The birthday baby
Gone were the charming smiles, playful kisses, and easiness. As the plane touched ground with the runway my nerves spiked up, nearly shooting through me. Lucas was just as uneasy but he was doing a better job than me.
By the time we arrived at the estate, I had already imagined all the worst-case scenarios possible.
It didn't help that no one was picking up the phone.
So yes, I was going crazy. I followed Lucas's lead as he burst past the large french doors, expecting to see anything except Robin waiting in the lobby for us.
"Where are they?" Lucas asked, not bothering to go through any pleasantries with his brother.
"Mia took them out," Robin explained, looking just as jittery, "there's a fare in town today."
"And you let them go?" It was the first time Lucas had been anything close to pissed since we left the island.
I placed a hand on his shoulder, rubbing gently.
"I'm sorry I didn't know it was in my place to tell them that your psycho ex-wife was on the loose again."
"Robin!" Lucas warned.
Ignoring his brother's outrage, Robin turned to me, "Hey Christine, I'm sorry your getaway had to be cut short by this," with a glare at Lucas he added, "even though I made it clear to my brother there was really nothing to worry about."
I shared a confused look between them, "but there was a security breach right?"
"A trespassing rabbit tripped the alarm system on the fence, I would have explained that if Lucas had given me the chance to, again I'm sorry."
"It's alright, I just need to know the kids and everyone is safe here."
Robin glanced at his watch and then back at me, "you'll be finding out in an hour."
"That's enough time," Lucas spoke, "I want to see the security footage in the last 42 hours."
"Man I told you it was nothing important." Robin sighed.
"A mysterious rabbit sets off the alarm me day Sarah gets released?" he scoffed, "I don't believe in such coincidences."
"Alright if it'll put you at ease..." Robin shrugged, leading the way further down the lobby.
"I'll unpack our suitcases," I said, making a beeline for the stairs.
"No, please pack the kid's suitcases instead." Lucas stopped me, "no matter the outcome of the footage, we're going back home tomorrow."
I did not completely agree with Lucas at this point, but I knew he was only being a worried dad.
Thankfully, Robin spoke before I could utter a protest, "Dude, relax.
My daughter is here too and if I had the slightest feeling that it was unsafe for the kids here, we'd been on the flight back home yesterday.
For all, we know Sarah is too busy thinking of getting a good lawyer for her case. "
"For all, we know she's probably plotting her revenge for having her thrown in jail."
The sun had already started to set when the kids returned about an hour later.
I left the rest of the packing to the help Lucas had sent to join me.
Relief swirled in my heart as I heard their playful cries bouncing off the walls with every step they took closer.
I could make out from their conversation that they had gotten new toys.
It took a moment before they noticed me standing at the foot of the stairs.
"Chris!" they echoed together in an excited squeal, their carnival painted faces expressing their surprise.
Crouching down, I spread my arms open wide as they ran to me. I gathered them in my arms, holding them close and breathing in their familiar scent though a little obscured by the scent of paint.
"Oh, my babies!" I cried, covering their heads and faces with kisses, "I missed you both so much."
"What are you doing here?" Lilian asked as she walked in next to Mia who was holding Zoey.
"Oh God, I thought we sent you away for three days." Mia chuckled, leaving Zoey's hand so she could run to me too.
"She just couldn't stay away from us that long," an amused Lilian said, her face also painted in beautiful colors.
"She loves us that much,"
Biting back a laugh, I shook my head at their version of a welcome home, "It's good to see you too Mia and Lilian. Yes, I missed you both too."
I turned to Zoey, who had been doing her usual babbles all the while. Her own mask was a little twisted with the paint spread rather unevenly across her face. "Hey princess," I wiped some off her lips, "what did they do with your face princess."
Lilian handed me a handkerchief with a sigh, "Apart from the fact that she wouldn't sit still through it, she smeared the little they could do off with her hands."
"Chris see I have a butterfly on my face," Abby giggled, pointing to the imprint on her face. "We had masks at the fare."
"It's beautiful baby."
"Chris look at mine, It's a tiger." Aiden chipped in, hopping happily.
"Very lovely darling, I have never seen such a beautiful tiger." I chuckled.
Lucas strolled in with Robin following behind him.
The kids had not yet noticed his presence as they were busy talking about their day.
It was amazing to see how his face morphed into a big smile at the sight of the kids.
"Where are my twins?" he asked, tucking his amusement and announcing his presence.
