Total pages in book: 122
Estimated words: 115288 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 576(@200wpm)___ 461(@250wpm)___ 384(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115288 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 576(@200wpm)___ 461(@250wpm)___ 384(@300wpm)
“Let’s try in here.”
“Why would she be in a dark room? That doesn’t make sense.”
I flick on the lights, and we shout a collective surprise. She startles and then her face lights up with absolute joy. Her hands flutter in the air, and she spins around to look at her dad before she’s swarmed by her friends.
Gavin winks at me from his place in the doorway. When the commotion dies down, he crosses the room. “This looks like you’re throwing a prom, not a birthday for a ten-year-old.” He dips down and kisses me softly.
“I went a little wild with the decorations.”
“It’s amazing. She’s ecstatic. I can’t believe we managed to keep this a secret until now.”
“It sure wasn’t easy, but it was totally worth it.” I wrap my arm around his waist and lean into his side, watching the kids as they head over to the dress-up station and pick out their favorite costume, much like at the party Peyton attended all those months ago. This one is a little different in that they’re all fairy costumes with wings that need to be decorated.
Gavin is quickly reclaimed by Peyton and dressed in a yellow tutu. I’m already in fairy garb, so we go together quite well. We spend the next hour decorating wings with glitter and jewels and whatever the kids think will look good. Gavin tries to make his look like flames, but really it’s just a mess of orange and red glitter.
We play games and eat food, sing happy birthday, and bring out an outlandishly large cake that’s been decorated in the same green-and-gold fairy theme. There’s a lot of green icing which Gavin jokes is going to scare a lot of people coming out the back end.
He’s not wrong, even if it’s gross.
It isn’t until the party is over and we’ve said goodbye to all of the guests that I give Peyton her birthday present. His parents and in-laws join us in the sitting room, along with my sisters and their husbands, with Gavin and me on either side of Peyton. Even he hasn’t seen the finished product, or known exactly what it is I’ve put together.
Over the past month, he and I have gone through all of his old photo albums. It wasn’t easy for him, and a lot of the pictures made him emotional, but it was something I think he needed to do. Not only for himself, but for us as a couple. I had the chance to see what his life looked like before I came into it all those years ago. And the jealousy I first felt at how much space a ghost could take up in his heart disappeared, because what I saw was a man with fond memories of someone he loved very much. But I also get to help him make peace with that loss.
Peyton tears through the paper, and her eyes go wide when she sees the box inside with the inscription THE STORY OF PEYTON RHODES in beautiful gold script.
Gavin glances over at me, questions in his eyes. I smile and reach across the back of the couch, squeezing his shoulder in reassurance. Peyton carefully lifts the lid from the box to reveal the thick four-inch, twelve-by-twelve book inside. The same inscription adorns the cover, which is decorated in flowers and glitter and all of Peyton’s favorite things.
Peyton looks up at me. “You made me a storybook?”
“Not just me, but your dad and your grandparents helped. And some of your friends and their parents too.”
“Everyone helped make this?” She flips the cover open and reveals the first page, which is her baby photo. Her little fists curled tight, a pink hat on her head, eyes still puffy and closed, lips parted in sleep.
The next page takes us back in time, to Gavin and Marcie’s first date. His eyes widen, and his gaze darts to mine. There’s a short, handwritten story about that day from Karen. How he picked her up and stood on the front steps, looking nervous, and how he didn’t just bring Marcie flowers, but he brought Karen flowers too.
Each page has a short story attached to the photographs, chronicling Gavin and Marcie’s relationship, their wedding, her pregnancy with Peyton, and there’s even a page dedicated to her loss. It’s decorated with angels and clouds because I wanted Peyton to see all the pieces of her life, but also to see that her mom is always looking out for her, even if from afar.
That’s when I begin to appear in the pages, and many of the photos are taken by me. We see first smiles, first words, rolling over, sitting up, solid foods and messy faces, and her first step. That picture was taken by Gavin’s parents in their backyard. It was Peyton’s first birthday, and it was before guests started to arrive. Gavin had been on the other side of the yard. He’d been struggling that day and had asked if I could attend the birthday party even though it was supposed to be my day off. Peyton had kept crying for him, but he was in the middle of trying to set something up and hold himself together.