WINTER:
Three Years Later…
“Come here, Liam,” I ordered to my three-year-old son. We were done taking our breakfast and were now strolling through the children’s park in the neighborhood. His attention was caught when a bird landed on the floor, staring down at him. “You’re not going to catch him, alright? The bird is only looking at the children.”
“Why does the bird have small eyes, Mommy?” he asked, his brows forming a straight line. “Why do his eyes don’t look like mine?”
I chuckled while looking for some answers in my mind. I really did not know why.
“Ahm…God designed him that way. Come on, now.”
At three years old, Liam can talk now and can form sentences. He was chatty like her father and the resemblance between them was uncanny. Seeing him was like seeing my ex-husband.
Calcifer and I had never met again and I believed that was for the best. I did not want him to approach me because the reason was our child.
I sighed as I watched him continue staring at the bird, his curiosity never running down.
Liam was one of the best blessings I had received from the heavens. I would trade anything in my life just to make him stay by my side. Forever.
Dad was furious at first upon knowing about the divorce, but when he found out about my pregnancy, his hatred dissipated, and was helping me with the pregnancy.
Thanks also to my investment in our company, I was able to raise my child well and in comfort without my Daddy’s financial help even if he kept on insisting that he wanted to pamper his grandson.
I appreciated Daddy, but I wanted to raise Liam as my own, without asking for anyone’s help.
He stepped forward, chasing the bird away.
He pouted. “He is scared of me, Mommy. Why is that?”
My heart fell for him. Such a cutie.
“The bird does not want to be held, Liam. He wanted to remain free.” Just like your Dad.
The only Dad that Liam knew was my own father and I was thankful he never asked about his biological father and was still a baby to inquire about such things.
Instead of running towards me, he exclaimed, “Mommy!” He pointed at the slide where a lot of children were playing. “I want to play!” he grumbled, both of his little fingers on his hip.
“I know, sweetie. But it's getting hotter. Why don’t we rest for a moment?” I suggested.
We had been here for half an hour already and my child had no plans of stopping any moment, yet.
“No, Mommy,” she said, with a stubborn look in his eyes. He reminded me so much of my ex-husband. How could I forget him if there was Liam? “Play. I want. Play.”
My stomach churned.
The fire in his eyes reminded me so much of Calcifer. No. Everything reminded him so much of him since he was an exact replica of him. He took her curly hair which she took from her Calcifer’s side. All of my family did not have curly hair, but Calcifer’s mother had.
“Sweetie. Mommy is tired. Can we sit for a moment?”
Liam’s eyes shifted back to me and the slide and understanding flashed in her eyes. “You are tired, Mommy?” He ran towards me and engulfed my legs with a hug. “Liam chase away your tiredness, Mommy.”
I patted his back. I will not escape from the pain of my divorce without him by my side.
He lifted his gaze and stared at me. “Play later, Mommy?”
“Yes, sweetie. We will play. Later. Hold Mommy’s hand.” I extended my hand, and he smiled widely. Grabbing her hand, we walked towards the benches beside the mango trees and stayed there for a moment while I lifted him and put him on my lap.
“I like sitting on Mommy’s lap,” he commented, grinning from ear to ear.
“I like it too, Liam.”
In the parking lot, our bodyguard was waiting for us. I hired him when I was nearly kidnapped before. I noticed that after Calcifer’s disappearance in my life, there were a lot of strangers tailing me. I did not think it was my imagination. It was more than the truth.
Someone was out there wanting to ask for ransom and now that I had a son, the chances of endangering my son’s life were getting higher.
“Mommy, look! That’s Uncle Hawk!” he exclaimed while pointing at Hawk, my bodyguard, putting a cigarette in his mouth, but not lighting it. It was forbidden to smoke in places like this. “Uncle Hawk is smoking. Bad Uncle Hawk.”
I forced a chuckle.
“He is only putting it in his mouth, Liam.”
Liam shook his head. “Smoking is bad. Papi said so.” He was referring to my Dad. “Uncle Hawk! Uncle Hawk!” he called while motioning him to approach us.
Hawk jogged towards us.
“Miss Winter. Liam.”
I smiled at him. Hawk had been my security guard for three years now. And aside from smoking, there was nothing undesirable about him.
