New York Times Bestselling Author

The Gift

by Susan Stoker

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2017 by Susan Stoker

No part of this work may be used, stored, reproduced or transmitted without written permission from the publisher except for brief quotations for review purposes as permitted by law.

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Manufactured in the United States

The characters in this story were first introduced in the books, Protecting Kiera and Rescuing Emily. If you haven't read those two books, you can still read and enjoy this short story, but you might get more enjoyment out of it if you already know Frankie and Annie (as well as Cooper & Kiera and Fletch & Emily). Happy Reading!

The Gift

Annie fidgeted between her parents and stared hard at the entryway. She squeezed her mom’s hand and looked up at her. “How much longer?”

“I don’t know, baby,” Emily told her daughter. “Their plane landed ten minutes ago, but it sometimes takes a while for everyone to get off. And maybe they had to use the restroom. They’ll be here soon. Patience.”

“I can’t wait to meet Frankie,” the little girl told her parents for the millionth time.

Her dad, Cormac “Fletch” Fletcher, squatted down in front of her and put his hands on her shoulders. “Don’t be offended if he’s shy, squirt,” he said. “Since he’s deaf, it’s probably hard for him to make friends.”

Annie nodded enthusiastically. “I know, but I want to show him my Army men, and my room, and where I play cars behind the garage. Do you think he’ll want to spend the night with me? There’s only one bed in the apartment and the adults will probably want to stay there and even though the couch is super comfy, maybe we can have a sleepover?”

 “We’ll see,” Fletch told her, standing back up. He stepped to his wife’s side and leaned in, whispering in her ear, “I’m not sure I’m okay with my daughter setting up sleepovers with boys at age seven.”

Emily choked back a laugh and whispered, “We’ll see how she feels when she can’t communicate with him.”

Fletch merely shook his head and grinned. “Don’t underestimate our daughter. I think she could make friends with a terrorist if she put her mind to it.”

“Isthathimisthathimisthathim?” Annie cried out, jumping up and down in her excitement.

Emily looked up and saw a couple walking toward them. The man was holding the hand of a boy who looked to be about the same age as Annie. When he gave a chin lift to Fletch, she knew for certain it was. “Yes, that’s them.”

Before the last word was out of her mouth, Annie had taken off running toward the trio. As if they were long-lost brother and sister, she went right up to the little boy and threw her arms around him.

By the time Emily and Fletch had reached the group, Annie had pulled back and was smiling hugely at the boy.

“Coop,” Fletch said, holding out his hand. “How was the flight?”

“No problems. Thanks for picking us up.”

“Of course. When our commander said you were coming in to give a few classes on using sign language to communicate with others while on missions, I remembered that Tex had talked about you. I couldn’t resist the chance to pick your brain before we hit the base.”

Cooper “Coop” Nelson chuckled. “I’m always surprised when I run into people who know Tex, but I shouldn’t be. This is my girlfriend, Kiera Hamilton.”

Fletch shook the woman’s hand, as did Emily.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Emily said. “Fletch said you’re a teacher?”

“I am,” Kiera said. She also signed the words at the same time. “I work at a school for deaf children. Frankie is one of my students. I met Cooper when he was volunteering there.”

“And his dad let you fly him across the country?” Emily asked, her eyebrows raised in surprise.

“Yeah. We went through a…thing,” Kiera looked over at Cooper and shrugged, then continued, “He kinda made us Frankie’s God-parents and we’re all pretty close.”

Fletch wanted to know more about the “thing” Kiera mentioned, but figured he’d ask Cooper later. He felt a tug on his shirt and looked down at Annie. He and Emily had taught her that it was rude to interrupt, but sometimes her enthusiasm got the better of her. “I wanna tell Frankie my name with my fingers. But I don’t know how.”

Kiera squatted down next to the children. She patiently showed Annie how to finger spell her name for Frankie. She caught on quickly. She turned to the little boy, who had stayed glued to Cooper’s side, and waved her little hand, pointing to herself, then painstakingly spelled out A-N-N-I-E.

A smile came across the boy’s face for the first time. He waved back, pointed to himself, then spelled his own name.

Without a word, Annie tried to copy him, and when she forgot one of the letters, Frankie reached out and helped her manipulate her fingers and hand into making the letter.

Kiera stood up and smiled at Cooper. “Looks like they’re going to get along just fine.”

They all headed down the escalator toward the baggage claim area, chatting about nothing in particular. Cooper and Fletch talked about work, Emily and Kiera made small talk about the apartment over the garage where they’d be staying, and what Kiera might want to do while Cooper was at the base working, and Annie and Frankie gestured back and forth, giggled, and solidified their fast friendship.

* * *

Emily sat with Kiera on the back patio after dinner and after the men had disappeared inside to talk shop. The two women watched Annie and Frankie playing together in the grass. Annie had brought out her precious Army men Fletch had given her when he’d first met her. They were still in their boxes, even though the cardboard was looking a little rough around the edges. All around the Barbie-size dolls were little plastic green Army men, matchbox cars, and little metal tanks she’d gotten for Christmas the year before.

The two kids were playing happily, communicating by gesturing back and forth and lots of pointing.

“What’s Frankie’s story?” Emily asked.

