~~ 2. Birthday wishes. ~~

"Happy birthday darling." Mommy cried the moment I walked down the stairs and into the kitchen for breakfast. "I'm making your favorite- pancakes with maple syrup."

"Yum, thanks Mommy." I said, smacking my lips in anticipation. I wasn't dressed yet, but when I'd woken up I was too excited to get dressed.

Daddy was already sitting at the table with a coffee and he beckoned for me to come over and a moment later I was enveloped in his strong arms. "I can't believe my little girl is sixteen already." He said.

I laughed and went to take my seat but Mommy stopped me. "Why don't you and Daddy go outside and see your birthday present first?" She asked me. "We couldn't bring it in here."

I frowned slightly, wondering what my present would be. At least, I thought relieved, it wasn't a trip away and therefore my parents weren't fighting anymore. Daddy and I walked outside and I rubbed my eyes when the bright morning sunlight hit them. And there, tied to a post on the front porch, was a puppy. I squealed with excitement and then dropped on my knees beside the puppy, who promptly licked my face all over happily. "Daddy this is the best present I've ever had." I said.

"She's only seven weeks old, so she's not housetrained and that's going to have to be your responsibility." Daddy warned me.

"That's all right….can she come inside?" I asked.

Daddy bit his lip. "Just for this morning, but until she's toilet trained I don't want her inside and leaving accidents everywhere." He conceded.

Happily I picked my puppy up and Daddy; her and I went inside. Mommy turned around from the stove when we walked into the kitchen. She smiled at me. "I take it you like your present then?" She asked.

"Yes Mommy, she's great…what do you think I should call her?" I asked.

Mommy shrugged. "That's up to you. But make it something short because puppies respond better to names which are easy for them to learn."

I nodded and surveyed her thoughtfully. She was brown and white and fluffy. "I think I'm going to call her Tess." I decided.

I glanced at my parents. Mommy was smiling, but a strange look had crossed Daddy's face and I quickly put my head back down so he couldn't see the puzzled look in my eyes. Was there something wrong with the name Tess?

"Come on Lara, eat up so we can get going over to your grandmothers." Mommy urged me. "May, Tommy and the twins are going to be there as well."

"Are they all coming tomorrow night?" I asked.

"Of course, but I think Sara wanted to see you on your birthday too." Mommy replied.

*****

In the car Mommy was telling Daddy some of the details about the party the next night. I listened absently. Nelson and I had made a few suggestions as to what we wanted, but either Mommy or Aunt Holly vetoed them for one reason or another. In the end we just left it up to them. I still hadn't forgotten about Mommy's secret that Nelson and I had overheard the week before. She hadn't mentioned it though, so I kept my mouth shut too. Sooner or later though, I was going to have to ask her what she was talking about.

"Ah, the birthday girl!" Grandmother cried when we walked into the house.

"Hello Grandmother." I said, letting her hug me briefly, and then hold me at arms length studying me.

"You look more like Laura every day." Grandmother said, and I noticed a tear in the corner of her eye. Laura had been Daddy's twin sister, but when she was about my age she'd died in a boating accident. Daddy didn't talk about her a lot, but it wasn't as though she were a forbidden subject, it was just something he felt uncomfortable talking about.

"Come on Lara, Aunt May and Uncle Tommy want to say happy birthday too." Mommy said softly, and I let go of Grandmother to turn to my Aunt and Uncle.

Aunt May signed "Happy birthday sweetie" and Uncle Tommy gave me a hug and then he prodded the twins who were standing back a little.

They were dressed in identical suits and they looked quite cute. They walked up to me and then one of them- I think it was Richard- handed me a small package. "Happy birthday." They said in unison.

"Oh thank you." I said, and I unwrapped it eagerly. It was a necklace with a sixteen pendent hanging from it. "It's lovely, I love it. Mommy can you please help me put it on?"

Mommy came over and I piled my hair up on my head whilst she did the clasp up.

