“That necklace is a combination of two things, Kalli. A heart and an infinity symbol. You’ve got my heart, and I want you to know you’ve got it forever.” I brought her lips back to mine and gave her a kiss more suitable to my liking. It wasn’t inappropriate, but it was definitely more than a peck. I’d take more from her later when I got her alone.
“It’s the most beautiful necklace I’ve ever seen. I’ll wear it all the time.” I heard her voice go hoarse and I could see in her eyes she was getting emotional. I didn’t want that. I wanted this to be a happy day with no crying. Not yet, at least. So I let her go and she turned back around, but then asked me to help her clasp the necklace. I swept a few strands of straw-colored hair to the side which had escaped her bun, then took the ends of the necklace from her and clasped it, letting it fall around her neck once I was finished. She fingered the pendant, then leaned all the way back, her head in my lap, face pointed toward me, and I leaned down to kiss her again.
“I love you,” she whispered when I ended the kiss.
“I love you too, baby.”
Presents continued and I laughed when my sister got me the matching pair of sunglasses to Kalli’s, only more masculine.
“Now you guys can match. It’s going to be adorable.” Halah was way too excited about our eyewear, but I thanked her sincerely because I knew, as silly as it was, she’d put a lot of thought into our gifts. And the sunglasses were really nice.
Toward the end of the gift portion of the morning, my ma stood up and brought a gift to Kalli that hadn’t been under the tree. It was a shallow box, rectangular, and it looked to be a little heavy.
“Kalli, I wanted to give this to you and tell you, from the bottom of my heart, I hope it brings you nothing but happiness. And I hope you understand why I did what I did.”
“Ma? What did you do?” I asked, suddenly a little nervous about the box sitting in Kalli’s lap.
“It’ll be okay,” Pops said, gently patting my mother’s knee as she took her seat again.
I watched as Kalli unwrapped what seemed to be a photo album, but when she opened the first page, even I was stunned.
Laid out in the pages of that photo album were pictures of Marcus, but it wasn’t just the pictures, it was the way the photos were so artfully displayed. These were not photos only put on pages, these were pages specially created to bring out the meaning of the photo.
“Did you make this, Ma?”
She nodded and then quickly wiped her hand under one eye, catching a tear before it fell down her cheek. I looked down again and Kalli was flipping through the pages of the book like she was looking at priceless art. Marcus was smiling up at us, laughing even. He was running through a field, playing video games, even Monopoly. Some of the pictures included Kalli, a few had Nancy and Mr. Bob.
“Where did you get these photos?” Kalli asked, without looking up from the album.
“Well, I hope I didn’t overstep any boundaries, but right after your brother passed I asked Riot where I could send a card or condolences. We’d never met you, but Riot had told us about you and he was so upset… anyway, he didn’t know your address but gave me Nancy’s phone number. Nancy and I spoke a few days after the funeral and she gave me the address and that was that. Then, last month, after we met you, I got the idea and thought maybe she could help. Two days later I had a large envelope full of pictures to make your gift.”
“You spoke with Nancy?” Kalli’s voice was soft again, and this time she looked at my mother with her question.
Ma nodded.
Kalli’s eyes went back to her lap where the album lay. “I don’t have any pictures of him with me. I packed them all away because it was too hard to look at them.” I placed my hands on Kalli’s shoulders, squeezing gently with just enough pressure so she knew I was there for her. “But this is wonderful,” she finally said, letting out a large breath with her words. “It’s beautiful and I can’t believe you went to all this trouble.”
Both Kalli and my mom were crying. Kalli stood and started toward Ma, who also stood, and they embraced in the middle of the room, Kalli burrowing her head into Ma’s shoulder while Ma rubbed her hands soothingly up and down her back. I saw my sister wipe a tear away, along with Rachel, and even Pops had to clear his throat.
“I love it,” I heard Kalli say quietly to my mother.
“Well, we love you.”
Even I had to bite my lip at that point to keep my emotions in check.
Finally, Kalli pulled away and Ma went back to her seat.
“Here,” Kalli said, pulling a card out from under my chair. “Open this so we all stop crying.”
Laughter rang out around the room, and Kalli sat at my feet, her pretty blue eyes still wet, but happy.
“What’s this?” I asked, running my finger under the sealed edge of the envelope.
“It’s your Christmas gift,” she said, rolling her eyes.
I pulled out a bundle of papers, my eyes flitting between the papers in my hand and Kalli bouncing excitedly on her knees. I leafed through them, my eyes catching words here and there. Then suddenly, it dawned on me.