5 Months Later...

"Mummy!" Fiona squeaked. 

She waved an envelope in the right of her small hand as she ran through the door, her little feet making a series of tip tap sounds as they hit the planks of the parquet floor. "Daddy sent us a letter!"

Angela was scrubbing the dishes when she heard Fiona's faint shout. The action of her hands stopped and she stretched her neck to look into the living room. A little girl with pigtails skipped through the living room, her pigtails bouncing behind her back. Angela smiled as she watched her slow to a stop whilst trying to tear open the envelope.

"Just a minute, sweetie," Angela called out and returned her attention on the dishes.

"Humph!" Fiona grumbled when the envelope's flap wouldn't open up as nicely as she thought it would. She made sure to be slow and careful when she pulled the edge of the flap so it would come off clean, but all that hard work was gone when she heard the tear of the paper.

She puffed up her cheeks in annoyance and stomped into the kitchen. Her mother was still busy rinsing the dishes they used to eat the amazing tortilla wraps her mother made. She could still taste the salty chicken in her mouth and she licked her lips without realising, the anger towards the envelope's flap instantly forgotten. She fidgeted on her feet for a few seconds, waiting for her mother to turn around and tell her she was done. But that didn't happen after another minute and she couldn't keep the excitement down anymore.

"Mummy, are you done yet? I want to read daddy's letter now," she whined as she jumped up and down beside her mother, her left hand tugging on the hem of her mother's shirt to get her attention. "Mummy, mummy!"

Angela smiled at her little princess as she put the last dish away. "I know, sweetie. Just let me dry my hands and we'll read it together, okay?" She cooed and proceeded to wipe her hands on a small towel that was hanging on the side of the refrigerator. 

"Okay, I'm done," she announced and led her cheering daughter to the dining table.

"Read it, Mummy. Quickly!" Fiona urged and handed her the envelope, her big brown eyes full of expectation.

The flap was half opened and there were thin strips of paper remnants sticking from under the flap. Angela gave a glance at her daughter and saw her looking at the envelope impatiently beside her. She chuckled and returned her attention back to the envelope. Slipping her lean fingers between the spaces under the flap, she pulled the flap up entirely, earning a disappointed whine from her daughter for the total destruction of the envelope flap.

"What's wrong?" Angela asked when she saw the worry on her daughter's face.

"The envelope. It's ruined," Fiona said and frown.

Angela gave her a smile and turned the envelope around. "It's only the flap. See? The rest are still perfect. And most importantly, daddy's letter is still the way it should be."

Fiona gave it a thought after she inspected the torn envelope. "Okay. Mummy, can we read what daddy wrote for us now?"

"Of course!" Angela said and pulled everything that was inside.

The envelope consisted of two folded papers which were addressed to each of them. Fiona took the one that had her name on it and started reading it out loud.

To my little princess, Fiona,

Hello, my little princess! How are you doing? Daddy's fine, so don't worry. What have you been doing with mummy these few months? Remember to show me all the things you have done when I come back! :D

I also bought you something. It has two brown braids, two big brown eyes like yours, has an elder sister who can turn everything cold and make snow out of nothing. Plus, she also has a snowman friend. Guess who it is?

Daddy really misses playing cooking and slaying dragons with you. It's been a little boring since there's no dragons here, only cars and trains. I hope I haven't lost my talent to communicate with dragons. I still draw out my dreams every morning. You and mummy appeared almost every night and we had lots of adventures together. I miss drawing everything with you, though, and having to share my dreams with you and mummy every morning before finishing the unfinished dreams with our imaginations. That was really fun! 

I know I've been away for longer than I promised you, but I'll be back next month. This time, it's for real, so pinky promise and if I break the promise again, you can draw on my face when I get back. I love you! :D

Love,

Your castle's dragon, Daddy.

"Aww...Daddy's so sweet." Angela said as she saw Fiona smiling from ear to ear. "What do you think Daddy got you?"

"It must be Anna!" She said gleefully while folding the paper back into half. "I told Daddy I really really really like Anna and he said he'll try to find her for me."

