41. Save the Wishes

Save the Wishes

"Has she really never celebrated her birthday," Andrew asked. He was wearing khaki shorts and a plain white t-shirt that pulled against his lean muscles.

"Not since she was fifteen," Meghan answered, futzing with the arrangement of mylar balloons.

"Since her mom passed away?" Cathleen questioned.

"Couldn't be," Josh considered. "She was only thirteen when she lost her mom."

"Yeah, so I guess her fourteenth birthday she spent with her father and her fifteenth was with Dorothy."

"Did something go wrong there that made her never celebrate again?" Josh questioned before adding, "it's been a decade."

All eyes shifted to Meghan. She wiped her hands against her green floral mini dress and let out a breath. "Yes and no. She loved the farm and Dorothy; I think we all know that by now.But what she hasn't shared all that much is how her father didn't care about that and forced Hadley to get a job that took up every minute of her free time."

"At fifteen?"

"Yeah, the youngest age allowed," Meghan nodded.

"Whatta scumbag," Helen said.

"Total dirt," Cathleen added.

"Exactly. So she had to stop going to the farm. I think it really traumatized her. She only found out last year that Dorothy had been sending her birthday cards for years and her father just never shared them. I only know it's her birthday because I processed her paperwork when she first started at Placers."

"Plus, it's easy to remember the date, so close to Amelia's," Josh added, and Meghan nodded.

"Is this party a good idea?" Andrew interjected. "We're not going to upset her, are we? Send her running?"

"I mean who knows," Meghan shrugged. "Twenty-five is a big year and that girl has been through a lot, especially with losing Dorothy over the winter. She just deserves to be celebrated. She's been a great friend to us. She's definitely made my life easier at work. Amelia is obsessed with Aunt Hadley; Joshy is obsessed with Hadley–"

"Hey, watch yourself. We're just friends."

"Like Andrew and Meghan?" Helen teased with a very dramatic wink.

"No!" Josh said emphatically. "Like friends who were definitely not previously in love."

Meghan laughed. "Responded a little too quickly, if you ask me." Josh rolled his eyes and groaned.

Andrew smirked and draped his arm over Meghan. "Plus, that just makes us really close friends."

"Anyway…" Meghan dragged out, slipping out from under her ex. "Let's just keep this lighthearted and fun."

"You got it," they all agreed.

"Quick comment, though. Maybe we don't make the Josh loves Hadley jokes once Stephanie gets here? She's never been a fan of those."

Andrew broke into laughter, slapping Josh playfully on the back. "We got you, bro."

"Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of," Josh sighed. "We've only been dating for three months, just be nice."

"Come on, back to work." Meghan chuckled before she pointed to the clock. "Hadley will be here at two." Meghan looked around the living room, finally satisfied with the display of purple and white balloons. There were a few basic birthday decorations throughout the room and the kitchen table was set with birthday-themed paper plates and cups. There were three boxes of pizza sitting on her stove, creating a delicious aroma along with the lit vanilla bean candles that were strategically placed to make sure the house smelled sweet no matter where you stood.

Fifteen minutes later, the room was ready and they just needed to wait on Hadley's arrival. Helen and Cathleen were sitting on the couch gabbing, Josh, wearing a pale blue Van Halen t-shirt, was whispering into the ear of his giggling girlfriend, Stephanie, and Andrew was chatting with Helen's latest suitor, Gerald. Cathleen's husband took their kids and Amelia mini golfing so the party could start calmly. They would be back in a little over an hour, in time for dessert.

"What does she think is happening, again?" Stephanie asked. She was wearing a short black dress with a matching chunky belt tied tight at her waist and a pair of yellow patent heels. Her blonde hair was blown out to look like Farah Fawcet's and her eyes matched her sapphire earrings. She started dating Josh three months ago and was desperate to break into his sister's close-knit group of friends. She'd of course met Hadley several times. She worried in the beginning over how close Josh was with her and thought it was weird he spent at least one Saturday a month at Hadley's ordering take out and hanging out, especially once she realized just how many inside jokes they seemed to share.

