George - Chapter Seventeen: Happy Birthday, Steph - Part Three: The Best Birthday Present, Ever

- So we've  come to the last part of Steph's birthday chapters. I hope you've enjoyed reading them; I certainly had a fun time writing them.

- The only warning I'll give is that if you don't want to know what happens in Jeff's story, don't look to hard at some of the pictures. . .You'll understand as you get further down. I promise. If you're like me, and you want to know spoilers, than look really hard at some of the pictures. Lol!!

- I will have the next chapter out as soon as I'm able. There are several things I need to build for it but I'm hoping it won't take too long.

- Thanks so much for reading!!!

****Steph****

I had just finished taking a shower and had walked into the bedroom to find something to wear. I was surprised to find George there and that he had already showered and gotten dressed. “How did you already get cleaned up and dressed?”

“I used one of the other bathrooms.” He admitted with a smile.

“Why didn’t you use this one?” 

He shook his head. “Let’s just say that I needed to get ready quickly and that doesn’t happen when we’re in the same bathroom. . .” He hinted.

“I have no idea what you mean.” I joked before walking into the closet to find a dress to wear. I found one that went with what George was wearing and walked back out of the closet and I noticed that George was coming in from the living room. “How much time do I have?” I asked.

“Take as much time as you need. We’re not in a hurry.” He smiled and I wondered what he was up to.

As I finished getting ready I noticed that George kept leaving the bathroom and bedroom to go back out to the living area. I had given up on trying to figure out what was going on. All I knew was he seemed to be running around the house.

I was taking one last look at my makeup in the mirror and I saw him walk up behind me. “How did I get so lucky?” He asked as he looked at me in the mirror.
 

I turned around and smiled at him. “I think I’m the lucky one.” I admitted and kissed him.

“God, I love you.” He whispered when we broke apart.

I put my hand on his chest over his heart and looked up at him. “And I love you.” I whispered back. He smiled at me and then gently put his hand around mine. We walked back into the bedroom and on the bed was a wrapped box. He motioned for me to open it but before I reached for it, I reached for him and kissed him purposefully on the lips; almost causing him to lose balance.

“You haven’t even opened it yet. . .” He tried to reason with me after I let him go.

“It doesn’t matter; it could be toilet paper and I’d be ecstatic!”

He laughed. “I would hope that I would give you a better present than toilet paper.”

“You know what I mean.” I smiled at him.

“Maybe you should open it and actually make sure I didn’t.” He coaxed.

I picked up the beautifully wrapped box and carefully undid the tape so I didn’t tear it.

“You can tear it, you know?”

“Hush, it’s my present and I’ll remove the paper the way I want to.” I jokingly scolded him.

I continued to carefully unwrap it and then gently laid the paper on the bed. I took a big breath as I lifted the lid off of the box and stared at what was inside. There were several times over the past couple of weeks that when we would sit together, I would play with his watch. After a couple of times, he mentioned it and I admitted to him that I had never had one. It was one of those things that I had thought about buying myself but never actually did. I reached into the box and pulled out a silver watch that had diamonds going around the face.

After looking at it for a moment I looked over at him. “George. . .” 

He quickly but gently removed the box from my hand and then took the watch out of mine. “Do you like it?” He asked as he placed it around my wrist.

“Yes.” I whispered. When he finished he looked into my eyes started to rub his thumb over my hands. “Thank you.”

He leaned down and gently kissed me, sending a jolt through my body. “Happy Birthday, Steph.” He whispered to me as he pulled away.

As I hugged him hard, I closed my eyes and wished that if I could stay in a moment, this would be one that I would chose. The only noise was us breathing, the only scent was him, and all I felt was him. It was the perfect moment.

Like all moments though, it had to end and as we pulled apart, he smirked at me, making me wonder what he was up to. We were soon walking into the living room and when we got halfway in, he stepped in front of me and turned around.

“You need to close your eyes.” He told me.

“Why?”

I could tell that he wasn’t going to tell me and I decided to just give in and close my eyes. I felt him put an arm around my waist and then one under my elbow. “We’re going to walk a few feet. But keep your eyes closed.”
 