"Looks like Daddy did manage to find her."

"Yeah, now Daddy won't be alone anymore. He has Anna with him," Fiona smiled brightly, relief that her father had company now. "Mummy, can I send a letter to Daddy like he did?"

"Of course, you can," Angela pushed her hair behind her ears and smiled at Fiona. "You can write your letter now and we can mail it later."

Fiona looked at her with her sparkling eyes. "Are you going to write to Daddy too?"

"Sure, why not?"

"Hurray! Remember to wait for me before you mail it, Mummy. I'm going to my room and start writing now," Fiona hopped down from the walnut chair and made her way up the stairs with those tiny little footsteps of hers.

 Angela waited until she heard the click of Fiona's door closing before she unfolded her letter. Ramon hadn't called for months because they agree that it was too expensive to make long distance call. They need to save every penny they have or else they would have trouble even with groceries. They could always ask for Angela's mother for help, but they didn't want to trouble her. They didn't want her to worry about them when she was finally given the chance to enjoy her retirement.

Although they did agree on this no-long-distance-call-unless-there's-an-emergency rule, the silence had been killing her. Maybe they shouldn't have made that rule in the first place. But now, she was holding something from him. After all these months, she finally had news from him. She felt her heart beating faster and faster in her chest as she unfolded her letter.

Dear Angela,

Hey, honey, how are you? To be honest, I'm not at my best now, but don't worry about me. I can always get through it, you know that. Did you get enough sleep? You're always doing two shifts every day and made sure everyone's fine before you allow yourself some rest. I know it's because of our financial situation, but don't do that, okay? You need to rest too. At least, get a day off for yourself every week. You deserve it. :)

I'm sorry for leaving you guys for so long. I didn't expect my trip to New York would be this long. I had been to ten studios and...let's say they didn't really like it. And you're right. I can work and still have the energy to write songs. I should have done that a long time ago, so you could have more rest. I'm sorry.

I had been working as an electrical man for extra cash and it's been going great(Looks like the practices I got from repairing our broken things paid off). Let me tell you, the people here are either too dumb to fix anything or they're just too lazy to fix anything, but that's good. Because I get a lot of calls for help. Hence, I'm doing great financially...almost. I'll try to pray that more stuff will get broken, so I can have more work. xD

As I was saying, I'm getting nowhere near my dream, so it's kind of useless for me to stay here any longer, right? I'm going back home next month if it still doesn't get better. I had been playing a few gigs here and there. But so far, I wasn't discovered by anyone yet, but who knows? Give me one more month, okay? Please, honey. I know you're getting sick and tired of all this struggles to keep things going on for this family. 

I know this wasn't the kind of life I promised you when we got married. I'm sorry I couldn't get all the fancy stuff for you like so many other men could. I'm sorry I couldn't bring you and Fiona around the world like we hoped to when she was still inside of you. I'm sorry I was stubborn with my songwriting. Maybe my dad's right. I suck at music. 

I miss you, honey. Being alone in this tiny room every day is starting to get on my nerves. I wished I could be with you and Fiona instead. Everything would be so much better with you around. You always make everything great somehow. I'm probably a disappointment, but don't give up on me yet, okay? Give me one last try. If my music still isn't going anywhere, I promise I'll put it aside until we're doing a lot better financially again. Let it be ten years later or twenty years later, but you're right, we need to deal with the current issues first. To be honest, it doesn't matter how long it takes as long as we're together. Otherwise, I wouldn't know what to know without you and Fiona now that I got the two of you.

Anyway, I hope the money I banked into our joint account helps. I know it's not a lot, but it's something. 

Love,

Ramon.

Tears were blurring Angela's vision by the time she finished the letter. She wiped the tears away with the back of her hand and shook her head to herself as she muttered: "Ramon, you idiot. I love you too."

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Little Note:

And here's chapter two for this story. Sorry, I was supposed to post this last week, but then I forgot to do so and decided to just post it this week instead. >.< So, tell me what you think about it. Feedback is welcome! :)