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“Does anyone know what she’s about to do?” Ethan asked.
“Does anyone know if she’s made a decision yet?” Harper asked.
“Does anyone know if we pulled this shit off?” Chance asked.
They all looked at me and I gave a quick nod of my head. They all relaxed just as Kyra came in with an armful of presents. She handed them out one by one, a massive smile on her face while we slowly opened our presents.
“I wanted to give them to you at the hospital but I figured here was better since we were all up for breakfast,” she said.
I turned the present over in my hands before I unwrapped it. I ripped the paper off and stuffed it down next to me and what I found made me smile. It was a framed picture of Kyra in the most beautiful outfit I’d ever seen. She was smiling that beautiful smile that I’d fallen in love with back when I was nothing but a teenage boy and her hair was blowing around her face at just the right angles. But I realized there was something in the corner. A little note she had written right on the photo itself.
Dearest Owen,
Thank you for showing me that I’m stronger than I think. And thanks for always being there to listen.
Love Always,
Kyra
I looked up at my other brothers and saw they all had different pictures. Different pictures with different outfits and different messages written to all of us. I read it over and over, her voice echoing in my mind, before I ran my fingertips over her features.
Her picture was radiant, just like the smile she was giving all of us now.
“Thank you,” I said.
“This picture is gorgeous,” Ethan said.
“These are recent,” Rowan said. “When the hell did you find time to get these done?”
“I care about each of you,” she said. “And I’m so blessed to have all of you in my life. I know it’s not much, especially with the gifts you guys got me—”
“It’s perfect,” I said as I looked up at her. “Just like you.”
I knew exactly where I wanted to put it and I gave her a kiss on the cheek as I stood from the table. I headed on up to my room and found my work desk. I placed it right on the corner so she could watch over me. As a successful I.T. consultant, I had the great luxury of working from home. Harper and I kept watch over the house while the rest of the brothers worked in offices and schools in town, but because we’d all been successful right here in Colorado Springs, we never felt the need to leave.
My brothers never talked about it, but the year our parents died was hard on us all. They passed away five years ago in a plane crash that left us baffled and irate and it took time to put ourselves back together. Kyra was there as much as she could be with her studies and we loved her for it. But when our parents died, we felt more rooted to this house than ever.
It was why going through with this Christmas surprise was going to be hard on all of us.
At first, I couldn’t accept Harper’s plan. I was against it in all its forms. But then, he started explaining to me all the benefits that would come with it. All the things we could do with our lives and how this present could show Kyra that we were all in this for the long haul. That we could love her, take care of her father, and support her in whatever path she chose to take with her life.
As I sat there in my work chair and stared out across the snow-covered mountain roads, I closed my eyes and sighed. We celebrated the holidays every fucking year in this house and, after our parents died, we kept the traditions going. Dad loved football on Christmas Eve and Mom always had to have a real tree that was decorated the entire month of December. Those were two staples in our house growing up and I wanted to see to it that it stayed that way.
But as I sat there with Kyra’s picture on the edge of my desk, I realized something. I realized I could sit in a room with her pictures plastered on the walls. I could fill my desk with different pictures of her and still never get enough. I could fill my wallet to the brim and place them on the dashboard of my car and I’d still want for more of her.
That was why we were doing what we were.
That was why Harper picked the present he did.
That was why we needed a Christmas miracle. Because we weren’t just uprooting ourselves and starting a brave new life.
We were asking her to do the same.
“Knock knock.”
I was pulled from my reverie by the sound of Rowan’s voice.
“That’s a beautiful picture,” he said. “In mine, she’s in this green dress with white leggings and brown boots.”
