Chapter 12 Thawing

Lena didn’t have a good rest, or more specifically, she couldn’t.

Ever since she got to New York, she had been unable to suppress the anxiety inside her. Though she tried her best to act normal in front of others, the fact was, she had been eating less and she couldn’t sleep well.

In the middle of her sleep, she always saw this little boy sitting in the darkness alone with his back against her. She called his name, Lucas, and tried to get near to him, but none of them worked.

The harder she tried, the boy got further away from her. She ran, cried, even screamed. The boy just wouldn’t turn his head to have a look at her. And then, she suddenly heard the strident voice of Talia’s, and then Vincent’s. They were laughing at her. She turned her head in this dark place she didn’t know where, and then saw Talia and Vincent kissing under a bright, almost dazzling spotlight. Feeling Lena’s shocking gaze, Talia suddenly turned her head and mocked Lena.

She said “You will never get your son back”, and then called Lena “Stupid.”

Lena felt a twitching pain ripping through her heart. She couldn’t even breathe. But she knew it was just a dream and she knew even in a dream, she couldn’t let Talia get her. Thus, she struggled hard, piercing nails into her palms, screaming to herself to wake up. And then, suddenly, her eyes were open, with cold sweat on her back and forehead, painful tears on her temples.

Normally, she would never fall asleep again, just sitting there in the bedroom alone until the sun rose, but today was different. It was still in the afternoon, outside the sky was bright, and she saw Angela standing there beside her bed with worry in her beautiful green eyes.

Lena instantly went sober. She sat up from the bed and cupped the little girl’s cheek with her cold, still slightly trembling hand.

“What are you doing here, sweetie?” she smiled, “Is everything alright with Chloe?”

Chloe was Angela’s new nanny, young but very experienced. Gary helped Lena hire her before they arrived in New York. Angela was satisfied with Chole. She nodded her head after hearing Lena’s question, and then lifted up the little green toy camera hung on her neck.

“Can I take a photo with you, Mommy?” she asked carefully, as if afraid of disturbing her mom.

Lena knew Angela must have seen her having a nightmare. The little girl was very smart and extremely sensitive about people’s emotions, which made Lena feel guilty for scaring her little angel.

She said “Yes, of course”, and then lifted Angela up to have the little girl sit in her lap. They both smiled at the toy camera and took a very nice photo. Angela then turned and buried her little face on Lena’s chest.

“Please don’t be sad anymore, Mommy. You have me,” she whispered.

That was such a sweet and considerate comfort. Tears welled up from the bottom of Lena’s heart, but she held it back and then kissed the top of the little girl’s head.

She said "Thank you, sweetie. Mommy will never be sad around you. Every day with you I am extremely happy. I swear.” and then enclosed the little angel tightly in between her arms.

Angela then reached out her little arms and hugged her mom back. She believed her mom and she knew she had to do something to stop Lena’s nightmare.

***

In the hospital.

After hanging up the phone, Vincent suddenly felt nervous, even restless about his secret appointment with Angela.

He was looking forward to meeting Angela. The little girl always brings the sweetest joyfulness in the world to him. Even just thinking of her cute, sweet voice made him smile. Charlie, on the contrary, always made him … uncomfortable. He couldn’t even stay in the same room with the boy, not to mention taking him out to meet someone.

He didn’t hate Charlie. He wasn’t a monster. He would never hate his own son. He just didn’t know how to … be with that weird boy.

Whenever he got close to Charlie, Charlie always stared at him motionlessly with his big watery brown eyes. There was something inexplicable inside that pair of eyes, like sadness, pleading, but also reproach. It made Vincent uncomfortable. Even his lungs itched because of it. It was almost like he was allergic to the boy. For that reason, after a few failed attempts to get intimate with the boy when he first woke up, Vincent had never visited Charlie’s room once.

He knew he was being an irresponsible father, but he couldn’t help it. Charlie never asked for him anyway. Vincent just assumed that the boy didn’t need him. But now things had changed. Talia was gone. He couldn’t let Charlie lose his father either, and he had promised Angela to take Charlie to the park.

Who knows? Maybe letting Charlie meet a wolf of his same age could actually change…things.

He made up his mind, and then called Mrs. Mead and asked her to send his clothes to the hospital along with his car.

Mrs. Mead accepted his order and then called Samuel. As soon as Samuel completed an important meeting representing Vincent, he called his big brother.

“You are leaving the hospital?” he asked with a frown, “But you haven’t fully recovered yet. The doctor said you needed rest!”

Vincent pinched his nose bridge. Snitching his private life to Samuel had become Mrs. Mead's habits during the past year. But he wouldn’t blame the faithful housekeeper. He had been off a lot since he woke up.

“I am not leaving the hospital,” he explained, “Just thought I might take Charlie out…for dinner.” He lied, and then added, “I am sure I can be out of the hospital for a few hours.”

Samuel was shocked. He thought he had just heard it wrong as he knew Vincent wouldn’t even look at Charlie.

“Are you … sure?” he asked with suspicion, “You sure you want to take Charlie out?”

The answer was “No”. Vincent was reluctant to do anything with Charlie, but he had promised Angela.

“Yeah,” he said, and then explained, “Talia left. I thought he would need his father now.”

It was a very good explanation. Samuel was convinced and he was glad that he had gotten Talia out of the house.

See, as soon as that bitch was gone, his brother was back to being a normal person.

“Good for you,” he said, and then added, “I'm sure Charlie would love it. Let me know if you or Charlie need anything.”

“Actually,” Vincent hesitated, but didn’t hold back. He knew Angela would be disappointed if she couldn’t meet Charlie, which meant he couldn’t screw this up.

“What should I say to him?” he asked Samuel, feeling a little embarrassed, “We’ve never talked before, you know. What if he refuses to go out with me?”

That was a very realistic concern, considering Charlie’s condition. Samuel had never been with a child before, but he tried his best.

“I guess you can bring him a gift, like a teddy bear or something like that, and ask him nicely,” he suggested, and then suddenly recalled, “You know what? Mrs. Mead told me Charlie really liked his new nanny. He is willing to go outside the house now. Maybe you can ask her for help. I will have Mrs. Mead give you her phone number.”

That was inspiring information. Vincent said “Thanks” to Samuel, and then hung up the phone.

One minute later, Mrs. Mead texted him Kelly’s phone number. Vincent hesitated for a few minutes, but eventually gave up. Asking the nanny for tips about what to say to his son was way too embarrassing. He couldn’t allow himself to be more pathetic than now.

He took Samuel’s advice and picked up a small teddy bear from the hospital’s gift shop downstairs. As soon as it reached noon on Sunday, he changed his clothes and drove back to the house in the middle of the forest.