Jack
I smiled as I carried the cake in my hands and watched as Quinn knocked at dad’s bedroom door. We all waited for him to answer, our eyes twinkling with mischief. I knew my siblings were excited about today just as I was. Even Mia looked excited about all her protests about not having a party.
“Who is there?” Dad growled from the bedroom.
He was still asleep which was good. Our visit was the perfect way for him to start his day.
“We are the one, dad.”
“Oh! You kids.” He groaned, hating to have his sleep disturbed.
I chuckled at his mild annoyance. This was going to be a lot of fun.
“Come in.” He said.
Quinn pressed down on the knob and we started singing as we walked in.
“Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you, daddy. Happy birthday to you!”
Dad’s eyes widened as he saw us and the cake. Veronica sat up in bed and held her hand to her mouth in surprise. Dad’s eyes filled with tears as he moved forward to blow the candles and my heart soared with joy. That had to be the most epic and beautiful image I had seen all week and I knew that I would forever cherish it in my heart.
Quinn brought out his phone and we all grouped round dad, taking a selfie with him.
“Thank you.” Dad said, his voice thick with amusement.
He looked at all of us, one after the other and shook his head in amusement. His eyes stayed longer on Mia and I knew we were forgiven totally at that moment. He had concluded that all was well with us and Mia for us to have planned the party together.
The relieved and joyous expression on his face was worth everything that we had to deal with while planning the party.
“Thank you.” He smiled, extending his hand so he could hand the cake back to me so I could give the chef to cut it.
He stopped and turned back in surprise as his phone rang. We turned to one another and winked. I saw John exhale in relief and knew he must be proud of himself at the moment. I was proud of all that we had done as well.
John had requested that all dad’s friends give him an early birthday call and it was refreshing to see them fulfilling what they had promised to do.
Dad couldn’t stop gushing and blushing as his friends called him one after the other.
“We will excuse you to attend to your calls.” Quinn said when dad ended his third call in the last ten minutes. “Breakfast is ready. Come out when you are ready, dad.”
“Breakfast? This early?” Dad echoed.
I knew that he would be surprised.
“It’s your birthday treat, dad. The cooks decided to go all out.” Quinn grinned.
“Oh my!” Dad exclaimed, speechless.
“Come out when you are done, dad. Don’t forget to look nice.” I said as we trooped out.
Dad was out in fifteen minutes and gasped at the decor of the house. “When did you have time for this? This wasn’t there last night when we had dinner.” He breathed, looking around in wonder.
“It’s your day, Albert. Enjoy it.” Veronica said, rubbing his hand. “This is amazing, kids.”
I grinned. We weren’t going to tell them that we had spent the whole night doing that the moment we were sure that they had gone to bed. It hadn’t been easy finding the event planners who were willing to work at night but we trusted Quinn to work his way around that and he had.
I could feel that the birthday was a success already.
After breakfast was over, Mia spoke up as we had planned among ourselves. “We have a gift downstairs that we would like you to see.”
Dad chuckled. “We are not done with the surprises.”
“We are just getting started.” I beamed at him. “The day hasn’t even begun.”
“Pity my old heart.” He chuckled. “I don’t think that it can endure any more surprises.”
“Oh please, you are stronger than you look.” I smirked at me.
He shook his head, knowing what I meant. “You wouldn’t ever stop being naughty, would you?”
I smirked. “Wouldn’t you find that strange if I did?”
He laughed. “Let’s wrap it up here and see what this gift is.”
We walked outside with him. He stilled as he got outside and saw the decorations, chairs, tables and instruments on the open field.
“A party?” He asked, looking back at us.
We nodded. “We felt you needed one, dad. Look closely.”
I knew the moment he saw what we hoped he would have seen first. He rushed out to the field in excitement as he saw his friends seated at a table and waving at him.
“When did you arrive?” I heard him say to his friends when he got to where they were.
“Yesterday evening. We lodged at a hotel nearby.”
“And you didn’t call me. You could have told me that you would be here today.”
“Your kids were strictly clear about us keeping this a secret.”
“Those kids really surprised me today.”
“They are good kids.”
I beamed and glanced at my brothers, knowing they had also heard the conversation between dad and his friends. We hadn’t asked them to do that but their kind words meant a great deal to us.
Dad looked in our direction and waved at Veronica to come over to him.
She turned to us. “You all did well.” She smiled and left us to join her husband.
The party was getting interesting and I was glad that I had brought up the idea as I watched the guests troop in. Dad bounced about the field like a happy celebrant.
I moved over to where Mia stood, supervising the food.
“What do you say, sister?”
She snorted and shook her head but I could tell that she was amused. “You are arrogant.”
I grinned. “I know. So?” I pestered her.
“Okay, fine.” She yielded. “The party is fine. I’m glad Albert is happy. He seems to like it.”
I scoffed. That sly girl. “What do you mean? He loves it.”
She smiled. “You don’t need me to butter up your ego. You have enough for five men.”
“I’m stronger than five men.” I reminded her.
“You are incorrigible.” She laughed.
“Will you dance with me?”
“I don’t like the music.”
“What if I ask for it to be changed?”
She shrugged and I knew she was teasing me. “Maybe I will consider dancing.”
I laughed. She was playing with me. She didn’t say she was going to dance with me but I knew how to make her yield.
“I will be back to get a dance from you.” I said and walked away to where the disc jockey was.
I was almost there when I heard lightning flash about in the sky. I frowned, wondering what was going on. I had checked the weather and it wasn’t meant to rain today.
Bolts of lightning started to hit the ground and people started to scream as they ran away. I sighed, feeling defeated as I watched the guests start leaving in terror and flinging off chairs and tables in their haste to leave, ruining everything we had spent time preparing.
There was no doubt that we were going to pay for damages as I saw chairs and tables get broken as they were trampled upon. That wasn’t the issue. I had to make sure my family was safe, I thought as I ran to where Mia was so I could get her to safety.
“Veronica.” I heard dad cry out and saw him carry her, running towards the safety of the house.
I saw two armed men looking around at the commotion and flinging their guns about, trying to find the culprit. I snorted. They weren’t going to find anything. This was no doubt the dark wizard and he wasn’t in a physical form at the moment, judging by the lightning that was striking the ground.
I shouldn’t have underestimated the dark wizard and I hoped that Mia didn’t say anything about how right she was.
Fortunately, we all got inside unscathed. Veronica looked around in panic. “What was that?”
“We have lightning storms here sometimes, my love. I’m afraid you would have to go and live with your family for a while till it is over.”
I sighed. Dad had lied to keep his secret and Veronica safe. The dark wizard was ready to fight and it was best for Veronica to be out of the picture so dad wouldn’t be distracted as he had with mum.
“Are you sure? I can stay.” Veronica said.
“I insist. Please go. It’s always bad out here when it happens.”
Veronica sighed and nodded. Mia couldn’t leave because she had been marked by Quinn. With the anger shining in her eyes, I knew she didn’t mind and wanted to stay to fight the dark wizard with us. It was time to fight the dark wizard and put an end to this.