The next night, Madison called Ephram around 9pm, "hey sweetie, sorry to call so late, things are just so hectic. I miss you."
"I miss you. How are things going?"
"Its so amazing out here, too bad you're not here to share it with me."
They talked for almost an hour before Andy made them get off the phone. It was a school night after all. Before they hung up, Madison told Ephram that she was going to have to stay a day longer, so she probably wouldn't make it to his birthday.
The next few days were quite uneventful, Ephram was late for school and failed a test. And to top it off, Andy came in the house after work to find Delia and Ephram watching TV. "Ephram, I am so sorry, I completely forgot about your birthday!"
"Well hey, you have one more day, its ok" replied Ephram unconcerned
"About that…I'm going out of town with some clients of mine."
"Oh, so you're saying you completely forgot about my birthday?" He decided to head to his room, "this is turning out to be a great day! School sucks, you can't be counted on and Madison's not coming home 'til tomorrow night rather than in two hours!"
"Where you going?" asked Delia
"My room, where else!" snapped Ephram leaving the room.
Around 6pm he decided to put on his headphones and read one of his comics. There was nothing to look forward to now anyway since nothing was going right. He thought to himself as he read his comic, "I hate Everwood…"
Not even two hours later the phone rang, Andy answered it and on the other line was Madison. "Hey Dr. Brown, I'm pulling up to the house now. Does he suspect anything?"
"Madison" replied Andy, "It's good you are on your way. He had a terrible day at school, then I dropped the line 'I'm not going to be here tomorrow'. He thinks we all forgot about him."
They hung up and Madison walked into the house. Andy met her at the door, "He's been in his room all day. I'm starting to feel bad! He'll be glad to see you."
Madison hung up her coat before heading to his room. When she reached the top stair and stood there as she dialed Ephram's cell phone. "Hello?" he replied in a not so happy tone. "Hey sweetie, you don't sound so good, what's wrong?" Madison replied.
"Everything! School sucks, but what's new. My dad forgot my birthday and to top it all off, you aren't here."
"Hey, there should be a gift for you in your closet from me, tell me if you can find it."
Ephram looked through his closet, up on the shelf, in between clothes, on the floor, then said, "Madison, I'm not finding anything."
"It has to be in there, check a little harder or else I'll have to jump on you!"
"I'm telling you, nothing is in here! And besides, you can't jump on me since you are 1200 miles away!"
"Well then, I guess I'll just have to come home." she smiled to herself as she stood outside his door.
Ephram kept looking as he spoke, "That'd take a miracle."
"Ok then" she said as she opened up his bedroom door and stood in the doorway, "turn around for me."
"Why am I turning around-oh! That's why!" And his mouth dropped as he still held his phone up to his ear.
"Happy birthday, sweetie" smiled Madison happily, "you can hang up the phone now" she said as she hung up the phone walking towards him.
Ephram slowly hung up the phone as Madison put her fingers under his chin and kissed him softly. She put her forehead against his and whispered, "surprise! You're dad and I planned this, I'm not staying in New York an extra day and because you're dad is going out of town we are celebrating tonight."
"I missed you" Ephram replied, "and I'm very surprised!"
Madison kissed him sweetly, "now lets go downstairs and visit" she smiled as she lead him downstairs, holding her arm around his. When they got into the kitchen, Andy, Delia, Nina, Linda, Bright, Sam and a couple other people were there to surprise him. He was speechless as he sat down in a chair. Madison sat on his lap and wrapped an arm around his neck as everybody wished him a happy birthday and socialized amongst themselves. "Thank you" replied Ephram to Madison softly.
"My pleasure, Ephram" she smiled as she kissed him again.
Ephram looked into her eyes thoughtfully as she tilted her head and if it was at that moment, he fell in love with her all over again. She was giving him reasons everyday to fall for her again. He wrapped his arms around her and just held her. The party lasted until a little before midnight before everybody dispersed. Madison had to leave too so Ephram walked her out to her car.
"You rock my world," he whispered.
She bit her lip then said, "I love you Ephram." She touched his face and kissed him tenderly before pulling away then getting into her car to drive home.