“He was sick when he was a baby and lost his hearing. His dad moved to our area and enrolled Frankie in my school. He was withdrawn and sullen because of the drama and upheaval of the move and his discontent at his home life. It didn’t help that his mom made it clear she didn’t really like her son and the fact that he couldn’t hear.”

Emily sucked in a horrified breath. “Oh my God. Poor Frankie.”

“Yeah, I’m super over-simplifying here, but his dad divorced the woman, partly because she was a bitch and mostly because she was a freaking drug addict. Frankie met Cooper, who in no way could ever be called anything less than a man, and immediately got a case of hero-worship...not that I can blame him.”

“Well, thank God for that,” Emily said, sitting back in her chair in relief.

“Oh, but then she came to the school and tried to kidnap him.”

Emily’s eyes opened so wide, they looked like they’d bug right out of her head.

Kiera laughed. “Don’t worry. I jumped in her car too and Cooper and one of his friends came to our rescue. But Frankie learned firsthand that day how cool it was to be able to speak in secret code.” Kiera held up her hands and made air quotes around the last two words.

Emily smiled at her. “And you? How’d you learn sign language?”

“My mom is deaf.”

“Ah. Makes sense. So Frankie’s dad was okay with you guys bringing him with you to Texas?”

“Yeah. After the attempted kidnapping, and with Cooper rescuing his son and me putting myself in danger for him, he officially made us Frankie’s God-parents His dad had an out-of-town meeting and we volunteered to bring Frankie with us.”

“That’s amazing. I know I trust any of Fletch’s friends with Annie’s life,” Emily said.

The little girl laughed just then, and the two adults turned to see what was so funny.

Annie was giggling so hard, she’d fallen onto her back in the grass and was rolling around in glee.

“What’s so funny?” Emily called out.

Annie turned on her side and propped her head up with a hand as she looked over at her mom. “Frankie is. He’s hilarious.”

Emily looked confused. “But you guys can’t talk to each other,” she informed her daughter.

Annie sat up and scooted over to Frankie and threw her arm over his shoulders before saying, “We can so. He just told me a joke.”

“He did?” Emily asked, tilting her head in confusion.

“Yeah,” Annie confirmed. “He said, ‘Why did the Army man cross the road?’”

When the little girl didn’t continue, Emily asked, “Why?”

“He was protecting the chicken,” Annie said, then burst into giggles all over again.

The adults looked at each other for a long moment before grinning. It wasn’t that funny, but they’d both learned a long time ago that what was funny to a seven-year-old wasn’t necessarily a laugh-riot to everyone else.

Annie and Frankie went back to their playing, occasional bouts of laughter from Annie ringing out over the lawn. An hour later, Cooper and Fletch came back outside and Kiera signed to Frankie that it was time for bed.

“Please, can Frankie have a sleepover?” Annie asked before they left.

“Not tonight,” Emily told her. “He’s most likely tired from traveling and the last thing he needs is to be kept awake by an excited little girl.”

“But, Mommmmm,” Annie pouted.

“Your mom said no,” Fletch said sternly. “If you’re good, and if he wants to, we’ll discuss it with Cooper and Kiera for tomorrow night.”

As if her dad had already said yes, Annie’s face brightened and she waved at Frankie.

He signed something to her and before anyone could translate, Annie had copied the sign.

Frankie smiled and repeated it one more time, then waved.

After the trio had left to walk across the yard to the garage apartment where they’d be staying, Emily asked her daughter, “How did you know what Frankie was saying to you?”

Annie shrugged. “I figured it out.”

“But how?”

“I don’t know, Mom, it just made sense. I waved at him, and I remember him telling Miss Kiera his dinner was good, and she translated what he was saying at dinner, remember? Anyway, so the first thing he said was good, and I figured the other was night.”

Emily stared at her daughter. She was right. She hadn’t remembered the conversation at dinner, but Annie never missed much, never had.

“I love you,” Emily said.

“I love you too,” Annie replied, then spun and ran for the dining room table, where she’d laid out her precious Army men after coming inside. She gathered them into her arms and raced past her parents and toward her room.

“Fifteen minutes, squirt,” Fletch called after her.

“Okay, Daddy!” Annie yelled back, but didn’t slow down.

Emily shook her head and turned into her husband. “Are we sure we want another Annie around here?”

Fletch put his hands on his wife’s ass and pulled her into him. “Absolutely. There’s nothing I can think of that would please me more than to have more little yous running around.”

Emily grinned, feeling her husband’s erection against her belly. “Maybe I’ll go take a bath while you put our daughter to bed.”

Fletch groaned. “The image of you naked in our tub isn’t going to make this erection I have go down anytime soon.”

“After you put Annie to bed, I’ll take care of that for you,” Emily told him, her lips twitching. “You know this is my fertile time of the month.”

“You are evil,” Fletch said, squinting at her. “You know when she’s worked up it takes twice as long to get her settled.”

“I’ll just have to get started without you then,” Emily said.

With that, Fletch pulled her into him and kissed her with all the pent-up passion her teasing had generated. Pulling away several minutes later, he turned Emily and pushed her toward the hall. “Go. I need a couple minutes to control myself before I go to Annie.”

