The Lucky One (2) - Taylor Swift

11

He still couldn't believe that they knew where he was for all those years and never told Grace. It must have been because they thought they would lose her too and unfortunately in the end, that was exactly what happened.

Eleanor had no interest in knowing Robert, Jennifer or William if he was still affiliated with that part of the family. Any chance of that was washed away when she heard all about them in the news, it wasn't going to happen. She was twenty-four years old, she didn't need Robert before and she surely didn't need him now.

Grace did not use Siri to call Taylor because it was to embarrassing to read her contact name out loud. It didn't stop it from showing as the call rang but thankfully, Eleanor had ignored it completely out of fear of pushing Grace away.

"What is up with my favourite germaphobe full of germs?" Taylor noticed that only a forehead and half of a set of green eyes was within the frame so she stuck her nose into the camera view up her nostrils.

"Gross," Grace croaked out even though off to the side, she smiled widely at Taylor's goofing off, "You're on speakerphone."

"I figured but I don't care," the singer hummed, "How was work? How is life? Did you pluck your eyebrows differently?"

"I didn't spend very much time at work."

"Ah fair, being sick sucks so bad," Taylor had returned the camera to a normal angle, "Dude- let me see your face, I don't care if you're sick."

Grace nodded to Eleanor and Eleanor nervously moved the camera down. Once they got past the bridge of the nose, it was obviously not Grace.

"Uhm..." Taylor cleared her throat, "I think you turned one of the filters on? You look kind of weird, no offence, babe."

"It's not me!" Grace stuck her head into frame and Eleanor passed the phone over so she wouldn't breathe in so many germs. Grace was a walking biohazard.

"What?" Taylor was smiling but she didn't laugh, it was very clearly a nervous reaction. Her face was still but her eyes wandered back and forth.

"Hi," Eleanor finally spoke and Taylor could hear the vast difference in voice.

"This is my sister!" Grace exclaimed, "I have one which is terribly out of the blue but look! She's real!"

That sent her into a coughing fit so Grace stood up to go into the bathroom and left Taylor without an explanation. She was still on the phone in Eleanor's hands, "She left."

"Uh-huh," Taylor covered her mouth and stayed quiet. She could hear Grace coughing repeatedly through the closed door.

"We share a biological father," Eleanor elaborated because the singer staring at her looked completely and utterly lost and confused, "My mother was his assistant once upon a time."

"Alright, that tracks," Taylor didn't really need to know more. That made sense to her, Robert having a secret child wasn't always out of the realm of possibilities, "Are you older or younger?"

"Not quite even five months younger."

"Five months, wow. It's nice to meet you. Sorry she's a little weird, I'm still working on it."

"It's fine," Eleanor finally smiled, "She's nothing like I thought."

"She's a menace to society," Michael announced from across the room.

"Wait, what's your name?!" Taylor realized no one had told her that yet, "I'm Taylor."

"Eleanor," she replied, "It's pretty formal. I go by Nell or Nellie, usually."

Michael made a mental note as Grace came back into the living room with a new stack of tissues. It was getting late and he still had to get out and feed the horses.

Grace promised to call Taylor back before she went to bed (which wouldn't be long with the next dose of cough medicine) and walked Eleanor to the door with Michael.

"This was nice, thank you," Eleanor admitted as she slipped her flat shoes back on.

"It was," Michael passed her a paper, "These are all of our numbers, keep in touch. If you want to, I mean."

"I do. Thanks. Sorry to spring this on you so randomly. I didn't think there would ever be a good time."

"There could have been worse days," Grace replied surely, "If you happen to come across any other, well, siblings, please do let us know before they show up unexpectedly."

"He got around a lot, didn't he?"

"I fear that he still does," Grace grimaced at even the thought of it. It was something she tried to forget about.

The second they watched Eleanor get into her car and start the ignition, Michael turned to his sister and said, "You paying the PI or am I?"

"I'm poor," the former heiress reminded him, "I want to know everything about her, including how she found us."

"Reminds me of when we starting running background checks on our teachers for fun."

"That was fun," Grace fondly remembered those days, that was a strange feeling.

"She is pretty decent though, you think?" Michael changed the subject back to the point quite quickly.

"She seems fine. I don't know what we do about it. Do we merely continue to exist in different countries, barely speaking? She has given us no reason not to associate with her."

"You got that sister you wanted when we were little, so, I feel like you could try to have a relationship with her. Whatever that looks like," the brown haired man replied, "Can you keep an ear out for Gracie in case she wakes up? I have to go feed the horses."

"Sure."

Of course the one night that Grace thought she might get an extra five minutes to call Taylor before she is forced to sleep by the overwhelming sense of urgency to close her eyelids, was the night Gracie woke up shrieking and sobbing from a nightmare.

The brunette made her way up the stairs and poked her head into the painted bubblegum pink bedroom, she saw Gracie walking towards the door with her comfort blanket over her shoulder, "Hello."

"Up!" Gracie screamed and Grace did not fight that demand. She picked Gracie up and placed her on her hip right away.

"Did you have a scary dream?" She assumed that must have been the cause. She didn't know any other reason why the toddler would wake up in such a state, "It's just a dream. Look, is anything scary in here?"

She gestured around and Gracie shook her head, "No."

"Exactly!" Grace sniffled, she needed a tissue, "It was only a dream, it's gone now. Say all done!"

"All done," Gracie wiped her face with her blanket, the cold mixed with the crying made it a snotty mess.

"That's right," Grace hummed, "Now, before your father comes back inside, I say we read a book to get you settled. Would you like to read with me?"

"Yes," Gracie mumbled, "Tea party?"

"We can have a tea party together tomorrow, you have to go back to sleep after the book."

"Book," the toddler sniffled shakily. Grace took that as acceptance of the situation and began to scan the small shelf of thick papered books meant so Gracie couldn't rip them for a story that seemed remotely interesting.

"How To Use Manners," Grace pulled it off the shelf, "You have an estranged set of grandparents who could benefit from giving this a read."