part2, V.1). She had now not only a special room at the Ardlay’s mansion in Lakewood, but at St Paul “with books, perfumes, elegant furniture, beautiful dresses”. Her room being of a higher class than the Lagan’s and the Cornwells’, but was of the same as the one given to the son of Duke Granchester, who belonged to an English noble family, in the boys’ dorms.
Later in her life, when Candy was an adult writing a letter to Director Mary Jane, she still talked about Albert as the person who adopted her:
“I never got to meet Mr. William A. Ardlay, the wealthy gentleman who was kind enough to adopt me.”
— CCFS, Vol. 2, Part III.
Why did Mr. Albert adopt Candy? Was there a romantic relationship between them?
Many Albert fans want to believe Albert and Candy had a romantic relationship at the end of the novel. Nagita said in Paris (2019) it was Candy´s decision to choose between him or Terence. Well, Candy and Albert showed openly what they felt for each other in the Epilogue of CCFS, something we can read in the letters, as follows:
Some years after London´s events, Mr. Albert confessed why he adopted her (CCFS, first letter of the Epilogue), saying:
“All I only wanted was to watch over you with discretion.”
He continue reinforcing that idea in a next letter, remembering their encounter at Lakewood, when she fell from the waterfall, at the age of thirteen:
“I felt the desire to make you happy, I wanted the girl in front of my eyes to FIND HER HAPPINESS, and I was certain I could help.”
To “find her happiness”, is a very important phrase we must keep in mind, because it was a phrase that Candy asked herself throughout the story.
Mr. Albert expressed his appreciation for that girl who took care of him while he had amnesia, letting her follow her desire to be a nurse. It didn’t matter that she didn’t need to work, being and Ardlay. This was even more considering given that at the beginning of the 20th century, rich women didn’t work.
Also, Mr. Albert gave Candy great symbolic and material gifts, like the invitation for her and all the kids of the orphanage to go to Chicago to celebrate her birthday. Candy described in writing how she felt when she found out about the lovely surprise:
“I feel as if I had just received the celebrations reserved for all the girls.”
The gifts included the return of the dear horses she took care of at the Lagans.
And a complete renovation of a new room that now would belonged to her at the Chicago mansion; although she still preferred to be only a guest. This was the opposite situation to what was proposed by some readers, when they would say Candy and Mr. Albert had a romantic relationship since Magnolia, being a couple or lovers, and living together in Chicago.
“That huge room, fully renovated in green mint just for me, with handmade wooden furniture, so beautiful to touch and their scent. And to think that I would have been content to stay as always in the GUEST ROOM.”
Candy also explained in a letter the feelings and the relationship they have while Albert suffered form amnesia, some of them painful and complicate (CCFS, Epilogue):
“I wonder if amnesia is a condition that comes back again. I DON´T WANT TO RELIVE CERTAIN MOMENTS EVER AGAIN!” . . . “I wanted you to get well soon, although OUR LIVES AS BROTHER AND SISTER did not seem so bad… Well, NOW I AM YOUR ADOPTED DAUGHTER! Maybe I should start calling you FATHER?
She mentioned the special relationship of a brother and sister, something that developed in the next letter, based on the origin of Mr. Albert nickname. We know there were legal paperwork involved in the adoption, as confirmed by Georges to Aunt Elroy at Lakewood when Candy was presented as the adopted girl as per Great Uncle William’s order. That adoption was the reason for her to be treated as an important member of the Ardlay family at the prestigious Saint Paul’s Academy in London. Also, the power of Great Uncle William’s actions caused Sarah Lagan to apologize, at the inauguration of the family’s new hotel in Miami, for all the lies and humiliations suffered by Candy while she was her servant. But also, we can read Mr. Albert’s comment about this adoption in his response to Candy’s letter, coming to realize that he was still a young, single man, but has an “adoptive daughter” who was not a young child:
“YOU CERTAINLY CAN’T DENY THAT YOU ARE MY ADOPTED DAUGHTER. I actually had forgotten about it. I’m still young, unmarried, and yet I have a daughter… It’s something that surprises even me.”
He can’t deny that fact, and reinforced that with his last comment in that letter:
“I would like you to tell Miss Pony and Sister Lane that I JUST DID WHAT YOU WOULD EXPECT FROM A GOOD ADOPTIVE FATHER.”
So it is confirmed that the adoption was made by him and accepted by everyone as a fact, in a story involving Catholic people at the beginning of the 20th century following American traditions, as Nagita mentioned in Paris (2019). Also, this situation is different from “Daddy Long Legs”, where a man was the benefactor of a young woman of 17 years of age with no legal status, and NOT her adoptive father.
THE FEELING SHARED BY MR. ALBERT AND CANDY IN CCFS
At the end of the story, Candy and Albert expressed the feelings they had for each other, considering all the sad events they had shared together.
He expressed the feelings towards her and why he acted as he did, remembering his loneliness as an abandoned man, suspected to be a war spy in Italy. On the card he sent to her from Sao Paolo, he wrote:
“I was just a suspect, devoid of memories and of his own identity, but you didn’t abandon me. Even when I was discharged from the hospital, you stayed next to me…. “Words will never be able to express my GRATITUDE to you. Even in the future, I want to make sure that YOU WILL BE ABLE TO FIND HAPPINESS.”