It annoyed her how perfect Hadley seemed. Unlike Stephanie who spent hours getting ready, Hadley rarely wore makeup and although her clothes never seemed new, she stunned any room she walked into. Eventually, though, Stephanie started to view beautiful, innocent Hadley the same way Josh supposedly did, as one of his siblings. It took some self-convincing, but she was getting there. It helped that Josh was always honest with her and overall came across very trustworthy. With time, Stephanie decided to stop letting her insecurities get in the way of falling head over heels for the goofy guy she met in line at the dry cleaners.

"She thinks Amelia wanted to watch The Land Before Time again with her."

"For the millionth time," Josh laughed.

"Yeah, Had's a good sport."

Stephanie smiled and nodded. The room grew quiet when they heard the sound of an engine cutting off. They gathered closely in the center of the room, and collectively held their breaths, unsure of Hadley's reaction. You could hear a pin drop when the front door opened.

Hadley was about to call for Amelia but when the door swung open, she was immediately met with wide eyes and big smiles. Nobody wanted to shout Surprise, worried that Hadley would turn and leave, so the room stayed eerily quiet. Hadley froze. The strap of her ivory pleather handbag fell from her shoulder to the bend of her elbow, where it stayed.

"Don't freak out," Meghan said gently, taking a step toward Hadley.

"Freak out? I'm not freaking out. What makes you think I would be freaking out," Hadley's words tumbled together.

"We wanted to celebrate your birthday and remind you that it is okay for you to be celebrated."

Hadley saw the calm in Meghan's emerald eyes and exhaled. She glanced down at her arm, just now realizing her bag had fallen. She repositioned it on her shoulder and looked back up. She scanned the group in front of her, everyone looked sincerely happy to see her. When her eyes floated to Josh, he winked and mouthed Happy Birthday.

She smiled then shook her head confused. "You guys all got together just for me?"

"Of course we did," Cathleen said.

"That shouldn't be hard to believe," Helen added. "We love you."

"Yeah, even Gerald came," Cathleen said, over emphasizing his name and nodding her head in his direction.

"Ger– oh, right, Gerald. Hi." Hadley gave Helen a look that let her know more questions were coming.

"A-ny-way," Helen continued. "Today is about you and your birthday. We've all been twenty-five, honey, this one's for you."

"I can't believe this… I don't usually celebrate. I hate when the attention is on me."

"We know," Meghan smiled. "But Josh promised us you wouldn't panic as long as we got the pizza from Franco's.

Hadley's smile grew. "With pepperoni?"

"Obviously," Josh said as he gently squeezed Stephanie's hand, which she had slid self-consciously into his.

"Oh, well then, no panic here," she teased. Hadley closed the gap between her and Meghan and wrapped her into a big hug. "Thank you for this," she whispered. Meghan's muscles unwound as she relaxed into the hug. Cathleen turned the radio on as everyone started to move about and restart previous conversations.

"Wait a minute," Hadley said suddenly. The attention returned to her. "Where's Amelia? She's the whole reason I was lured here in the first place."

"Henry has the kids playing mini golf, then they'll be here," Cathleen smiled.

Hadley nodded and let out a laugh. "Now there's a saint."

"You're telling me."

After they all ate, Hadley sat on the couch between Meghan and Stephanie and let out a gentle groan as she slouched. "I don't think I've ever eaten a normal amount of pizza," she whined. "I'm stuffed."

"Yeah, Josh said the two of you normally eat a whole large pie together," Stephanie giggled.

"Oh. My. God. Are there no secrets around here," Hadley feigned offense. "I don't think we order larges…"

"We definitely order larges," Josh countered as he handed Stephanie a paper cup with sprite.

Hadley cringed, turning to Stephanie. "I'm not a total pig, I promise."

Stephanie laughed. "If I could look like you and eat an entire pizza, I wouldn't even need Josh's help."

Hadley threw her arm around Stephanie and joked, "A pizza lover - my kinda girl. But you don't need to look like me to chow down, Steph. You look great." Stephanie blushed, deciding not to mention that she usually opted for salads and salmon over pizza. Hadley might be naturally slender, but Stephanie had to work hard just to keep her fairly average form.

"AUNT HADLEY?"

"That shriek can only belong to one little girl," Hadley laughed. Amelia blew through the front door and ran directly into her arms. Hadley pulled the five-year-old onto her lap and tucked a rogue curl behind her ear. "How was mini golf?"

