Little Wonder (Phan)

Chapter Nine.

It'd been almost a month, and I'd almost considered taking off my own ring, but kept it on, for one stupid reason. I had hope, an inkling of hope, that Phil would come back. But the more days that went by, the more that hope began to dwindle. My hope began to crack and crumble, and I was crying more and more these days. More depressed than I'd been in years. Like those years before I had met Phil, and now he was gone, and it was like I'd never met him in the first place. The only person that kept me from borderline ending it all, was Winnie. She gave me a reason, a purpose, to live. To continue life, and I was eternally grateful towards her.

"Can we get some lollies?" I nodded, of course we could, it was June after all, and almost my birthday. June 3rd it was, only a few more days and I was going to be 26, where the hell had the years gone. I still remember being younger than 10, and running around singing Spice Girls for my grandmum with my brother. But unfortunately, we all grow up at some point in life. Taking her tiny hand in mine, I walked down the sidewalk with her. There was no summer in the UK, but for children of her age, they allowed at least a month of freedom, so this month, we were going to have a blast, though the first 2 days had been ruined thanks to me feeling sorry for myself. So I made a promise to make this best goddamn month she'd ever remember at such a young age.

Walking down near the shops, we were like any father and daughter, and honestly, I'd forgotten about trying to keep us hidden. I'd forgotten a lot of important things when Phil left, he was the one who remembered things. Not me. It'd never been me. Ever, it seemed. She pulled me towards the shop with the lollies, and grinned at me with that big, lovely, grin of hers, and I couldn't help but smile at her as well. Everything she did made me so happy.

"Can I have an ice cream instead?" I rose a brow, but she gave me those big brown eyes, and I knew I wouldn't be able to resist them, so I gave up. "Yeah! I want chocolate please!" I couldn't deny her that, it was one of my favourites as well, so we both got one ice cream cone, chocolate. We sat with a nice view, upstairs, this shop had two stories. "Papa, is daddy ever gonna come back? He's been gone longer than you were." And that's when I realised, she didn't know that I'd practically kicked him out by force, that he probably wasn't coming back.

Trying to word it a certain why so her mind could wrap around it, I tapped my fingers against my leg, licking my lips nervously. "Daddy may not be coming back for. .. awhile, Winnie. He's /really/ busy, you know?" I didn't know how she would interpret this, but it was the easiest way I could think to explain it to her. "But he loves you very much sweetie, you are the light of his life." I suddenly stuffed my mouth full of ice cream, so I could stop the lies.

But her light eyes told me she'd already sucked up every word I was dripping out like a leaky faucet. "Daddy's coming home! Daddy's coming home!" She was squealing now, capturing the attention of complete strangers, but they just smiled at her ultimate happiness, and I began to worry less and less, finishing my cone as I watched her bounce about.

"Eat your cone, Winnie. I have a little surprise for you." She gave a loud, dramatic, gasp and began to eat quickly. I couldn't help but chuckle, sucking on my fingers lightly to get rid of the sticky feeling, and eventually wiped them off on a napkin. And then I looked up to see that she had finished, her entire face a sticky mess. She squealed again as I gently wrestled with her to clean her face off, but soon enough she was clean again and we were on our way.

As she held onto my hand, she was bouncing up and down, trying to guess what the surprise was. "Oh, oh, oh!! Are we finally getting a puppy?" That wasn't a bad idea, maybe a kitten as well. I'd read somewhere that if you got a puppy and kitten at the same time, they bonded and didn't grow up hating each other. "Am I getting a little sibling?" I suddenly coughed a little, looking down at her, why was she asking such a question? "I want a little sister! Or brother, I'm not very picky. I just want to dress them up, and love on them, and let them know that someone cares about them, that they are all that I care about in the entire world!" And that's when I knew, and though it was random, I knew, she was going to be a good mum. Even a good sister, maybe in the future, when she was a little older, she would be able to have a younger sibling. But that was a good /long/ while into the future.