“Jesse, you coming?” called Jake warmly.
“Yes, Daddy.”
Soon all of them were in the sunroom. Melody’s eyes lit up when she saw her sparkling birthday banners and balloons for the first time. In keeping with the seashell theme, Lori had chosen balloons in the shapes of various shells and some large dolphin-shaped ones. When the little girl saw the pile of presents, she rushed straight towards them.
“Wow!” she gasped as she flopped down on the oriental rug in front of them.
“Which one are you going to open first?” quizzed Lori, poised with her camera in hand.
“The little one,” replied Melody, reaching for a small square pink parcel.
“That’s from me!” shouted Jesse. “I picked that one.”
“Yes, you did,” agreed Lori warmly.
Carefully, Melody peeled off the paper then squealed with delight, “It’s Ariel! It’s an Ariel watch!”
Much to her parents’ delight, she rushed to hug her little brother, “Thank you!”
“Mommy bought it at the store.”
“I love it!”
“But can you tell the time?” asked Jake, genuinely curious to know if she could.
“Of course, I can, Daddy!” replied Melody indignantly.
Trying not to laugh, Jake said, “Ok, what’s next, Miss M?”
“That big shiny blue one.”
Excitedly, Melody ripped the paper from the large box then shrieked shrilly with delight, “My doll! My Truly Me doll!”
Clutching the huge box, she danced round the room hugging it. Her parents were helpless with laughter at her excitement.
“Want me to help you open the box?” offered Jake, trying hard to contain his laughter. “Then you can hug her properly.”
“Please,” said Melody passing him the box.
“What are you going to call her?” asked Lori with a smile.
“Harmony.”
“Harmony?” echoed Jake as he wrestled with the packaging.
His daughter nodded, “It goes with my name. Both musical names.”
Astonished by his daughter’s insight, Jake declared, “It’s the perfect name. And here she is, Miss Harmony Power.”
“Thank you!”
“There’s a part two to getting Harmony,” began Lori. “When we go to New York next month we’ll go to the store for a girl’s day out. Harmony gets to come too.”
“Do we get our hair done and our ears pierced?” quizzed Melody hopefully
“We’ll see,” said Lori calmly. “Now, what about the rest of those gifts?”
Sitting amid a pile of wrapping paper, Melody generously allowed her little brother to open one gift. By the time she was done, she had four outfits for Harmony, some new books and some craft supplies.
“This is the best birthday ever!”
“What if I said there was one more gift? One from me,” said Jake with a grin. “One your Mommy doesn’t know about.”
“Another present?”
“Yup,” confirmed her daddy. “Wait there. It’s still down in the basement.”
Aware that Lori was staring after him, Jake disappeared from the sunroom. His gift had been a spur of the moment choice while the band had been shopping in Nashville a few weeks before. Amid the chaos of his arrival home, he’d managed to smuggle it downstairs.
Within a couple of minutes, Jake returned to the sunroom carrying a small bright red gig bag.
“Happy birthday, Miss M,” he said as he handed over the bag containing a half-size acoustic guitar. “Your very own guitar.”
“For me?” gasped Melody, her bright blue eyes wide with surprise. “For real?”
“For real,” nodded her daddy. “You’ve been pestering me for lessons so they come with it.”
“I love it!” she declared as she ran her hand lovingly over the body of the guitar. “Oh, it’s got the Silver Lake dragon on it! Mommy, look!”
Smiling at her obvious delight, Jake said, “I got the guy at the store to customise it for you.”
“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” said Melody, her eyes filled with wonder as she traced the shape of the Celtic dragon design below the bridge with her finger.
“You’ll need to work hard. It’s not a toy,” cautioned Jake, feigning seriousness then, with a wink, added, “But we can have some fun with it.”
“Jake, that’s perfect,” agreed Lori, touched that he had chosen a special gift for their little daughter. “Dragon looks great on there. Whoever it was has done a great job.”
“He sure did. Some of the guitars in that store were works of art. You’d have loved the designs.”
“What do I play?” interrupted Jesse, looking and feeling left out. “Me play music too.”
“We can talk to Uncle Paul about that later,” suggested Lori in an attempt to placate her son. “I’m sure he’s got something you can play.”
“Right,” said Jake, glancing at his watch. “Time to get this place tidied up for the BBQ. Our guests will be here in less than two hours.”
Temperatures soared over the Delaware Riviera and, as the guests began to arrive at the beach house, the mercury levels were touching ninety degrees. Hastily, Jake had erected a gazebo over the area of the beach just beyond the white picket boundary fence where Lori intended the kids to paint their shells. They had set up two low makeshift tables deciding it would be best to keep the messy craft activities off the deck and away from the food. Out on the deck, Jake had erected the large umbrellas to give everyone a little shade.
First to arrive were Maddy and Paul, along with their twins. Now seven years old, Wren and Hayden loved visiting the beach house. As soon as she saw Jake, Wren flew into his arms for a hug, squealing, “Uncle Jake!”
“Hey,” he cried as he swung her up into his arms. “My favourite little Wren.”
“Wren, put Jake down,” scolded Maddy sharply. “Don’t strangle him!”
The little girl gave Jake’s neck an extra squeeze before letting go and allowing him to slide her to the ground.
“Where’s the birthday girl?” asked Paul, who was carrying a large pink glittery gift bag.
“Lori’s just fixing her hair.
