Chapter Ninety Four
The next morning I awoke to absolute silence. That’s never a good thing in relation to my little girl. I ran outta my bedroom and into the hallway. Ember’s bed was made and she was nowhere to be found! I yelled for her, but the only reply I received was more silence. I freaked out as the reality washed over me. My little girl isn’t in the house…
Willow rushed out of her bedroom and looked thoroughly panicked too. I immediately ran toward the kitchen, shouting for Ember. But I noticed a note taped to the back door from her and it read:
Morning Tray,
I’m giving you an early birthday present – surprise! Rave, Celeste and Boo picked me up at 5:00 am. We’re gonna stop by and get Krista because Elizabeth said she could skip school with me today. Then, we’re all going to spend the day at Sunridge. I promise to stay on the Jansens’ property all day long and I won’t get into any trouble! I won’t have to go anywhere else because Krista and Boo-bear will be with me. So I won’t have a chance to wander away.
I’m giving you an entire “Ember’s safe so I’m worry free” day to spend with Willow. Please work on the middle stuff because I’m getting very impatient. Have fun and do NOT think about me. Rave and Celeste vow to watch my every movement. Of course, that stinks for any potential gossip-fest with Krista but I’d do anything for you!
I love you,
Ember
I stood transfixed and marveled at the most perfect birthday gift I’d ever been given. Ember had thought of everything. I trusted Rave and Celeste to watch her closely. Boo and Krista would occupy her time. They would keep her out of trouble.
Willow smiled as she read the note over my shoulder. We rushed around to get ready because we had to drive all the way into Georgia to find where I wanted to take her.
The carnival was still closed when we arrived because it was a school day. So it wouldn’t officially open until 5:00. That little detail didn’t stop Willow and I from walking around and enjoying the atmosphere though. We talked about everything imaginable and even played a game of hide-n-seek. She was ‘it’ first and it didn’t take long for her to find me. Then, she hid from me and I spent thirty minutes searching for her. I could never find her when we were kids and I couldn’t find her now either. I finally gave up and shouted that I surrendered so she would come out of hiding.
We knew several of the carnies and spoke to them while they turned on the lights and the music. Then, we rode all the rides and I won Willow an arm full of cheap prizes. After we loaded her prizes in the car, she handed the attendant tickets to go through the funhouse. She fell over laughing because I got stuck in several places. It seems funhouses aren’t typically designed for guys my size.
Rave called me and said Ember was already asleep from her exhaustive day of fun with Krista and Boo. He asked me if I wanted to just let her spend the night with them.
I was caught between conflicting emotions. She wouldn’t want to wake up apart from me on my birthday. I knew this because I felt the same way. I also wanted to stay until the carnival closed with Willow. So I finally told Rave that I would be over to pick her up at 3:00 am and I could just carry her to the car. That way I could have both things I wanted.
We stayed until the lights were turned off and the carnies had left for the night. Then, we played a real game of hide-n-seek just like we did when we were kids. I still couldn’t find her even though I searched every last inch of the carnival and every hiding place known to mankind. She refused to share where she had been hiding although I offered her a bribe.
Willow slept on the ride home. We pulled into Sunridge at 2:44 am. I slipped inside, carried my exhausted little girl out to the car and laid her down in the backseat. Once I had them both settled into their beds when we arrived home, I unplugged everyone’s alarm clock. I was going to spend my entire birthday doing what I wanted to do. So that meant Willow, Ember and I were going to stay home all day – no boys drooling over my little girl, no obliterations and no cares in the world…
According to my watch I had only been asleep for an hour before Ember was shaking me in an effort to wake me up.
“Happy Birthday, Tray!” my little girl squealed when she realized the shaking thing wasn’t going to work.
I buried my head underneath my pillow and made some kind of noise although it couldn’t pass for any words in the English language. This didn’t discourage Ember…who was determined to get my attention.
“Get up – get up!” she shook me even harder because I was still hidden with no plans to come out anytime soon.
“Thanks, now I need some sleep…just an hour or so…I’m begging you…we’ll talk when I get up…”
“But I need you to help me do something…it’ll just take a second…please…”
I sighed into my mattress as I realized this was going to be one of those battles that I just couldn’t win. I was so exhausted that I could barely move. If I went ahead and complied with her request maybe – just maybe – I would get to go back to bed and take a little nap.
“Whatcha need me to do, Little Girl?” I asked as I removed my head from its hiding place and yawned.
“I kinda think I did something to the car…”
Her words rocketed through my mind and I was instantly awake. I jumped to my feet in an all-out panic. Ember wasn’t supposed to be in the car without me or Willow, much less messing up the car without us being there…
My thoughts immediately raced to the idea that my little girl had tried to drive this morning because she believed it was an inborn ability. Although I had given it a passing thought that she might consider driving the car, I never thought she would try it without giving me some kind of warning that she was interested in doing it.
I grabbed her by the shoulders to perform an inspection. Once I discovered that EMBER was fine, I fired question after question at her. I didn’t actually give her a chance to respond to any of them as I rushed down the hallway to go outside. The car keys were gone from their hook and I became frantic.
“Ember, you have to LEARN to drive a car first! Next, you get a permit so you can practice and then, you get a license – in that order. You could kill yourself trying to drive around freakin’ clueless. I thought we agreed that you’d get my permission BEFORE you decided to alleviate your own curiosity about something. This kind of stunt could kill me too because I’d keel over if something happened to you…”
I was putting on my shoes while still in motion. Charging through the house, I instructed her loudly about talking to me BEFORE she acted. I realized that her endless curiosity would continue to get her into trouble. No lecture was going to stop her. But, I had to vent my anxieties or I would fall to ruins.
The lecture continued as I sternly told her that she is never allowed to go anywhere near the car without a licensed driver knowing it. Then, I remembered that Greg has his. I prepared to tell her that there are only four people in HER life that counted as licensed drivers.
By the time I rushed out onto the back porch I hadn’t taken a single breath and Ember hadn’t gotten a word in edgewise. I expected to see the mangled remains of what used to be our station wagon. What I thought I would find and what was actually there were two different things altogether. My mind tried to wrap itself around my new reality…
I felt my knees buckle from relief and shock. Fortunately I was standing near the handrail and I used it to steady myself. It took a few seconds for me to realize that my eyes weren’t currently deceiving me. I was staring at a brand new Chevy Avalanche 4x4 truck with a massive bow on top and ribbons hanging over the sides. The windshield had a message written on it from Ember like a huge gift tag.
It read: Tray’s freedom!
Ember Rising Light (Book One) Page 98
