The Gift

December 25th 8:56 AM

Allison was the first to leave the table, racing around to grab her father in a hug. Katie and Henry were right behind her. Cameron wrapped his arms the best he could around the three young adults.

"I am so sorry. I should not have let this go on for so long. I don't know how I couldn't see it, and I'm so sorry," he cried, tears bubbling out of his eyes and dripping down his cheeks. Allison sniffled, tears dripping from her own eyes. She smiled up at her dad and nodded her head.

"It's okay, we have you now," she said, breaking down even harder into full on sobs. The four stood in a circle, crying into each other's shoulders.

"Are you alright?" Gram questioned, walking into the room.

"Are you back already?" Cameron asked, wiping his eyes with the sleeve of his shirt.

"Yes, I think you guys have been hugging it out too long," Gram said with a laugh. Maddie got up out of the corner and ran over, giving her grandmother a hug. "She's staying?" Allison nodded and reached down to pat Maddie's shoulder.

"Can we open presents now?" Maddie asked, tugging on her father's shirt.

"Let's go!"

"What made you change your mind, Dad?" Katie asked, watching Maddie open one of the last gifts.

"Yeah, you never said why you decided to finally divorce Anita. What changed?" Allison added, taking a sip of her hot chocolate.

"Well, it wasn't my idea actually," Cameron replied, looking down at his lap. He played with a doll that Maddie had left and took a deep breath. "Morgan was the one that gave it to me."

"Morgan?" Henry asked, his head whipping around to look at his father. Cameron nodded his head.

"She helped me plan everything last night. We even found a place to hide the original document in case Anita didn't go for the beach house, that way she couldn't destroy it," Cameron responded.

"Your fake girlfriend was a better partner than any of my boyfriends," Allison scoffed and punched Henry's arm lightly. He stood up and walked out of the room, his head hanging. He made his way upstairs and stepped into his room, closing the door behind him. With a heavy sigh, he rested his back against the door and slid down to sit on the floor.

Something on the bed caught his eye. A plastic bag sat on top of the gray comforter. Henry stood up and walked closer. His fingers brushed against the white plastic and he realized something was inside. He reached in and pulled out a book. A smile crossed his face as he read the title The Plague Dogs. It was the edition that he had specifically told Morgan he had been looking for.

"What are you looking at?" Cameron asked from the doorway.

"I told Morgan that I wanted this edition, I couldn't find it. And here it was," Henry replied as he flipped open the cover. Inside was a note on a piece of paper from Morgan.

'I didn't have any way to wrap it, so hopefully, a plastic bag works okay. If you'd let me stick around, I can make sure something actually does get wrapped next year. I promise. Morgan.'

"Your sisters were right you know," Cameron stated.

"What do you mean?"

"You've never appeared so happy as you have since she's been here. You could have just asked her out and never told us otherwise. No one would have known," Cameron said. Henry shrugged his shoulders and reread the note.

"Gram knew right away. The whole idea was William's and I thought it was ridiculous, but once she was here, I was enjoying it," Henry said. He held the note firmly in his fingers, his eyes never wavering from what was on the page.

"Why didn't you go after her?" Cameron questioned.

"I don't know. Gram came back so fast, I would have never caught her."

"You don't have to catch her at the airport. You know where she lives?" Henry nodded a reply. "Then go! Tell me where and I can have a ticket for you as soon as possible. Get out of here!"