"Hey, Sammy wake up," Craig said.
Sammy opened her eyes. She looked around. She had fell asleep on the couch. She looked at her boyfriend. His hazel eyes filled with love and concern.
"Come on," he said, smiling. "Party time."
He stood up and Sammy followed. He put his arm around her and led her into the kitchen where Spinner was holding Gabriel. Sammy thought about Jack. It was good that there was someone here that was actually Gabriel's age instead of just all of Mommy's friends, who were all teenagers and probably had something better to do.
Jane took Gabriel from Spinner and sat him down in his high chair. She set a cake down in front of him with one candle on it. Gabriel stared at the flame. He knew what this was. It was something Mommy did when she was stressed and they lit up the room.
"Blow out the candle," Jane said.
Gabriel looked up at his Mimi, that's what he called her instead of Grandma or Granny. What the hell was he supposed to do?
Gabriel rubbed his eyes and reached up and picked up the candle and dropped it on the cake, the flame went out.
"That's one way to do it," Marco said, out of nowhere.
Jane grinned. She reached down and took the candle and set it off to the side.
"Guys I'm not feeling so well," Sammy replied. "I think I'll go lay down."
"You sure?" Craig asked.
Sammy nodded.
"Oh, ok," he replied.
Jane watched her daughter turn and walk out of the room and back into the living room. She sat on the couch and stretched her legs in front of her. Jane walked in.
"Ok, what's wrong, Samantha?" she asked.
Sammy shrugged. "Nothing, it's just…" she started, her voice trailed off.
"Just what? What those girls did to you?"
"They had no right, Mom. They weren't just targeting at me. They were targeting at Craig and our baby. I mean, what do they know? They weren't there when it happened?"
"You mean?"
"Yeah. They don't understand, Mom," she said.
"I know, baby," Jane replied. "But do you want some cake or ice cream?"
Sammy shook her head. "I'm not really hungry Mom."
"Ok," Jane replied. "We're going to come in here and open presents after we eat."
Sammy nodded. Jane stood up and left and Craig came in and took her place on the footstool she had been sitting at. "I heard what you said about them targeting me and the baby," he replied. "Please don't worry. Don't let that stress you out. I've taken care of it."
"You did?" Sammy asked.
He nodded. "The worse thing that could happen…is that I made everything worse," he replied.
Sammy looked at him. "You did what you thought was best," she smiled at him. "You took up for me. Thanks. That's the sweetest thing anyone's ever done for me." She leaned in and kissed him on the lips.
She pulled back and looked at him. "I love you," she replied.
"I love you, too," he said. He stood up and went back to the kitchen.
Sammy sat back and propped her head up and closed her eyes. In her mind she could see everything about Craig from his eyes to his gorgeous smile that practically lit up the entire room. She opened her eyes again, smiling.