"Mommy!" the child ran to her side and she kneeled and embraced him tightly and carried him in her arms, as if she hasn"t seen him for a longest time. She felt like crying by just looking at him, but she averted her gaze from him to their mothers and was about to say something to them when Clifford suddenly spoke."Mom, aunt Rose, Dad and uncle John, wants you both inside the study room." Clifford said politely.
"Are you okay, dear?" Rose eyes were full of concern, Ingrid just nodded in response. Her throat aches as she holds her tears. Helen Briggs placed her hand on the Ingrid shoulders as if giving her some a.s.surance that everything will be alright.
"Thank you." She whispered. The two women then left them and went straight to the study room.
"Are you okay, mom? Did they say something unkind to you? Did they scold you?" Clark"s small hands cupped his mom"s face.
As Clifford watched them, his heart moved. How he wanted to embrace these two, but he restrained himself knowing that he still have no right to do it. Clark"s eyes moves to Clifford.
"Thank you for taking care of my mom, uncle Cliff." The child"s smile pierces through his heart.
"It"s an honor for me, Clark." Then he shifted his gaze to Ingrid. "Ingrid..." Clifford called her, Ingrid then looked at him, her gaze asking. "Can we... talk?"
Ingrid paused and nodded. "Only after I talked with, Clark, first."
"Okay. I"ll just wait for you." Clifford stood up and ruffled the child"s hair. "...listen carefully to your mom, alright?"
When Clifford left, Ingrid could not utter any single world for the reason that she doesn"t know what to say. The child just waited and stared at her, his eyes were so gentle.
"His eyes... they always remind me of Clifford"s. Why have I been evading that reality even up to now? Why is it so hard for me to accept it?" her heart aches at that thought.
"Mom...?" Clark gently caressed her face. "...what do you want to tell me?" she cleared her throat before speaking.
"Son, are you that eager to know who your father is, right?" the child nodded enthusiastically. "...it"s like this, later this evening, some people will get some samples from you and compare it with...." she paused for a while because a lump in her throat started to build up, she started to tear up. "....with uncle Clifford. If your DNA matches with his, only if, it means that he is your biological father."
The child did not react easily as he tried to understand what his mother is saying.
"It"s like a test to prove if you and Clifford are related as father and son." The child"s eyes glistens with excitement.
"Really? Wow! That is awesome! I am excited, mom!" he hugged his mother tightly. "Then, if he is my dad, will he live with us, too, right?" Ingrid was left speechless.
"I–I don"t know.."
"Oh, but I think you need to get married first, mom. And when you do, I will be the happiest in the whole wide world, mommy. It"s one of my birthday wish!"
Clifford did not go any far, he just hide himself somewhere that is not noticeable by the two at the same time that he could still eavesdrop with what they are talking or what will Ingrid will say to the child.
He only waited for the right timing to come back to their side. When he heard that Ingrid runs out of answers to the child"s seemingly endless questions, he went back.
"Are you two done talking?" Clifford suddenly barge in from nowhere.
Clark jumps from his mother"s clutch and went to him, in turn he carried him in his arms just like what Ingrid did. The child"s face gleams with so much happiness.
"Uncle Cliff, mom said something like a test to prove if you"re my dad. I am so excited. So that I can officially call you, dad!" the boy becomes more shameless now to declare his thoughts to Clifford.
"Is that so?" Clifford is amused.
He could not believe that it will only take minutes for Ingrid to explain to Clark about the DNA and the possibility of him being the father and even marriage.