I smiled and nodded and after taking several steps, I heard what sounded like him opening the back door and then advising me to step down. We were obviously going outside and for the life of me, I couldn’t understand why, but I continued to keep my eyes shut. We took several more steps and then he stopped me.  It was eerily quiet; I could only hear the sound of the leaves being slightly blown by the light breeze.  It felt like I stood there with my eyes closed for minutes instead of seconds; my mind going crazy trying to figure out what was about to happen.  I knew George was still standing next to me; his hand still around my waist. I was about to beg for him to let me open my eyes when I heard him speak.

“Okay, you can open them.”

I took a big breath and slowly opened them.

“Surprise!!”

I couldn’t believe what I saw, many of his family including Charlotte and Ethan were standing in his backyard and there was a tent and tables set up. 

“Okay, now I’ll bow down to your awesome surprising powers.” I said as I turned to him. 

Everyone laughed and George smiled down at me.

“How did you plan everything today?” 

“I’ve had a lot of help from everyone here.” He admitted.

I turned back around to everyone and stood there frozen for a moment. “Oh my God! I think we actually surprised her!” Charlotte exclaimed.

“Oh, you did.” I said. “I can’t believe you all did this. . .”

“Well, believe it!” Charlotte demanded.  She walked over to me and hugged me. “Happy birthday!” She exclaimed.

I hugged her back and was soon bombarded with hugs from Ethan and the rest of George’s family and I couldn’t help but think that six months ago, I would have thought that much hugging was weird or unwanted; but from knowing the Davila and Hobble families I had learned to be comfortable with it, at least with them.

Once the last person had come up, I turned and looked at George and he pulled me even closer. “You really are the master of surprises.” I admitted.

He held my face in his hands and kissed my forehead before smiling. “I’ve tried to tell you that. But this surprise wasn’t really me. When they found out it was your birthday and that you would be here, they all wanted to do something and eventually decided on a surprise party. I just kept you a little busy while they got everything ready.”

I looked around at the group of people that had gathered for my birthday and I couldn’t believe that they had taken the time and effort to plan this party. Time and time again, this family had gone out of their way to welcome me and to include me in their family and time and time again, I was surprised by it. I wondered if there would ever come a time that I would stop questioning it or if I was forever going to question whenever someone was nice to me. It was a little easier with friends, but this large of a scale of people accepting me as one of their own. . .I just couldn’t wrap my mind around it. As I continued to look around at the family thinking how grateful and confused I was about it all, I felt George lean in and whisper in my ear. “Whether you think you deserve it or not, you’ve got a family that claims you.”

Tears started form in my eyes as I turned and smiled at him. Once again, he had known exactly what I was thinking.

“How do you do that?” I asked as I looked into his amazing blue eyes.

“Do what?” He asked as he grabbed my hand.

“It’s like you know what I’m thinking. . .” I smiled. “Are you by chance, analyzing me?” I half joked.

He chuckled a little. “No. I learned a while ago that analyzing you was not a good idea.”

I couldn’t help laughing and I noticed that several of the family turned to look at us and smiled.

 

“How. . .?”

He looked deep into my eyes. “Your eyes; they reveal what you’re thinking. The rest of you, your face, body, even your tone of voice can tell one story, but your eyes, they always show what you’re really feeling or thinking.”

I smiled. “That’s interesting. . .”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because you’re the exact same way.” I informed him and as he smiled down at me  the look in his eyes told me that he was getting ready to kiss me.

“Let’s eat, everyone!” His mom suggested and I realized that for a moment I had forgotten that there were other people there with us.

George led me to a table where Charlotte and Ethan sat with us. As we started to eat our salad course, I found myself still looking around at everyone there and trying to process that this had all been done for me. I felt George’s hand on my leg and I turned my head to look at him. 

“So, have you had a nice weekend?” Charlotte interrupted us and I was again reminded that we weren’t alone; I had gotten so used to being with just him the last day and a half that I was finding it hard to concentrate on anyone else.

“I have. I have to admit, that I thought that you and Trev exaggerated George’s ability to surprise people. I’ve learned after this weekend that you really weren’t exaggerating.”

Charlotte giggled. “You’ve only gotten to see a little bit of it. Imagine growing up with him constantly trying to surprise you.”

“How did all of this start?” Ethan asked. “Most families don’t go around trying to surprise each other like you all do.”

