Raven (17 page)

Thanksgiving had been an eye opener for me. It was time for
family, pure and simple. And although my family had a lot to be
thankful for, it was a sad occasion because we missed my father
terribly.

Much of
the day was spent talking about old times, the times I had missed –
either because I had not yet been born to this world, or I was
being kept holed up in a London apartment. I heard stories about my
father and his brother and sister when they were children. The fun
they'd had growing up in this fantastic part of the world. The
mischief they had created and the love that had bound them
together.

With
Ben, Crystal and Oliver with us for much of the day, we were unable
to talk about the unusual circumstances that surrounded our lives
and, in a way, it was nice to just be normal. It was also wonderful
to be able to spend time with my family as well as my boyfriend.
There had never been any need to hide the fact that we were
together, as everyone had accepted us immediately.

But it
was my first real Christmas that was particularly memorable. It was
unlike anything I had ever experienced. It was the first time I had
ever had the opportunity to celebrate it and so I immersed myself
into the festive spirit.

Whilst
living in London, I had overheard wonderful stories at school about
what the other kids had been up to during the holidays and I had
envied them tremendously. For me though, Christmas was simply any
other day in the calendar. No gifts, no decorations but more
importantly, no loving family, no joy.

Yet in
Canada, we had experienced all of this and much more. The whole
family, as well as Oliver, Ben and Crystal again, came to our house
to celebrate Christmas day. Everybody helped prepare the most
sumptuous feast I had ever laid my eyes on and then we had all
exchanged gifts.

I was
given clothes by everyone. My family were clearly sick of seeing me
wearing nothing but black and so they had all produced a new
wardrobe. They had planned everything together and I assumed that
Jo was responsible for doing most of the shopping. When I asked
her, she nodded, “With the help of my mom, of course!”

“
You're such a great person, Lilly, we want to see you in
colours that match your personality,” Sonya had said, speaking for
them all later on. I was touched. After thirteen years of yellow
and months of black, the time had finally come for the
rainbow.

The day
was glorious. My biggest regret was that my father was not there. I
would have given anything to have him spend that day with us. It
would have meant so much, not just to me but to the rest of the
family, especially Gabriel who had lost his son so many years
before. But as we had spent most of Thanksgiving thinking about him
and what had become of him, we refused to be sad on December 25th
too.

Everybody knew that Christmas was totally new to me and I got
the impression that they'd made more of an occasion out of it than
they would normally have done.

I
believe they were making up for all those years of my 'living' in a
room with little contact with the outside world. I told them they
needn't have made so much effort. I'd have been equally as happy to
put up a Christmas tree and have a normal dinner with everyone. But
I understood that they were showing me how much they loved me and
how much they'd missed me over the years. The feeling was
completely mutual.

Between
Christmas and New Year I had received another huge surprise – a
birthday party.

It was
December 28 and, although I was aware that it was the date I was
born, it never even occurred to me that anyone else would take much
notice. After all, nobody ever had. The other thing that had been
on my mind was the fact that not only was it my birthday, it was
also the date I had lost my sister. The date of Neleh's death. And
it was very close to the anniversary of my mother's death
too.

How
could I celebrate when something so horrific had happened on that
very day fourteen years earlier? It was difficult, but having never
had the opportunity to meet my mother or my sister, my sorrow could
not equal the sorrow that perhaps Rose was feeling. Or Gabriel. Or
any of my family for that matter.

I
refused to dwell on the sad facts of that day, remembering instead
that it was my birthday. I was a year older and I was excited at
turning fourteen. On the outside, I didn't look any different but
on the inside I felt like I was becoming a completely different
person. Comparing me to the person I was just a year earlier, I
could barely recognise myself.

In
England while living under the roof of that witch, it was as if she
had reached down into my soul and sucked my true personality and
character right out of me. I had been a simple and insanely naïve
girl who had truly believed that my life had been normal. How wrong
could I have been?

A year
on and the real me was finally emerging from my shell. I felt like
I was becoming a young woman. A strong, independent young woman and
I finally felt good about myself. I finally felt like I could face
the world head on.

The day
had passed much like any other. Gabriel had rushed out of the house
and yelled that he would see me later. He didn't mention what day
it was, so neither did I. Ben had come by the house to collect me
first thing that morning and we had gone straight to the practice
where I had started training a few weeks before. It was a bit of a
struggle at first, moving around with my crutches clumsily getting
in the way of everything. I hadn't been able to physically handle
any of the animals as we were waiting for my cast to be removed
first. But I learned a lot just by watching Ben carefully,
answering telephone calls and speaking to the locals about their
pet's problems. It had opened a whole new world to me and I was
becoming even more confident in myself. I wouldn't shy away from
anything like I would have done just a few months
previously.

Ben had
even taken me out on occasion when he had horses to treat. Although
I could do very little, I was fascinated by these regal creatures.
There was always a part of me that wondered who they really were
though. Twice we had been called out to injured horses – just like
the injuries Ben had treated on the day of my accident. He
concluded that whatever had attacked them had managed to remove
some of the sinew from the inside of their legs. It was a mystery
to him. To me, however, it was slightly less mysterious. I knew the
crimes had probably been committed by a changeling, a vampire
perhaps? A witch, even? But, as usual, I had to keep my thoughts to
myself.

On my
birthday, after a few hours of work (it was particularly busy that
Christmas), we had made sure everything was cleaned up before we
locked up the clinic before heading back in Ben's truck.