"Leo won. But only because he's older than me," she complained.

"It's okay not to win as long as you had fun, sweetie," Meghan added.

"I had fun! Is it time for dessert yet? Mr. Henry promised us dessert once we got back for Aunt Hadley's birthday."

"Maybe in a little bit, sweetie, Aunt Hadley was just groaning over how full she was. I think we should give her a little break."

"I'm never too full for dessert." Hadley winked at Amelia. "Why don't you go wash up and we can definitely have dessert."

"You're a bottomless pit," Josh marveled.

"I'm doing it for Amelia."

"Sure you are," he laughed. Josh grabbed Stephanie's hand to help her up from the couch. Hadley watched as he pulled her in to him, giving her a gentle kiss on the cheek before whispering something that made her blush deepen. Hadley and Meghan rolled their eyes at each other.

"Speaking of P-D-A, what's going on with Helen and Gerald," Hadley whispered, looping her arm through Meghan's.

"I have no idea. I don't think she's ever brought a date anywhere before. We'll have to badger her next week at Royal Oak."

"Definitely. She'll tell us anything after a few French martinis." They walked over to the table where Andrew set out new paper plates. Hadley took a seat at the head of the table as everyone else either grabbed a seat or stood between the chairs. Meghan grabbed the tray of homemade cupcakes she made and set them in the middle of the table. She picked up one of the chocolate fudge cupcakes and stuck a pink striped candle into the center. She lit it and placed it carefully in front of Hadley.

As the room broke into song, Hadley stared at the flickering candle. Tears welled in her eyes as the memory of her fifteenth birthday overtook her senses. Dorothy had also baked her a chocolate cupcake, using the same pink candle. How could that have been ten years ago? Hadley felt so broken after that birthday. Her world changed for the worse and she swore she'd never celebrate again.

"Hey, are you okay?" Cathleen knelt down and asked. The energy in the room died as everyone watched a tear slide down Hadley's face.

"I told you this was a bad idea," Andrew whispered, anxiously holding Meghan's arm.

"No, no, I'm okay. This wasn't a bad idea,"Hadley said, wiping her eyes. "I'm just overwhelmed."

"In a good way, Aunt Hadley?"

"In a good way, Meels, I promise," Hadley nodded. She took a deep breath in and gently blew it out, accidentally blowing out the candle in the process.

"Oh no, you didn't even make a wish yet!" Amelia panicked.

"It's okay, Meels, we can relight it," Andrew reassured.

"No, don't," Hadley interrupted, taking another deep breath. "I don't need to make a wish," she said quietly. "I'm good," she assured, smiling at Amelia.

Meghan smiled from across the table, understanding what Hadley meant. She knew how horrible Hadley was treated by her father. How important the farm was and how devastated she was when she left after her fifteenth birthday. How often she wished for a better future.

"But why don't you want to make a wish, Aunt Hadley?"

"I don't need to make wishes anymore, sweetheart. Look at how good my life is," Hadley smiled. "I think we should save the wish for someone who really needs one. What do you think?"

Amelia smiled and nodded enthusiastically.

"Geez Louise," Cathleen said, breaking the tender moment. "I thought we agreed to keep it lighthearted and fun. We'll all be in tears, soon."

A laugh bubbled out of Hadley, which spread around the table like wildfire. With the room full of energy, Hadley felt a gentle tug on her tangerine-colored linen shorts. She looked down to see a noticeably upset Lizzie.

"What's wrong, sweetie?"

"What about the cupcakes," she said with a quivering lip.

"Technically I did blow the candle out so I think that means we can eat the cupcakes," Hadley winked.

Lizzie, Leo, and Amelia let out a collective yip of excitement that caused Hadley to laugh again. She looked around the table at the mixed reactions of happiness, relief, and doubt.

"I am fine, I promise. This has been the best birthday I've had in a very long time. There's only one thing left to do."

"What's that?" Josh asked.

"A wise woman once told me, ‘Always eat the cake.' So, eat the cake, we must," Hadley declared before taking a theatrical bite. Andrew handed out cupcakes to the kids before grabbing his own. Everyone else leaned across the table to grab one, eager to taste the rich fudge. The room fell quiet as everyone ate, but once only crumbs were left, the gossip and easy conversation restarted.