"Wake up! Wake up! It's my birthday!" cheered a high pitched little voice as Chris felt the bed bounce around her.
"Gah!" Kate awoke with a start as a little body hurled itself on top of her and then began jumping on the bed.
"Wake up! Wake up!"
"Cut it out Rum, we're awake!" grumbled Chris.
"Didn't we tell you to wait until 8 o'clock?" asked Kate.
"Yes! Yes! Yes! Eight o'clock because I'm turning eight years old! I know, I know!" Rumple cheered excitedly.
Actually, he'd woken up at seven and had been parked in the hall by his mums' room reading a book with his flashlight, his eyes darting over to the numbers on his Spider-man digital watch every few seconds until the numbers flashed 8:00 precisely, which is when he darted into the room to wake them up. He had his book in his hand still, it was "Ramona Quimby, age 8" naturally, on loan from Belle who had all the Beverly Cleary books.
"C'mere you grown up boy!" said Kate and began to tickle him and he squirmed and kicked all over the bed, giggling and giggling.
Chris kissed him on the head and gave him a big squeeze. He nuzzled up to her shoulder and pretended to be a cat, meowing and butting his head up against her.
"Happy birthday sweetie!"
Chris and Kate made Rumple his favourite waffle breakfast with Astrid's help.
Kate was just getting ready to make the coffee when the doorbell rang.
Rumple jumped off his chair and ran to get it.
Chris didn't think she'd ever get tired of the sight, her little boy running.
His legs still weren't exactly the same length, but it was impossible to tell with shoes on. He walked fine and straight with a small lift in his right sneaker to make up for the slight discrepancy. He still had a slight limp when barefoot, and his formerly injured leg still hurt a bit when it rained, but otherwise he was perfectly healthy and free from pain.
As soon as he'd gotten his last cast off and had been allowed to go in the water, he'd taken to swimming with a vengeance. Though still smaller than other kids his age, he'd grown considerably. He'd gotten tanned and brown swimming in the outdoor pool at summer camp twice a day. His formerly puny arms had acquired some sinewy muscle from all that swimming.
Rumple's love of any kinds of pants that were not sweatpants had continued unabated. He had regular jeans in several colours, skinny jeans, Bermuda shorts, overalls, snap up track bottoms. He even had a tiny kilt which he had worn to Chris's brother's Scottish wedding in his position as ring-bearer. (And he'd done a great job too, everyone had said so!) In truth, Chris had to admit his clothing choices did tend towards the flamboyant, but she supposed he got it from Astrid.
It had been strange at first incorporating Astrid into their lives. They'd only started letting her take Rumple for short periods of time by herself outside the house. The first time, they'd been on tenderhooks the entire three hours, terrified they'd be scraping poor Rumple off the floor of a drug den and hearing the police on the blower any minute.
But Astrid returned right on time. Rumple's mouth was smeared with chocolate from the ice cream treat she'd bought him and he'd got some down his shirt as well, but that was all.
They made a deal with her that if she managed to stay clean, she could stay with them and Rumple. She had tried before to wean herself off drugs, but this was the first time she ever really had a reason to make sure she stayed clean and people around her who actually cared about her staying healthy and sticking to the treatment plan. No one had ever really believed in her before.
The detox process at the treatment centre had been awful, but visits from Rumple, Chris and Kate and even Rose once she got better, had sustained her and kept her hope alive. She hadn't backed out or relapsed since then. Staying off drugs meant that she got to keep Rumple in her life and live in a clean place with people who showed her respect and were helping her finish her high school courses and get a job. After running and hustling and scrounging through life for so long, she was relieved to rest at last, to let someone take care of her a bit for a change.
Chris and Kate detected a new confidence in Rumple.
It was subtle at first, but she came to see it more and more as time went on, he was becoming more confident, less afraid of everything, to think he was more worthwhile. After all, Astrid had come back, given up the bad medicine for him, only for him. He knew he had saved her life, just as she had once saved his. An unimportant, useless, person wouldn't have been able to do this. He, Rumple, was useful, he was important and he was brave. It didn't matter if he was in a cast and on crutches, as he was when he saw Astrid at the hospital, he'd been able to bring her back to life. He knew because she told him so every time she saw him. He wasn't useless like Malcolm said, even before he could walk properly again. It didn't matter. He was always very very very useful.
