Dollar Runaways

Chapter 18: Birthday Girl

"GOOD MORNING PRINCESS, time to wake up!" I heard Mom say as she gently shook my shoulder. As I looked out the window I panicked.

"I missed my chores!"

"I know," Mom said, "So did I."

"But..."

"But Gloria gave you, Madison, and me the day off from chores and working."

"Really?" I asked.

"Really!"

"Now, let's go see if Madison is awake and then we'll go down to breakfast together in our pajamas."

I looked down at the short set I was wearing and hoped it wouldn't be too embarrassing to be in my pajamas in front of the hands. "Okay," I said.

"Hold up real quick," she said when I stood up. I felt her fiddling with my hair and realized she was redoing the bow in back.

"Did it stay?"

"Sort of, I'll redo it after breakfast. Come on, let's check on Madison," Mom walked through the two doors and I shyly followed her. "Madison, are you up yet?" She asked.

I looked at her and saw her sitting on the chair in front of her vanity. "Kind of," she said, "so we really are having a pajama party for breakfast?"

Mom nodded.

"Awesome!"

I saw Mom look at Madison's hair and before I knew it, she was fussing with it just like she had mine. "Oh, I forgot one thing," she said as she opened her door really quick. She handed me a square box that wasn't too tall, but fairly wide. "You get to open just a couple presents this morning. We'll open the rest at lunch," okay?

"Okay," I said, excitedly. I tore at the wrapping paper, getting to a box, and then opened it to discover, 'a tiara?' I smiled. I hugged Mom, "Thank you!"

I didn't want her to feel left out so I hugged Madison too. "Let me see that," Madison said with a smile and she took it out of the box. "Well, your highness, let's put this on your head." She smiled at me and set it down.

"Now it's official, you're a real princess for today." Mom said with a smile.

The three of us went downstairs and found that Consetta actually had setup the informal table for us for breakfast. "What would you like for breakfast, anything you want!" She told me.

"Umm... Pancakes?"

"Chocolate chips?"

"Please!"

Consetta had already made the batter up, thinking I probably would want them, and quickly made pancakes for all of us. Madison got chocolate chips too, but Mom, Gloria, and Kaitlyn all had plain. "Where's Mark?" I asked.

"Oh, he's hanging out with Annie and Hank," Kaitlyn answered.

"Thank you, Aunt Gloria, for letting us sleep in," I told her at the end of breakfast.

"Why you're welcome Princess," she said with a smile.

When the dishes were cleared, they placed a long rectangular box in front of me and a smaller long box. "Okay, why don't you open this box first," Mom suggested and gestured towards the smaller box.

"Okay," I said.

I opened the wrapper and discovered a white leather box inside of it. When I opened it up, I found a beautiful necklace with a sort of blue stone in it, it I thought I could see purple in it as well. The stone was surrounded by a swirl of silver. "Oh my God, this is really pretty!" I said and held it up so Madison could see it.