Martin and Ronee gasped in surprise and rose to their feet as Daphne walked slowly into the living room carrying the beautifully decorated cake. She sat it down on the table where they had shared David's birthday cake.
Ronee admired the heart shaped cake that was decorated in pastel colored icing. "Happy First Anniversary Ronee and Martin." She read. "Oh Niles, Daphne this is wonderful! Thank you so much." Overcome with emotion she hugged and kissed them both. "You didn't have to do all of this."
"Of course we did." Daphne said. "And it was our pleasure."
"Well I can't say that I'm not happy about this." Martin admitted. "Thanks you kids. This is great!"
"Actually it was Niles' idea." Daphne said. "He even brought champagne."
"Since you didn't have a proper celebration on your first wedding anniversary, I thought this would be the perfect time. Niles said.
"Oh Niles, thank you so much." Ronee said. She moved to hug him but he held up his hand. "Before you thank me, I have something for you. A gift from Daphne and I."
"Niles, you didn't have to buy us anything."
"Well, I wanted to." Niles reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a long envelope and then handed it to martin and Ronee.
"This is so exciting." Daphne said. "I don't even know what it is. He told me he wanted it to be a surprise."
"What is this?" Martin asked.
"Well, there's only one way to find out." Ronee said. Together they carefully opened the envelope and gave each other a look of stunned disbelief.
"Oh my God, Niles, are you serious? A cruise to Italy?"
"It's beautiful this time of year." Niles said. "And it's all paid for. All you have to do is pack and then-"
Before he could finish, he was surrounded by hugs and kisses and more love than he could have ever imagined.
It was a birthday and an anniversary that he would cherish for the rest of his life. There was no deeper love than the love of the Crane family.
THE END