"I've got a present for you too." Grandmother said, and she handed me a brightly wrapped package.

I opened it and was surprised to see that it was a hairbrush, and it looked like an antique one too. I looked up at Grandmother quizzically and then towards my parents. I saw Daddy staring at the hairbrush with hazy eyes, but then Mommy took his hand and squeezed it and his eyes cleared. "Go on, thank your Grandmother Melody." He said, but his voice sounded funny, like it did when he had a cold.

"Thank you Grandmother. It's a lovely hairbrush." I said, hurrying forward to kiss her cheek.

"It was Laura's, your dead aunt." Grandmother replied. "I've been keeping it for a special occasion. My mother gave me it when I was sixteen and we've been passing it down ever since. Laura was given it shortly before she died."

Out of the corner of my eye I looked at Aunt May- would she be angry that I had been the one to get the hairbrush. The placid look on her face comforted me.

"Thank you." I said again, and she squeezed my hand.

"That's all right dear. Hopefully one day you'll be giving it to your own daughter." Grandmother said.

"Not too soon I hope." Daddy said, his normal smiling self again.

*****

"Can you stop on the way through town?" Mommy asked Daddy as we were leaving Grandmother's place later that day. "I've got to pick up some last minute things for the party."

Daddy shrugged nonchalantly.

I settled in the back of the car feeling strangely tired. We'd had a large meal with all my favorite seafood dishes as well as birthday cake and I was feeling full. I might have dozed off because the next thing I knew Mommy was shaking me awake.

"Come on Lara, you've got to help me get some of these things in, I can't carry it all by myself." She was saying.

I yawned and stretched. "What about Daddy?" I asked.

Mommy glared at me. "Your father has gone into another shop to do something, so don't be so lazy. You'd think you didn't want this party, and Nelson's just the same. Children these days."

I hid my smile, deciding not to remind her that neither Nelson nor I had wanted the party in the first place. I followed her out of the car and towards the shops, but then someone stepped in front of us.

"Melody." He said. "How are you?"

Mommy's face went pale and she glared at him. "Adam, what are you doing back here? I heard you and Francine moved to New York shortly after…..well awhile back." She said.

I raised an eyebrow at her cold tone- I rarely heard Mommy speaking to people like that. The man standing before her was a few years older than her, but other than his slightly graying hair you wouldn't have known. He looked like a perfectly nice man to me.

"We did." Adam said. "But our son has asthma and it's pretty bad so we decided to move back here. And Father's about to retire so I'm going to take over the practice."

"That's nice." Mommy said in a tone which implied it was anything but nice. "Excuse us Adam we've got some shopping to do for Lara's birthday party tomorrow."

Now Adam's eyes turned on me. "I heard she was sixteen. And may I say she looks exactly like you did at the same age. Are you inviting her….my father?"

I frowned, wondering what he'd been about to say before he stopped abruptly.

"No." Mommy said shortly.

"Oh. Well, happy birthday Lara." He said to me.

"Thank you Mr.…." I trailed off.

"Mr. Jackson sweetie, now come on let's get going." Mommy said, and she walked ahead of me into the store.

"Thank you Mr. Jackson." I said, before turning to follow Mommy. I felt his eyes on me as I walked into the shop where Mommy was waiting by the door for me.

"Mommy, why do you hate that man? He seems perfectly nice to me." I asked her, curiously.

"Ah, here we are- streamers." Mommy said, and she plucked some of the shelf. "Could you believe we almost forgot the streamers Lara?"

"No, but Mommy-" I began, and my mother interrupted me.

"Lara, forget about it. He was just someone I knew when I was younger, and his parents were good friends of your great-grandparents, Samuel and Olivia, so he assumed that they would be invited. However we can't invite the entire town can we?" She asked me chirply.

"No Mommy." I replied slowly. Why did I get the feeling that there was even more Mommy was hiding from me?