She was just as excited to give out presents as she was to receive them and my heart swelled with pride.
When we had all gone Christmas shopping together, my daughter had slyly convinced me she randomly saw a charm bracelet at the Pandora store. What I hadn’t known was that Bronson and she had already gotten me one too and she thought it would be a good gift for River.
And to make things even funnier, Stormi had liked it so much that Bronson and I had gotten her one as well.
River knelt down on the ground and the teens watched her in continued silence. They still hadn’t said a word and my sister hadn’t gotten too much in either with Stormi stealing the show. My daughter crowded her aunt, bouncing on the balls of her feet.
Bronson stood beside me and placed his hand on my lower back in support. Not physically, but emotionally. Having River come to the house and bring her kids was huge. And then watching Stormi interact with her just added more to the moment.
“You’re going to love it,” Stormi announced as River pulled the box from the bag.
They shared a sweet smile before River opened the top and sharply inhaled. Her fingers tentatively touched the bracelet inside as if she thought it would bite her. Stormi thrust out her arm and pointed down at her wrist.
“See me, you, and mom all got one,” she said this as she half-turned, pointing at me, before whipping back to give her full attention to her aunt. “Want to put it on?”
River finally plucked the bracelet all the way from the box. “I do, love it,” she said softly. “And I would like to put it on for sure.”
Stormi smiled proudly as they did just that and she rattled on about the couple of charms already on it. One was a silver, circle, dangle charm that read,‘Promoted to Auntie’,with a heart under the words. My girl had insisted she had to have that one. And the second charm was two double hearts dangling with the words, ‘Sister Forever’ engraved on them.
It was clear my sister was choked up. I knew how new and hard this was for her. It was for me too at one time, but I was getting used to all the people in my life. They were a blessing.
“Thank you,” River whispered, looking at me over Stormi’s shoulder as she pulled her in for a hug.
I gave her a soft smile. “You’re welcome.”
She released her niece and stood, swiping at a lone tear that had tumbled down her cheek. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry,” she said, heading over to her kids.
“This is—”
“My cousins!” Stormi yelled.
The adults laughed and the teens' eyes widened as she ran to each of them hugging them like she had River. They stood stiff as boards, but small smirks played on their lips.
“Yes, that’s right,” River confirmed.
Stormi released her new family members and smiled brightly.
“This is Lennon, he is sixteen and Breland, Bre for short is fourteen,” River told everyone, a heartfelt smile on her face as she introduced them to each of us.
Unsure how to proceed and knowing they were uncomfortable, I was grateful for Bronson’s quick reaction. He stepped forward to shake Lennon’s hand in a gentlemanly manner. Then without trying to touch Bre at all—the man wassmart, we didn’t know what the kids had been through—he welcomed them to the family.
After I had done the same, following in my husband’s footsteps, River announced that they should get out of our way so we could get to Gemma’s house.
“But you can’t go,” Stormi said. Once again, she raced to the tree and brought back two more gifts, handing one to each of the teens. “These are for you.”
The look on their faces made me want to run out and buy them many more gifts. I didn’t need to know River long to know she would make sure her kids had everything they needed and probably wanted. But just as it had been with her, I knew it was probably only the three of them and none of them were used to getting things from others.
Sounded familiar. Stormi and I had been in the same place not so long ago. While the guys and gals I worked with tried often to pull me into their fold, I’d never really caved outside of work. I realize now that I had done Stormi an injustice.
She was eating up all the attention, the new family, and the socialization.
So was I.
When Lennon and Breland went to open their boxes, I rushed to explain we didn’t know how old they were or what they liked, so I was sorry the gifts weren’t that exciting. Inside of each small box were Dave and Buster’s gift cards, because anyone of any age might like games, I’d thought. Then along with that was fifty dollars in cash so they could get anything they’d like.
They looked so stunned, they hadn’t moved a muscle. “What do you say?” River asked, jumping into mom mode.
Both of them flushed with embarrassment and then quietly thanked us. They were a striking duo, both looking so much alike. I had a feeling they were biological brother and sister, but I would save questions for another day.