I watched as Charlotte and George looked at each other and like I had seen them do many times, they had a conversation between the two of them without saying a word. Charlotte finally spoke. “Well. . .I’d say that’s because of Dad.” She offered.

George nodded. “Yeah. Mom hates surprises; always has. Dad loved them and he made it his mission to try to get Mom to realize that surprises could be good. I guess watching him try to surprise her and then the whole family, it rubbed off on us.”

Charlotte continued. “Sometime around high school, the four of us started to try to surprise each other, well. . .scare, surprise, catch someone off guard, it didn’t really matter just as long as you got someone. It didn’t take long for the three of us to realize that George didn’t scare or surprise easy. And what was even more infuriating was that he was really good at doing it to us. So it eventually turned into ‘who can surprise/scare George.’” She looked at me before continuing. “The fact that you surprised both myself and George for our birthday party. . .it’s insane. I’m still trying to figure out how George didn’t figure it out. . .”

“I might have been a little distracted. . .” George admitted as he looked at me. “That, and the thought of getting Trev was too enticing that I missed obvious clues.”

The main course was served and I was surprised that it was salmon. “Okay, you know how I found out what your favorite meal was, how did you all figure it out?”

“Well, you must have mentioned it to Grandma at some point. . .” George hinted.

“You can’t be serious. . .she wrote that in the recipe book?” I asked in disbelief.

He nodded and I shook my head; it was insane that one recipe book could contain so much information.

Once we had finished eating the salmon, I felt George place his hand on my elbow. “We need to go stand over there.” He whispered in my ear and as much as I wanted to ask why, I knew he wouldn’t tell me. I instead stood up and as we made our way to the other side of the tent, I was aware that other family members were watching us and I finally gave in. “What’s going on? I know you won’t tell me, but the way people are looking over here. . .”

At that moment, a large cake was wheeled out and everyone began to sing Happy Birthday to me. As they continued to sing, I looked out at everyone and then as it ended I looked at George. The amount of love that I felt coming from everyone towards me was almost overwhelming. I couldn’t have dreamed of a better birthday and I had tried many times through the years of birthdays to do just that; imagine the  perfect birthday. Nothing I had dreamed of was close to this. 

“Make a wish.” George whispered as he motioned to the candles. I had no idea what to wish for though; in front of me was a loving, caring family that I had always dreamed of having, beside me was an incredible man, and I couldn’t have imagined a better birthday. . .

I looked back over at George and smiled as I thought of one thing that I could wish for. I turned and quickly blew out the candles and everyone cheered.  As people started to cut the cake, George grabbed my hand and I thought he was going to lead me back to the table; instead, we ended up walking slightly away from everyone.

He stopped near the fence and pulled me close to him. “So, what did you wish for?” 

“You know, they say if you tell, it doesn’t come true.” I joked.

He smiled and nodded. “Will you at least tell me one thing?”

I smiled and waited for him to continue.

“Have we finally convinced you that you’re a part of this family?”

I nodded and looked back at everyone in the tent and then finally back at him. “I never really got any birthday presents growing up.” He nodded and I continued. “But like most other things, what I didn’t have, I tried to imagine what it would be like to have it and what I would want.”

“What kinds of things did you imagine?” He wondered.

I sighed thinking back to some of the things I had dreamt about. “What it would be like to have parents who liked me, even loved me. I often dreamed about what it would be like to be part of a big family with brothers and sisters.” I started to smile and he did too. “I dreamt about having an actual birthday party and the biggest grandest presents I could think of receiving. . .” I looked back at the family sitting at their tables. “But this. . .” I motioned toward them. “This is better than any present I could have imagined. This family, is the best birthday present, ever.” I said and felt tears start to fall down my cheeks. He gently started to hold me and all I wanted was to stay like that forever, to be with him forever.  He took his hands from around my back and placed them on each side of my face.

“I love you.” He said looking deep into my eyes.

“I love you too.” I said and gently pressed my lips to his; wondering how I had gotten so fortunate to have this man and this family.

We stood there, looking into each other’s eyes for several more moments before he reached down for my hand. “We should get back, there’s cake to eat, and I believe there might be an apple pie or two. . .” He said with a smile.

I nodded and as we walked hand in hand back to the tent, I looked once again at the family there and for the first time, I didn’t look at them as just George, Charlotte, or Trev’s family; I looked at them as mine.