“Momma, he brought flowers for me,” she whisper-yells, making me laugh out loud.
“I see, why don’t you say thank you,” Addison tells her.
“Thank you for the princess flowers.” Avery smiles at me.
“I’ll take those and put them in a vase,” Addison informs me, “so your hands aren’t full.” I hand her the flowers and she gives me a smile of encouragement.
“What is in the bags?” Avery asks, pointing at the two bags I’m carrying.
“Well, I went to the store, and I saw a couple of things that reminded me of you.” I smile at her. “I got you a couple of presents.”
“You bought me presents?” she says shocked, as she looks from me to the bag and then back to me, then looks at Addison, who is standing in the kitchen opening the cupboard on top of the fridge to grab a vase. “Momma.” Avery walks over to her. “Is it my birthday?”
“It is not your birthday,” Addison tells her, putting the flowers in the vase. “Sometimes people buy you presents just because, or if they are coming to see you.”
“Oh,” Avery says before skipping back to me, “it’s not my birthday.”
“I know,” I tell her, squatting down, “but it’s the first time I’ve visited you, and I thought I would bring you a little something.”
She claps her hands, and her face fills with a megawatt smile. “Okay.” She jumps up and down.
“What is it? What is it?”
“Well, you are going to have to open it up and see,” I tell her, handing her one bag first.
“Open this one first,” I tell her and she gets on her knees as she pulls open the bag.
Her little hands work the bag down from the box, and she gasps right before she squeals.
“Momma,” she yells over her shoulder, “I got princess shoes!”
Addison looks at her and then looks at me. “What do you mean you got princess shoes?” She comes over and squats down next to Avery. “Oh my!” she exclaims when she takes in the pink box.
Inside the big box are six small boxes and four of the boxes have different colored shoes. One is gold, another silver, then a pink and a blue pair. In the top two are three different types of crowns and then some plastic earrings, rings, and plastic bracelets. “That is a lot of princess things.”
“If she has them, we can always go back and exchange it,” I assure her, and I see Avery shaking her head side to side fast.
“I’m almost afraid what is in the other bag,” Addison mumbles as Avery comes back over to me for the second bag. I give the bag to Avery, who struggles to bring it to Addison, dragging it half the way. “What’s in the bag?”
“Stuff for me,” Avery says, moving the bag away from another pink box with the word princess written on the top of it. She opens the box, and if I thought she squealed before, it’s nothing like it is now. “Dresses,” she proclaims, her whole face lighting up, and I don’t even care how much they cost me or that I spent over two hours picking them out. I would do it over and over again just to see that joy on her face. “Momma,” she says, taking out the yellow princess dress, then grabbing the light-blue one. “Look!” She hands her the dresses she took out of the box before she grabs the silver one and then the pink one.
“Each dress comes with its own hair stuff,” I point out to Avery, but she’s already taking it out of the box and trying to put the bandanna on her head.
“Momma, can I wear one now?” she asks Addison, even though she’s grabbing a dress.
“Sure,” Addison says, “but what do we say to Stefano?”
“Thank you, Mr. Stefano,” she says, standing up and jumping in place. “It’s my favorite.”
“You are very, very welcome,” I tell her as she grabs the pink dress, running to her room to change and then stopping.
“I forgot my shoes.” She comes back and grabs the pink pair before running to her room.
“This is a lot of princesses,” Addison says, looking at the two boxes.
“Yeah, I put back the princess vanity set,” I admit to her, and her eyes go big. “I didn’t know if she had it or not.” I shrug. “I figure you can never have enough clothes or shoes. Or at least that is what
my mother always says.”
“You were right on that,” she agrees, standing up. “We should tell her.”
I nod at her. “Do you want to wait and do it while we eat?” I ask her, and she looks over her shoulder.