Chapter 13 Preparation-1

It was a good day. The weather was sunny, and the wind was soft, very suitable for an outing. When Vincent reached the house, the first thing he saw was Charlie standing on the lawn in front of the house, playing catch ball with Kelly.

The boy saw him at the same time. He instantly froze and dropped the ball while the car was still approaching. Kelly noticed it. She turned her head and then saw Vincent too. She then quickly walked to Charlie and held the little boy’s hand. She knew the boy was kind of afraid of his father.

Vincent noticed Charlie’s motion from inside the car. A burning torrent of guilt flashed across his heart, but was soon replaced by the nervousness of speaking to the boy.

He stopped the car on the road beside the lawn, and then got off with the teddy bear.

Kelly gave him a big grin when she saw the young master of this strange family for the second time.

“Hello, Mr. Lanton,” she said with her distinguishing, cheerful, light voice, “Today is a very nice day!”

Vincent nodded his head to Kelly with an emotionless face. The girl’s enthusiasm kind of surprised him, but it didn’t matter, as long as she was a good nanny.

He walked around the head of the car, and then stopped at the curb, right outside the lawn, about ten steps away from Charlie.

The boy started to stare at him again with his watery brown eyes, but this time, Vincent noticed there was something different inside that pair of eyes. It was something sparkling, almost like expectations. Most importantly, it didn’t discomfort him anymore. Vincent felt relieved a little, and then cleared his throat with a cough, and then raised his arm to pass the teddy bear to Charlie.

“This is a ….” He was stuck when he suddenly realized there was a really “long” distance between him and Charlie. If Charlie heard him but didn’t come up to collect the gift, he would be embarrassed to death. And there was no way for him to walk towards Charlie. What if Charlie runs away seeing him getting close? His already thin faith in being a father would be totally crushed. He might not be able to look at the boy ever again.

Damn! Why is being a parent so tough?

He clutched the bear in his hand and lowered his arm. Charlie was still standing there staring at him along with Kelly, the curious nanny. This strange girl didn’t even know to pretend she wasn’t interested in his embarrassing situation!

Vincent felt like running away, but he really hated to disappoint Angela. Thus, he took a deep breath, tightening his grip on the poor bear, and then spoke to Charlie as Angela had requested.

“I am here to take you to meet your sister, Angela. Do you want to come with me?” he asked in a calm and straight voice, almost cold due to his struggle.

He thought it would never work, but to his surprise, the boy’s eyes instantly lit up after hearing that sentence. He pulled his little hand out of Kelly’s grip, and then walked a few steps towards Vincent, but suddenly stopped in the middle, as if fearing something or waiting for something. Vincent had no way to tell. His mind had already gone blank the moment he saw Charlie walking toward him.

He had never expected that Charlie would agree to meet a stranger. And he had never thought one day his son would actually come to him spontaneously instead of running away from him. It was like a miracle, but he wasn’t ready to accept it yet.

He froze at the curb outside the lawn, having no idea what to do next. But Charlie was still standing there on the lawn in between him and Kelly, staring at him, as if waiting, he got to say something. Angela’s request rushed into his head again, he then spoke out that absurd sentence before he could stop it.

“Angela said she and Mommy love you,” his voice was hoarse now due to nervousness.

The boy widened his eyes. For a moment, Vincent thought he saw Charlie curling up his lips. But the boy had lowered his head before Vincent could confirm it. He then kept that posture and restarted to walk towards his father. But he stopped again at about three steps away from Vincent, and then raised his head to stare at him.

Vincent felt like he was cracking some kind of puzzle. He had to find the right thing to say to encourage Charlie to walk towards him.

He stared back at the boy, but got nothing in his head as Angela had only asked him to say two things to Charlie.

All of a sudden, he remembered that night at the fountain Angela used to look at him in the same way, with the same inexplicable expectation in her beautiful green eyes.

Vincent felt a fever in his head, and blurted out, “I…I love you too.”

There was no way for him to address himself as “Daddy” in front of his son, so he changed the word involuntarily.

Charlie’s eyes lit up even more. He restarted to walk and then stopped in front of his father, and then reached out his little hand and grabbed the hemline of his grey blazer.

Vincent felt his head blow. Every cell inside his body burned, but in a good way. He still had absolutely no idea about what to do with the intimacy the boy suddenly showed him, so he shoved the teddy bear to the boy’s face rigidly, and then quickly said, “Let’s go to the park.”

Charlie took the teddy bear and followed him to the car quietly. Kelly suddenly realized something and yelled, “Wait! Wait! Wait! You have to use the safety seat!”

She quickly ran back to the house and then took out the safety seat, along with that piece of yellow blanket Charlie liked to hide inside whenever he felt insecure.

“Here you are,” she passed the blanket to Charlie after she helped the boy buckle up in the safety seat.

Charlie took the blanket and showed her a very faint but shining smile. Kelly almost thought she had just had a hallucination!

The servants in this house told her Charlie had never spoken or smiled even once since the day he came to the house as an infant. And the boy had never been out of this house, or been close to either his father or mother.

All of a sudden, he was going out with his father to meet his sister, whom Kelly had never heard of. And he actually smiled because of it. That was totally abnormal!!

Once again, Kelly confirmed there was definitely something unusual about the Lanton Family, even the little boy! She felt her blood boil.

Vincent closed the back door of the car after Kelly waved “Goodbye” to Charlie. He nodded his head to the nanny with a cold, straight face, suggesting she follow him.

Kelly nodded her head with curiosity and followed Vincent. They stopped a few steps away from the car. Vincent then asked Kelly, "Keep a secret about Charlie's sister from everyone, especially Samuel and Mrs. Mead, will you?”

If Samuel found out he offered himself to be the father of a five-year-old girl by lying, Vincent had no doubt that Samuel would try to send him to a mental house. Actually, Vincent clearly knew he was doing things only an insane person would do, but he felt no regret about it.

He stared at Kelly with intimidation in his eyes and waited for her answer. Kelly quickly nodded her head. She was optimistic, not stupid. She knew there would be secrets inside such a wealthy and mysterious family. And judging by the huge fight Vincent and Talia had most recently, Kelly quickly convinced herself that Vincent had a secret daughter out there who wasn’t by Talia.

The question was why Charlie was so happy to see his half-blooded sister and where Talia was.

Mrs. Mead told Kelly Talia left, but Kelly always felt there was something unusual about Talia’s disappearance. Since Charlie wouldn’t need her for the afternoon, maybe it was time for her to find out.

She quickly raised her hand and promised Vincent, “I swear on my father’s grave, I will never tell it to anyone!”

Vincent was kind of shocked by this strange girl. He didn’t expect her to take it so seriously, but it was a good thing. He nodded his head to Kelly expressionlessly and then went back to the car and drove away.

Kelly heaved a sigh of relief once the car went outside her eyesight. She turned back to look at this mysterious big house and then suddenly stretched her lips to an excited smile!