crossing over

Chapter XVIII

The scrooching heat was cancelled by the cool breeze flowing past him. He closes his eyes and lets the breeze calm his reckless nerves. Edward Robinson was standing at the lake side, feeling the voices of the surrounding ring in his ears.

A giggle falls on his eardrums and opening his eyes, he whips his head in the direction, a bleak smile graces his lips when the day flashes across his mind.

They just had come back from their town side trip when Anna goes to the kitchen while Edward sprawls on the couch in the living room. Anna comes to the room and sits beside him, handing Edward his glass of water.

Gulping down the contents, a long sigh slips past his lips. A dull second skips by and the door to the front of the house opens with a loud bang. Jeremy walks in and in his arms he was cradling a tiny human wrapped up in a baby blanket.

Shock, the elderly couple stand up straight and Anna was quick to be in front of a Jeremy who was panting harshly. "Jeremy, what happened and what..." words were stuck in Anna's mouth when her eyes take in the tiny human Jeremy was cradling so dearly to his arms.

The gears inside Jeremy's head were running faster than ever, the threats, Julia's words and that little human- his niece-'s face spins in his head.

Anna's gasp had made Edward's spine straight and when he sees the reason for the gasp, his eyes widen. "is this...", yet again words were stuck. Jeremy nods, "Hailey Enna Robinson", he says.

The reason Jeremy lied to his parents about his goddaughter's second name was simple yet not so simple because according to him if Hailey roams around with that second name, people were bound to come after her as his sister had claimed and to mark his niece safe from threats -he thought- this was a better option than revealing the truth and dragging everyone in the tunnel of danger.

Anna had tears in her eyes; she extends her hands and holds the tiny human in her hands. "Hailey", she calls out but the owner of the name was sleeping soundly, in her dreams where her mother was buying her strawberries and her father had got those chocolates she likes.

Edward's mouth opens to ask about his daughter but Jeremy raises his hand and says, "before you say anything, Julia could possibly in danger."

Jeremy grabs his father's shoulders and shakes his gently, as if shaking him to see the reality, "Dad, I am going to bring Julia back, meanwhile please take of Hailey." Anna stops mid-cradling and asks, "what is wrong here Jeremy?"

"All I know is that Julia is in some danger and asked me to take Hailey home" and he narrates Hailey's birth, Julia's words and almost everything -but skipped about the father- to his parents. One could say that amusement combined with worry graces the elder couples face yet they maintain their calm when Jeremy asks them to do so.

"I'll go with you", Edward announces to Jeremy to which Jeremy shakes his head, "no dad, do it for Julia, she would never approve of this, please for Julia you have to take care of Hailey until she comes back."

A heated argument between son and father wakes up the grandkid that was soundly sleeping in her grandmother's arms. All the head snaps in the direction of the small wail let out by little Hailey. Jeremy takes this opportunity and slips under his father's eyes.

Edward lets out a sigh, more specifically a defeated sigh.

He goes to his wife who was calming a wailing little Hailey down. When his eyes finally study Hailey, a huge smile graces his lips remembering how Julia looked exactly same when she was a new born. He takes the baby from his wife's hold and sings lightly, whistles buying his wife time to bring a bottle of baby food.

Anna feeds the baby and after the food, the baby goes back to sleep. Edward refused to put the tiny human in the cradle and was gently rocking her in his arms. They wait for hours but the hours turn into a day until a knock on the door makes them sigh in relief which turns out to be temporary.

The policeman and the medical agent broke the news and the couple shatters. Their first borns- the twins were gone. Anna was holding Hailey closer and tighter to her chest. A medical officer eyes Anna and Hailey when Anna remembers Jeremy's words. In a span of minute, the smart woman Annaliese Robinson was had convinced his husband and his other son to lie to the world about the existence of Hailey.

Edward Robinson managed to wipe out Julia's medical record from hospital and allowed the world to tail on the assumption about Hailey being dead. A lot of money but he had set all clear to them, to world, Julia Eleanor Robinson's baby never made it alive.

The next thing they knew was they were standing on the cemetery ground, waiting for the twins to be buried together in the same coffin, they came together, they leave together. Annaliese Robinson had fooled the world into thinking that they were burying the little human alongside Julia, warped in a tiny blanket and the world bought it, and so did Lucien Marco Romano.

Lucien was here to pay the last respects to his elder son's wife from afar but when his eyes saw Annaliese placing a blanket, a smaller one, his heart felt at his ankle. He came to find out a hope- a last hope for his son's sanity but it seemed that it was to be buried with his daughter-in-law.

Annaliese was quite sure that if Jeremy's words to be true they were going to have eyes on them at funeral. She sniffed her last tears and promised her kids to protect Hailey until she can and so did Edward Robinson.

The Robinsons played their part quite amusingly, but little did they knew that they succeeded in hiding the heir of the most dangerous mafia don of the country in plain disguise.

A laugh breaks Edward Robinson from his painful flashback and he genuinely smiles when he sees that a 5 year Hailey was having fun at the small picnic they were having- him, his wife and his grandkid.

Hailey giggled when a butterfly sat on her nose, her little fingers reach out to catch the butterfly by its wings but the insect flew. On her little legs, she ran to catch the winged creature but gave up when the butterfly took off to some direction above water. Now, she was standing near her grandfather who picks her up with much struggle underlying his older age.

Edward stayed true to his words and took the utmost required care of Hailey- as he had promised his kids. He had made arrangements, legal and sentimental as well to tie Hailey's future and her safety.

Lucien saw his son and a 6 year old grandson play ball in the garden of the mansion and a smile graced his lips. Deep down he knew, he would never be able to pull out his son from the pit of sorrow but who else knew better than him that the grief was the only thing that keeps him to leave the gates of life. Xavier and Lucien had agreed on never telling Lucas the truth about his birth and somehow nature had played it's part well then enough.

Years passed by, old age was starting to cower over Lucien but he had convinced himself about finding closure by watching Lucas grow up and Xavier staying by his side through all those thicks and thins.

But fate had an insane way to run in circles and bring back people to their origins because Edward's son had some plans in his head and Hailey unknowingly had a major role to play.