Emily stepped away, swaying her hips in an exaggerated movement as she went. Looking over her shoulder, she smiled at Fletch. “See you in bed, honey.”

 * * *

 One of Fletch’s favorite times of the day was his bedtime routine with Annie. He wasn’t always home in the evenings to share the time with her, but when he was, he treasured their conversations. Sometimes they talked about nothing important, other times Annie shared her fears with him, but tonight she was, not surprisingly, interested in talking about Frankie.

“How did he lose his hearing?”

“He was sick as a baby and the infection broke his ears.”

“How did he learn to sign?”

“I suppose the same way you learned to talk.”

“Can I learn to sign?”

“Yeah, squirt, I’m sure you can. You were already signing with him today.”

“I want to talk more with him. I like him.”

“I think he likes you too. I’m sure he’d like to be able to talk to you.”

“But how can I talk to him if he can’t hear me on the phone?”

“You can talk to him on the phone, Annie. It’s a special phone; when you talk, it types out what you’re saying to him.”

“But how does he talk back to me if he doesn’t use words?”

Fletch paused at that. “I’m not sure.” He tried to always be honest with Annie.

His daughter looked distressed, then her bottom lip wobbled. “But he’s going to go home in a couple of days and I won’t be able to talk to himmmm.”

The last word was wailed as she began to cry.

“Shhhh, baby. We’ll talk to Cooper and Kiera and see if they can help us. I’m sure they know more about it than I do.”

Annie continued to sniff, and her tears continued to fall down her little cheeks.

“Come here, baby,” Fletch said, and got her settled under her covers. He lay down and rested his head on the pillow next to her. She was on her back and he was on his side. “I was proud of you today.”

“W-w-why?”

“Because I’m sure some kids aren’t nice to Frankie because he can’t hear them.”

“That’s dumb. He’s funny.”

Fletch smiled. “He is. But some people don’t take the time to try to get know people who are different from them.”

“He likes my Army men,” Annie told him.

The smile on Fletch’s face didn’t dim. Liking Annie’s precious Army men was one way she decided if someone was worth her effort. And apparently, Frankie had passed her test. “I saw that.”

“If I could, I’d sell my Army men to buy us a way to talk to each other when he’s a million miles away.”

Fletch blinked. He could only recall one other time Annie had offered to sell her precious toys—that was when her mom was in desperate need of money and hadn’t been eating. She took the plastic dolls everywhere with her. She refused to open the boxes, saying it would make them “old.” The fact that she’d voiced out loud the desire to sell them for a little boy she’d been around for only a few hours, who she wanted to keep in touch with, was surprising. And all Annie.

“I don’t think that’ll be necessary, squirt. I’ll talk to Miss Kiera and Cooper and see what they think, okay?”

“Tomorrow?”

“Yeah, tomorrow.”

“Okay. Can we go online to Mazon and order a book to help teach me to talk with my hands?”

“Amazon?”

“Yeah, that’s what I said.”

Fletch nodded his head. “Yeah, I think we can do that.”

Annie turned on her side and mirrored her dad’s position with one hand under her head. Her little cheeks were still flushed and she sniffed once before saying, “I’m gonna marry him, daddy.”

“You are, huh?”

“Yeah. And I need to learn how to talk to him as soon as possible. It wouldn’t be good if I couldn’t talk to or understand my husband, would it?”

Fletch wanted to protest, but he’d learned from Emily, and from being around Annie, that the more he argued against something, the more Annie seemed to want it. She’d grow out of it, she was only seven. “No, you’re right. It’d be good if you could talk to your husband.”

Annie nodded. “Okay. You won’t forget to talk to Miss Kiera about it?”

“No, I won’t forget.”

“Good. Now go, Daddy.”

“Go? You don’t want me to read to you tonight?”

Annie shook her head. “Nope. I’m tired and I want my brain to rest so I can learn as much as I can tomorrow about how to talk with my hands. I want to learn the alphabet tomorrow.”

“Okay, squirt. You sleep well.” He stood up, then leaned over and kissed Annie on her forehead.

Annie looked up at him and signed “good night,” as she’d learned from Frankie earlier.

Fletch smiled and returned the sign.

Smiling happily, Annie closed her eyes and snuggled down into her pillow.

Later that night, much later, after Fletch had made love to his wife, thoroughly and with quite a lot of vigor, he informed her of their daughter’s upcoming nuptials.

“You didn’t disagree with her or tell her she’d change her mind later, did you?” Emily asked sleepily, not in the least concerned about her daughter’s pronouncement.

“Hell no. I’ve learned that lesson.”

“She’ll probably tire of him by the end of the weekend,” Emily predicted. “You know how she is.”

Fletch did know how his daughter was. He didn’t voice his opinion, but he had a feeling a weekend with the little boy wasn’t going to dampen Annie’s enthusiasm one bit.

“I’m sure. Sleep, sweetheart,” he ordered Emily.

“You’re so bossy,” she mumbled, but she pulled Fletch’s hand, which was wrapped around her chest, up to her lips and kissed the palm. “I kinda like this trying-to-get-pregnant thing,” she told him.

He smiled. “Me too. But even if it never happens, or it takes five years, I’ll never stop loving you. In fact, with every day that goes by, I love you more.”

