Chapter Six

Eve stopped dead cold in her tracks. So here they were, finally, face to face with the great Alistair Crane… the same man who separated her from the man she loved and loves all those years ago, and the same man who kidnapped her baby boy. It was all Eve could do not to just go crazy and try to beat the hell out of him! She stood calm, looking at Julian, wondering how will he handle it, this time.

Julian stiffened. “Father,” he nodded curtly.

Alistair proceeded to walk towards Eve’s direction, circling her while rubbing his chin. Finally, he stopped and stood in front of her. “Well, well, well… so what do we have here?” Alistair sneered. “My son and the black whore of Harmony…”

He shot daggers at Julian. “I told you to stay away from her!” Alistair growled lowly.

Julian then wrapped his arm around Eve’s waist in a possessive gesture that was very reminiscent to Alistair of his own mannerisms. Like father, like son. But while the gesture annoyed Alistair a great deal, it wasn’t what really held his attention. His sharp brown eyes surveyed the woman his son had his arm around. She was a pretty thing, Alistair conceded, but not nearly beautiful enough for his son. So what was her appeal?

“This is Eve Russell, soon to be Mrs. Julian Crane,” Julian declared, pride evident in his voice.

“WHAT! Julian, I NEVER –“

But Eve didn’t finish her question when Julian’s pleading eyes begged for her to play along. “Here we go again,” she sighed.

“I’ve asked her to marry me, and she’s given me the honour of accepting me. She’s a brilliant doctor, as you know, father, and I know that she can make you proud. She already cleaned up her life all those years ago, and she isn’t the same blues singer as you come to know. And I love everything about her. I love her.”

“And I love him,” Eve echoed, relieved that perhaps this time, finally, Alistair could be one less obstacle for her and Julian to be together again. She seriously doubted it would happen, but it wouldn’t hurt to hope, would it? “Very much.”

Alistair dismissed her by shifting his gaze toward his son, HIS heir. “And you have asked this… woman… to be your wife, Julian Crane?”

“Yes, I have father,” Julian answered steadily, not backing down on bit. “I want to marry her. I love her.”

‘She is a local!” Alistair roared. “A woman of colour! In a thousand years and beyond, our bloodline has remained one of the purest of all the bloodlines and yet now my son… and heir… wants to defile the Crane name by marrying a black woman?!”

“I do,” Julian stated firmly, his hazelnut eyes gazing unblinkingly into his father’s furious storm. “There is no woman I want to call my wife other than her. You should understand, father,” he growled lowly, “when you defied my grandfather to marry Katherine. Everyone knows that you were supposed to marry her older sister, Rachel! The joining of two great families through the heirs. And yet, you chose my mother. Would you take that choice from me? Would you, father?”

Alistair stood in shock. Whatever he expected his son to say, it was certainly not this. How dare he? He seethed. How dare he bring Katherine into this!

“This is different!”

“How is this different?” Julian cried out. “How?”

“I will not allow you to taint the Crane name by marrying this arsonist!” Alistair sneered. “I at least married within my social rank and within the true bloodlines. What you are doing, Julian Crane, goes against everything the Cranes have stood for in our centuries of existence! I will not allow this atrocity to occur. Do you understand me? You can keep this so-called “love” of yours for a mistress, a plaything, as your whore if you want, but she will NEVER be your wife.”

Julian tightened his arms around Eve, desperate now to keep her next to him. But she had heard enough. She had heard enough of his father abusing her verbally! And Julian wasn’t even speaking up for her! Tears filled her eyes and she bit her tongue to hold them back. She wouldn’t cry. She didn’t dare cry in front of them! But if she didn’t leave now, she was afraid that she would. Jerking away from Julian’s embrace violently, she ran like she’d never run before. She just HAD to get away.

Silence. Deep, unforgivable silence filled the room. The look of hatred on Julian’s face as he glared at his father crushed Alistair. Alistair knew he shouldn’t care what Julian feels, but why does he? Alistair broke the silence. “Well, now that the tramp’s gone, why don’t we get down to business?” he cackled.

Anger stirred inside Julian. He never felt anything like it, not even when his father had disinherited him during the prom boat incident and then he went after Ivy. The level of fury Julian felt surprised even himself, and it was more than apparent to Alistair what Julian would do next to him. “Like what, Father, like trying to stay alive?” Julian advanced forward. “Because I swear to you, that’s all YOU’LL be doing tonight.”

Before he could do anything, Julian sprung at Alistair and started to strangle him, choking mercilessly, not caring whether his father lived to tell the tale or not. His hands grappled Alistair’s neck, and it wasn’t until finally, Alistair’s bodyguards jumped and pulled Julian away from him. “That’s enough from you!” they hissed.

Alistair sputtered, gasping for air.

Julian struggled as tried to release himself away from his father’s so-called “bodyguards”, but failed miserably. “How dare you! How could you?” he cried out agonizingly. “How could you say that to the woman I love?”

“I can say whatever I damned please,” Alistair said coolly, ignoring the pain that seared through his neck. “And you WILL marry Rebecca Hotchkiss tomorrow, Julian, or ELSE.”

“Or else what, Father? What?” Julian hissed. “I WON’T!” he spat.

“You will, if you really do love that Eve Russell woman,” Alistair stated calmly.

“What’s that?!” Julian panicked.

“Oh don’t play dumb with me, son… you know what I mean,” he said coldly.

Julian knew. But he would not give in. He can’t. He jerked away, not before taking a good look at Alistair’s bruising neck. He slowly backed away from them and turned to run after Eve. He had to console her. He had to tell her that his father’s words meant nothing to him, that it didn’t matter, that they could still be together. He didn’t give a damn what Alistair thought. “Julian you come back this instant!” Alistair shouted. “JULIAN!” He didn’t stop. He couldn’t. He had to find her. He had to tell her. Nothing mattered but her.

______

Alistair rubbed his neck. Damn his son! Here he was, trying to protect his son from the tramp and this is what he gets in return?!

He sat down and lit his cigar. Everything didn’t go according as planned. His son was supposed to be here, not chasing that black piece of golly !

He huffed. Tonight will be the end of Julian and Eve, once and for all. It was a good thing he decided to keep closer tabs on his son before the wedding tomorrow, in case Julian was having second thoughts about marrying Rebecca. It was rather fortunate that he did.

But there was also another reason for his sudden decision to live in Harmony. It was young Fox Crane, his grandson. Oh, Alistair didn’t MIND Fox’s relationship with Whitney Russell, oh no. But he never expected for Fox to fall in ‘love’. Alistair cringed. He offered Fox and Whitney a cottage near Sheridan’s to keep a closer eye on the two, instead of watching them from afar. Whitney better not hurt his grandson, or there will be hell to pay.

For he just found out that Whitney Russell was pregnant.