“Little Star,” Adam says softly.
I swallow past the emotions in my throat, my cheeks heating as well as my nose. “Thank you, this is… I don’t even have words.” I sniffle as Shane leans in and presses his lips to my temple.
“That’s not all, darling,” Shane’s mother says, nodding toward the box again.
I hand the necklace to Shane and look back into the jewelry box, finding pictures of places I don’t recognize and a bullet-point list. I retrieve them from the bottom of the box and flip through the images, finishing on a photo of the Eiffel Tower. I look over at Shane, hoping for an explanation, but he seems just as confused as I am. We both look up to his parents, waiting for some sort of clue as to what we are looking at.
Pamela finally speaks up. “Although the jewelry box and necklace is for Stellina, we wanted to give you a gift as well for everything you’ve done for our son and granddaughter.”
Adam places his hands on his wife’s shoulders as he continues for her. “We know all about your love for baking and how much it means to you, so we would like to send you and Shane away for a week to France, while we watch over Stellina for you two. Of course, only when you are ready. We understand how hard it can be to be away from your child for a week. It can be next year like it can be in five. It is up to you.” He gives me an understanding grin.
“The list in there is of all the best bakeries in France. When you’re ready to take your trip, we’ll organize a whole itinerary for you both with special access to certain chefs and owners we’ve met through our visits over there,” Pamela finishes.
“Oh my God…” The tears begin to fall because this is a dream come true for me. I’ve always wanted to go but could never afford it.
“Shane, help me up,” I urgently tell him, needing to go to my in-laws and thank them properly.
Once I’m on my feet and Shane holds the gift securely in his hands, I wobble over to them and hug them both as tears streak down my face. “Thank you so much. You have no idea how much this means to me.”
“You’re part of the family now, Aubrey. We only want your happiness, just like any of our other children,” Adam says, rubbing his hand up and down my arm.
Pamela hands me a tissue as we pull apart and I quickly wipe my tears, smiling at them both before reclaiming my seat on the couch. Everyone begins to move out, going off to chitchat now that the gifts are all opened, and it’s then I spot Julian coming up in front of me with a present box in hand and seeming extremely anxious. Which isNOTlike him at all.
He sets the gift down on my lap, making sure not to hit my stomach with it, then lets go once I hold it securely in place. It’s quite heavy despite it being the size of a shoebox.
“Julian? I don’t understand, you already got us a gift,” I say while lifting the top to look inside.
“Yes, well, I was informed that books are an item many forget to purchase for a child. I was simply making sure my niece did not go without. Books are knowledge and I refuse to have you raise an illiterate child.” He pulls on the sleeves of his suit, then adjusts his cufflinks that really didn’t need to be fixed, while refusing to look at me.
“Well, thank you, Julian. I promise our daughter will be fully educated.” I giggle as I begin going through the selection, reading out the titles of each storybook. There must be at least fifteen of them here.
Julian straightens when he realizes what I’m doing, his eyes slightly widening, and the sudden change in his demeanor has me frowning, but I ignore him and continue on with my exploration until I reach the very last book.
“Guess How Much I Love Youby…” I look up, realizing what this is and my gaze connects with his. “Julian Storm,” I whisper his name, gaining several people’s attention as they all gather back around to see what’s going on.
Julian groans loudly and closes his eyes, looking mighty displeased that I said it out loud. I pull the book out from the bottom and let Shane remove the box from my lap as I look it over more closely. On the cover is an illustrated cartoon drawing of Julian and a little girl that looks a lot like me when I was a toddler.
Tears coast my eyes as I flip the book open to the first page, where another drawing greets me of him holding my daughter as they look at each other, and I begin to read out loud once more. “My sweet Miss Stellina, can you guess how much I love you?”
“Must you truly read this out loud!?” Julian pinches the bridge of his nose. “If I had known this is how things would go, I would have simply discarded the book within the nursery for you to find later.”
I giggle, sniffling as someone hands me another tissue and I choose to ignore his comment and go on with the story. “I don’t know, Uncle Julian. How much do you love me?” Stellina asks him next as I flip the page once more and this time the image is of Julian at his desk looking at a picture frame of Stellina. “I love you more than my job.”
Jessie snorts. “Highly doubt that.”
A few laughs echo through the room as I continue to the next. “I love you more than science and math. I love you more than my super strong little brother. I love you more than my smart-butted baby brother.” I let out a wet laugh while gazing over the artwork of Julian and my daughter hugging, with one image containing Jason flexing in the background, while the other has Jessie in front of a computer with stacks of books around him.
“I love you more than all the delicious cookies your mommy bakes. I love you more than all the disgusting food your daddy makes.” These ones have me baking on one page and Shane in front of the stove with the food on fire on the other, and beneath the image is written, “Definitely more than that!”
“I don’t think this is very appropriate for a child,” Shane grumbles with a frown aimed at his best friend who just insulted him in a book.
“Oh stop, it’s adorable.” I giggle once more and flip again. “I love you more than the burning sun. I love you more than the greatest storm. I love you more than the biggest moon. I love you more than the brightest star.” These all hold illustrations of them holding each other as they stand outside, staring and pointing at each thing mentioned.
My voice begins to quiver and tears streak down my cheeks as I read over the last three pages. “I love you more than the universe. I love you more than life itself. I love you more than you’ll ever understand,” I finish with a whisper, tracing my fingers over the drawing of Julian kissing my daughter’s cheek. “Oh, Julian…” I cry quietly and look up at him, although he still refuses to meet my gaze.
“Oh, good grace. Why must I keep doing this to myself,” he mutters under his breath as I manage to pull myself up from the couch and walk as quickly as possible toward him, throwing my arms around his neck.
He stiffens instantly beneath my touch, but just like every time, he quickly softens and wraps his arms around me. “Thank you so much, Julian. This truly means the world to me, and I can’t wait to read it to Stellina every night. She’ll be the luckiest little girl in the world to have an uncle as amazing as yourself.”