“The feeling is definitely mutual. But I have a hunch it’s not going to take years. If your sperm is half as bossy as you are, it’s only a matter of time.”

Fletch smiled. Giving his sperm anthropomorphic qualities was such an Emily thing to do.

“Good night.”

“Night,” Emily replied.

* * *

“Did you have a good time with Annie today?” Kiera signed to Frankie.

“Yes!” the little boy enthusiastically signed back. “She’s nice.”

“You seemed to get along with her just as good or better than Jenny and the other girls in our class,” she told him.

Frankie shrugged. “She’s different.”

“Different how? Because she doesn’t know sign language?” Kiera asked.

“No. Because I love her.”

Kiera looked down at Frankie in shock. Cooper had already said good night to the little boy and was currently in the bedroom, getting ready for bed. She’d wanted to reassure herself that Frankie was doing okay. He didn’t travel much, and being around people who could hear could be exhausting and confusing for him. The last thing Kiera expected was for him to declare his love for the little girl in the house across the yard.

“You do, huh?”

Frankie nodded. “She thinks I’m funny and she shared her special toys with me. She doesn’t care that I sound funny when I laugh or try to talk, and she tried really hard to learn some signs today. I love her.”

Kiera smiled and did her best not to look skeptical or to laugh. The mind of a child was a wonderful and strange thing. “Well, tomorrow you can get to know her more. Does that sound good? You want to spend the day with her and her mom while Cooper and her dad do business on the Army post?”

Frankie’s head bobbed up and down enthusiastically. “I want to get her a present,” he told Kiera.

“A present?”

“Yes. Something she can remember me by so she doesn’t decide she loves someone else and forget about me before I can grow up and come back for her.”

Kiera felt her heart melting. “What kind of present?” She knew he didn’t have any money with him, but it didn’t matter, she’d pay for whatever trinket he wanted to get for his crush.

“I don’t know yet. But I’m sure when I get to know her better tomorrow, I’ll figure it out. How many more days do we have here?”

“Two full days, then we fly back home on the third.”

His bottom lip stuck out in a pout as he signed, “That’s not long enough.”

“I’m sure you guys can keep in touch after you go home,” Kiera tried to reassure him.

He shrugged. “I’ll think of something to get her so she can’t forget me. Something that every time she looks at it, she remembers me.”

“I know you will. Now it’s time for sleep. Close your eyes, we’ll have more fun tomorrow.”

“Thanks for talking my dad into letting me come with you, Miss Kiera. This is the best thing I’ve ever done in my life.”

She leaned over and kissed him on the top of the head before signing, “You’re welcome. Good night.”

“Good night. Did you see how fast Annie picked up on how to say good night? I only signed it once and she knew what it meant.”

“I saw. Now hush. Go to sleep,” Kiera ordered.

Frankie nodded and turned on his side on the couch.

She turned out the lights and headed into the small bedroom where Cooper was waiting for her. She climbed into the bed and snuggled into the large man, feeling at home with him no matter where they were bedded down.

“He tell you he’s in love with Annie?” Cooper asked.

Kiera lifted her head and stared at her boyfriend. “How’d you know?”

“Because that was the first thing he wanted to talk to me about when you left the room. When did I know you were the woman for me.”

“And what did you tell him?” Kiera asked.

“The second I laid eyes on you, I knew you would change my life.”

“And?” she inquired.

“And Frankie nodded, and said it was the same with him. That the second Annie hugged him in the airport, he knew he loved her.”

Kiera stared at Cooper for a long moment before asking, “You don’t really believe him, do you?”

“Weirder things have happened,” he responded.

Settling back into his side, Kiera said, “He’s only seven and lives on the other side of the country. He’ll forget about her as soon as he gets back and little Jenny bats her eyelashes at him again.”

“Hmmmmm.”

From the few months they’d been dating, Kiera knew that sound meant he neither agreed nor disagreed with her. She decided to blow it off. It didn’t really matter one way or the other. They would be leaving with Frankie in another two days. Annie would be out of his life and that would be that.

* * *

The next night, after dinner, Frankie pulled Kiera aside.

“Are you okay, Frankie?” she signed, looking over at the Fletchers. Emily and Fletch were sitting on the couch and Annie was on the floor. She had her Army men propped up against the legs of the coffee table and she and Frankie had been paying some sort of convoluted game Kiera hadn’t been able to make heads nor tails of. But it didn’t matter, as the two children seemed to be happy as clams.

The day had started out with breakfast in the big house. Afterward, Cooper and Fletch had gone off to the post for the training class Cooper was giving on the importance of a universal hand signal program for soldiers.

Emily and Kiera had taken the kids to Mayborn Museum. There were over a dozen rooms for children, and Annie and Frankie had spent several hours being entertained. There were a few awkward moments when other children were pointing and whispering about Frankie behind his back, but Annie had stood up for him and told the kids flat out they were being rude, and if they thought something was wrong with Frankie simply because he couldn’t hear, they were the stupid ones.

Emily had scolded her daughter for her harsh words, but they’d seemed to work. After that, the ice had been broken and they’d all played together.

