Dear Darling,
On October 30th, at 4:20 am you came into our lives and changed it for the better. We don't have much to give it except for a leather jacket, from me, a bracelet, from your mother, and a better life, from both of us. I never thought t...
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Shawn rushed back to New York when he'd gotten the call from Jeanine, he knew this day would come but he didn't know if he would be lucky enough to witness the day, but he was, and he couldn't be any more nervous. The sweat in the palm of his hands started to build up as he listened to Cori, Jeanine, and Jill talk in the kitchen, he wanted to join them but he didn't want Cori to see how nervous he was about her dating someone, he had to get it together!
"Breath," Jeanine told him coming out of the kitchen with a glass of water in one hand and an envelope in the other, "drink this."
"Th-thanks," he told her, taking the glass with his shaking hands.
Jeanine laughed at him, "I think you're more nervous than Cori, why?"
"Boys," was all Shawn could get out before taking a sip of water, "are gross and, and she is not. She is pure and clean." Jeanine laughed at him a lot harder than usual, he looked at her with the same eyes as Cori, "I know what I am talking about, I was one once—a boy I mean, never was I pure."
"Shawn," she told him, sitting down and placing her hand over his sweaty one, "you struggles, and childhood woes doesn't make you any less pure or clean, okay?" He looked nodded his head, trying to remain positive about what he'd been through but he didn't want Cori to experience any of that, "now, Lucas' is a great boy and he likes Cori a lot but she is also a smart girl, nothing bad will happen to her tonight."
He bit his lip, "right, you're right."
"Now, take this okay?" she said, giving him the envelope in her hand, he was confused at first before realization washed over him.
"How?" he asked, flipping the letter between his fingers, "I'd forgotten all about these," he told her, his voice quivering as he thought of all the letters he wrote for his daughter, all the plans that he and Angela had for her and them.
"She loves these little letters so much," Jeanine told him, the happiness in her voice hard to miss, "she would always make me read them to her when she was younger, then when she turned ten, she started reading them to me. You know, she really loves the ones that you wrote, she would always compare your handwriting with hers, made it feel more real for her." Shawn had been biting his lips, to keep himself from crying at what Jeanine was saying to him, "I think it's only right for you to give this one to her yourself." She said to him finally, before patting his knee and leaving him alone to let the feelings sink in.
The knew what he had written in this letter because it was one of the most challenging ones that he'd written because he wasn't too scared to think that far into the future when it came to his little girl; he just wanted her to enjoy the 'now' but for them, the 'now' came a little later than planned.
He'd heard Cori before he saw her, thankfully that had given him enough time to fix himself up and not embarrass himself in front of his daughter.
Cori, on the other hand, was excited for tonight, albeit slightly nervous about what was going to happen but that was just par for the course. When her mom had told her that Shawn had come back to town just for her special night, her heart burst with happiness and love. For as long as she could remember, she thought her father would never be in her life, that she would only have her mom and Jill but now she had all three and maybe one day Angela could be a part of their ever-growing family.
"So, how do I look?" she asked him twirling in a floor-length African print dress that Jill had bought her as a gift for Christmas.
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He cleared his throat from the nervousness that he was feeling before smiling happily, "you look beautiful," he told her honestly, tears wailing up in his all over again, "really beautiful." He told her, she looked so much like Angela in that one moment, his heart almost skipped a beat.
Cori smiled before bowing before him as Jill and Jeanine watched from afar not wanting to ruin the moment for the two. "Thank you, thank you." Cori said after she finished bowing only to notice the silent tears on Shawn's face, her eyes widened, "what's wrong?" she asked walking toward him tentatively.
He shook his head, trying to wipe away the tears but more came to take their place, "nothing is wrong," he told her, his voice cracking, "everything is right," he told her, "this is just really, really good." He said before taking a deep breath and motioning toward Cori. "Come here kid," he told her. She nodded, sitting beside him and quickly noticing the envelope in his hands; her eyes widened, "I think this is for you." He said before handing it to her, his handshaking.
"' For your first date,'" she read out loud, reading what was writing on the front of the envelope. She looked at the letter then back at Shawn, "can you read it to me?"
He was taken aback by the question because of how unexpected it was, but he quickly answered her, "yes!" she smiled at him before leaning back in the chair and leaning her head on him like it was second nature for her and Shawn could be any more contented. Quickly Jeanine took a few pictures of the pair before she and Jill scurried off and left the two alone.
"' Dear Jellybean'," Shawn started to read as Cori closed her eyes to fully enjoy the experience.
_
"You have all our numbers, right? Mines, Shawn's, and Jill's?" Jeanine asked as the three adults dropped her off at the subway station.
"Yes," Cori said nodding, waving her phone on their faces.
"Okay, you have our work cell's just in case anything happens?" Jeanine continued.
"Yes."
"Good," Jeanine said mostly to herself as she tried to think of the more question to ask her daughter.
"Jean, babe," Jill said to her girlfriend, "you have to let her go."
"I think you're right," Her mother signed before looking at her daughter one more time, wrapping her arms around Cori tightly, "I love you, Coco."
"Love you too, mama." She told her before hugging Jill and Shawn and running off to take on the world.
_
Been a minute, aye? I hope you guys like this and enjoy it... please tell me what you think.
