Nightingale

"Hey Savannah," my little brother, Aiden, said as he walked in the front door. Ellie, who was coloring on the couch, jumped up. She ran over to him and jumped on him in a hug. "Hey bug! How are you?"

She cheered as she held on to him. "Uncle Aiden! Did my mommy tell you that I won my spelling bee?"

"Yes, she did! That's why I'm here, to take you for ice cream to celebrate!"

Ellie cheered more and he put her down and told her to go put her shoes on. I gave Aiden a weird look, since he didn't say he was doing that. Ellie ran into her room and Aiden walked over to me.

"Have you talked to John?" he asked, his voice growing far more serious. I shook my head. "You should go over there... I'll watch Noella."

From my spot in the kitchen, I walked closer to him. "What's going on?"

He sighed and leaned against the back of the couch. "Shane called me... Savannah, Gramps died."

My hand flew to my mouth at his words. Gramps was John's grandfather. Aiden, Lorraine, and I all called him Gramps as well, because our grandparents had never been around. Our mother's parents died when we were young and our father's parents were never around. We had never met them, so the O'Callaghan's grandparents were like our own.

At that time, Ellie walked out of her room with a smile. "Go," Aiden murmured, "I'll watch Ellie as long as you need me to."

I kissed Ellie's goodbye and quickly made my way to my car, then sped to John's place. I knocked on the door. Only a second later, Lennon answered.

"He doesn't want to see anyone," she told me, clearly annoyed.

Instead of listening to her, I pushed my way past her and went to John's bedroom. Knocking on that door, I waited, but didn't hear anything.

"John, sweetheart, it's me," I said through the wood. A couple seconds later, I heard the sound of the lock click and the handle turned. John appeared and with just one look at him, my heart broke. "Oh, baby," I whispered, wrapping my arms around him.

He buried his face in my neck, his tears falling on my skin and shirt. I knew John would be upset, but I didn't know it would be this bad. He and Gramps were extremely close, closer than he was with his own father. He told Gramps anything and everything.

"He's gone, Savannah. He died," he cried out.

I rubbed his back. "I know, honey, I know," I told him. "It'll be okay. You're gonna be okay, baby."

"Did you tell Ellie?"

"No, she's with Aiden. We can tell her when you're ready... We can tell her together," I murmured.

John gripped on to me tight, as if he didn't ever want to let go. "I love you, Savannah. I can't do this without you," he cried.

"I'm here, John, I'm here. I won't let go or leave. I'm here." He nodded while releasing his death grip. "Let me call Aiden and Joel, okay? I'll be right back."

I stepped out of the room and towards the living room. Dialing Aiden's number, I spoke to him for a minute. I told him that Joel would be at my apartment most likely and if he wanted to take Ellie back there, Joel could take care of her or if he wanted to have a sleep over with her, he could. Aiden said he would keep her for the night, to give Joel a break, and I said that was fine but not to spoil her too much.

Aiden laughed. "Of course I'm going to spoil her, I'm her uncle. But don't worry about us. I'll take care of it. You take care of John, Sav. Love you, sis."

We hung up and I called Joel next. He answered by asking me where Ellie and I were. "Aiden is keeping Ellie for the night. Listen, I know this won't make you happy, but I'm staying with John for the night. Gramps died and he's... He's a wreck, baby."

Joel sighed loudly. "Savannah, I'm trying really hard here."

"You can trust me, Joel. I love you. You know that Gramps was important to John. He was important to me also."

Again, Joel let out a deep breath. "Just please come home to me, I love you, Savannah."

He hung up after that and I sighed. I knew he was upset but I couldn't deal with that then.

"He still loves you, Savannah," I heard from behind me. Turning around, I saw Lennon there. I raised an eyebrow at her. "John... He still loves you."

Shaking my head, I couldn't help but roll my eyes. "Lennon, can we just not?"

"He wouldn't even open the door for me, Savannah. You said four words and he opened right up. He won't say a word to me. He doesn't love me like he loves you."

"Look, you don't know his relationship with Gramps like I do. And Gramps was like my own grandpa. He was my family also. And he was Ellie's great-grandpa. It's a whole different thing than you think."