Then they’d gone to a mall in Temple, simply to kill some time. They’d stopped and talked to a woman named Kassie who worked in JCPenney, and who was the girlfriend of one of Fletch’s teammates. They’d grabbed a snack at the food court and had walked around.

At one point, Kiera had looked down at the kids and nudged Emily. Frankie and Annie were holding hands. Frankie was signing with his free right hand and Annie was attempting to spell out words with her left as they walked.

It was as cute as anything she’d ever seen. As they’d watched, a man bumped into Annie, who stumbled and would’ve fallen if it hadn’t been for Frankie holding on to her. He immediately dropped Annie’s hand and took a step in front of her. Kiera gasped as she watched Frankie’s lightning fast hand movements as he tore into the man for not watching where he was going and for almost hurting Annie.

The man had looked at Kiera and shrugged.

“He says that you could’ve hurt Annie,” Kiera told the man, taking the liberty of paraphrasing so as not to get into an altercation right there at the mall. Frankie was mad. It was clear to see.

“Sorry, little dude,” the man mumbled, then turned his back and walked away, even though Frankie was still “talking” to him.

It took a moment for Kiera to calm Frankie down enough for them to continue their stroll around the mall. It wasn’t until Annie herself took Frankie’s hand back in her own and smiled at him to let him know she was all right that he finally calmed down enough to continue.

Now they were home, fed, and relaxed…at least Kiera had thought they were all relaxed.

“I know what I want to get Annie,” the little boy signed.

“What?”

“Doll cases for her Army men,” Frankie told her. “The boxes hers are in are falling apart, and she told me she was worried that if they broke, her soldiers would be ruined,” he explained. “I saw some when we were walking around today.”

Kiera frowned for a moment, then signed, “They’re probably really expensive.” From what she could tell, Annie’s dolls probably cost at the most about ten bucks. Spending fifty dollars or more per case in order to keep cheap toys safe seemed silly to her.

“So?” Frankie signed impatiently.

“What if you got her new Army men?” Kiera suggested.

Frankie shook his head stubbornly. “No. She loves the ones she has. Fletch gave them to her. I want to protect those for her.”

“I’m not sure your dad will approve of spending that much money on someone you just met,” Kiera told Frankie slowly. “Maybe you can think of something less expensive.”

“I’ll pay for them,” the little boy told her, his little lips drawn together in a tight line of concentration.

“Do you have that much money?” Kiera asked.

“Not right now, but I can earn it. I’ll do jobs around the house. I can ask dad if there’s something I can do to earn money. I don’t care how long it takes, even if I never get an allowance until I’m really old, like thirteen, I’ll do it.”

Kiera tried not to smile at that. Really old at thirteen. Being around kids certainly made her feel ancient sometimes. “What if your dad doesn’t have that much money to loan you?”

Frankie’s shoulders slumped. It was obvious he hadn’t thought about that. His eyes wandered around the room as he tried to figure out a solution in his head. Kiera saw him stare at Annie for a long moment before he turned around and said, “Tell my daddy I’ll sell the iPad I got for Christmas to pay for it.”

Kiera stared at Frankie in shock. He loved that iPad. He’d talked about it nonstop in the talk circle in the classroom. Had said that with an app he had on there, he could actually “talk” to hearing people. He’d said it gave him a sense of freedom and more confidence to go out into the hearing world on his own. For him to tell her he’d sell it to buy something for Annie was shocking.

“I’m sure he wouldn’t want you to do that, what about—”

Frankie interrupted her and shook his head, his light brown hair flying around his head. “No. It’ll be enough to buy the cases, right? The good ones? Not the cheap ones?”

Kiera slowly nodded. “I’m sure it will be.”

“You’ll call him tonight, tell him?”

“You could call him and use the built-in camera and the app to tell him yourself,” Kiera said.

Frankie shook his head again. “No. I’ll be busy with Annie. She said I could spend the night and we’re gonna make a tent city and obstacle course in her room. I won’t have time.”

“Okay, Frankie. If you’re sure it’s what you want.”

“I’m sure,” he signed. Looking over at Annie once more, he met Kiera’s gaze. “She’s worth it. Even if I can’t see her on my special app and can only email her until I can make enough money to afford to buy a new iPad, she’s worth it.”

And with that, the little boy went right back to Annie’s side and they began playing as if he hadn’t been gone.

Kiera went back and sat next to Cooper and he asked, “Everything okay?”

“It’s good. I’ll talk to you later.”

Looking concerned, but realizing it wasn’t an emergency, Cooper nodded and they all went back to watching the movie.

* * *

An hour later, Emily was helping Annie get ready for bed while Fletch was assisting Frankie.

“I know you want to play more, but only another hour. I mean it, Annie. I’ll be checking on you guys. You need to get some sleep for another fun day tomorrow.”

“Okay. Mommy?”

“Yes, baby?”

“Will you talk to daddy and have him go to the store tomorrow and buy the present we talked about for Frankie?”

Emily sighed. She’d hoped her daughter would’ve forgotten about this with the excitement of the day and with Frankie sleeping over. “We’ll see.”

