Page 38 of Holding On

“Are you ready for Cami to arrive?”

“Yeah, but I wish she was already here,” Savannah admits. “But I was texting with her a little last night and she said she was going over to Cara and Max’s before she came here, so at least she’s coming.”

“I’m sure she wanted to hear all about yesterday from them too.”

Max and Cara had an insane November, and they deserve a peaceful and happy holiday. I know Max gave Cara, her nephew Dante, and her niece Mila an amazing Christmas gift yesterday. Liam helped pull it off, and it sounded like a pretty epic surprise. From getting to know Cami, I’m glad she has the friendship she found with Cara. It must be helpful for her to have a friendship that is independent of who she’s related to, especially now that she has two sisters and four brothers kind of forcing their way into her life.

Max is head over heels with Cara, and if Max chose her, then I know Cara is good people, even if her life is more than a bit complicated.

It’s nice to see Max so happy, too. When everything happened with his mother and my sister almost a year ago, I wasn’t sure what normal would even look like for him in the aftermath, but I’m glad he found his way—and his way back to Cara.

“I think I’ll invite Cara over for dinner or something with Cami. Maybe that would make her feel a little more comfortable around us if her best friend sees how awesome our family is, and how much we want to have her with us. Or maybe Viv, Cami, Cara, and I can go have dinner just the four of us or something.” Savannah is convinced they have to prove to Cami that they’re worth taking a chance and getting to know, but I think Cami just needs a little time to calibrate everything. She was in Forrest Falls for close to a year and never uttered a word to any of us about who she was—I don’t want to scare her off, not that all my siblings seem to grasp that concern. “And if Liam went through with his idea of replacing her RV without her permission, I will throw a shoe at his head. Please tell me you talked him out of that,” she pleads.

I shrug. “He said he would consider it, and that was the best I could do.”

Savannah sets down the last dish in the drying rack and wipes her hands on the hand towel draped over her shoulder. She looks around the room and nods before going into the mudroom.

“What are you doing?” I call after her.

“I’m going to set a shoe by my chair, just in case I need it when we exchange presents. It’s better to be prepared, and when it comes to our brother, I don’t think one can be overprepared!”

Valid point.

“Okay, everyone, sit down, sit down. There are plenty of presents and we will get through all of them,” Savannah declares, as one of my brothers whine in protest. “Really, Finn?”

“If you want to be the fun police, I reserve the right to protest.” Finn sticks out his hand and Emily turns to give him a high five in agreement. “And it’s called a childlike appreciation for joy!”

“Okay, Captain Joyful, you’ll get your turn. But I’m going first with a special gift.”

“Oh, yeah!” Finn gets up with his face all excited, until Savannah gives him a look that has him sitting back down while he mumbles something about stupid birth order. Eloise reaches over and sympathetically pats his shoulder while I hold back a laugh. I pull my reading glasses out and slide them on, shaking my head at my youngest brother—I hope he never changes.

Savannah picks up a large box and carries it over to Cami, who is sitting on the couch between Vivian and Ryan. Her eyebrows shoot up as she looks around. “I wasn’t aware the adults were exchanging gifts … I wasn’t prepared, maybe someone else should go.” Cami is crawling out of her skin, and I told Savannah this would happen, but she assured me she would handle it. I’m about to get out of my seat to fix it when she shoots me a look, and I huff, staying put. Savannah shoos at Ryan for him to scoot over and she sits next to Cami.

“Then don’t think of this as a gift. Think of it as a gesture. You wouldn’t refuse a kind gesture from your sister, would you?” Savannah is laying it on thick as she mocks clutching her pearls.

“Uh … no, I suppose not.” Cami looks at the gift and then back at Savannah, who nods for her to open it. She pulls the ribbon—lavender, of course—and opens the box with a gasp. “Oh, Savannah! You didn’t!”

Savannah and Vivian were the ones that came up with this idea after they took Cami shopping during a girls’ day out, as they called it. Vivian and Savannah insisted on spending time with Cami just the three of them, so four days ago, they went into Nashville and spent the day shopping for last-minute gifts and having lunch. While in what Cami later described to me as a bougie upscale bedding store for the stupid rich, Savannah noticed that Cami fell in love with this specific bedding set. She offered to get it for her then, and Cami told her, “No, it’s okay. I don’t even have my own bed or home for it right now!” Then Cami laughed as though it was a joke.

My sisters did not agree with the humor. Instead, it planted a seed of this—as Savannah is now calling it—gesture.

Cami picks up the pale blue and white organic cotton floral comforter and is holding it with such care, as though it was spun from gold. Her voice is reverent with awe as she blinks back tears and says, “I don’t know what to say, Savannah, thank you, but it really is too much.”

“Shh. We aren’t done gesturing.” Savannah wipes away a tear and nods to Vivian, who looks to Walker. Walker carries over a box—Vivian is not allowed to lift anything in her state when Walker is around. Walker places the box on Cami’s lap, and it’s the exact same size as Savannah’s gift.

Which makes sense as it is the same exact box, just with a different color ribbon. Cami looks back and forth between the two sisters before slowly pulling the pink ribbon and opening it to reveal the same blue floral comforter inside. “I don’t … I don’t understand.”

“You will,” Vivian replies as she reaches over and squeezes Cami’s hand. Ryan and I follow suit, taking our turns to give Cami the same boxed gift from each of us. Finn takes his turn, kissing the top of Cami’s head before walking away. Dad walks over with his own box, and even though she doesn’t get it yet, Cami wipes away a few tears as she opens the first gift she’s received from our father. She chuckles slightly as it is yet another blue and white floral comforter.

“I don’t … I don’t understand what’s happening right now.” Cami looks at us, bewildered, but no one explains—not yet.

Liam steps up last and hands Cami an envelope that’s stripped red and white like a candy cane. He nods and she opens it, pulling out a business card for the local Forrest Falls Inn. Turning it over, she reads a code and then looks at me. “This other set of numbers, that’s my access code for your building if I forget my key fob.”

My building has a very limited number of all-access key fobs, but there are also specific codes that can be typed into the keypad that allow access if someone doesn’t have the fob with them. “Yes and no,” I reply with a soft smile. “Liam is pretty big on security, so that’s your specific code to access any of our properties.”

She rears back, even more confused. “What?”

“When we went shopping, you said you didn’t have your own bed or home right now, and it got Vivi and me talking. Our mama taught us that home is wherever our family is, so as long as we’re together, we’re home.” Savannah’s mama bear tough exterior cracks slightly, along with her voice. “Jack may have stolen you away first, but he isn’t the only one you can count on. So, each of us decided you would have a dedicated bedroom in our respective houses. They are no longer guest rooms; they are your room.”