The sun had nearly disappeared by the time he turned through a pair of tall black gates. Beyond them sat one of the waterfront properties he owned, with a modern white mansion I had only seen in photographs. The house rose three stories above a wide circular driveway, and its glass walls reflected the last streaks of orange and pink across the sky.
The warm lights lined the path leading to the entrance. Large arrangements of red roses stood on both sides, mixed with candles protected inside tall glass cylinders. My name had been worked into a gold sign near the steps. Right below it, in smaller letters it said: Twenty-Seven.
I looked at Lev and he kept his attention on the driveway as though the entire front of the house hadn’t been transformed for me. “This is dinner?” I smiled.
“The food is inside.”
“That’s not what I asked.” I smirked while shaking my head because he was always up to something.
He parked near the entrance and came around to open my door before I could reach for the handle. When I stepped out, the music became clearer. A violinist stood beneath the covered entry playing one of my favorite songs.
I stared at the house again. “Lev.”
“Come on.”
“What did you do?”
“Walk in and see baby, damn stop asking all these questions Nay.”
He offered his arm instead of reaching for me, allowing me to decide how much support I needed. I linked mine through his and moved carefully up the path. The ground was smooth, but I still concentrated on each step, planting the heel of the prosthesis before shifting forward. Lev matched my pace without looking down.
At the door, he reached ahead and opened it. The lights inside came on all at once. “Surprise!”
The sound hit me before I saw everybody. Grandma Lulu stood near the front with both hands raised, already crying. BJ was beside her in a deep purple dress, smiling through tears of her own. Monica, Tasha, my aunts, cousins, former coworkers, and more people than I could process filled the open living room. Lev’s family occupied the other side, along with Mike and several men I recognized from around him.
Red and gold decorations filled throughout the house. Photographs of me were lined on one wall with childhood pictures, nursing school graduation, family holidays, and newer images from rehabilitation that I didn’t know anybody had taken. A large table held a black and gold birthday cake beside wrapped gifts and arrangements of flowers. Everyone clapped as I entered and my first instinct was to stop because crowds had become difficult. I was always aware of where people looked, and I didn’t know whether to adjust the dress or close the slit. Then Lulu pushed through the group and wrapped both arms around me.
“Look at my baby.”
She held my face between her hands and kissed both cheeks. “You are so beautiful.”
“Thank you, Lulu.”
She glanced down at the prosthesis without sadness, then back up at me. “And look at that leg. That thing cost more than my first house.”
BJ laughed beside her. “Probably cost more than three of ours.”
The tension left my shoulders as people came forward one at a time. Nobody treated me like I might break. They hugged me, complimented the dress, joked about the cake, and filled the room with enough noise to keep me from thinking too hard.Tasha waited until most of the others had greeted me. We had never spoken about what I heard in the rehabilitation room, she still believed I had been asleep. Our friendship continued, but I had changed the parts of myself I handed her. She didn’t notice, or maybe she did and chose not to ask. I no longer called her first with every fear. I no longer trusted her with information that could be used against me. I loved her, but the love had boundaries now.
She hugged me carefully and held on longer than necessary. “Happy birthday,” she whispered.
“Thank you.” I smiled.
When she pulled away, tears filled her eyes. “You look so good.”
I looked her up and down and complimented her as well. “You look pretty too.”
She wiped beneath one eye before the makeup could run. “I promised myself I wasn’t crying today.”
“You should’ve made a more realistic promise.” I teased.
She laughed, and for a moment we felt like the women we had been before everything became complicated. Dinner was served outside on the terrace overlooking the water. One long table stretched beneath hanging lights, surrounded by candles and red roses. A private chef prepared food inside while servers moved between the guests with trays of drinks.
Lev kept me beside him throughout the evening, but he never hovered. When I needed to sit, a chair appeared. When the socket began to feel tight, he quietly asked whether I wanted to go upstairs and remove it for a while. When I told him I was fine, he accepted the answer instead of questioning me.
After dinner, everybody gathered near the pool for the cake. The violinist began playing again as the lights around the terrace dimmed. I looked toward the house, expecting someone to bring the cake outside. Instead, the people closest to us began movingaway, creating an open space near the edge of the pool. My stomach tightened. Lulu covered her mouth. BJ smiled like she had been waiting all night for that exact second.
I turned toward Lev. “What’s happening?”