Annie’s face scrunched up in what Emily recognized as a precursor to a monster of an argument. “I talked to Kiera today. She said that there’s a special camera thing that’s been put on sale recently that hooks into a ’puter or iPad and not only shows someone’s picture and lets the other person hear what they’re saying, but it has a little computerized person that puts what is said into sign language in a little box in the corner. It’s like FaceTiming, but it translates.”

Emily stared at Annie in shock. She knew Annie wanted to talk to Frankie when he left, but assumed she wanted something like a web camera or something. That was cheap…and easy. “If it’s a special thing, I’m not sure we can just go into a store and buy it, sweetie.”

“True,” Annie said, sounding no less determined or put off. “But Kiera said they had them out in California in special stores. We could order it and Frankie could pick it up when he gets home.”

“Why don’t you start out with writing him letters, then if he wants to continue, we can look into a webcam.”

“No. I’m going to learn sign language and Frankie is going to help me. He can’t do that if we can’t see and talk to each other.”

Emily sighed and sat on the side of Annie’s bed. “It sounds expensive, honey.”

“I know,” Annie said and wrinkled her nose. “I asked Miss Kiera how much and she wasn’t sure. But, Mommy, I have something that’s worth a lot of money.”

 “What’s that?”

“My Army men.”

Emily sucked in a breath. Annie had mentioned selling her precious Army men the night before, but she’d thought her daughter had just been talking. As she continued to press her case, Emily realized that whatever it was Annie felt toward Frankie was serious.

“I know they’re worth a lot a lot of money. They’re still in their boxes and brand new. ’Member when I told you to sell them when we were poor and Daddy Fletch wasn’t in our life? You said they were worth a lot and I should keep them until a time when I found something I really wanted. Well, I really want this.”

Climbing into Emily’s lap, Annie turned huge eyes up to her mom. She wound her arms around her mom’s neck and looked right into her eyes. “I don’t want Frankie to go back to California and forget about me. I want to be able to ask how his day went. I want to celebrate his birfdays with him and if any other girl thinks he’s hers, I want to tell him that isn’t the case. Please, Mommy? I know if Daddy takes them to the pawn shop, he’ll get a ton of money for them and then I can afford to get Frankie this special camera thingy.”

Emily sighed. Annie wasn’t a child who asked for much. She never had been. There was no way she could deny her this. Especially when it wasn’t something Annie wanted for herself. If she was willing to sell her most prized possessions, who was she to stand in her way? Emily knew the toys would only bring in about ten dollars, if that, but between her and Fletch, they could afford to make up the difference and purchase the special equipment.

“Okay, baby. I’ll get your dad to take your toys to the pawn shop tomorrow and call Frankie’s dad and make arrangements for the camera. Are you sure about this? Once your Army men are gone, we won’t be able to get them back.”

“I’m sure,” Annie said immediately, a smile on her face from ear to ear. “I’ll miss them, but I’ll get to talk to Frankie every day in return. It’ll be worth it. Can you get his dad to email a picture of the special camera? I want to print it out and give it to him tomorrow as a present before he leaves.”

“Yeah, I’m sure we can arrange that.”

“He’s gonna be so surprised! I can’t wait to see his face,” Annie said.

Just then, Fletch knocked on the door. “Permission to enter?” he asked. Frankie was by his side, smiling at Annie.

In a flash, Annie leaped off her mom’s lap and was in front of Frankie. She gestured for him to follow her, not that he had a choice, as Annie had latched onto his hand and was dragging him over to a pile of blankets and towels they’d brought in earlier in preparation for making their “tent city.”

“I guess we’re forgotten,” Fletch said, putting his arm around Emily’s waist. “Did you have a good talk?”

“Just wait until I tell you what you’re doing tomorrow,” Emily told Fletch with a rueful shake of her head.

“That bad?” Fletch asked, leading her out of their daughter’s room.

“Not bad, but surprising for sure,” she said.

* * *

The next night, the last night Annie and Frankie would be together for a long time, the adults sat at the table in the dining room while the children went into the family room. Annie had asked for some privacy while she “talked” with Frankie.

“Are you sure you don’t want me there to translate?” Kiera had asked the little girl.

Annie had shaken her head and said, “I can understand him just fine.”

The adults had shrugged. They didn’t know if Annie was being one hundred percent honest, but they all loved her attitude.

When the kids had disappeared into the other room, Kiera leaned across the table and asked Emily, “What did Annie get for Frankie? I think it’s so cute they each wanted to get something for the other.”

“I know, right?” Emily said with a chuckle. “Thanks to your discussion with Annie, she decided she had to get that special camera thing. You know, the one that has the little human figure in the corner that translates spoken word into sign language. Frankie’s dad is picking it up today and will have it at the airport when you guys get home tomorrow.”

“What?” Kiera said, clearly taken aback.

“I know, I know, it’s expensive, but Annie insisted. Even had Fletch sell her Army men to pay for it.” Emily chuckled. “As if that would cover it, but it honestly wasn’t as expensive as I thought it would be. Frankie can plug the little camera into his iPad and download the app and Annie can use her regular camera and download the app. They’ll be able to talk as much as they want. I know it’ll help Annie learn sign language too.”

“She sold her Army men?” Kiera asked.

“Yup.”

“Holy cow.”

“Ask me what Frankie got for Annie,” Kiera told Emily.

