Page 60 of Kissing Kayley
Is this what lovereallyfelt like?
I didn’t know. It was strange, surreal.
It was…right.
“I love you,” I whispered.
He smiled, erasing nearly every line from his handsome face. “I love you, too, baby.” He leaned in and kissed me to happy, squealing choruses ofooooooh!while hoots of approval and applause echoed through the Littles.
He nuzzled his nose to mine. “Let’s hurry up so we can have cake and open presents.”
“Cake! Presents!” various Littles squealed and chanted, making me and Vic laugh.
The buttercream-frosted vanilla cake was decorated with a pink unicorn and lots of edible sprinkles. The candles turned out to be trick candles I couldn’t blow out, which made the Littles howl with laughter and Vic snicker.
Vic grabbed a bowl of water to safely drop the candles into, and one of the two women Bigs supervising the Littles from the sidelines stepped in to take it from him. I’d invited them to join in but they’d politely refused with a smile, because they said it was their job to keep things from getting out of hand with the rambunctious Littles.
Still, I managed to convince them to enjoy cake with us by sending Vic over to them with slices.
Finally, it was time for presents. The Littles sat me in a dining room chair decorated with more streamers and balloons and started handing me presents.
There are plenty of people in the world who would’ve scoffed at all of this, and who would likely sneer and mock the presents.
They were all handmade, with obvious affection and enthusiasm, and I treasured them. First were the cards, at least two dozen, all hand drawn.
A set of five felt bookmarks. Two refrigerator magnets, hand drawn in crayon, depicting the Ranch’s main building and its view. A set of five colorful crocheted things that I mistook for pouches until they were explained to me as being reusable “water balloons”. Several hand-woven yarn friendship bracelets. A small, carved wooden horse that looked more like a hippo, but was painted like an Appaloosa and covered with purple and pink glitter.
Then the last box, a small one Emmy personally handed to me, smiling. “This one’s special,” she said.
I opened it and removed the bracelet, made of sparkly, glitter pony beads, fanciful spacer beads, and several Disney and other cartoon charms, on what I thought was a stainless steel chain.
And then… I looked closer.
In the middle of the bracelet hung a familiar-looking charm.
Vic stood in front of me, behind the giggle of Littles, smirking in a pleased way my special agent has. “Yes, that’s what it is,” he said.
Emmy dropped me another wink and took the bracelet so she could fasten it on my right wrist for me. “It’s a secure chain and clasp,” she whispered in my ear. “Your Sir gave them to me and Lilah helped me. She makes jewelry as a side hustle.”
I blinked back the sudden prickle of tears that hit me, but them Emmy was suddenly back to being a Little. “What do you think, Miss DeeDee?” she asked.
I sniffled. “It’s beautiful. Thank you. Is Lilah here?”
“No, Miss DeeDee,” Emmy said, then dropped to a whisper again. “She wanted to come but got kept at work late.”
I opened my arms to Emmy and I hugged her, long and tightly. “Thank you, sweetie,” I said. “I love it. Please tell her thank you for me if I don’t get to see her before we leave.”
“I will!” She stepped back and grinned at me. “She’ll hopefully be here this weekend.”
I wanted to help them clean up, but they playfully assured me it wasn’t necessary. After another round of thank yous to them for what they’d done, Vic helped me gather up my gifts.
We were about to return to our room when I spotted Emmy and walked over to give her one last hug. “Sorry Lilah couldn’t be here,” I said. “What does she do, if you don’t mind me asking?”
Emmy glanced around and dropped her voice. “She’s a game warden officer for the state,” she said. “A supervisor. I guess theybusted a big poaching ring and they needed her help rounding up suspects.”
I blinked. “Uh, oh. That’s…” I didn’t know where to go with that. “Unexpected,” I lamely settled on.
She slyly smiled. “Mind blown?” she whispered.
