Chapter 22
By the time Garrett and I finished, Stella was standing outside the barn with a look of accomplishment on her face.
“Do you want to see?” she asked, her cheeks rosy with excitement and a slight sheen of sweat along her forehead.
Her long hair was pulled into a messy bun on top of her head, and I wondered what it would feel like to run my fingers through it.
Gosh, she was gorgeous as every single version of herself, and I wanted to know each one.
I resisted the urge to hug her, but followed her into the barn and was absolutely blown away by the magic she’d created.
“Stella,” I breathed out. Her name was the only word I could vocalize as I took in the space that looked like a fairy tale wedding.
She had moved the tables from their original setup and made two long rows on each side of the barn, leaving a large space in the middle.
She had strung lights from the rafters in the ceiling—I didn’t even want to think about how she got up there—and had the vintage glassware displayed as the most beautiful centerpieces on top of the handmade doilies.
“I’ll add the flowers in the morning, I placed an order with Gloria, and she’ll be bringing them by.
” She looked at me expectantly. “Do you think they’ll like it?
” The look on her face changed, there was still the excitement that was showing before, but there was a bit of concern and worry underneath, too. It was like she doubted herself.
I wish I knew what to do to take that worry away completely, but I gave her the best I could in that moment—the truth. “Stella, they’re going to love it.”
She looked relieved at my comment.
“Now, I have a surprise for you.”
She looked around the space she had just transformed. “Was this not it?”
“It is a surprise, and I appreciate you doing all this work. But it’s not your surprise. Mel told me you let your birthday pass without letting any of us know.” I gave her a scolding look but couldn’t keep the smile from my face.
“Oh.” For some reason she made herself smaller at that comment, and I didn’t like it one bit. She needed to know she deserved to be celebrated, and I was determined to have a part in showing her that.
“Come on, follow me.” I led her out to the ATV, and as we got on I revelled in the feeling of her arms around my waist. The distance to my yard was not long enough, and when she hopped down onto the ground, I felt naked without her touch.
“What is this?” She looked at the space of churned up earth outlined with the brand-new wood fence Garrett and I just finished putting up.
God, I hoped I had been reading her right.
“I know it doesn’t look like much right now…
” I started, gathering my courage. “But I’ve noticed how much you’ve been loving all the different flowers and spending time with Grandma Trixie in the garden or Gloria at the flower shop…
I wanted to prep your own cut flower garden for you.
It still needs work…obviously, we’d need to plant seeds in the spring.
I’ll help you and I’m sure Mel and Grandma and Mom will, too.
You can pick whatever kind of flowers you want.
I even built some supports for sunflow—”
I was cut off with an oomph as her arms wrapped around my neck and her body slammed against mine with a force that surprised me. I slid my arms around her waist and lifted her up into me, taking in a deep breath of the vanilla almond scent of her shampoo.
“Thank you, Calvin.” She pulled away and looked at me with silent tears streaming down her face. “This is the most amazing gift anyone has ever given me.”
I put her down, lifted my hands to cup her face and wiped away her tears with my thumbs. “I’m so happy you like it.”
“I love it,” she countered.
“Why didn’t you tell anyone it was your birthday?”
Her eyes clouded over, and she tried to pull away from my hands and put distance between us. I wasn’t going to let that happen, not when she had been so happy just a moment ago.
“Please, tell me. Please give me the opportunity to hold space for you and celebrate you.”
“Ever since my grandpa passed away, my birthday has been just another day. I’d try to plan things, an evening with friends or a reservation at a fancy restaurant, and Nick would always have something come up that would change those plans.
Whether it was being so late for our reservation that we weren’t able to be seated and that somehow was my fault, or he stood me up completely, or one time he got so angry, he—” She cut herself off before finishing that memory, and it broke my heart that she had so many of them.
“It just got easier to not plan anything at all.”
“Not here, okay? My family loves you, and we want to celebrate you. Your birthday is not just another day.” As far as I was concerned, the day she came into existence was my favourite day ever.
The smile that brightened her face was pure as she looked up at me. “Thank you for saying that. The truth is, every day I’ve spent with your family, I have been so incredibly happy. Every day I’ve been in Love has been better than any birthday I’ve ever had.”
I was delighted in the fact that she felt that way about my family and only hoped we could continue giving that to her.