BRIELLE
My phone rang again just as Dylan and I were getting ready to head over to tell Shawn the good news.
It was Silvie.
I knew she was definitely calling to ask about Shawn… she had seen the frantic way I had exited our apartment, and I knew she was undeniably worried as well.
“Hey.”
“Lucia, how’s Shawn?”
“He’s not good, Syl. He’s in very critical condition and the doctors don’t think he’s going to make it.” I told her.
“Oh Lucia, I’m so sorry to hear that.”
“Yeah, we all are.” I admitted sadly. “But there’s good news too.” I told her, my voice lightening up a little at the change. “Savannah just gave birth. She’s healthy, and so are the babies.” I said.
“Oh my God, that’s excellent news!!! I’ll be at the hospital as soon as I can.”
“Sure, sure.” I answered.
“I guess it’s safe to say you haven’t heard the news then?” I raised an eyebrow in puzzlement. “News? What news?”
“Madeline has been found, Lucia.” She told me softly.
Wait, what?
“What? How? W-when? Where did you hear this from?”
My anxiousness made Dylan curious. “What is it, what has happened?” He mouthed.
I took the phone off my ear and placed it on speaker.
“It was on this morning’s news, Lucia. She was intercepted at the airport trying to flee the country. She has been taken into custody.”
I couldn’t believe my ears.
Dylan still looked confused. “Is she talking about Madeline?” He mouthed, hope blooming in his eyes.
I shot him a glance, mouthing right back. “Yeah.”
“I’m at the police department right now with Nick and Ryan Rodriguez, is Dylan there with you?”
“Yes, he is. You’re on speaker.” I told her.
“Oh okay. Hi Dylan, I’m sure you’ve already been brought up to speed with everything. Honestly, thank you very much. You know, the police told us how they managed to do this mostly because of your help…”
I shot Dylan a surprised look, “What’s she talking about?”
“…We’re handling everything over here guys, don’t you worry about a thing. We’ll be at the hospital as soon as possible.” I heard Silvie say.
“Alright, alright. See you soon.” I replied absentmindedly, hanging up soon after.
I looked up at Dylan for clarification. “What was Silvie talking about, Dy? What did you do?”
He sighed deeply, as though he was carrying the world’s greatest burden on his broad shoulders. “Okay, so there was actually no business trip, it was all fake.” He explained.
“What?”
“It was all planned, Bree. The plan was that I’d go to the airport to lure her out into following me.” He confessed.
“Wait, how would that even be possible if you didn’t know her location and why the hell would you do that in the first place?” I asked in perplexity.
The woman was dangerous for crying out loud.
“Oh, but we did.” He admitted. “You see, we knew where she was hiding, but the place was so heavily guarded and it was so easy for them to make a clean getaway that the police didn’t want to do anything that would make her realize that we were onto her.”
My head was spinning.
“I think I need to sit down for this, Dy…”
“Of course, come, come.” He led me towards one of the benches.
“Go on.” I told him when we had settled down.
“Long story short, she heard that I had broken up with you and that I was leaving the country for a little while, some news that my men and I broadcast to the blogs and television channels yesterday night. You would have known about it had you tuned in to any of them.” Dylan coughed slightly. “That was why I left for the trip the way I did. The police actually advised that I break up with you for real if I wanted everything to seem legit, but I just couldn’t do it.” He told me, his eyes shining with a hint of a sadness even as he looked into my plain, brown ones.
“I honestly didn’t think this would work, Bree… You have no idea how fucking relieved I am.” He squeezed my hand slightly.
I was honestly still reeling from the shock of it all.
“But wait, you actually didn’t make it to the airport? Or did you?” I asked after a second’s thought.
“I didn’t even leave the office, but thankfully, one of the guards had my stature and I also had a couple of suits over at the office, so he just went as decoy.” He explained.
“I see.” I wrapped my arms around him, nuzzling his neck as he held me close and breathed me in. “I’m so glad this is all over, Dy.” I whispered softly.
“Me too Bree…” He whispered right back. “Me too.”
*****
When we entered Shawn’s room, he was already awake, looking very frail, but the smile on his face could light up the whole room. “My grandchildren are here, aren’t they?” Shawn asked immediately. Dylan and I shared a look.
No one came in to see him, so how did he know so fast?
“H-how did you know, dad?” Dylan asked in confusion.
“Oh, I saw them.” He smiled.
Was this an advance stage of delirium or something of that sort? Because it didn’t make any sense.
I didn’t have time to even contemplate his strange sentence, for he weakly signaled for water, and I hurried to pour him a glass.
The ailing man could only take a sip. “Mm. Thank you, Brielle. You guys have made up, I see.”
I chuckled, deciding not to comment on the strange words he muttered earlier. “Gee, what gave it away?”
He only laughed, coughing just a slight bit. “You both look happy… nothing like the zombies that waltzed into my room earlier in the day.”
Patricia burst into the room in that moment, a dazzling smile on her face as she rushed to her husband’s side. “Oh, Shawn! I’m so happy to see you still hanging in there. Anna has safely delivered. God… you should see the kids, so beautiful. Here,” She reached for her phone excitedly, showing the pictures to her husband. Dylan and I closed in on them for a look.
“Oh my God!!! Just look at them, so adorable!” I squealed, Patricia joining me as we cooed over every single picture. Dylan couldn’t stop smiling, and Shawn was very much overjoyed.
“I’m very happy.” Shawn tiredly told us when all the noise had died down. “God made me hold out for so long so I could catch a glimpse of my grandchildren, even if it was very fleeting. I can finally die a happy peaceful death. Promise me that you won’t cry when I’m gone. You all have so much to be happy for.” His frail body was overtaken by a fit of coughs, his voice hoarse even as he tried to talk through the fit.
“Honey, relax. Don’t say another word.” Patricia admonished, but the old man was being very stubborn. “I love all of you so much, never forget that.”
“Dad, listen to Ma. Please.” I heard Dylan beg, but the stubborn old man continued undeterred.
I just suddenly had this bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.
This was the end.
I reached for the emergency button when I realized that his coughs were intensifying,
But, it was already too late.
We could all sense him slipping away from us.
His last words were, “Tell Savannah I love her.” And then he was gone.
Just like that.
No other words, and yet he had said it all.
I guess in a way, he was one of the lucky ones… those lucky ones that managed to transition in the presence of their loved ones.
Tears streamed down my face at the loss of a man who had been such a powerful force of energy his whole life. Patricia was being very strong. She wasn’t crying, instead, she lovingly stroked her husband’s hair… kissing him slightly on the forehead. “We’ll meet again soon.” She whispered.
The door burst open all of a sudden, doctors and nurses storming the ward in a frenzy, kicking us out of the ward so they could do their best to save him, but we all knew that nothing they did was going to work.
As Dylan, Patricia and I stood outside, huddled together… waiting for the doctors to finish up in there, only one thought came to mind;
Nature was always balanced.
Think about it;
Where there was death, there was life; where there was suffering, there was peace; where there was hate, there was love; where there was destruction, restoration.
Life was always fleeting, perhaps only but a hundred winks instead of that supposed lifetime we all actually thought it was, but when it was spent in joy, in fulfilment like Shawn had had, it could drag on for eons.
Our battle with Magdalene had just began, and I knew that it was going to be a tough one, one that was going to drag us out and wear us down to bits, but I also knew that we had to emerge out of this victorious.
We just had to.
I gazed up into Dylan’s deep blue eyes… his deep blue eyes that though dimmed with darkness, with sadness never failed to brighten with so much love— so much love for me,
And I right there and then, I felt so much better.
Because I knew, we were going to be alright.