Forever Together

- 16 -

When they reached home and Elizabeth opened the door, suddenly confetti popped out with loud noise.

They saw Joanna standing in front with a bouquet of flowers.

"Happy Wedding Anniversary dears," She said giving the bouquet to the couple.

"Thank you, dear," Said both Jackson and Elizabeth.

Just then Drake came from the kitchen with a big cake. He placed it on a table.

The couple cut the cake. After cutting the cake Jackson pulled out a ring box from his pocket, opened it, and held it out to Elizabeth.

"I love doing life with you. Happy anniversary, Liza!" He put the ring on her finger.

"Oh.. thank you so much, my love!" She said kissing Jackson.

"I think they went twenty-six years back.", Lorenzo whispered to Drake who was standing next to him.

"It's twenty-seven", Drake replied.

Lorenzo said nothing but kept a smile on his face.

Elizabeth then walked over to her room and came back with a thin but lengthy box. More like a bracelet box. She opened it, took out a platinum men's bracelet, and put it on Jackson's hand.

"Happy Wedding Anniversary, Jackson."

Jackson smiled and hugged Elizabeth,

"Wait! When did you both buy the gifts? We planned to make it a surprise for you both. Did you know anything about our plan?" Martha asked.

"No, we didn't," Elizabeth said.

"Then how did you buy this gift?" Martha was confused. Not only Martha but everyone.

"Whether you celebrate our Wedding Anniversary or not, we exchange gifts with each other as we do every year," Elizabeth said.

"We thought you had forgotten the significance of this day and you would be very happy to know that we remembered this day's specialty," Susanne said.

"We have not forgotten. And we will never forget it. But we are happy that you guys remembered it."

Joanna went to their room with Susanne without anyone noticing.

"Where did you keep the gift?", Joanna asked keeping her voice low.

"It's on the shelf.", Susanne opened the shelf and took the gift out.

In the meantime, Lorenzo, Drake, and Martha came to the room where Joanna and Susanne were present.

"Girls, is the present ready?", Lorenzo asked.

"Did they see you all coming in here?" Susanne asked.

"No, they are busy talking," Martha said.

"Okay guys, the present is ready." Joanna was holding the present that was covered with a golden-colored matte finish wrapper.

The gift was a painting bought from a museum in Russia.

"Okay, come on we'll present it," Susanne said.

They all walked toward Elizabeth and Jackson and handed it over. "Happy Wedding Anniversary dad and mom!", They all wished both of them. They did a group hug, a kind of family hug.

Just then Henzel came running from outside. "Guys, get the cake and everything ready, dad and mom will be here at any second." As he turned around and saw Elizabeth and Jackson, he was so badly astonished. He saw that the cake is already cut and that the present is already been gifted by the O'Brien children. Seeing all this, his cute brightly lit face went dull. He was so sad to see that. He felt ignored and avoided.

All the others were shocked to see Henzel running and coming. It was then they all realized that Henzel was not there with them until now.