“I’m almost scared to ask,” she said.

“An expensive pair of cases for her Army men,” Kiera said matter-of-factly.

Emily’s eyes widened in her face. “He didn’t.”

“Now ask where he got the money to pay for them.”

“No…please don’t say his iPad,” Emily breathed.

“Yup. His precious iPad, which he’s usually glued to. He wanted to get the most expensive and best-built plastic cases, so Annie wouldn’t have to worry about her Army men getting dirty or ‘used’.”

“Holy crap. We’re in the middle of a Gift of the Magi story,” Emily breathed.

Neither said anything for a heartbeat, until Kiera whispered, “I need to see this play out.”

Apparently in agreement, Emily followed Kiera as she tiptoed to the door of the family room. Fletch and Cooper met them there and they all watched as the two kids exchanged gifts.

* * *

Annie was so excited to give Frankie his gift. It looked really small next to the two large boxes he had wrapped up for her, but it didn’t matter. He was going to love it.

Smiling at him, she handed him the envelope with the picture of the fancy camera that would translate her words into sign language for him. He’d told her the first day they’d met how much he loved his iPad and how much he used it. This was perfect.

She was still grinning at him as he unwrapped it. He pulled the picture out of the envelope and stared at it for the longest time.

Too excited to wait, she grabbed it out of his hand and pointed to it. Then she pointed to herself and to him. Then brought her hand up to her ear, pantomiming a phone, then she made some fake signs with her hand and pointed at him. Then down at the picture she was holding. Then back to herself.

Annie grinned huge and handed the picture back to him, extremely pleased with herself.

Frankie didn’t smile. In fact, he barely moved, just continued to stare down at the picture of the fancy camera for the deaf.

Finally, he gave her a small smile, and put the picture down. Then he pushed the two big boxes over to Annie.

Confused now, and a little worried that it didn’t seem like Frankie was all that excited about talking with her once he left, Annie tore the paper off the first box. She saw the picture on the box—and her smile faded. She turned to the next present and opened it just as quickly. It was a duplicate of what was in the first box. She looked up at Frankie.

He was smiling at her. He made the sign for man, and then soldier—he’d taught those to her the first time she’d shown him her Army men—then pointed to the boxes. He nodded and his eyebrows went up as if to say, cool huh?

He pointed at her, then made a gesture as if to ask, where are they?

Annie stared at the beautiful cases for her Army men. Frankie had gone out of his way to get her something he knew she’d love. She felt a pang of sorrow for the toys she knew were gone forever, but bravely smiled through it.

Frankie had to care about her. He wouldn’t have gotten her something so expensive if he didn’t. He never had to know she’d sold her toys to give them the ability to talk to each other.

Pointing to her dad’s iPad sitting on the table, she pointed at it, then to Frankie. She gestured toward the door, hoping he’d understand that she wanted him to go get his own device so they could download the app and get familiar with it so they could talk when he got home.

When he didn’t move, Kiera wiggled in her seat. They simply stared at each other, as if waiting for the other to make a move.

* * *

“Can I interrupt? Kiera asked from the doorway.

Annie jumped in surprise, then touched Frankie on the arm to get his attention and pointed at Kiera.

Annie nodded.

Kiera and Emily filed into the room, while Fletch and Cooper stayed near the doorway.

“Do you like your present?” Kiera signed to Annie.

She nodded and signed, “Yes.” Then she turned to Frankie and said, “I love it, Frankie. It’s perfect.”

Frankie’s hands moved then, signing quickly, as if he was excited about something. Kiera translated as he spoke. “I knew you’d love them. They’re perfect for your soldiers. They’ll stay the same and perfect for you forever. You don’t have to worry about the boxes breaking anymore. Go get them. I want to make sure they fit.”

“What about you, Frankie?” Kiera asked. “Do you like your present from Annie?”

“Yeah, it’s great,” he signed a little less enthusiastically.

“It’s so we can talk when you go home,” Annie said softly. “I really like you and would like to learn sign language so we can use regular cameras to talk, but until then, this will translate what I’m saying and what you’re saying back to me. The little computer person in the corner will make the signs as we talk. You plug the camera into your iPad on your end and I just need the app on mine. I’m sure Daddy Fletch or Cooper will help us set it up if you go get your iPad.”

The kids stared at each other for a long moment before Emily put her hand on her daughter’s shoulder and said, “Sweetie, Frankie sold his iPad to pay for the cases for your Army men.”

Annie stared at Frankie with wide eyes. “He did?”

“Yeah.”

“But I sold my Army men to pay for the special camera thing,” she said, not taking her eyes off Frankie’s face.

The second Kiera finished translating for her, Frankie’s gaze whipped back to Annie’s. He tilted his head and spelled out slowly, “You did?”

Annie nodded.

The adults all held their breath, waiting for a reaction from the children. They were going to be upset, that was for sure. They’d each sold one of the most important possessions they had to get something for the other, and now both presents were essentially useless.

 It was Annie who broke first.

A giggle erupted from her throat. She covered her mouth with her hand to try to stifle it, but it was no use. Another escaped, then another. Before long, the little girl was laughing hysterically.

