Tabitha helped her siblings bring in all her gifts and cards, setting it all on the coffee table in the living room. She hadn't realised everyone would be quite so generous, but it touched her heart nonetheless. "Are you planning on opening everything tonight, Tabs?"

"I think so, Kare Bear. Do you want to help me keep track of everything, so I know who to send thank you notes to, and what for?"

"I suppose that I can do that. As long as we can watch whatever I want while we do so."

"I can live with that." Tabitha gave her a happy grin as she looked at the haul on the table. "You pick out what we're going to watch, I'm going to get us snacks and drinks. We need to keep our strength up, after all!"

Karen shook her head as she rolled her eyes at her, and Tabitha winked before turning and leaving the living room, traipsing into the kitchen and heading over to her grandmother, wrapping her arms around her waist and hugging her as she hooked her chin over her shoulder. "What do you want, Tabby girl?"

"Karen's going to help me open my gifts and cards, so that I can keep track of who sent what for thank you cards. Would you make us a snack platter while I pour lemonade?"

Her grandmother nodded and Tabitha kissed her cheek before grabbing out two large, covered, cups and filling them with leftover lemonade. "Make certain you grab a notepad and pen. It will be easier to look at than your phone when you're writing out those cards."

"Okay," she replied as she screwed the lid on the second cup. Balancing both cups in one arm, she rummaged around in the junk drawer for a notepad, closing the drawer with her hip before heading back into the living room. Tabitha handed the notepad to Karen before taking a seat on the floor next to her, setting the cups on coasters in front of them. "Grandma's bringing out a snack platter for us in a little bit," she said as she picked up the card box and slid the lid off, taking a look at the large number inside. "I didn't realise this many people came!"

"There were times when you were talking to someone, and another group would come in. It was the same at my party, remember?"

Tabitha nodded, vaguely remembering that time. Those memories were clouded with deep grief, though, and she knew that she'd never have a clear image of them. "That's right," she murmured, wanting to agree with Karen, even if it was a slight stretching of the truth. "And we'll have to save out Dave's card, since he brought a present, too, it was just too small to attach the card to."

"Sounds like a plan." Karen nudged her gently with her shoulder, grinning at her as she picked up the notepad and a pen that had been on the coffee table already. The generosity of her family and friends stunned her a little, and she couldn't stop the happy tears that rolled down her face as she looked at the small stacks of cash and checks that were in front of her.

"This is too much," she murmured as she picked up the first wrapped gift and let out a long breath. "But it's nice to know that we have friends who care for us, yes?"

"Yes, Tabs. Now, let's see what you got!"

She giggled a little as she tore off the paper on the first gift. It was from Anne, and she gasped a little to see that her bestie had managed to source her a signed copy of the latest James Rollins book. "She's a fucking legend!"

"Well, she should know you, she's been your best friend since kindergarten!" Karen wrote down what Anne had given her, and Tabitha set the book aside before picking up the next gift. That went on for another hour, taking longer than it should have, since she and Karen talked about what she'd gotten or paused to see what was happening on the show Karen had chosen. Finally, though, she had reached the final two packages, Dave's and her father's, and Tabitha could already feel herself tearing up in anticipation of what they had gotten her.

"Which should I open first? Daddy's or Dave's?" she asked as she looked between the two. Dave's was small, so it would be easier to open, and therefore leave until the end, but her father's was her father's, and she had a feeling that whatever was inside would make her sob.

"I'd go with Dave's. Remember, you have a card to go with it, too."

She nodded and took the envelope from Karen's hand, breaking the seal and pulling out the card. Opening it, she found a letter and a check, and Tabitha unfolded the check, feeling her eyes grow wide at the amount listed. "Did, did you get this much?" she asked as she showed the check to Karen. She'd never seen that amount of money listed on something with her name, and felt a bit sick for it.

"Yeah, so did Bruce. He always told Mama that he was going to pay for our first year of college, including room and board. Yours will be bonus money, thanks to your scholarships, just like mine was. Bruce invested his for grad school. I think I'm going to save mine for a downpayment on a house."

She nodded as she traced the numbers in the small box, still trying to comprehend the six figure amount written there. "Was he expecting us to go to Harvard?" she asked as she looked back at Karen.

"That's where Mama always wanted to go, so probably." She nodded dumbly as she added the check to the pile before taking a deep breath and opening the wrapped box he'd also given her. "I wonder what you got? Bruce got a painting that Mama had always admired at Dave's place, and I got a fountain pen and ink set that Mama had loved to use."

"I don't know," she said as she pulled the paper off the velvet covered box and then cracked it open to reveal a delicate, peach coloured, cameo pin. It looked antique, and she smiled sadly as she ran her thumb over the face. "This is lovely, but I don't know why I got it."

"Maybe he told you in the letter?" Karen asked, looking pointedly at the piece of paper still in Tabitha's lap.

Nodding, she set the cameo aside and picked up the sheet of paper, smiling a little to see Dave's strong writing on the page. Tabby-cat, I know that you're probably wondering why this piece of jewelry. Your mom had always admired delicate things, and they suited her style and features. The one thing she always wanted, beyond ostentatious gems and huge rings, was a cameo from Victorian times. I found this one, featuring the three graces, about two weeks before…well, before, and never had the chance to give it to her. You, of all her children, are a sentimentalist, like I am, so I knew that this would be for you, when you graduated high school. I, I liked to imagine that it was your mother and you girls carved there, and I hope that this gift can bring you joy and happiness in the years to come. Love, Dave

Tabitha let out a gasp of breath before she began to cry openly. Karen set aside the notepad and hurriedly hugged her, holding her tight as the storm passed. "After the years of silence, he still manages to give me the perfect gift."

"He is good at knowing what will mean the most to us," Karen said before she looked pointedly at the large box left on the table. "But I wonder what Daddy got you? Our gifts were not nearly so large."

"Jealous, Kare Bear?"

Her sister shook her head, even though a guilty flush spread across her cheeks. "Not really, but maybe a little."

Tabitha nodded as she pulled the box towards her, wanting to set it on her lap, but finding it too heavy to do so. Frowning a little, she pulled the wrapped lid off as she rose up on her knees in order to look in the box. A quiet breath escaped her lips when she saw that inside were all the things she had admired of her mother's. Her delicately embroidered handkerchiefs that she remembered her mother working on during vacations and after rehab. A smaller box contained hundreds of pictures of her mother and her friends and family, and she giggled a little at the picture on top, since it was one where her mother was caught mid laugh, her arms around a dark haired woman who looked vaguely familiar. They were both so young that it was difficult to know for sure who it could be. And on the bottom, beneath the beautiful ephemera, was a series of fifteen books, all the same colour and size.

Pulling one out, she looked at the cover and saw that it was embossed with her mother's maiden name and a year, 1980. Taking out the next, she saw it embossed with the next year, though it wasn't until 1990 that the name on the front changed to her married name. Tabitha pulled out the last volume and saw that it was dated 1994, and she frowned a little at the abrupt end, knowing that there were still nineteen years of life following that date.

"When you've finished reading those, I'll give you the next set."

Tabitha looked up to see her father standing in the doorway, and she nodded a little. "These cover up to the year Karen was born. So there's one covering the year that I was inside her?"

Her father nodded as he came over to them, reaching out to stroke Tabitha's hair lightly. "I knew that you, out of the three of you, would appreciate this look into your mother's life. Your sentimental, and deserve to know everything about your mother that can. Enjoy reading them over the next few weeks."

She nodded and jumped to her feet, hugging her father tightly, so grateful for this wonderful gift that he had given her.