Chapter 5: Surprise

Many more chapters to add!! :) but here's another!

 Chapter 5:

Surprise!

The trip to Ipswich always seemed to take no time at all in the smooth ride of the Porsche.  We sped along the dark twisted road along the Ipswich River until finally twisting down the last road to the Cormac’s house.  The darkness began to fade as we got closer to the long driveway that led to the house.

Darkness disappeared—and light filled the entire road.  Every tree that surrounded the path leading up to the house was beautifully lit with little white lights.  Through the blanket of night, the lights served as a beacon signifying a special occasion.  A special birthday party set up for one unwilling birthday girl.  As we made our way up the drive, I looked around in amazement at the hard work of his family.

“I think they truly overdid it this time.”  I laughed squinting due to the bright light.

“I doubt it took them even an hour to finish; however, I begged Stacie not to go crazy, but as always she didn’t listen.”  James said.

Hanging from the last two trees at the opening of the driveway were strands of colorful paper lanterns that led from the trees to the roof in the front of the house.  The line of windows in front of the house was conspicuously dark due to the large drapes being pulled closed.  We parked just in front of the garage by the stone walkway that led to the house.  I followed quietly behind James as we climbed the dark, stone steps.  Just before the door when we had reached the light, I stopped and looked down at my dress.

“What is it?”  James asked with a surprised look.

“How do I look?  Is there anything on my dress?”  I spun around quickly stopping in front of him with wide eyes.

“You are without a doubt the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.  And, tonight is no different.  You look extraordinarily gorgeous.”  He smiled and held his hand out to mine.

I sighed and tipped my head to one side to smile.  A perfect answer, I thought to myself.  I took hold of his hand and climbed the last remaining steps to the porch.  James opened the tall glass door, which creaked slightly as we walked into the pitch-black foyer.  James led me through the darkness around the corner to the opening of the living room where soft whispers could be heard.  As we entered the dimly lit room, James cleared his throat silencing the whispers—and letting go of my hand he stepped back away from me.  I reached my hand back to find him, but the lights shot on and exposed the rest of the room.

“Surprise!” A small crowd before me exclaimed.

The crowd simply consisted of the Cormac family.  Excited and surprised, I brought hands to my face and gasped.  It was not half the city of San Francisco and the populations from all of the surrounding cities as it was the year earlier.  With my hands still at my face, I began to quietly giggle as my eyes moved about the expressions of the crowd finally resting on the bright eyes of Ava.  She broke away from the small group and wrapped her arms around me in a delicate hug.

“Happy Birthday, my daughter.”  She whispered lightly in my ear.

My daughter.  Hearing those words sparked the tears in my eyes, and they overflowed blurring my vision.  Blindly, I moved my hands from my face and around her slight shoulders.  A small shriek came from the murmuring crowd behind Ava, which was then followed by the quick clicks of heels.  Ava backed away from me with a smile through my tears I could see Adalyn rushing toward me, and I was soon forced into another hug.

“Well, it’s about time!”  Adalyn called over my head to James.

“In my opinion, we all need some time to recover after your birthday, Addie.”  James replied sarcastically.

Adalyn released me from the hug, squished her eye brows together, and stuck her tongue out at James before she returned her attention back to me.

“Let me see it!”  She squeaked grabbing my left hand to expose the ring.

While Adalyn played with my ring, I looked across the room to James.  He smiled at me then he turned his body in the direction of Emery, Collin, and his father who were congratulating him and shaking his hand.  I glanced between his group and mine to realize that there were people—people I loved—that were missing.  One was someone I hadn’t seen in a year, and the other would have never missed this event for all of the shoes in the world.

“Where’s Stacie?”  I asked curiously.

“Stacie, the mastermind of this event, is finishing the rest of your party.”  Ava stated placing her delicate arm around my shoulders.  “But, we have a few surprises and gifts for you before Stacie whisks you away.”

“You really shouldn’t have.”  I murmured as she led me to the long, leather couch at the farthest left end of the room.

