A light in the darkness

Chapter 29

Anna walked to the dining room the next morning. She frowned when she heard Ben's loud laughter. She walked in and instantly smiled widely when she saw Maria sitting there at the table, dining with Ben, Bella, and Mason. Shawn and Sofia were on Ben's lap and were playing with him and probably were the cause of his laughter.

"Good morning." said Anna with a smile and everyone turned to her.

Maria jumped on her feet and hugged Anna while the others greeted her. 

"How are you, sweetheart?" asked Maria brightly.

"I'm fine." answered Anna. "How are you? Everything is fine?"

Maria's smile wavered for a second before it returned to normal. "I'm fine." she answered and rubbed Anna's arm. "And everything will be fine. Don't worry."

"I understand." sighed Anna.

"Where did you get this from?" said Maria and frowned as her gaze fell on the golden locket on Anna's chest. 

Anna's eyes widened. She was so engrossed with what she wanted to tell Xander that she had completely forgotten about the locket around her neck, visible to everyone who didn't know anything about her secret birthday.

"Ummmm, It's ... I ...." she stuttered but was cut off by Shawn.

"It's her birthday gift." said Shawn as his father picked him up and sat him on his lap.

Anna gasped and peeked from around Maria and glared at Shawn, trying to remind him silently that it was a secret.

"Birthday gift?" asked Mason confused and looked down at Shawn.

"Yeah, Xandy gave it to her." said Sofia while stuffing her mouth with pieces of banana that Ben had sliced for her. "We had a birthday party yesterday. But none of you were invited."

Anna cringed and closed her eyes tightly.

"Oh my god!" gasped Maria, and her eyes grew wide and she stared at Anna. "Your birthday was two days ago. I had forgotten."

"It's okay, Mary." said Anna quickly. "It's not a big deal. I'm an adult."

"So you had a birthday party without us, huh?" smirked Bella and wiggled her eyebrows for Anna who blushed instantly.

"So that is why he was so adamant to leave early yesterday." laughed Mason under his breath and shook his head amused.

"I'm hurt." pouted Ben while looking at Sofia. "You should have invited me. I wanted cake."

"Cake?" asked Bella and frowned instantly. "Don't tell me ..."

"We had a big chocolate cake, daddy." said Shawn and stood on Mason's lap while talking with him enthusiastically. "We had big slices each. Uncle even let us lick the remaining cream from the cake platters."

Anna face-palmed herself and hid her face with her hands. "It was supposed to stay a secret." she groaned under her breath.

"Good," said Bella. "Now I know whose ass I should kick for my hyper kids last night."

"Sorry." said Anna defeated and looked at Bella embarrassed.

"You could at least give me a slice." sighed Bella dramatically.

"We ate all of it." squealed Sofia and threw her arms around happily and everyone chuckled.

Maria turned to Anna and looked at her guiltily.

"Oh, come on, Mary." said Anna and hugged her sister. "You didn't commit a crime. I didn't want anyone to bother because of me."

"I wonder how Xander knew." said Bella under her breath but loud enough for everyone to hear. She tried to hide her smirk behind her fake confusion.