She didn't say anything else. Instead, she just sat down on the couch with a glass of wine. I decided not to deal with it tonight and I went back to John's bedroom.

He was laying on his bed and I went to lay next to him. Almost immediately, his arms wrapped around my waist, pulling me towards him. I let out a soft breath as I heard him try to steady his breathing.

After a few moments, I no longer felt tears on my shirt and neck. I turned to face John, to see he was already looking at me.

"I hope I didn't cause any trouble with Joel," he murmured.

I placed a hand on his cheek and shook my head as best I could. "No, no, he'll get over it. No worries. Gramps wasn't just your grandfather, he was mine, too."

John smiled. "Oh he loved you so much, Savannah. You should've seen his face when I told him I was in love with you. He was so happy. And I thought he was going to kill me when he found out I cheated on you. He looked me straight in the eye and said, 'Boy, I have never been so disappointed in you in my life. You just took the best damn thing that ever happened to you, spit on it, and threw it away. You are going to regret that day for the rest of your life. I can not even call you a man right now because what you did was something a real man would never do.' And he was right."

"He was an amazing man," I said in a whisper. "But John, he loved you, so much. You were a man to him and you know that. Gramps looked at you with so much happiness in his eyes and he was so proud of you for being such an amazing father to our daughter."

Neither of us said anything after. We just stayed in silence. I knew that was what John needed. His grandfather meant the world to him. He was the one that encouraged him to follow his dream of music. He was the one who John would go it for advice. When John was scared of being a father, his grandfather helped him. He was his best friend, his confidant, his favorite person in the world. I knew this would have a bad effect on John, and that slightly scared me, but I didn't want to think about it then.

I didn't want to think about that. I didn't want to think about the fact that Joel was growing suspicious and was afraid. I didn't want to think about Lennon and her saying John still loved me, which I knew he did but she couldn't know. I didn't want to think about it; I couldn't.

Because while John was hurting, so was I. I loved Gramps, but I knew I had to be strong for John, and for Ellie when she found out. She loved him as well. We all did. I knew that we could get through this, but I knew we would have to do it as a family. However, I knew of a couple people who wouldn't be pleased with that.

~

With a sigh, I walked through the front door of my apartment. Instantly, I could smell something cooking and I could hear Ellie playing with something. She spotted me and ran over to me. Instantly, she started spouting off what she did with her uncle Aiden last night and that she was playing with Joel also.

I kissed her head before putting her down. "Go play with your toys, baby. Daddy will be here soon."

Ellie cheered while skipping to her toys. I walked over to Joel and he grabbed my waist. He kissed me deeply. "I'm sorry, baby. I'm so sorry. What I did and said was wrong of me. I was just upset and I didn't mean any of it."

I grabbed his wrists and nodded. "It's okay, Joel, it's okay." I kissed him again and he pulled his wrists free, then grabbed my body to pull closer to him.

His mouth moved with mine as he lowered his hands to my behind. Joel dropped his mouth to my neck.

"Joel," I murmured softly, trying to get him to stop since Ellie was in the next room.

Instead, he continued and moved his lips to the spot he knew made me weak. Luckily, someone, who I knew was John, knocked on the door. Ellie jumped up to say she would get it. Joel and I composed ourselves as she opened it.

"We're going to tell her about Gramps," I told Joel. He nodded and tended back to the food he was making. I left the kitchen and went to John and Ellie.

John looked better, but still terrible. I frowned at him as we sat Ellie down.

"Baby, your daddy and I need to talk to you about something. It's about Gramps."

She swung her legs as she looked down. Ellie moved I lay her down on my lap. "Where is Gramps?" she asked.

"Princess, Gramps is no longer here with us. He died," John told her.

Ellie didn't say anything for a moment. "Is that true, Momma?"

I nodded and rubbed her back. She didn't say anything for another moment, but she got up and went to her room without a word. John looked at me, then followed Ellie.

As Joel sat down next to me, I could hear Ellie crying as John tried to talk with her. I let out a breath and put my head in my hands. I hadn't gotten the chance to cry because I was trying to be story for John, and then for Ellie. But I couldn't help it anymore. I loved Gramps. He was so amazing to me and I missed him so much.

Joel put his arms around me and pulled me into him. "Let it out, baby," he murmured.

And I did.