And amazingly, Frankie had joined in. They’d fallen backwards and were rolling around on the floor laughing as if they’d never stop.

“Huh,” Cooper exclaimed over the din. “Didn’t expect that reaction.” He then turned to Fletch. “Think we should bring out our presents now?”

Fletch nodded, and the two men strode all the way into the room, each with a present in their arms. Cooper handed a small box to Frankie and Fletch handed a larger box to his daughter.

Cooper signed to Frankie as Fletch spoke.

“I know you guys are probably a little disappointed with your gifts, but—”

“Daddy,” Annie interrupted. “I love my gift. Yeah, I’m a little sad I don’t have my Army men to put inside them, but Frankie got them for me. And he did it because he likes me and wanted me to be happy. I can’t be too sad.”

“Me too,” Frankie signed. “I’m glad Annie wants to talk to me after I leave. Because I want to talk to her too. I’ll do extra chores and earn enough money to get a new iPad, then we can talk.”

“Well,” Fletch said, “I’m glad you guys aren’t mad at each other. Go ahead and open your presents from us now.”

Both kids tore into their gifts—and their little gasps of disbelief rang out in the room.

Annie lifted her two Army men from her box at the same time Frankie pulled out his beloved iPad. Two sets of eyes whipped up to the men.

“How?” Annie asked.

At the same time, Frankie signed, “How did you get this?”

Fletch smiled. “Emily told me what Annie wanted to get for you, Frankie, and Kiera told Cooper what you were supposed to get for Annie. Then it was simply a matter of me and Cooper talking. I can’t tell you how proud we are of both of you. The fact that you like each other enough to want to get each other a gift is great. But it’s even more amazing that you were each willing to sell something you loved in order to get the other something you thought they would enjoy is amazing. You two are amazing. We couldn’t bear to sell your things. Now you can both enjoy the gifts you were given.”

Annie jumped up off the floor and gave her dad a hug. Then she hugged Cooper. Not wanting the women to feel left out, she hugged both her mom and Kiera. Then she turned to Frankie and threw her arms around him too.

The two children stood in the middle of the room with their arms around each other, and Emily looked up to her husband.

“Remember this moment,” she said softly. “I have a feeling at some point in our lives, we’ll be watching them hug just like this at their wedding.”

Fletch strolled across the room and sat on the couch next to his wife. As Annie and Frankie turned their attention to her Army men and how to open the protective cases to insert the battered boxes, he said, “If an adult Frankie can do what it takes to make an adult Annie as happy as she is right this minute, I have no problem with it.”

* * *

The next day, Frankie sat in his seat on the plane with a large plastic box in his lap. Annie had given him one of her precious Army men, saying he could keep it safe for her and they could play with them again when they next saw each other.

“Happy, Frankie?” Kiera signed when they were settled.

He nodded. Then he turned to his other side and asked Cooper, “How old do I have to be to get married?”

“Eighteen, buddy.”

“That’s a long time from now,” Frankie mused.

“It is and it isn’t,” Cooper told the little boy. “It doesn’t matter if she’s eighteen or forty-eight. You wait until the time is right. She might want to go to college, or fly to the moon, and you let her. Just let her know that you’re right there beside her, cheering her on, whether you’re literally right beside her or thousands of miles across the country. When the time is right for you to claim your woman, you’ll know it.”

Frankie looked up at the man he admired above almost all other men…except for his dad, of course. “What if she doesn’t want me?”

Cooper tapped the box in Frankie’s arms. “She wants you, buddy. Be a man she can rely on. Who she can call when she’s sad or happy. Support her. Love her. And she’ll eventually come to you.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

“You can’t promise that,” Kiera said from behind Frankie. “Don’t set him up for heartbreak.”

When Frankie nodded and looked down at the picture of the special camera Annie had arranged for him to have, Cooper looked at the love of his life.

“If I had met you when I was a kid, I would’ve done whatever it took to make you mine. I had to wait until I was in my late twenties. I have the utmost confidence that Frankie knows what he needs to do.”

Kiera bit her lip then smiled. “I guess you’re right. If Frankie was willing to give up his precious iPad, a device that allows him to talk to the world, for a girl he’s just met, there has to be more there than just a schoolboy crush.”

“Exactly.”

“I can’t wait to see this play out,” Kiera commented.

“Me either. And hopefully we’ll have a front row seat for the next ten years.”

“Or more,” Kiera added. “You did tell him that she might want to go to college or do something else when she’s eighteen.”

“So I did.” Cooper leaned over Frankie and pulled Kiera to him with a hand behind her neck. He kissed her quickly then sat back.

“What are we going to tell his dad?” Kiera asked.

Cooper smirked. “Nothing. Let’s let him figure it out on his own.”

“Figure what out?”

“That his seven-year-old son just met the girl he wants to marry.”

Kiera smiled and shook her head. “He wouldn’t believe us anyway.”

“True. Very true.”

Hours later, after the plane had landed, and after Frankie’s dad had greeted them and given his son the camera he’d purchased on behalf of Annie, and when the father and son were on their way home, Frankie’s dad signed, “So you had a good trip?”

Frankie responded, “Yeah, Dad. It was life changing.” Then he held the plastic case with the army man doll in it closer to his chest and smiled. Huge.