Liam pointed at the cigarette in his mouth. “That’s bad!”
“Liam…”
As if reminded, Hawk hid his cigarette. “Sorry, Liam. Uncle Hawk forgot about it.”
Liam waved his hand in front of his chest. “That’s bad, Uncle Hawk.”
Hawk ruffled my son’s hair. “Uncle Hawk already asked for forgiveness, pretty boy.”
“I’m not pretty. I am handsome, Uncle Liam.”
“You sure are,” the man replied while looking at me.
I smiled at him and his cheeks went red. I chuckled mentally. Hawk was brave, but sometimes, he was such a shy boy. He saved me when someone wanted to kidnap me, found out he knew some self-defense, and asked to hire him himself.
He was one of the best things that happened to me. Not romantically.
“Mommy. Liam wants Uncle Hawk,” Liam announced about Hawk, my bodyguard.
“You no longer want to play?”
Liam shook his head. “I want Uncle.” He jumped out of my lap and ran towards the man. Then, he grabbed Hawk’s hands, but when he did not budge, he left him, and was about to run toward the slide.
“Hey! Liam. Wait for Mommy!”
I gasped when someone bumped into him, causing him to fall.
“Liam!” I exclaimed, my heart racing.
The poor child cried when his butt fell on the floor.
With my heart on my sleeve, I ran towards Liam and so did Hawk. In the corner of my eyes, Hawk was also rushing towards my son.
“I’m so sorry, little one. I did not see you there,” exclaimed the deep voice.
My heart skipped a bit upon seeing him holding my child—Calcifer.
WINTER:My mouth fell open as I continued staring at my husband. Calcifer. He was as handsome as ever. The curls in his hair reminded me of the waves on the ocean rushing towards the shore. Just like my pretty Liam. My heart clenched as the memories of our marriage rushed through my mind. And our last meeting. The signing of the divorce papers. Was he happy now? Maybe because there was no longer the woman who was giving him a hard time.Did he still remember how he hurt me? Did he still remember how he was cruel by giving up on me? If I did not stop Dad, Calcifer would be dead by now. Out of his anger, he nearly ordered someone to kill Calcifer. It was evil, of course, but I could not blame Dad.Despite what had happened to our marriage, I did not want anything to happen to him. I wanted to focus on the things when we were still happy and how good he was to me. I was brought out of my shock and rushed to my crying son.The man. No. Calcifer was stunned for a moment realizing it w
WINTER:My heart thumped wildly against my ribcage. I should not be listening to my ex-husband now and turned my back. He was already part of my past and that I was no longer to return to it. But what was this little part of me that wanted to listen to him?Am I that foolish that I was seriously considering listening to him?“Pumpkin…” He grabbed my hand and as if burned at the touch, I slapped it away. Calcifer looked at me with pain in his eyes. You're not going to fall for those crocodile tears, Winter. Don't you ever dare try!I pulled myself together and laughed at him. “Are you getting poor?”His forehead knotted. “Poor? No, pumpkin—”“Liar!” I spat while my knuckles turned white. “You're only saying this because you're losing your money. You want me back? Really? How come you never looked for me or attempted to look for me during those three years?”He heaved a sigh. “I did. But you were nowhere to be found. You went abroad.”Well, that was true. I did and gave birth there
WINTER:I was glad I never fell on my ex-husband’s scheme. He wanted me back and Liam even after he had a child on his own? What a tough face. Had he no shame? What about Carmela?What if it was not his child? What if he was only babysitting that child?Say for example if that was the case. But then, he could hire someone to do it for him. As much as I knew, his company had prospered a lot and all businessmen were always after him.I mentally shook my head.Why would I let him confuse me again? Calcifer had already done great damage in my life and ruining it again for the second time was already foolishness.We had long gone to the children’s park, but my mind was left to Calcifer. Hawk was eyeing me every once and again, wanting to ask something, which he contemplated if he would pursue or not. He never knew anything of my past except Ynes. Sometimes, the two would talk and I had a feeling that Ynes had already given him snippets of my past. Ynes could blurt out some things which h