"Daddy!" the twins screeched, tumbling over themselves as they fought for who was getting in his arms first.
He got on one knee, accessing their faces as they halted in front of him, waiting to be picked up by him. But he didn't, instead, he rubbed his chin, feigning ignorance, "Oh and who are you two if I may ask?"
"Daddy," Abby planted a hand on her hips, gesturing with her other hand, "It's Abby, you just don't know it's us because we have masks on our faces."
"Is it?" his eyes widened in mock surprise and I shook my head in amusement. "So are you really my princess." she nodded, he turned to Aiden who was not buying his act but was laughing anyway, "oh so that must mean, this is my buddy,"
They both nodded with a cheeky smile. "Oh in that case," as he always did, he got to his feet, and picked them both, each in one arm. He sang how much he missed them, kissing their necks as their happy cries echoed through everyone's ears. I fell in love with him again right on the spot.
"How are my favorite twins on the planet doing?" he asked, turning his attention to Zoey who had her usual reaction every time she saw her uncle, "and of course, how can I forget my little angel."
"Daddy we went to the carnival." Abby rattled, clinging on to him. Aiden the not-so-clingy one was already back on his feet, giving room for Zoey. "it was so much fun and see I got a gift." she held out a small toy I had not noticed in her hand. It was a locket with a butterfly inside.
As Lucas examined their presents, the help I had been working with within the kid's room approached us. "Miss Christine, the bags are packed."
"Bags?" Mia asked, her eyes bouncing between me and the woman.
Shit, I hadn't gotten the time to inform them of the recent development.
"Who's packing, aren't you supposed to be unpacking?" Lilian looked just as confused.
"We're leaving," Lucas bailed me out before I got a chance to speak.
"But you only just returned," Lilan spoke.
"I meant all of us, we're going back Diego."
"What?" Mia asked, her eyes searching mine for an explanation but all I could offer was an apologetic look. "why we've barely spent a week here?"
"We're leaving because we have to," Lucas said with an authoritative tone he barely ever used on his family.
"Oh no we don't," Lilan spoke, clearly upset at the sudden change of plans, "Did something happen?" she looked between Lucas and Robin, waiting for an answer.
Robin stepped forward but Lucas beat him to it, "Nothing happened,"
"Good, then we are not leaving Milan yet, at least not until we have one week."
Raking his hand through his hair, he gave a tired sigh, "Lilian we may not have till the end of this week."
When she spoke, it was in a tone had never heard before, "then you figure it out," glaring at Robin she added, "both of you because Zoey's third birthday is only two days away and I already made plans to have it here."
Lucas's surprised expression mirrored mine, "shit, I totally forgot about that."
Robin moved closer to her, attempting to talk her into agreeing but she held a hand up, stopping him, "you know I really wanted to do this here, why would you even agree with him to leave now?"
"Lils the situation is really urgent, that's why we have to leave," Robin explained and I realized I might not like the outcome of Lucas's second check on the footage.
"Then why won't you guys just tell us?" Mia threw her hands up, then looked my way, "Chris?"
"She doesn't know about it either and I do not intend on telling anyone." Lucas said, "But for Zoey, I'm sure we can make arrangements to stay a few more days."
Lilian still seemed unsatisfied by his answer, but probably decided it was best to drop the topic now. Striding across the room, she took Zoey from Lucas and simply said, "Good," before going up the stairs.
"Well that went well," Robin ran his hands over his face, sighing she looked heavenwards. "I'll go talk to her," he said following his wife's trail up the stairs.
"Are you both going to tell me why you're back so early and making these sudden plans?" Mia folded her arms across her chest, waiting for an answer.
I chewed my lips, waiting for Lucas to speak first, but as he shoved his hands in his pocket looking away, I realized he was not going to say anything.
With no reply to her question, Mia scoffed, rolling her eyes as she also left, taking Abby and Aiden who were too busy fawning over their new presents to even care about the tension in the room.
With everyone gone, leaving just Lucas and me, I could finally see the stress lines already beginning to form on his forehead. Striding to the bar, he poured himself a glass of an amber liquid and took a quick swig.
"I hate upsetting them like that," he said as I stood next to him.
"I know, they'll come around once they see why you're doing this." I paused, carefully waiting a few seconds before asking, "what did you find with the footage?"
He sighed, "the rabbit was dead."
"Oh," I said not sure what that meant.
"Someone threw it into the premises."
This time I gave a more shocked, "Oh!"