After that, when he'd looked around at the kids on the playground, he didn't feel like hiding anymore. How many of the rest of them could say they'd saved someone's life? That someone else was alive because of them? Really, there was only one other person on that playground he knew who could, and that was Belle.
He answered the door and she was there, bouncing on her heels on the welcome mat, carrying a brightly wrapped package. He was pretty sure from the shape and that it was Belle bringing it, that the present was a bunch of new books. "Hey Rum! Look what we got you!"
Unlike last year where Belle had had to improvise a birthday present on her own, this year, Belle's mum had taken her a week before to the bookshop to pick out the perfect book for her best friend's birthday. Belle's mum was healthy now, taking immunosuppressant drugs and working part time at the bookstore near the school so they got an excellent discount. She always came to pick her daughter up after school, usually with a treat for her in her pocket and of course, one for Rum as well.
Belle's mother and father had remained with Belle in the city after her mother got out of the hospital. Maurice had originally moved them to the city to be near Belle's mother Rose, under the advice of the doctors, who said she probably wouldn't have much longer to live as lungs that matched her rare blood type were scarcer even than regular lungs were to obtain. Maurice had wanted to be with Rose as much as he could for as long as possible before the inevitable occurred. He had moved Belle to the small city apartment thinking it would be temporary, leaving most of their things behind in their house in the suburbs.
Now that Rose had her organ transplant and was looking forward to many more years watching Belle grow up, they had other considerations. They still had to make sure she took care of her new lungs. Although she could work and do most things she did before, she still needed frequent check ups at the hospital to monitor things to make sure there was no rejection and keep infections in check when they occurred. It just made more sense to live within easy distance to the specialists in the city who knew her and could give her the best care, instead of her having to drive several hours into town every time she needed a check-up. So the summer after Rose got her transplant, Maurice sold their big house in the suburbs and bought a smaller house in the city. It was still bigger than the tiny apartment they had lived in. Now Belle had all her old toys, desk and bed back with her, everything she needed to feel at home in the new place, but most importantly of all, she had her Mama.
Astrid came by to see Belle and Rose at the door and Rose admired her friend's new hair colour. It wasn't thin or mousy brown anymore, but thick and curly and she'd dyed it back to pink again, a bright, bright unique fuscha colour that could be seen from miles away. "So you can always find me in a crowd," she'd told Rumple the week before, "and I'll never be lost from you again."
Chris pulled out the other leaf to the table and Kate and Astrid set three more places. Maurice had brought a big jar of freshly squeezed orange juice and Rose had a tray full of home cooked brownies, that Belle insisted she had mostly made herself.
Together, Kate, Chris, Astrid, Maurice, Rose and Belle sat around the table with Rumple at the head.
Later on Belle and Rumple would put on their swimsuits and jump through the sprinkler in the backyard with Ruby and Victor. They'd play tag and soccer and there would be a barbeque for all of them and Emma and Neal and baby Henry would come over. Baby Henry was bigger now, just learning to walk and Rumple was helping him. Then there'd be presents and cake and pin the tail on the donkey and other games and when it got dark they'd go back inside and watch Rumple's favourite movie.
But for now, they were having a delicious birthday breakfast. Wearing the silly paper birthday crown that Kate had made him, Rumple dug into his fresh waffles with maple syrup and paused with the piece of waffle halfway to his mouth. Everyone else was digging into their food or chatting or pouring orange juice. For a moment no one was looking at him and he could just observe them like this, his friends, his family. Two years ago he'd been all alone in the world and now the little kitchen in Kate and Chris's house was filled to the brim with people who loved him. Sometimes he could barely believe this was his life now. Other times his old life felt like some sort of bad dream that had happened to a different little boy, long ago and half forgotten. He swung his strong little legs under the table and share a look with Belle who seemed to know what he was thinking.
"Want my present after breakfast?"
"Absolutely," he grinned and took a big bit of his waffle as Kate ruffled his hair and Chris looked on smiling.
Hey guys! So that's it! Thanks so much for sticking with this story, despite the frequent long breaks. I've really enjoyed writing it I hope you liked the ending. I'd like to thank some of the kids I've worked with over the years, who've inspired bits and pieces of child Rum and Belle's antics and life stories and awesome friends of mine who've been foster and adoptive parents. Thanks for your stories.
xoxo
Degby