WINTER: I played with my hands on my lap. “M-Miss Winter, we never talked about that.” Hawk’s face went red. He was not used to this kind of thing. “I’m only your bodyguard. Not your pretend fiancé.” “I’m so sorry, Hawk. But please bear with me. Until my ex-husband stopped pestering me.” He shook his head. “He will never stop, Miss Winter. He still wants you.” “Why would he do that when he already has a child?” “I don’t know. But I cannot promise anything to you, Miss Winter. Pretending to be your fiancé might be a little difficult, but if it’s what you want, I will try.” “Thank you,” I said. A couple of minutes passed and Hawk finally pulled over in Dad’s mansion. He hurried outside and opened the door beside me and opened it. “I’ll carry Liam for you.” I nodded, stepped out of the car, and waited for Hawk. In a matter of seconds, he was already carrying my son, and together we entered the mansion. Daddy was already waiting for the three of us. Given his old age, he was s
WINTER:Why are all of my loved ones either going to die or dead? It made me think that I did not deserve to be loved. That sooner or later, they will be taken away from me. Am I that bad?Dad's expression froze seeing the tears that were trying to come out in my eyes.“Winter…I should have kept silent about this. Taking care of Liam is already hard enough. I don't want to be a burden to you.”“A burden? Stop that! You will never be a burden to me.”Why did it have to be Dad? He was the best Dad. He had given me all the love that he could give and protected me from everything. “I will take care of you like how I take care of Liam.”My heart continued to bleed like crazy, stood and closed the distance between us and engulfed him with a hug. Now that I realized it, Dad was already losing a lot of weight. I was so focused on Liam that I never realized he was also in pain too. That he was suffering from cancer. Guilt washed over me and felt like I was the worst daughter. “I don't expe
WINTER:The first thing that entered my mind when Dad asked me to give my ex-husband a chance was a blatant refusal in my head. I meant why would he do that? He knew firsthand how I suffered. I did not understand at first why he would ask such things when he knew for a fact that my ex-husband had hurt me.You did not listen to what he said? He wanted you to have someone when he died. But before I could blurt them out loud, I saw how he was expecting this.It was a dying man's old wish, my mind softly said. Can you say no to your Dad's wish?“What if I don't want him to give me a chance?” I asked quietly. Can I be civil with my ex-husband and not kill him in my mind? Seeing him always reminded me of his betrayal. And there was his daughter. The child had nothing to do with the sin…but still, I could not help but feel the pain mixed with anguish. How could Calcifer betray me like this?Hawk was about to say something but stopped himself. What could it be? Dad's face fell. “If that'
WINTER:My heart bled hearing my son beg for me. I did not like hearing any of it. It was painful on my part since I was not looking for someone's love. “Liam…that's not love. When you live with someone, you don't beg them to stay in your life. you set them free,” I explain. Just like what I did to your dad, I wanted to say but stopped myself otherwise.“I don't understand, Mommy.”I smiled at him and ruffled his hair. It was better that he could not yet understand right now. If he did, he would ask me a lot of questions about his real Dad and why we got separated, and many more. It was not the right time to tell him what happened. Calcifer might have left me, but I did not want Liam to hate his Dad. So you're the only one who is allowed to hate your ex-husband? the other part of my mind asked. “You might not understand for now, but you will someday. “How come Uncle Hawk doesn't love you? I love you, Mommy. Aunt Ynes loves you. Papi loves you and Uncle Hawk did not? He is bad.”Le
WINTER:I get that not everyone liked the idea of me talking back to Calcifer, but I also did not expect the same words to come from Hawk. For a couple of three years, he never involved himself in my personal life since there was a clear boundary between work and my private life. But now...it seemed that there was a shift in him. What made him change? What made him involved?I crossed my legs and leaned on my seat. "And why is that?"He averted his gaze. "Your ex-husband...he does not deserve you and Liam."And who deserved us?I raised my eyebrows. "Do you hear what you said, Hawk?"He shook his head. "I...I ... don't like him for you."I stared at him in disbelief and laughed. "You don't like him? Since when did you care?""Miss Winter...I...I can act as Liam's Dad if you want. The kid wanted me. I can pretend that I am your finance for real if it’s for the sake of you and Liam. I don’t want that man after what he did to you."I did not regret hiring him. He was one of the best dec