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CHAPTER THIRTY

*A year and a half later*

"Stace! Its my party! And I have to see it later anyway," I try to convince Stacey as she struggled with my blindfold.

"No cheating Snow." I hear Raymond from behind me and I pout.

I was the one who was blindfolded. Not them. So they could see me pouting. And I wished they would pull it off.

"You look so cute!" Raymond pinched my cheek, taking my hand in his and kissing it.

He still gave me thousands of butterflies when he did that. I tried not to blush but failed.

"C'mon!" I heard Jason's voice at the door.

It was my birthday today and I was being given a surprise party. I didn't know what was so surprising about it because I knew about the party. I even knew who all were attending it.

Since I didn't like entertaining a crowd, only limited people were invited.

Emily and Tyler, Finley and Daniel, Stacey and Joey. Sam, Blake and Nicole were pretty excited too. Jason and Garrett were home since a week. Zach and Clair came last night. And Dad had been home for the past month.

And Raymond. Obviously.

So what was with the entire surprise thing, I didn't understand.

Raymond and Stacey led me to wherever the party was, both holding my hands on either side.

"Stairs ahead!" Stacey chirped.

I placed every step carefully, finding each stair with one leg before I stepped down. I tumbled at one step and Raymond held me. He cursed under his breath before picking me up bridal style and carrying me down the stairs.

Now that was a surprise.

He put me down and Stacey opened my blindfold, un-blindfolding me.

I looked around.

We were in the mansion's backyard and it was decorated with little yellow and orange lights. There were a number of round tables with two chairs arranged in a circle. At one corner there was a feist size buffet and the other corner was for drinks.

Then I looked at the centre.

And my mouth fell open.

Mom stood there with a small cake in her hands and smiled down warmly at me. Her eyes were wet.

And now I guess mine were too.

I went to her.

"Mom," I croaked.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart. I'm so sorry." She sobbed lightly.

I looked straight into her eyes and saw truth.

She really was sorry. No faking it.

Any words caught in my throat and I couldn't speak so I just smiled.

She placed the cake on the table where another cake lay. A bigger three tier cake. I realized that Mom had baked the small one herself.

Everyone else was there too.

Mom went and stood besides Dad, who wrapped his arm around her waist. I spotted Jim having fun with Sam and Blake.

"Let's cut the cake now," Raymond whispered into my hair.

I cut the cake as everyone sang the birthday song for me. I fed a piece of cake to each of them. And when I say each of them, I mean it. Because they made me do it saying that they won't have the cake unless I didn't feed them.

I was then given presents. So many of them.

Then everyone took their seats on the round tables and Raymond and I sat on the one in the middle of all others.

And now was my turn to open the gifts.

First one was from Emily and Tyler. It was a small bluish grey wallet that had Ashley written on it with sparkles.

Next one was from the twins. It was a plain white T-shirt and there was a note attached to it that said, 'He has a huge thing for whites.' I blushed as I read it and they winked at me as all the others giggled and Raymond smirked.

Joey gave me a teddy bear. How thoughtful.

Jim's gift was a silver bracelet that had mini hearts hanging from it. I liked it very much. So much that I wore it there and then.

Nicole gave me a fountain pen while Sam and Blake had made a birthday card for me. So sweet.

Next was from Garrett. It was a watch that worked according to your pulse. Honestly, it looked very boyish to me but I liked it anyway.

I opened Jason's gift. A wind chime. It was wonderful and the sound was melodious.

Next was Stacey's gift. It was a pair of black boot wedges that had golden spikes studded on them. Cool.

I couldn't find Mom and Dad's gift anywhere. And Raymond's neither.

I frowned as I saw no more unpacked gifts.

I looked towards Mom and Dad, who were clearly amused, seeing me behave like a five year old.

They got up from their table the walked toward me. They stood in front of me and I stared up at them. Sitting down on their knees, they said together, "We love you." And they took both my hands and placed something on my palms.

It was a key.

"The car is in the garage," Dad said.

Woah. A car!

I wanted to jump around spreading all the happiness I couldn't contain.

"Its a black BMW!" Mom exclaimed.

"Thank you!" I squealed and hugged them both.

Just then I felt something on my neck.

And also on the back of my neck.

I placed a hand over my neck and touched something metallic.

I turned my head back a little and saw Raymond clicking the lock.

Stacey came over and handed me her pocket mirror.

I saw a beautiful silver locket around my neck. It was the infinity symbol. I touched it and felt something so I looked closely. 'To infinity and beyond' were the words engraved on it.

Raymond was now sitting on the chair by my side. I smiled at him and reached to him, giving him a long lingering kiss.

Dad cleared his throat making him pull away and Mom laughed heartily before they went and sat on their chairs.

We all ate and drank, putting the music on, letting ourselves loose.

I looked around.

Everything was so perfect.

I lay my head on Raymond's shoulder and he ran circles with his thumb in my waist, giving me tingles all over.

"Thank you Ray," I said to him and he ksised my forehead.

"I love you so much, Snow."

"I love you more, Ray."