novelxo Chapter 1580
Monique wasn't married and had never held such a young child before. When Levi handed the child to her, she seemed to be a little helpless, but she could not refuse holding such an innocent and lovely baby. She clumsily took the child that Levi handed over, then carefully held her in her arms as she comforted her gently, "Baby, don't cry. Mommy and Daddy are with you. We can't bear to leave you alone!"
Monique was loud, boisterous, and always dressed androgynously in the army. This was the first time Levi had seen her so gentle. His gaze stayed on her face for a few seconds. Suddenly, deep within him, he felt that she had very delicate facial features. If she had dressed more femininely, she would have caught his attention...
Levi was shocked by his thoughts. He quickly shook his head hard to shake these thoughts that should not exist off.
Not only did the baby stop crying in Monique's embrace, she even laughed. She once again mumbled, "Mommy..."
Monique held the baby in her arms and showed her to Cecil. "Look Cecil, this baby is so cute. She smiled at me and called me Mommy."
Cecil said excitedly, "Monique, hand her over. I want to hold her too."
The child was fair and chubby, and very cute. Anyone who looked at her would want to bite her. Cecil also wanted to hug her, but when she touched the baby, the baby kicked her leg and cried, refusing to let her hold her.
Cecil exclaimed, "Oh, what's the matter? I didn't hurt you, baby..."
"Cecil, perhaps she's afraid of you as you're a stranger. Maybe it's best that you don't hold her..." Monique patted the child's back gently and coaxed the child. "Baby, I'm holding you. I won't pass you to anyone else. Don't cry anymore."
Cecil was speechless.
This was the first time any of them had met the baby!
"Why am I the stranger? And the baby even cried when I touched her! Alas, Monique could hold the baby for so long, and was even addressed as 'Mommy!" Cecil grumbled inwardly.
With Monique's comfort, the child miraculously stopped crying and pressed her face against Monique's arm. She seemed like a frightened child who found solace after being held by her mother... The child's instincts made Monique's heart soften. At the same moment, she made a decision in her heart that she would do her best to help take care of the child and become a part of her life. Hearing the child calling out to her parents made the senior couples burst into tears and break down once more.
The child's grandfather stayed relatively calm. Seeing that the baby had mistaken Levi and Monique for her parents, the man sighed. "My son and daughter-in-law had demanding jobs that needed them to work all year round. After the baby was a month old, her mother went back to work after her maternity leave and left us to take care of her. Since then, she spent very little time with her parents. This time, she did not see her parents for a month. So, she must have thought of you as her parents as her memory is still developing. Please don't mind her."
Levi and Monique said at the same time, "Why would we mind at all?! She's so adorable..."
The grandfather added, "If it wasn't for the fact that they missed their child too much, her parents wouldn't have left work and set out on the ship that night to travel back. If they had chosen to return the next day, they wouldn't have..."
As he spoke of this, the old man wiped at his tears again and sighed sorrowfully, "Perhaps this is fate. Our children were only destined to live until that day... Fortunately, they left the world together..."
Levi really wanted to give the old man a hug, but he knew that his hug would not help much. The only thing he could do was to help the senior couple raise the baby. "Misters, Madams, if you don't mind, we would like the baby to be our goddaughter, and we will take care of her together in the future"
Monique agreed to this suggestion. "Yes, if you agree, everyone here today is willing to become the child's godparents. We'll all protect her as she grows up!"
The elderly man was so emotional that his face was full of tears. He said, "Yes, yes, yes... She was harshly abandoned by her parents but there are still so many people who love her. She can still grow up healthily and happily like other children."
Levi and the others had initially come by today to show their respect to the families of the deceased, yet they returned home with additional titles as godparents!
However, Cecil was rather unhappy. On the way back, she glared at Monique and said, "Monique, we're good friends, aren't we? But why did the baby only call you Mommy, but not me?"
Every time she thought of the baby rejecting her, Cecil felt greatly displeased. "I want to hug her because she's really cute. She's still very lovable even when she cries. Even though I'm so excited about her, the baby won't even look at me."
Monique found it amusing that Cecil was jealous of the baby, and said, "You are her godmother already. Why are you still bothered by this?"
Grumbling unhappily, Cecil replied, "We went to see the baby together. Everyone wants to take good care of her, but she still didn't call me 'godmother'."
Someone joked, "Maybe the baby wants to call you 'godfather'."
Cecil glared at her discontentedly and said, "The baby didn't even mistake Monique for a man. So, how could she mistake me for a man?"
Monique understood exactly what Cecil meant. She put one hand on Cecil's shoulder and said, "Cecil..."
Cecil knew that she had said something wrong. She quickly changed her attitude and said, "Oh, I'm just joking. Don't take it seriously."
Levi said, "That's enough. We haven't seen the other families of the deceased, so let's not fool around."
Everyone calmed down and set off to visit the next family to continue to comfort the family members of the deceased.
Although everyone spent the remaining of their holiday with the families of the deceased, no one complained. Team members who resided in Chatterton Town or nearby did leave for a day to return home and reunite with their parents..