"Which means we should be on the first flight out of here now." another tired sigh, "I can't believe I forgot it was Zoey's birthday week."
"I didn't even know it was Zoey's birthday week, but we have to figure something out. Lilian didn't seem too happy."
"I'll figure it out," he said, reminding me that it was his job to look after me.
But I could not just sit by and let him handle the overwhelming job of keeping Sarah away. "What can I do to help?"
"Well since you're the sweetest person I know, maybe you can help make my siblings hate me a little less?"
"Oh Lucas," I wrapped my hands around him in a hug "they don't hate you. They're just upset at the whole situation."
"That only makes me feel a little better," he murmured.
"Maybe some rest would help," I released him, and ran my hand down his chin. "You barely had a shut-eye through the flight here."
"I need to discuss a few things with Robin first, but I'll be with you once I'm done."
"I'll wait for you," I left a chaste kiss on his lips before heading upstairs.
I knew just the place to find Lilian, it was not that hard though, seeing as Zoey's cries led me to her. Robing had joined Lucas and now it was just her, sitting on the bed and rocking the eager to be awake toddler to sleep.
"Hey," I said, chuckling at the struggle between mother and daughter.
"She won't sleep," Lilian cried in frustration. "and she won't stop crying."
"Here, let me try," I offered, holding my hand out. With a hesitant look, she handed her over.
"Kwis!" Zoey giggled her version of my name, bouncing happily in my arms.
"Hey beautiful," I said wiping the tears off her eyes, "are we giving mommy a hard time?"
As she babbled off her answer, I placed her against my shoulder, nodding and hmming to what she was saying. Lilian strolled to the open balcony and I followed behind her.
"I cannot wait to hear her say actual words," Lian said with a sigh, leaning on the railing.
"Well I cannot believe this little princess here will be three already," I tweaked her nose and gave her an Eskimo kiss that only seemed to make her scream excitedly.
I mouthed a sorry to Lilian, knowing I was supposed to be putting her in a sleep mood not making her more excited.
"No it's fine," she waved it off, "I know she wasn't going to sleep yet anyway, not after today's activities."
A beat of silence passed as Zoey diverted her attention to my hair, pulling the curls. Lilian had her focus on the large space of land in front of us but I could tell she was thinking about something else.
"Lils, I'm so sorry about this afternoon."
"It wasn't your fault," she turned to me, "you weren't the one being a dick ." she clamped her mouth shut as her eyes drifted to Zoey.
I gave her a knowing smile, thankful that the toddler was too busy with my hair, considering her mimicking streaks it was still a close call. "You know he does not mean to be a 'you know what' for no reason."
"'Well he can at least share it with us, I'm not just going to pack up and cut my stay short without knowing the reason. I mean that's why we're family, to figure shit out, together." her eyes narrowed at me, "do you know what's going on?"
My silence gave her the answer she needed and I wished I didn't have to lie to them or hide things from her.
"Then I respect your choice to keep it," she said after a second, " but I think I have some right to be mad at Lucas, at least until morning."
"So you'll talk to him in the morning?"
"Of course, I don't intend to spend the rest of my time here carrying the weight of grudges. It's too beautiful out here for that."
I looked out to the fields before us, but could only really see the green-blue of the water back at the island. "Yes, it is beautiful here. So tell me about Zoey's birthday."
Her face lit up at the change of topic and she turned her attention to watch her daughter with the genuine love of a mother.
"I just want the 18th of this month to be perfect for my little angel.
I want to relive that joy I received the day I got the honor of bringing this bundle of joy into this world. "
"I'm sure it will be, with everyone that loves her present and around her, it can't be anything less than a perfect week for her."
"I wish Calvin and Martha would make it." she said with a sad smile. "the family dinner would be complete that way."
Considering the unrest right now, I was sure Lucas would never agree to that. "Good thing I have a super cool camera so they can see the amazing pictures."
"Well thank you," she chuckled, "now I don't have to spend a fortune hiring a photographer."
"Oh don't get too excited yet ma'am, my fees are quite expensive." I teased.
"I'm sure we can work around that."
As we shared a much-needed laugh, a thought crossed my mind and I froze trying to wrap my mind around it. It couldn't be possible that in the middle of all the activities of the past few weeks, I had forgotten something so important.
Clearing my throat softly, I gave Lilian a nervous smile, "You didn't say 18th did you?"
"I did. Zoey's birthday is the 18th of October. What's wrong?"
"Nothing," I forced a smile, swallowing hard, "nothing at all." Only Everything.