...
"So," Phoenix sounded way too excited to not be up to no good. "Do I get to meet my future sister-in-law today or what?"
"Quick, Shawn!," An excited look suddenly crept into Isla's eyes. She was definitely excited to see the woman that had captured her son's heart. "You should call her."
Miguel only gave a small smile, lifting his drink to his lips as he lay curled away on the couch and wondered whether or not his brother had managed to convince Olivia yet.
They were all gathered around the centerpiece in the living room, seated on plush beanbags and snacking on pastry as the chefs got busy preparing the meal they would be entertaining Olivia with. Shawn didn't want to call her at all. If she said she was going to come, then he would probably be interfering by calling her up every other minute of the day.
Right when Shawn was prepared to tell his family to leave well enough alone, his phone suddenly rang and if he was not the man he was, he'd probably had grown mortified pretty quickly.
He was scandalized on seeing she had saved her contact as: "Love of my life♥️." But save the darkening of his eyes, he showed no other irregularities unlike Phoenix who suddenly let an earpiercing scream and caused their mother to shoot her a glower.
"Brother's gotten so romantic now that he's picked up a girlfriend," Phoenix was shedding fake tears of relief and didn't stop even when he shot her a scowl and snatched his cell phone off the table.
Isla's cheeks were flushed and a happy gleaming was contained in her eyes as she watched Shawn slide over the answer icon.
Shawn waited, not saying anything, and felt a dip carve into his eyebrows on hearing her voice. It still made him feel enchanted and want to drown in it, but right now that soft whisper seemed to be croaked in grief.
"You're...," Olivia broke off and tried to gather her voice. It was only after opening the girls fallen locket and seeing the picture of Shawn and her together, that she knew he was related to her. "There was this girl. She had an accident. I don't know how much she's related to you b-but she has this locket and—"
Unable to take it anymore, Shawn rose to his feet, grip on his phone deadly tight as his expression slowly turned ashen. "Where are you now?," His voice was so calm, it would have nearly broken anyone's reason.
It was obviously a facade. He didn't want to break down. Not yet. Not when he obviously still had so many responsibilities to his daughter.
He grabbed his keys once the call had ended, mustering up the strength to spit it out on seeing his mother and siblings' worried look at his frantic demeanor. "Dee got into an accident."
Isla was the first to react, jumping up and covering her mouth as her eyes glazed with tears. She was shaking. And how could she not? This was the granddaughter she sought hope and joy in. How could she be calm when something so devastating had happened to her?
"Let's go to the hospital then," Phoenix didn't understand what they were still waiting for. Her niece hadn't died yet, right? "She's in one, right?"
Those words seemed to pull Shawn out of his reverie because he immediately nodded stiffly and rushed out to the car with his family.
When she had appeared as a kid on his doorstep with a genuine paternity test and report he'd had to confirm, he'd been shaken because the only time he'd had sexual affiliations with another woman was that night, five years ago.
He hated remembering that encounter and with the girl named Dainee to act as a living proof, how could he not be reminded of that night he desperately wanted to forget? He'd dumped her on his mother, not wanting anything to do with the girl.
However, Dainee was just too sweet and cute and innocent and with her reclusive personality, how could he not feel for her?
Slowly pity had turned to curiosity until the both of them were building a bond that could not be denied. He'd tried to dig up her maternal figure but that had turned up in a disaster. He brought his daughter up alone and she was his only last piece of sanity. The one person who made his once dull world rather colorful with her once lively spirits.
He hoped nothing would happen to her.
He still had a lot of things to do with and for her. Losing her, would definitely just all but kill him.
...