Frozen Heart

Chapter 62 ~ "Take Good Care Of Her Tonight"

Grace

"Happy Birthday!" Mom insists, placing my cake down on dad's nightstand. Dad had been home for a few days now and needed help to do almost anything. Mom was there though, nursing him back to health. I secretly assumed she really didn't mind, she got to spend loads of time with him. 

I lean over and blow out my candles, being careful of the wooden surface. We decided to do our family celebration in my parents' room so dad could fully participate. 

"What did you wish for?" Dad asks softly and I shake my head.

"That's classified." I inform him and he chuckles a bit. I move and sit at the foot of my parents bed, cross-legged and mom sets down a pile of gifts. "Wow." I mumble, feeling overwhelmed by the number of presents.

"It's your eighteenth, you should really celebrate it." She insists and I smile, picking up one of them. They were clothes mostly, a new pair of running shoes which I really liked and a pair of earrings. 

"There's one more thing." Dad says quietly, reaching into his nightstand and pulling out a thin rectangular box. "This one's mine and your mother's special gift to you." He tells me and I smile, taking it from him. I pull back the paper and gasp at the sleek, white, mate box.

"An apple watch?" I ask, feeling shocked and mom nods. "This is too nice-"

"Oh please, let us live up to the stereotype of only having one kid and spoiling them rotten." Dad laughs and I smile. What a big gift.

"We know what a big change it was to move here, we wanted to give you something special." Mom insists. "It'll replace that ancient Fitbit you wear and actually track your running properly, we looked into it and found that this was the best one." 

"It's amazing." I mumble. "Thank you so much." I insist and mom leans forward giving me a hug. 

"You're welcome." She whispers and gets out of bed to cut up the cake while I pull the small cube out of the box and set it up on its wrist band. It turns on and I raise my eyebrows. That Fitbit of mine was so old it barely held a charge, I'd only wear it when I ran and then immediately plug it in again once I was done. This was like getting a Porsche to replace my Honda Civic.

Mom helps dad sit up and passes him a small piece of cake, she then gives one to me too and I smile as she takes her seat again.

"So, what do you think?" She asks and I smile. 

"It's so cool." I insist and she chuckles. We all dig into our cake and for a second I think about how nice it is to be out of the hospital. To have dad here with us instead of in a hospital bed or overseas. 

I'd spent most of the week at the hospital with my parents. Mom would send me home at night to sleep in my own room, Nik would always stay with me. It really did help me fall asleep, it relaxed me and let me sleep more easily. Then he'd wake up and bring me back to the hospital before school. He'd go for the day but come back afterwards and spend the afternoon with me. 

Nik had been so incredibly supportive through this whole thing. He was always there if I needed literally anything, he'd bring me my homework from school and bring me to and from the hospital. 

I was really starting to see us together for a long time, I was falling more and more in love with him everyday. Even these small little gestures he'd make were so special to me, I resisted giving into my feelings in the beginning, I went crazy trying to restrain myself all the time and how badly I wanted to be with him.

But now I had him, he was more than anything I ever could have wanted in a guy. I knew he wanted me to be happy, and after the years of pain he'd been through, I wanted the same thing for him.