Ascension of a Reborn Woman (Hiatus)

Chapter 18

After Isabel called Steven, it wasn't even half an hour before the man walked through the doors of Kelvin's sick room with Davina in tow, shocking Isabel.

"Davi?! Holy cow, you look terrible! What happened?"

Davina whose hair looked like a chicken had roosted in it, suit was wrinkled, eye rims were red and puffy and had terrible eye bags only gave a small smile as Isabel put Phoenix aside and went over to her. Davina opened her mouth once to say something, but then tears instantly pooled in her eyes and she rushed forward to hug Isabel while sobbing so much it made Isabel shudder.

She had never seen Davina cry before, never ever. Even in the last life when her sexual orientation had been exposed to the world and she was subjected to public scrutiny, outrage and scorn, Davina had faced it all calmly and all Isabel remembered seeing was a deep look of disappointment.

This... this... she didn't know how to deal with this.

"What happened?"

Wrapping her arms around her friend and patting her back soothingly like she would do with her kids, Isabel asked Steven who had accompanied Davina in, but Steven only gave a wry smile.

"She showed up at my house in a mess late yesterday afternoon, no matter what I asked she wouldn't say anything. I thought it might have been a relationship problem that I wouldn't understand from a woman's standpoint, so I asked my wife to talk to her, but she still didn't say anything.

"She didn't even sleep and spent the whole night wandering the downstairs like some kind of ghost, sometimes she would even burst out crying randomly." Steven rubbed his temples when he recalled his four year old son rushing to his room in the middle of the night, crying that there was a wailing ghost eating the ice-cream in the fridge. "I was off from the company today, but I dragged her with me once I got your call. You talk to her, maybe she'll talk to you."

Isabel frowned and leaned her head against Davina's shoulder while continuing to stroke the taller woman's back. She wasn't familiar with this turn of events. Had something like this also happened in the last life but because she was too busy with Brycen and Susan she did not notice?

God, what else had she missed?

"Davi, hey. Hey, what's wrong? Can you tell me what happened?"

Her tone was gentle, like she was coxing a child, and really, if she could, Isabel would have scooped Davina up and carried her because her friend just felt that much vulnerable at that moment; like a child who needed to be protected, loved and assured. It was something she had never experienced with Davina before.

Davina was bold, responsible, outgoing; when you thought of her, these words weren't far behind. Words like vulnerable and insecure didn't mix with this tall glass of mocha cappuccino... or so Isabel had believed.

Seeing Davina cry made Isabel feel upset, but before she could ask anything else, let alone get a reply out of her, Brycen who was being neglected on the side suddenly spoke up.

"Is this what you called your lawyer here for, girl talk? I'm a busy man, stop wasting my time."

"You--!" Isabel's anger soared and she whipped around to face Brycen, but by turning to face Brycen, Phoenix and Kelvin had also effectively landed in her line of sight, causing her to calm down. She should never expose her children to her anger, that side of her was not pretty.

"Phew!" Isabel breathed deeply a few times to compose herself then she tilted her head and smiled. "I would call you a son-of-a-bitch Brycen, but that would be an insult to dogs!"