Silver Hawk Ridge: Taking Flight

{ Epilogue }

[Christmas morning] 

  "Wake up Savannah! Wake up! It's time to open presents!"

   My little cousins were jumping on my bed and shaking me, effectively jolting me from any peaceful slumber that had been in place. I managed pry my stiff eyes open (it was as if they forgot they knew the motion entirely) and see five cute faces staring down at me. They all had their cutest Christmas PJ's on and sported their widest grins.

   "Alright cuties, I'm up, I'm up" I mumbled out. I popped my black frames on to help my eyes focus, and groaned when I saw that the sun hadn't even risen over the treetops of the surrounding woods. A glance at my phone confirmed that it was in fact only 5 AM.

   "Why couldn't you guys have been late risers early on?" I grumbled to myself. I reassembled my messy hair into a bun on the crown of my head. The adults were NOT going to like this, but that was how it was with young children. Why, WHY did I have to be the first grandchild in the family? I had to carefully step over my aunt and uncle's Australian shepherd, Mack, that'd found his way to my bedside sometime in the night. I knelt down and gave him a scratch behind his ears as he roused himself.

   "Alright buddy, let's go round em' up" he stood up and yawned, quietly padding with us to the adults' area of things. I employed my youngest cousin Adam to rouse my parents (I figured their 17 year old daughter doing a Spiderman leap at them at o dark thirty might scare them a bit). He crawled up and gently poked their faces. I plunked down by my mom as she turned to pull me into her side. Even in my late teens my mom and I cemented our relationship with mother-daughter snuggles.

   "I tried to stop them I swear" I muttered as the squealing commenced once more. My dad still pretended to be asleep and then did a dad-monster roar as he snatched Adam up and tickled him.

   "Alright, I declare it present time, before the little beasts break our eardrums" my Aunt Cassie called from the other side of the room. Normally my grandparents would have been up with us and getting the hot chocolate going, but they'd been gone for about 4 years now. We still missed them greatly, but we'd learned to adapt. We'd kept the tradition of gathering out at the family lake cabin in Indiana for Christmas. We padded down the stairs, the younger ones rushing down ahead of us. Last night the adults (and for once me), helped wrap the remaining gifts for the kids and put them under the tree. The best part about that was that we got to eat some of the cookies for "Santa" (it added to the illusion), which always tasted amazing because we used my great-grandmother's gingerbread recipe.

   Before long, the gift unwrapping had commenced, and there was wrapping paper (and packing peanuts in some cases) everywhere, to which Mack was having fun nosing through the carnage for toys and treats he'd gotten. I'd gotten some bluetooth wireless earbuds, gift cards, riding tops, and perhaps one of the best gifts I could have received, an Antares close contact jumping saddle. My jaw dropped clear to the floor when my Uncle Matt pulled it from behind the tree.

   "You guys! How did you even...?"

   "We all chipped some funding in, and I have a friend who got an us an employee discount" Aunt Melanie smiled. "Besides, if you're gonna take the national team by storm, we figured we could update your ride a bit". I threw my arms around them. My family was the best, without fail.

   "Alright, I think that does it-"

   "Wait! There's one more!" one of my cousins called out. They presented me with a Tiffany gift box. I looked at the adults, most of them not having a clue, although my parents had a knowing look.

   "We may or may not have been requested to deliver this one to you from someone" my dad smirked. I untied the white ribbon and gently lifted box lid off. Inside was an Elsa Peretti Open Heart Pendant, and a note.