legacy

Four

MORGAN'S POV:

"Okay Cole quit running around! You may hurt yourself." I yelled.

"Oh do leave the boy child alone." My dad said. "He took just after his grandfather." He said laughing as Cole fell, got up and continued running around with his pet dog.

"Who even had the idea of getting him a pet dog dad?" I asked my father as I watched my son chasing and falling and all over again, his laughter of milk and honey.

"Let him be princess." My dad said to me noticing my worry. "He is just a child of four. Let him enjoy his childhood."

He was right. Children should enjoy their childhood. "But just make sure that he doesn't get hurt." I said to my dad.

"Can't you count on your father, the famous Mr Rosewood?" He asked smiling at me.

"Who am I not to trust you." I said giggling, kissing him on the forehead. "Now I have to go find the other half." I said to my dad leaving the garden. "See what she's up to."

"No worries." He replied. "This young Rosewood, is in the good hands of the old Rosewood." This got the both of us laughing.

"Okay, okay." I said raising my hands up in surrender. "He is in good hands." I smiled and left the garden.

My father had always had a weird sense of humour. He totally saw himself in Cole. Infact, when he held him in his hands after I had put to bed, he called him Theodore Stefan Rosewood the second, believing he was his look alike.

Cole looked every inch like his father, who I had banished to the back of my mind. The only thing he took from my were my eyes.

I checked in Miranda's room but couldn't find her. She was asleep the last time I checked on her. Had she woken up and strolled off? I sighed.

How would a child of four wake up from sleep and stroll out of her room? I didn't remember having such audacity when I was four. Times really change.

"Miranda?" I called as I moved from room to room looking for her. As I moved through the hallways, every servant and maid I met bowed.

She wasn't in the play room, neither was she in my room.

"Miranda?" I kept calling her still looking in the rooms to see if she might have stroller into any of them.

As I passed the dinning room, I thought I saw a form that looked like her so I walked back. And there she was clinging unto the keg if Mr Vontrap as he dishes out orders to the butlers-in-the-making and to some of the servants.

There in all her innocence, was her father. Every day, I forced myself to forget him but each time I looked at Miranda, the memories come flooding back. The good times we spent together, our honeymoon, when we cooked together, ate together danced to our favourite music, our wedding. But all these memories always ended just as the reality ended.

I had succeeded in keeping him from my memories. I had forgotten about him. And I felt free.

I walked into the inning room to where she held onto Mr Vontrap's leg. Everyone stopped what they were doing and bowed to me.

"Mummy!!!" She squealed running towards me.

"Where have you been snowball? You had me worried." I said taking her in my arms.

"She woke up and walked out of the room just as I was passing by." Mr Vontrap said to me. "She has been with me the entire time." He concluded.

"Thank you." I said.

"Don't be worried about me mummy, I was safe with Uncle Vontwap." She said mispronouncing his name. She looked at him and smiled. "He is my nwait in shining armor." She said giving Mr Vontrap a thumbs up with her little thumb.

"I see." I said amused at the way she called knight. "He sure is your nwait in shining armor snowball." I said to her. "And aren't you a fast talker for a child of four?" I asked l rubbing my forehead with hers. "When mummy was this age, I couldn't even say my name." I said laughing.

"I know my name." She said to me.

"And what is it?" I asked.

"My name is Miwanda Yosewood." This made me tumble over in laughter. She was a fast learner and I loved that.

"Do you wanna go see grandpa?" I asked her.

"Well... No." She said toying with her fingers.

"Why snowball?" I asked her.

"Because Uncle Vontwap will miss me." She said looking at Mr Vontrap. "But gwandpa also misses me so I'll have to go see him." She said looking at me.

Said the resemblance she bore to Dante, this was the manifestation of my four year old self.

"I'll see you later Uncle Vontwap." She said to Mr Vontrap waving at him as we left the dinning room. He waved back at her smiling.

"Let's go." I said still carrying her in my arms.

"Where is gwandpa?" She asked me.

"He is in the garden with your brother."

"Okay." Was all she said till we got to the garden.

"Look who is here!" My dad exclaimed as soon as Miranda and I walked to the garden.

"Gwandpa!" She said running to him.

Cole had stopped causing his dog around as they now laid on the grass looking up at the clear skies as if they had a treasure in it.

"How are you beautiful?" He asked her.

"As stunning as ever." She said flipping her hair.

"Where did you learn to speak like that?" I asked surprised at her diction.

"The women in uniforms." She said to me.

The maids. She then left my dad and went to where Cole laid with his dog and whispered something to him. Cole looked at her eyes filled with surprise, and together, they got up and began chasing each other while I sat down on the seat with my dad.

"The Loveson family have invited us for their fundraiser next week.?" I said to him.

"Will you honour it?." He asked me.

"Of course I would." I replied looking at him. "It's the Lovesons." I said to him looking at the sky. "What?" I asked my dad when I noticed that he was still looking at me.

"Look at you bringing the family into seven times more profit than we have ever had." He said laughing.

"The latter generation sure is greater than the former." I said to him laughing too.

"I knew you would be such a great leader." He said to me. "It has always been in your blood right from when you were a child."

I knew where he was going. "Not down memory lane dad." I said turning my attention towards him.

"Come on Morgan." He said chuckling. "You dominated where ever you stepped in. It was always as if you became the boss wherever you entered."

"Okay that's enough." I said laughing going to join the kids in their world.

***

The fund raiser was abuzz with life. My dad and I had met the Lovesons. So I was alone roaming the fund raiser ground while Cole and Miranda were with my dad.

"Morgan?" I heard my name behind me, I turned...

Dante! Then the memories came flooding back.