Notes: Thanks to Mari and Sammy for their help with this one. You're the best!
Readers and REAL McRollers - Thank you for you amazing support as we head into another year of the REAL World!
Hope you enjoy!
Close at Heart (A McRoll in the REAL World Story)
"Hey, these look familiar," Danny said as Elizabeth and Catherine passed out dinner plates at the condo. "Stuffed peppers, right?"
"That's right," Elizabeth confirmed.
"One of Nonna's staples," Danny continued, looking at his meal with interest. "But I've never had them with meat, only vegetables. These smell great."
Elizabeth smiled. "Thank you, they're one of Joseph's favorites."
Joseph nodded, lifting his knife and fork happily. "Which is why I wanted them for my birthday dinner."
Catherine grinned. "And why I was not a bit surprised to hear that."
"I'll eat your pepper if you don't want it," he said, smiling.
"I do like them now, as you know, but since it's your birthday, you're welcome to it."
Grace looked between them curiously.
"When I was a kid, I didn't like the pepper part," Catherine explained, motioning to the cooked bell pepper on her own plate. "So I'd scoop out the inside and Dad would eat the pepper."
"And then she'd play with her food," Steve teased.
"I didn't play with it," Catherine insisted.
"What else do you call flattening out the rice and meat with your fork?"
"That does kind of sound like playing with your food, Cath," Danny said, grinning.
She rolled her eyes and looked back at her father. "So I know you and Mom did brunch earlier, what else have you have done for your birthday?"
"Not much," he said. "It's been a pretty uneventful day, but that's fine by me."
"Tell them about what the Allens did yesterday, Joseph," Grandma Ang urged as she fed Angie a bit of mashed sweet potato.
Joseph smiled. "Oh, it was very nice. Jacob gave me a little clay minion he made in art class. Kaitlyn made an acrostic poem with my name. And Dylan made a card with LED stickers that actually lights up when you touch it."
"How sweet," Catherine said. "We'd love to see them."
"Definitely," Grace agreed.
"And Casey and Cody came by after work and brought me chips and a tub of that pineapple salsa I love from Food Land, plus some cupcakes Kaitlyn had made."
"Now I wouldn't mind if you shared the cupcakes but you can keep the pineapple salsa for yourself," Danny joked.
Joseph laughed. "Kaitlyn must have known you'd say that. She made pineapple upside down cupcakes."
Grace giggled at her father's face. "Haha, Danno."
"Don't worry," Elizabeth said, smiling at the exchange. "We've got a nice chocolate cake for later."
After dinner, they gathered in the living room and Joseph opened his gifts. He received a new set of grilling tools from Steve and Catherine, a giftcard to a premier seafood restaurant from Danny and Grace, and a framed picture of himself and Angie from his granddaughter.
Catherine sat down next to her father and threaded her arm through his. "I'm glad you like the grill set, Dad."
"I do," he said. "But you know just being with you on my birthday is more than enough present for me."
She tightened her arm around his and smiled. "I know it is."
"You must have missed a lot of birthdays together over the years," Grace said sadly.
"We have," Joseph acknowledged, patting Catherine's hand. He looked back at Grace. "Mine, Catherine's, Elizabeth's …"
"Elizabeth's what?" his wife asked as she returned from changing Angie's diaper.
"Birthdays," Grace told her. "I was just thinking about how many birthdays you guys must have missed." She shifted to the carpet to play with Angie as Elizabeth set the baby down.
"The first one I remember was Dad's birthday when I was about five and a half," Catherine said. She looked at him. "I heard Gram telling Mom it was too bad you weren't getting home a month earlier because then you would be there for your birthday." She grinned at Grace. "I was five so birthdays were a very big deal, of course."
Grace giggled.
"I wanted to know who would sing Happy Birthday to him and who would make him a cake," Catherine continued. "Mom told me it was okay, we'd celebrate when he came home but I was adamant we sing on his birthday because it wouldn't really be his birthday without singing. She said of course we could sing. But then I said we couldn't sing if there wasn't also a birthday cake. Because you can't sing Happy Birthday if there's no birthday cake."
"Can't fault that five-year-old logic," Danny quipped with a grin.
Catherine smiled. "Exactly."
"So that's how I ended up baking a birthday cake for my husband who was at sea," Elizabeth said.
"Ohh, that's so sweet," Grace said as she caught Angie who had leaned too far over for a toy.
Steve smiled knowingly. "It gets sweeter."
"Catherine made a 'Happy birthday, Daddy' sign," Elizabeth continued.
"Which you helped me spell," Catherine put in.
"And we lit a birthday candle on the cake and sang, and I made sure to get a picture to show Joseph when he got home."
He smiled. "When I saw that picture, I made them promise that if I was deployed on my birthday, they'd do that again. And of course there were other years I was gone." He patted Catherine's hand again. "But wherever I was in the world, I knew they were celebrating even if I couldn't be there with them. It made me happy thinking about that. And it made me feel a little closer to them since I usually couldn't call on the day."
Catherine squeezed his arm. "So that became a tradition," she said. "If Dad was deployed on his birthday, we'd make a cake and sing, and I always made a sign and we'd take a picture for him."
"That is sweet," Danny said sincerely.
"Told you," Steve said, his eyes soft.
Danny smiled at Grace. "Sounds like something you'd do, monkey."
She smiled back at him.
"Tell them about the candle," Ang prompted. "That's my favorite part."
"Catherine always blew out the candle," Elizabeth said.
"Someone had to," Catherine said, smiling. Her expression softened. "And even though I knew it didn't technically count because it wasn't my birthday so it wasn't really my birthday wish, I always made one anyway." She smiled at Joseph. "I wished that my dad would stay safe and come home soon." She put her hand over his and squeezed. "And he always did."
He leaned over and kissed her head. "We were some of the lucky ones," he said.
On his other side, Elizabeth smiled softly. "Yes, we were."
They returned to the dining room after their meals had settled for cake and ice cream.
"This looks delicious," Joseph said, picking up the knife and preparing to cut into his birthday cake.
"Wait!" Grace said suddenly. "Aren't we going to sing? And what about the candles?"
"I'm 63, sweetheart, we'd need a fire marshal's permission for that many candles," he said, chuckling. He shook his head. "It's okay, we don't have to do all that."
"But after the story you and Aunt Catherine and Aunt Elizabeth told … plus it's the first time you've all been together for your birthday in so long …" Grace said, her voice trailing off.
Catherine looked at Joseph, shifting Angie on her hip. "I think she's right."
He sighed with a soft smile. "I can't argue with that. But I'm not sure we have any birthday candles."
Elizabeth bit her lip, thinking. "Actually, I believe we do," she said finally. "Hold on." She went into the kitchen and returned a moment later. "We had half a box from Mom's birthday last year and I remember tossing them in with the other kitchen stuff when we packed. Just in case." Smiling, she put a single candle in the center of the cake and struck a match to light it.
Steve dimmed the lights as everyone started to sing.
"Happy birthday to you …"
Catherine put a hand on Joseph's shoulder and Elizabeth took his hand on the other side, all three remembering the years they were far apart in distance, but always close in heart.
As the song ended, Joseph leaned forward and blew out the candle.
"Did you make a wish?" Grace asked.
"I didn't have to," Joseph said with a soft smile.
He looked at his family gathered together, young and old, safe and happy. His gaze lingered on his beloved daughter, his young granddaughter, and his wife and partner of over forty years. What more did he need than to be here with them?
"Mine has already come true."
Hope you enjoyed!
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