𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃 | ❝ Your heart was crafted from the finest of golds, Bonnie. ❞
━ IN WHICH Fawnie Shelby's life is turned upside down after the death of her beloved brother. Or, alternatively, Fawnie manages to find love amidst a war.
|...
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Fawnie didn't want to even think what had to be true... the truth... that her mother was right in front of her... the horrifying truth that Tommy wasn't her overbearing older brother but rather... the very man who helped bring her into the world. "Please say you're joking." Her heart thumped in her ears as Victoria opened her mouth to speak.
It was like time slowed to a stop as the words began repeating over and over again in Fawnie's head... she tried to think of anything else, but his face would appear. His damned blue eyes and stoic expression taunted the young adult. Her jaw clenched as she forced her matching eyes to open and look at Victoria once more despite how much Fawnie wanted to run out of the house and pretend nothing happened.
"I'm sorry, Fawnie... I'm... I'm your mum."
At the sound of the confession, Fawn felt anger course through her veins. "Why'd you abandon me? I was just a baby." Bonnie put a hand on her arm but Fawnie just pulled it away from him. She ignored the hurt look on his face as she looked at her supposed mother. "Why didn't you try and be my mum?" Fawnie's voice, although strained was quiet and she felt the anger mix with an overwhelming sadness.
Victoria looked terrible guilty, "I was young... far too young to have a child and I tried to raise you, I did. But I felt like I was doing a horrible job and so I wrote to Polly Gray and asked if she'd take you in... she said she would so long as I stayed away."
She leaned toward Fawnie with a morose expression, "She said it was better you thought you were a bastard rather than knowing the truth... and that Tommy couldn't handle being a father yet, he was only seventeen, I- I don't know how to make it up to you, Fawnie."
"Did you chose my name? Or was that something else given to me?" As soon as the sour words left Fawn's mouth, she felt a bit guilty due to the expression that crossed Victoria's face.
"I did, my little deer... you came out all red and with so much bloody hair and covered in freckles on your little cheeks... when you started walking it was like watching a fawn try and stand. And... it's a popular g-word name, I thought it was fitting since the Shelby's are g-words..." Victoria spoke fondly of Fawnie and it made the younger woman's anger simmer down.
Fawnie found it hard to believe but it made so much sense. The resemblance was uncanny, even she couldn't deny it... all her life she'd assumed her mother was a deadbeat who left her to live a better life... and Fawn even believed Arthur Shelby Senior was her father because of the lies. She couldn't decide if having Tommy as her father was worse or not...
She felt tears prick at her eyes and so she looked at Bonnie. He offered her a smile and his hand. "I- thank you for being honest with me, Victoria... it means the world to finally know some truth about where I come from. Aunt Pol said my mum left me to travel... but we've got to get back to Small Heath... I need to find Tommy-"
Victoria stood up with Fawnie and nodded at her, "I understand, hun. Please visit soon, there's no reason for us to be strangers." When Victoria opened her arms for Fawn, the young girl stepped into her mum's arms for the first time in her life and hugged Victoria tightly. "Thank you for finding me, I never thought I'd be able to know my daughter."
━━━━ Small Heath ━━━━
Bonnie and Fawn split up so he could go get ready for the match and so she could find Tommy. She took the old car up to the Birmingham office and practically ran inside. "Lizzie, is Tom in?"
"Sorry love, he just left," Lizzie answered simply.
Fawnie groaned, "Did he say where to?"
Lizzie shook her head and shrugged. "Nah, but he said he had to do something important."
The youngest Shelby sighed loudly, "Thank you for your help, if he asks for me, I'll be at his house. See you tonight!" With that, Fawnie ran out of the office and hopped into the car only to find Finn sitting in the passenger seat. "Ah! FUCK! Finn, you can't just sneak up on me like that!" She shouted at him.
"What're you up to, Fawnie?" Damn that twin intuition. She thought sourly.
Her face turned bright red, "Nothing," Fawnie started the car before looking to Finn, "Remember the last time we were in this thing?"
Finn nodded with a solemn look, "Yea and we were almost blown to bits because of you?"
Fawnie shook her head as she began speeding down the street, "That was your fault and you know it. And I'm looking for Tom, I've got to speak to him about something." With that thought, Fawnie realized she left the photo with Victoria, she cursed under her breath.
"You seem real stressed out, little sis." Finn pointed out and she just nods.
"It's important, alright? I'm dropping you at the house, yea?" Fawnie glanced at Finn and waited for him to nod before focusing on the road.
"Wait! When did you learn to drive?!"
Fawnie grinned widely, "Used to steal John's car at night so I could impress him. And boy did his jaw drop when he saw me driving for the first time."
━━━━ Arrow House ━━━━
The large mansion loomed above Fawnie as she sprinted inside, "Frances!? You in 'ere?" Fawn full-on shouted through the parlor waiting for a response. She walked toward his office before hearing the maid's voice.
"Fawnie, darling, are you alright?"
"Is Tommy here?" The older woman shook her head, "He left for the office and hasn't been back since?" Fawnie cursed under her breath for what felt like the millionth time today after Frances confirmed Fawn's question. "I'm gonna use his phone, yea?"
"Of course, just don't forget to close the door on your way out."
Just as Fawnie stepped into Thomas' office, the phone began to ring. She rushed toward it and picked up both components. Fawn pressed one to her ear and held the other near her mouth, "This is Arrow 335," She verified and waited for the voice of Tommy on the other end.
"Frances? Has Fawnie turned up? Lizzie said she'd be there." The young girl paused for a moment, scared to speak. "Hello?" Tommy said and Fawn closed her eyes tightly.
"I know the truth, Tommy."
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AUTHOR'S NOTE.
Here's an early update for you all <33
So who likes the plot twist, eh? I'm honestly so proud of it and have been waiting for you lot to see it since I came up with the idea! It came to me at like 3 AM when I was thinking about where to go w/the story and I jokingly said to myself "What if Tommy was Fawn's dad?" And then I repeated it and realized how great of an idea it was. I'd been driving it home how similar the two were despite their strained relationship so to me, it made perfect sense.
And thank you all for 25k+ reads, I wasn't expecting that type of jump in reads when I updated lol. You guys are doing an amazing job keeping me motivated with the consistent 10 or so votes and like 100+ reads for each chapter... it's left me in awe and has humbled me greatly. Please leave your thoughts regarding Tommy and Fawnie's relationship dynamic and how you think they're going to go about working through the problems they've been dealing with w/one another. See you next Tuesday!!