He wanted to be sure she would be able to find happiness. This was the same feeling Archie and Stair expressed in Terry’s room, when Candy was punished at Saint Paul after Eliza and Neal’s trap. This was a very different feeling expressed by Terence at that moment (CCFS, chapter 16, Part 2, Vol.2):
“But if we don’t do something, Candy will be disowned by the Ardlay family. Even when there was no reason, the others have always been opposed to her adoption.”
“Disowned?” exclaimed Terry, with his voice breaking.
Stair nodded and said, “When he receives the notification from Sister Gray, maybe this time not even Great Uncle William will be able to forgive Candy… Granchester, you already know that she doesn’t have a family? Her life has always been full of difficulties. The Lagans have even tried to send her to work to Mexico… But I’ve never heard her complain even once. On the contrary, it’s us who have drawn strength from her smile. We… WE JUST WANT HER TO BE HAPPY ONE DAY.”
WE JUST WANT HER TO BE HAPPY ONE DAY.
Contrast that to what Terry wanted. On hearing those words spoken softly by Stair, Terry raised his misty eyes.
“YOU WANT HER TO BE HAPPY ONE DAY? I WON’T STAY HERE PRAYING FOR IT TO HAPPEN. I . . . I WANT TO BE THE ONE TO MAKE HER HAPPY!”
So Nagita wrote and declared the actions the young men wanted to do for that girl (Archie, Stair, Albert), as opposed to the desire of the one with whom she was in loved (Terence).
After forgiving themselves for Anthony’s death at Lakewood, when Mr. Albert and Candy went to the same forest where Anthony lost his life, and after recovering her diary at Mr. Albert’s study, Candy wrote to Mr. Albert:
“I’m really grateful to my parents for abandoning me at Pony´s Home. Thanks to them, I was able to meet you!”
This is a very important fact, because if it wasn’t for Mr. Albert´s protection, Candy would have had a terrible life, just like that reserved for her by the Lagans as a worker in a Mexico farm, or perhaps a similar situation in another place with another family. This also explains her last words on the letter:
“I AM THE ONE WHO IS NOT ABLE TO FIND THE WORDS TO EXPRESS MY GRATITUDE.”
WHAT DOES THE NICKNAME BERT REPRESENT IN THIS STORY?
Mr. Albert signed one of his last letter as Bert, a new nickname not Candy or the readers have heard before, but Candy clarified its origin:
“I am glad you confided this nickname to me! It’s the way your sister Rosemary called you, Anthony’s mother. Only she uses this expression, yet I have the honour of being able to call you that way!” (CCFS, Epilogue).
To mention Bert was the secret, a private nickname used by Albert’s deceased sister, set the kind of relationship Albert feels he had with her, and inviting Candy to take that place in his heart. This makes senses considering they were two young adults, who hardly seemed like “father and daughter”, but had that legal status which they could not annull legally according to American law and the Catholic traditions of the time. (Nor did they ever indicate they had any wish to annul that legal status.) Also it must be considered that if Albert ended the adoption, Candy would loose all the privileges she had, something which he was so happy to give her as a proof of HIS GRATITUDE, as he opened expressed to her.
Those words said by Candy in the letter at the end of the story are very important, because she was talking about not only Albert’s sister, but the mother of her first love, Anthony Brown–twice the reason for honoring that woman and the nickname she used in private for her dear brother Albert. Their having each other as like siblings, remembering that filial feeling of brother and sister, were also confirmed by the way they exchange ideas and feelings through the Epilogue letters of CCFS. Also, Candy had said that was the way they wanted to be known at Magnolia’s. In addition, Albert knows everything about the relationship of deep love between Candy and Terence through the diary Candy entrusted to him as the Great Uncle William.
The final words to Mr. Albert from Candy were:
YES. MR. ALBERT, I´VE REACHED MY HAPPINESS.
WITH LOVE AND GRATITUDE
CANDY”
I HAVE REACHED MY HAPPINESS
in that moment Candy was an independent young woman, who found the meaning of her life as a nurse. At the time the Epilogue letters were written, Candy was working at the Martin’s Happy Clinic near Pony´s home, and was taking care of the children of the orphanage, helping her mothers. Mr. Albert was a businessperson dedicated to taking care of the fortune of the Ardlays and honoring his duties as inherited from his father. Candy found her purpose in life helping other people, having a profession, and returning all the good things she received from people near her. This was something Keiko Nagita wanted for her main character of the story.
But, Candy in that moment was still a young woman in her 20s. We know that new details were added to this story in CCFS, like these facts that changed Candy’s life: the death of Susana Marlow (the woman that forced the separation of Candy and Terence), and a letter she received from Terence, the man she declared openly to be her love in CCFS.
The story CCFS tells us that a huge change in her life had occurred, causing her to travel to the other side of the ocean to live in Great Britain, surrounded by Shakespeare books, and the perfume of daffodils (the perfume Terence loved). These items were not associated with the free-spirited man named “little Bert” who adopted her to help her to be happy and kept contact with her through letters, as he didn’t have enough time to be with her, not even on her birthday in Chicago. BUT HE WANTED TO HELP HER TO FIND HER HAPPINESS.
To know why candy was living in another continent, we have to read about the other main male character of this story, Terence G. Granchester, the love of her life… but that would be part of another analysis.
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