The elevator dinged on the first floor, and soon, the couple came into sight. As soon as they entered the dining room, Collin's hoarse childish voice was heard as he let go of the maid and ran towards Mirabel. "Mummy!" She stood up abruptly from the chair, nearly toppling it over, surprised, and gathered the boy in his arms.
She sat back down, wiped his tears, and then sent a grateful look towards the maid, who bowed and left. She was a little disturbed to see her son that way but had a strong guess as to why he was that way, and she felt guilty. She kept rubbing his back slowly and calmed him down.
Collin kept hiccupping and settled down after a while. Initially, he had his face buried in Thalia Mirabel's chest, but as he slowly calmed down, he turned his head to look at the other person in the room, and his small eyes widened.
Thalia Mirabel was sure that she had never seen nor met Jorge Trimshaw before signing her marriage contract, but the reaction from her child showed otherwise, and she wondered why.
A few months ago …
It had been a particularly snowy day. Coupled with the abundance of snow, it had been an especially frigid day as well. A little brown-haired boy stood dejected in front of a tall fence in abandonment. The morning's excitement had vanished from his face, and he looked like he was about to cry.
His scrunched-up face would tug at the heartstrings of anyone, even one with a hardened heart! The boy had been trying so hard not to cry, for both his mother and his aunt had told him that 'big men did not cry!' and he was no child! He was a big man!
"Yes, I am a grown and big man! I will not cry!" the small voice echoed around.
He rubbed his mittened hands over his face to clean the tears that had escaped. Then he looked around to make sure that no one had seen his 'vulnerable moment!'
Not far from where the boy stood in the snow, a young man sat in the driver's seat of a white Chevrolet Corvette, and he chuckled at the young boy's reaction.
The man was none other than Jorge Trimshaw, who was on a 'give back to society trip' or what they referred to as a charity duty. Jorge was alone this day as he witnessed this cute scene of the boy. It was fascinating to see such a young child alone in the cold even though he was properly dressed, but his words kept Jorge's gaze in his direction for quite a while.
Jorge usually embarked on such 'charity trips' with Ryan Marvel, his assistant, but he had assigned Ryan a task that morning, and he rather enjoyed those trips, so he had not postponed it.
He found it amusing and kept on watching the boy. The young boy, who looked to be about five or six years had caught Jorge's attention for two reasons. The first was that the boy reminded him of himself as a child, and the second reason was that it was not the first time he had seen the child at that same place at a different time and also inside the facility where the boy stood out then.
He had a very clear idea of what the boy was doing there and in as much as it looked disheartening and maybe unfair to such a young child. It was not his business, or he tried not to make it his, and the world was not fair anyway.
The sins of fathers always follow their offspring, so whatever his parent had done had earned them a place in that facility. Of course, that was what he was just telling himself because Jorge Trimshaw knew perfectly well that both he and the boy were there to see one person! It was just that he had no legitimate claim to see her. But he wondered why the boy who had the legitimate claim could not see her.
Jorge had assigned Ryan the task mainly because he had wanted to come alone for the trip precisely because of this reason as well.
As Jorge opened the car door to step out, the boy's guardian approached hurriedly just then. The lady was heavily dressed for the weather as well. The young woman who approached the boy was smallish and with dark blond hair that peeked out of her beanie.
She moved with surprising swiftness, and despite her short legs, she was with the boy in an astonishingly short time.
She crouched by the boy with a stern look on her face.
"Collin? Why are you out here? I told you to wait for me in the warm waiting room! Who even let you out of there?" she looked around warily even though they were still in an enclosed outside environment, she was still worried.
Rather than responding to the woman, Collin asked, "Aunt Flora, can we try again? Maybe they will let us in to see mummy!"
Flora did not have the heart to say no to the boy, especially when she saw the tear stains that he had tried to clean unsuccessfully.
"Hmmmmm… I can't promise anything, Collin, but I will talk to that nice lady behind the desk once more. Would you like to come with me?"
Collin shook his tiny head, and Flora noticed some liveliness come back to his eyes. She knew. That it would be a futile effort, but she had to try for the child's sake.
Even she herself could not understand why they would not let them see her friend even though it was with the visiting hours. It was always one reason or the other. This would be the fifth time that they would be turned away, and she could see it take a toll on the boy.
"Don't go anywhere. I will be right back!" Flora placed two hand warmers in his hands, straightened up from her crouched position and made her way back to the then hurried back the same way she had come from earlier.
Collin stood staring after his aunt and then turned back to the tall fence after her back disappeared. It was as if he could see something beyond the tall walls because his eyes remained fixed up on it, and his head hung back a little.
Very soon, a shadow fell on him, making the boy turn to see who or what had approached.
*********
Thank you so much to all for your votes, reviews and comments! I hope we can keep it up ^_^