A Bundle of Secrets

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter 14

Seven years ago...

Nineteen-year-old Fiona Jonbroni had been working a Marigold's Cafe for almost a year after leaving her very last foster home. It was close to closing time when a group of collage boys entered, one of them was a nineteen-year-old Shawn Blanc, son of Bennett Blanc, of course, Fiona had no idea who that was. "Hey cutie" Shawn called out, "What do you recommend?"

Fiona raised a dark eyebrow and smirked, "I recommend trying that greeting again."

Shawn gave out a chuckle, "Pardon?"

"I'm just saying, you could give a regular hello."

"Why? Thought you were cute, decided to let you know."

Fiona raised an eyebrow as she felt heat rush to her cheeks, "Don't ever say that again."

Shawn nodded, "Yeah, no, it did sound weird coming out."

"Yo Shawn, are you gonna order for us or are you just gonna talk with the waitress all night?" One of his friends called out.

Shawn rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah, I got it." He shook his head, "Could I get five coffees, a cola and... whatever you recommend in terms of pastries."

"Well, our cheesecake is pretty good and luckily for you guys, there's enough left from today"

Shawn smirked, leaning on the counter, "Cheesecake it is then."

"And the bill is going to..."

"Me. Shawn Blanc."

"Shawn Blanc. Got it."

"May I ask for your name?"

"It's Fiona."

"It suits you."

Fiona rolled her eyes as she went and got the cheesecakes and poured the coffees. Shawn thanked her as he went over to his buddies but he couldn't help it as he kept taking quick glances at Fiona as she sat at the counter with some sort of novel in hand. He didn't know what it was but something inside him told him that he wanted to get to know her. What with her gorgeous dark messy curls that made her big blue eyes pop. When Shawn went back up to the table, Fiona looked up from her book, "Something wrong?"

"Ah no... I was just wondering if you'd like to hang out sometime."

"Umm..." Fiona was unsure. Sure, guys had hit on her a few times but she never responded but there was something about Shawn that made it difficult for her to think straight. He had these very eye-popping brown eyes that stood out from and yet matched his hair.

"You don't have to say yes, I just... thought we could hang out." Fiona wanted to say yes but she was worried that it was just one of those things where he would ask her out tonight but then would forget about her the next morning and not come back.

"So Fiona actually blew him off the first time they met?" Kay asked.

Marigold nodded, "She was scared of getting hurt. Living in the foster system really did a number on her. She was afraid to let anyone in; she didn't want to be abandoned."

Cameron smiled, Fiona kind of reminded him of himself and Johnny, "So what happened after that? Judging by... well, Farrah, their story didn't end there."

"So Shawn would come by a couple times a week, order coffee, cheesecake and sit and study for a couple hours until one day about six months later..."

Shawn walked into the cafe one morning holding something behind his back. When he saw Fiona come out from the kitchen door, he brought out a red rose from behind his back, "Happy birthday." He smiled.

Fiona became flustered as she took the rose, "Wha-h-how did you-"

"I kind of asked Marigold when your birthday was because I wanted to get you something." He said grinning sheepishly.

"How did you know roses were my favourite?"

"Well they are generally seen as the most traditionally beautiful flower so I just figured that... you know... it fit to give it to someone like you."

"Y-you think I'm beautiful?"

Shawn nodded, "Y-yeah... I do."Shawn took a deep breath, "Look, Fiona, I'm going to be honest with you. I-I think you're great and I'd like to spend more time with you so..."

"Shawn... are you asking me out on a date?"

"Y-yeah but if you say no, I totally get it and I'll never bring it up again-"

He was cut off by Fiona placing a hand on his, "I'd... like that..." She smiled at him and he smiled back.

Cameron smiled, "So that's how it happened?"

"That's how I remember it" Marigold said, smiling at the memory, "Shawn was a good man, he truly cared for her. He always tried to make her feel like she was worth everything and Fiona loved him."

"I'm just curious, when we went to interview Shawn's parents, they told us that he had been... a bit of a player before Fiona. Is that true?" Kay asked.

Marigold chuckled, "Well, which teenage boy isn't?"

Kay chuckled, "That's true."

"I'm not going to lie, I was a little concerned for my girl at first but Shawn proved himself worthy."

"You called her your girl?" Cameron asked giving a sad smile.

Marigold chuckled, "Well, Fiona soon became like the daughter I never had. My husband and I had three boys but they all live out of town now and my husband died a few months before I had even met Fiona." Cameron and Kay looked at each other, both feeling genuinely sorry for the old woman, "I actually have some old photos and some of Fiona's old stuff upstairs. Let me go get them."

When Marigold was out of earshot, "Well, this wasn't a lead." Cameron said to Kay.

"I still think it was worth it." Kay said taking a sip of her coffee, Cameron giving her a look of confusion, "You got to know more about your sister. You have something you can tell Farrah about when she's older. When..." She placed her hand over his on the counter, "When she inevitably starts asking questions about her parents"

Cameron gave out a light chuckle, "Yeah, I guess I do... Thank you for doing this."

"I was glad to." Kay smiled. Her phone beeped, "Mike just texted me, he was able to get some of Shawn and Fiona's to bring to the archive. Hopefully, something will come up there."

"Hopefully." Cameron said and he took his fork and took a bite of the cheesecake in front of him. When the pastry went down his throat, his eyes went wide.

"Cameron?" He didn't answer her, "Cameron, what wrong?"

"That's why this place was familiar..."

"Cameron?"

"Kay, this cheesecake is made with cottage cheese..."

Kay was failing to see the relevance, "I don't understand."

"I've only ever had cheesecake with cottage cheese once..." Cam looked over to Kay, his eyes glazing over, "Kay... I think I've been here, in this cafe before. I..." He gave a pained look of realization and regret, "I think I did meet Fiona once."

Well, well, well-y, well, well, isn't that interesting? I wonder just where this could be going... like I said, this was going to be a bit of a filler chapter to learn a little bit about Shawn and Fiona's backstory as well as bridge the way for the chapters to come... things are about to get realinteresting... I think. If I planned things out correctly, they should. Can you guys guess where this is going? Do you see these things coming or are you like me and don't think about possible twists until a twist comes along and it makes you go *gasp*? Either way, I love all my readers and I hope you enjoyed this one. I promise the next chapter will be a little longer.