I had
noticed Ben's sideways glances at me a couple of times throughout
the day but had assumed it was because he was checking how I was
doing. However, as we arrived home, I soon figured out that hadn't
been the reason at all.

“
Happy
Birthday, Lilly!” shouted a house full of family and friends as I
gingerly pushed open the front door with one of my
crutches.

Shock
rippled through me and my initial reaction was to cry. I was
totally overwhelmed. It hit me even more than Christmas day had. A
birthday party. For me. I was completely speechless as everybody
laughed and rushed over to hug and kiss me. Sonya was a little
concerned why tears were falling down my face but I reassured her
that they were most certainly tears of happiness.

There
was even a big banner with the words 'Happy Birthday Lilly' hung
loosely across the top of the dining table which was covered in a
mass of food, the likes of which I'd never seen before.

There
were miniature sausages, boiled eggs that had been cut in half and
the hard yolks mixed with mayonnaise, little pastries in all shapes
and sizes, pieces of cheese on sticks with pineapple and ham, my
favourite crisps and nuts and they were just the things to nibble
on. Another table that I hadn't noticed at first was covered in
salads and cooked meats, full-size sausages and burgers and more.
Lastly though, there was a huge variety of cute little cupcakes all
with little wings on them. It was an amazing spread and I couldn't
believe it had all been done under a cloud of secrecy. I had no
idea that it was being planned at all.

I saw
that Oliver was standing back, patiently waiting for me to speak to
everyone else first. And then when there was a gap, he approached
me and put his arms around me and gave me a big hug, “Happy
Birthday, babe. You're catching me up,” he whispered in my
ear.

I pulled
back and looked at him and smiled before he leaned forward and
kissed me briefly on the lips. I knew he was a little shy about
kissing me in front of my family so a bear bug was his way of
showing how much he cared.

As he
loosened his grip, I turned to have another look at the scene
before me and shook my head in disbelief. I still couldn't believe
that they had all gone to such effort for me.

Oliver
went to get us some drinks while I was dragged away by Jo, who was
clearly dying to give me her gift. She pulled me away from the
crowd and into my bedroom where she handed me a beautifully wrapped
box and sat cross-legged on my bed.

“
I've
been dying to come and see you all day but I couldn't, of course. I
couldn't spoil the surprise,” she laughed.

As I
tried to remove the paper carefully without ripping it, Jo laughed
at me and grabbed at the box, “Oh... just rip it,” she
said.

I pulled
the box back from her and did as I was told, ripping the shiny pink
paper away from the present underneath. I opened the lid and found
a little gadget and some headphones.

“
It's
an MP3 player!” squealed Jo as she jumped up from the bed, “here,
let me show you,” and she demonstrated how it worked and how I
could now listen to music wherever and whenever I
wanted.

I was so
touched. Even though we hadn't spoken very much about music, she
had obviously picked up on the one thing that I loved. It had been
another thing forbidden by Vivian so to actually own my own music
player was amazing and I told Jo so, while giving her a big
hug.

“
I've
taken the liberty of putting some of my favourite songs on there,
just to get you started. There's some Taylor Swift, Kelly Clarkson,
Lady Antebellum, Raintown, Sugarland, Rascal Flatts and a few
others that I'm sure you'll love. Now I know you haven't got a
computer yet but you can always come round to my house to download
some more, okay?” she said happily, with a smirk on her
face.

I nodded
while I put the headphones in my ears and switched it on. The
sounds that floated into my ears was like heaven and I couldn't
thank her enough. I stood listening for a few minutes while she
watched me, giggling before grabbing my arm and pulling me back
into the party, nearly knocking me over.

“
Oops... sorry, I keep forgetting about your leg. Come on...
there's probably lots more presents to open,” she said, my bedroom
door closing behind us.

“
There
you are. I was looking for you,” said Oliver with a glass of orange
juice in his hand. His other hand was sneakily hidden behind his
back. He smirked as he handed me the juice and waited a few moments
as I took a few gulps and then put the glass down before he gave me
my birthday present. It was a very small gift, wrapped haphazardly,
for which he apologised, laughing. “Wrapping gifts isn't one of my
strong points,” he joked.

I looked
around to make sure I wasn't being watched by anyone else, as I was
still a little embarrassed at being given things. I had never been
given very much before so I wasn't used to it – not even after all
the wonderful things that had been lovingly given to me on
Christmas day.

As I
unwrapped the purple and silver paper, I found a circular box and
when I opened it, I saw two beautiful little crystals in the shape
of angels.

“
It's
to hang from the window in your bedroom. When I saw them I thought
of you,” he said, adding “and your mother and sister,” he shrugged
shyly, embarrassed.

“
I
know that today is the day Neleh died and I just thought, well, I
just thought you could hang them up today and they would be like
guardian angels or something. It's silly, really,” he said
shrugging again, as his cheeks turned a little pink.

I hugged
him tightly and grabbed his hand and pulled him towards my room,
“Oliver, they are absolutely beautiful,” I said trying hard not to
shed a tear. ”This is the best gift I've ever had. Thank
you.”

With the
bedroom door closed behind us, I leaned up to him and kissed him
gently while he wrapped his arms around me tightly.

“
I'm
so lucky to have you, you know that?” I asked him as I snuggled
into his shoulder and he laughed.

“
I'm
the lucky one,” he said.

The
crystal angels were even more stunning when hung on either side of
my window. The way the sun caught them made shafts of glimmering
light shoot across the room, creating miniature rainbows all over
the place. It was beautiful.