 “The first surprise gift was too difficult to wrap, so would you close your eyes please?”  Ava asked politely sitting on one side of me.

James sat down on the other side of me wrapping his arm around my shoulders giving them a soft squeeze before extending his reach to his mother.  James smiled and nodded his head.  I sighed, gracefully crossed my legs, and raised my hands placing them over my eyes.  Being blind, I trusted my ears.  There were rustling noises and the sounds of several footsteps followed by a booming laugh.

“I thought I told you to take care of yourself, Ellie!”  The roaring laughter grew louder.

Instinctively, my hands flew from my face to the bruise on my leg, but I needed not open my eyes to know whose voice it was.  It was Aden Cormac, James’s older and very humorous brother.  Aden was the first Cormac I had met.  He had been my best friend in high school—the only Cormac to brave the horrors of public high school—though he was a year older than me.  I owed him my happiness because he was the person who had introduced me to James.

“Aden!”  I shrieked leaping and running to give him a hug in one swift motion.

He picked me up and spun me around then placed me back on the ground just in front of him.  I smiled and laughed.

“No one told me you were coming!”

“Then, it would not have been a surprise, would it?  Now, look at that bruise.  You take up rugby, Ellie?”  Aden asked eyeing the fresh bruises on my forearm and the side of my calf.

“No.  I fell off a stool this morning while trying to retrieve the frying pan this morning.  It would have been worse if James hadn’t been there to catch me, but the island slowed me down a bit.”  I laughed rubbing around the bruise on my arm.

“Now, that sounds like you.  Leave it to you to get hurt when living with the most over-protective person in the world.”  He shot James a smug smile as he laughed.  I turned back to James and smiled sympathetically.

“You would say that.”  James grumbled his eyebrows creased as he glared from the couch at the laughing Aden.

I gave Aden a stern look before returning quickly to my spot on the couch.  Nestling on the couch beside him, I intertwined my arm with his and kissed his cheek.

“I know I need protecting.  Who knows what kind of predicament I’ll get myself into tomorrow?  At least I know I’ll always be safe with you.”  I whispered in his ear setting my head on his shoulder.

“WHAT IS THIS?  It is 8 o’clock.  She is supposed to be opening presents!  You were the cause of this, weren’t you?”  Stacie exclaimed appearing in the doorway and pointing at Aden.  “Never mind that now.  I have to make some last minute changes, and she better be finished with opening her gifts by the time I return.”  She gave a stern look about the room and disappeared as quickly as she had come.

“Now, we all know how much time Stacie has put into this party for Elliana, and I would hate to ruin anything for her.  I suppose we should have you begin opening your presents.”  Ava spoke as she wrapped her arm around James and me.

Aden came forward carrying a wooden chest with a large blue ribbon wrapped around the outside of the chest.  He set it at my toes and smiled before stepping back in line beside Collin. 

“This lovely gift is from Aden, Collin, Stacie, Emery and I.”  Adalyn stated.

The chest was filled deeply with colorful tissue paper making it impossible to reveal the contents of it.  I removed bits of paper to find several spiral bound books with blank sheet music inside.  Below the notebooks was a tall stack of various sheet music that was surrounded by CDs of various genres of music.  It was truly a music lovers dream to receive as gift such as this one. 

“This gift will go wonderfully with the new piano!  I love it! Thank you all so much!”  I jumped from my seat, maneuvered around the chest, and gave each of them a hug.  I walked back to the couch where James pulled me gently back to my seat.

“This gift is from Joshua and me.”  Ava said in a soft voice placing a small box wrapped in silver paper in my lap and wrapping her arm around my shoulders.

I swiftly ripped through the paper and lifted the lid of the box to reveal a small silver key on a satin pillow.  My eyebrows creased—and I was left in confusion once again.  Another key?  I thought to myself.

“Not a car.  I promise.”  James secretly whispered in my ear.

I giggled.  “Keys must be a popular gift choice this year.”

“Keys always come with surprises waiting behind the lock doors.  Come with me please.”  Ava said keeping her arm around me as we got up from the couch.

