Page 151 of Give & Take

It was supposed to be a grand surprise. Nova’s so upset about this spoiler it takes Grandma half an hour to coax her back out of her room and another half an hour to get her to stop shooting daggers at her little sister, who’s likewise beside herself for her flub.

“It wouldn’t be a birthday without tears,” Lana says when I finally come out of the kitchen, exhausted and covered in sprinkles now too.

“I’m going to take a shower,” I say. My back is to the rest of them so I waggle my eyebrows.

She rolls her eyes, but smiles. And then she comes right up to me and gives me the softest, sweetest kiss of my life.

In front of her mother and children.

Lori knows about us, clearly, and well, the kids kind of do too by my admission. But this? This is new. This is out in the open.

This is what I’ve been waiting for.

“Ew!” Nova says. “That is so gross. Get a bathroom.”

Lana pulls away, pinching her lips together to try not to laugh.

“I think it’s just room, honey,” Lori says.

They’re still debating this when I kiss Lana again.

She loves the cake of course. How could she not? It’s a stack of books four high, each one a different color. We all got to title one of the books. Aurora called hers I LOVE MOMMY, because of course. Nova’s is THIS IS A BOOK THE BEST BOOK OF ALL THE BOOKS which was next to impossible to fit on the spine. Lori called hers simply MY GIRL, which honestly, I loved. Mine I called YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE, which Lori joked might be copyright infringement until I told her she wasn’t going to get her afternoon motorcycle ride.

After cake, the kids give Lana their presents: Aurora’s is a dress Aurora and I found at this very strange boutique in Swan River—it’s soft cotton; t-shirt material I think, and reaches the floor. But the best part about it is the teddy-bear with rainbows pattern. Some might call it tacky, but Aurora chose it, so I call it beautiful.

“Hey, I love Murder Teddy!” Nova says.

“I’m sorry, what?”Lana asks.

“Murder Teddy! It’s a YouTube show. The rainbow’s a knife, see?”

I hold the fabric out, examining it. It really is a giant scabbard; the hilt is hidden in the teddy bear’s paws. Then I set it down, grimacing. “She’s right.”

“When have you ever watched a YouTube show called—no, a YouTube show period?” Lana asks. “I know Raphael read the guidebook which clearly states?—”

“It wasn’t Raph!” Nova exclaims. At her mom’s raised eyebrows, Nova realizes her mistake in admitting she’s seen the show at all. “Oh. Well, I’ve just heard of the show. And maybe I’ve seen like…a few seconds. At somebody else’s house.”

“God help you when she’s old enough to get into real trouble,” Lori says, squeezing her granddaughter affectionately.

Nova’s present, which she shoves in Lana’s face to distract from her transgressions, is book sized and shaped. She didn’t want to get a gift with me, even after I asked her a few times, so this is a surprise for me too.

What Lana does pull out is a book, but it’s not just any book. It’s called THIS IS A BOOK THE BEST BOOK OF ALL THE BOOKS, by Nova Bloor.

“It’s real?” Aurora asks when we read the title.

“Of course it’s real. Aren’t yours?”

We shake our heads.

“You mean I wrote a whole book for nothing?” Nova asks.

“You didn’t do it for nothing,” I say. “You did it for your mom’s birthday.”

“I could have got her murder pants.”

“Nova,” Lana says. “You wrote a whole book. That’s not just a gift for me. That’s a gift for you.”

“What do you mean?” Nova asks.

---