The Unholy Trinity

The Unholy Trinity-Chapter Twenty-two

“Happy Birthday, Fallon!”

Fallon groaned as she sat up in bed. She knew hew mom meant well, but being waked up out of a sound sleep by having someone shout in her face wasn’t the best way to start the day.

“Thanks,” Fallon said as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

“You’re not getting any presents now. You’ll get them tonight after dinner.”

“You’re not working today?”

“I traded days with someone so I could have your birthday off.”

“That’s nice, Mom.”

“I thought I’d cook your favorite dinner and then we could do presents after that.”

“That sounds great.”

“All right then,” Gwen said and jumped from the bed. “You better get in that shower and get yourself ready for school, or you’ll be late birthday girl.”

Fallon couldn’t believe her mom was so excited about her birthday that she took the day off work. She was glad she hadn’t made any plans with Lucian or her friends today. Since her birthday fell on a Wednesday, her friends decided they should wait until Saturday to celebrate. Fallon didn’t know what they were planning other than something at Lucian’s house, but she didn’t really care. A party was a party, and now she’d get two parties instead of one. It was the first time she could ever remember her birthday being such a big deal.

As she readied herself for school, she wondered what kind of presents her mom got her. Whatever they were, they couldn’t be too much since they didn’t have a lot of money. No doubt her friends would get her clothes or gift cards or stuff like that. She had no idea what Lucian would get her though. Besides the fact that he gave her so much already, he hadn’t even asked for any ideas.

The sound of the doorbell made her frown. Usually Lucian just honked his horn when he came to pick her up in the mornings. Her frown morphed to the biggest smile ever when she opened the door and found herself face to face with a bouquet of pink roses.

“Happy Birthday,” Lucian said as he shoved the flowers toward her. “I thought you might want to put these in some water before you leave so you didn’t have to carry them around all day.”

“They’re so pretty,” Fallon gushed.

Lucian grinned at her. “Thanks. There are sixteen of them, one for each year.”

“Oh my,” Gwen said as she came in from the kitchen. “Those are some beautiful roses, Lucian.”

“Thanks, Mrs. Keyes,” he said, and Fallon smiled at how shy he always got around her mom.

“Why don’t you let me put those in some water for you?” Gwen offered. “You kids don’t want to be late to school.”

“Thanks, Mom,” Fallon said and handed them over.

“Have a great day,” Gwen called after them. “I’ll see you tonight.”

As usual, Lucian held the passenger door open for her to enter the car first. She waited until he was behind the wheel before she spoke again. “Thanks for the flowers. They’re really beautiful.”

Lucian smiled. “They’re not as pretty as you,” he countered, and Fallon giggled. “Listen, I only have one other thing for you right now, but it’s not a real birthday present.”

Fallon drew her eyebrows together. “What do you mean it’s not a real present?”

He reached under his seat and withdrew a long white envelope with her name written on the front. “I wrote this for you. Don’t read it now though, okay. Read it later when you’re alone so I don’t have to see you laughing.”