She led me out of the living room and up the dark stairs.  We turned left—the usual path to James’s room—and continued down the hallway.  Just before we arrived in front of James’s room, she took a sharp left landing us in front of a door I had never noticed before this night: another new addition to the Cormac house.  Ava took the key from its pillow and unlocked the door.

“This is your room.”  She whispered pushing the open the door.

I walked into large room and flipped on the lights to get a better look at my room.  The complete back wall was lined with tall windows with large, white drapes on either end of the room.  The other three walls were a soft periwinkle blue.  In the middle of the room was a queen sized bed with dark blue covers and many pillows of different shapes and sizes all in different variations of blue—and it had a thick, white wooden frame with an antique design on the headboard.  On the wall to the right of the bed were several framed paintings, which some had been painted by James, others by me, and some I had never seen before.  To the left of the bed, a white antique desk stood with a small light blue lamp sitting on top.  A white bookshelf sat beside the desk with a sound system on it surrounded by various music CDs.  I turned back to smile at her and saw a full length mirror on the wall beside the door.  The whole room was perfect.

“This is beautiful.”  I said in awe.

“It is for you anytime you want to use it.  You spend so much time here when James is gone, and I always hated you having to make such a long trip back to San Francisco alone at such a late hour or when you have to attempt to sleep in James’s ridiculous waterbed.  This way you can spend as much time as you like here when he is gone, and even when he is here.”  Ava said from the doorway.

I spun around in my new room and ran back to her.

“Thank you so much.”  I said hugging her.

“You are welcome, my dear,” she replied as she backed away from me, “but we should return to your party.  I’m sure Stacie is eager to show you her little project.”

I turned to the mirror to check my appearance and dab my tear-stained cheeks then nodded when I was through.  Ava and I returned to the group, and I immediately gave Joshua a hug and a smile then returned to settle perfectly in my place beside James.  We had returned during one of Adalyn and Emery’s stories of their adventures from Africa: the real stories because there was no more need for secrets.  James wrapped his arms around me and kissed my head as we listened and laughed at the stories of Africa.  In an instant during my laughter, everything went dark again.

  “Sorry to interrupt,” I heard Stacie begin, “but I believe it is my turn to give her a gift.  Ellie, James is now going to help you up, and he will follow me while leading you to your surprise.  Don’t worry.”

“Is the blindfold completely necessary?”  I asked.

“Yes, it is necessary, so no peeking!”  She warned slapping my hand that was moving toward the blindfold.

My hand shot back down to my side and reached for James’s hand that easily found mine.  He gripped my hand tightly as he whisked me off the couch and wrapped his arm around my shoulders.  His light grip tightened as we began to walk.  I counted the clicks of my heels to track the distance we traveled by the twentieth click—and the absence of stairs—I had determined we were following Stacie down the long hallway toward the back of the house.  Suddenly, the blindfold fell from my eyes and hung around my neck.

The whole backyard was hidden under a red tent.  Paper lanterns began at the roof of the house and strained down to the opening of the big-top tent.  It did not take me any time to understand what this tent was to be used for.  A circus.  I had always been fascinated by the artists of the circus.

My hand dropped from his, and I skipped merrily down the steps breaking out into a run as my feet hit the soft grass.  James and Stacie easily met me at the opening of the tent blocking my access to whatever excitement lie behind the tent.  I skidded to a stop sliding a bit before settling into the ground.

“Can’t I go in?”  I demanded moving my hands to my hips.

“I wanted to properly introduce you to your surprise.”  Stacie replied.

I stood impatiently as she started.  “Now please understand that I have worked extremely hard at bringing this together including this introduction, so be nice and don’t ruin my fun because I’ve always wanted to do this.”  She smiled and cleared her throat with great authority.

“Welcome Ellie to your personal viewing of Cirque de Soleil!”  She announced moving to the side.

She clapped her hands once, and the tent opened wider letting a stream of light hit my face to truly show my expression of excitement.  I stepped forward into the tent and went head first into the wonders of my circus.