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It didn't happen often but the last year, they had all been scattered all over the world.
Andy and Quynh both decided to go back to Asia to work for a couple of months.
Joe and Nicky had been in Italy after Nicky's sister got ill.
Booker decided to take his motorbike and drive through South America. He planned to work whenever he felt for it to earn money for gas and food.
Nile got deployed to Afghanistan for the second time.
Booker hadn't expected to be the first one back at the cabin at the lake, they all owned. He looked around at all the dust well-knowing he hated cleaning. With no sight of his friends, he decided to call for some help. That was the purpose of a cleaning firm if you asked Booker.
When Andy and Quynh arrived a couple of days later, they found Booker sleeping on the sofa.
"What?" Booker asked still half asleep when Andy kicked the sofa. "Oh, it's you. My worse nightmare."
"Indeed yes," Andy replied in a spooky voice. "How long have you been here? And more important, have you been cleaning?"
"No," Booker replied. "I paid someone to do it, so I could sleep."
"Sounds like you," Andy replied. "How have you been?"
"Fine," Booker replied. "And you?"
"Also fine," Andy replied. "Booze?"
Booker pointed to his right.
"Wow, I think that is the longest conversation you two have had in ages," Quynh said sarcastically. "And before you two start drinking, please help me with the grocery."
When they returned again, Nile was there.
"Glad to see you made it back unharmed," Quynh said. "But by the way you're looking, I'm guessing the food wasn't up to Nicky's standards."
"Nicky's food is one of the things I missed the most," Nile replied. "And all my friends, of course."
"Glad I made it on the list," Andy said as she hugged Nile. "How have you been, kiddo?"
"Better now that I'm back home," Nile replied. "But where are Joe and Nicky? I thought they would be back as the first ones."
"Nicky's sister Marcella died a couple of weeks ago," Booker said. "The last time I talked with Joe, they still needed time to finish the last things, but Joe said they would make it back for New Year's Eve."
"I'm sad to hear that," Nile said. "Cancer is a bitch."
"True," Andy replied. "I'm not a fan either."
Andy had lost her favourite aunt to cancer.
"Nicky asked us if we could make a donation to cancer research instead of giving him Christmas gifts," Booker said. "So, did Joe."
They all agreed to do it, but they also decided to buy Christmas gifts for Joe and Nicky.
Andy groaned when the phone rang and buried her head under the pillow.
"Who calls this early in the morning?" Andy wanted to know. "I'm going to contact my lawyer and sue the person."
"Your lawyer doesn't take cases during her Christmas break," Quynh replied with a smile. "Hi, Nicky. You're kidding me. Yes, of course. I'll be there. And it's no problem."
Andy looked confused at Quynh after only hearing half of the conversation.
"And what was that about?" Andy wanted to know. "And more important. Where are you going?"
Quynh was getting dressed.
"Picking up Joe and Nicky at the airport. They are bringing a surprise," Quynh replied before kissing Andy. "See you in a couple of hours."
Before Andy could say anything, Quynh was gone.
"Didn't Quynh say other things?" Nile asked. "And what kind of surprise?"
They were getting ready for New Year's Eve by decorating the cabin, cooking, and setting the table.
"She didn't say anything more than what I told you," Andy replied. "Book you have spoken with Joe more than we have. Do you know anything?"
"No," Booker replied. "Are you sure we don't have more confetti?"
Andy and Nile shared a look between them before they moved toward Booker.
"Are you sure about your answer?" Nile wanted to know.
"What she said," Andy added. "Do you know something we don't know?"
Booker looked at the women.
"I can't say if I know something you don't know," Booker replied. "Can we continue with getting ready for tonight?"
Andy and Nile shared another look between them.
"Which means you know something," Nile said. "Mind sharing?"
"Yeah, what she said," Andy added. "Spill the beans, Le Livre."
Booker looked at the women.
"No," Booker said.
"What do you mean by that?" Andy wanted to know.
"No means no," Booker replied. "I promised Joe something and I'm keeping it."
Booker took his jacket before he looked at the women with a secret smile.
"But I can say this, it's a good surprise," Booker said. "I'm getting more wood."
Andy and Nile looked at the door before they looked at each other again.
"I'm starting to suspect that Booker hasn't been in Brazil the last couple of months," Andy said. "I think he has been in Italy with Joe and Nicky."
"That makes sense," Nile replied. "Booker was in a way closer to Italy than we're."
"True," Andy replied. "Let's finish decorating."
Three hours later, Quynh was back again with Joe and Nicky plus a third one. On Joe's arm sat a little girl dressed in a lovely turquoise dress sucking on her thumb. She was wearing a hairband with a flower in it.
"This is Marcella's daughter Ophelia, and today is it Ophelia's first birthday," Nicky explained. "We promise to explain once Ophelia sleeps tonight."
"We also promised Ophelia that all her aunties and uncle would be here to celebrate her birthday," Joe said. "And the last thing with promised Ophelia that you all were nice people."
"Happy birthday, Ophelia," Nile said as she took Ophelia's hand. "I'm your auntie Nile."
"I'm your uncle Andy. I always wanted to be an uncle, so I'm going to be Ophelia's uncle too," Andy said which made everyone look at her. "And I'm the cool uncle, Book. I'm going to teach Ophelia how to throw knives and kick boys between..."
"And we're going to talk about it before you do it," Nicky cut in. "Right, Andy?"
"Yeah, yeah," Andy muttered. "You got my phone number."
"I also promised Ophelia something," Booker said. "I promised her a birthday cake with an angel on it."
Booker walked out into the kitchen and returned with a cake with pink icing and an angel.
"We don't have any birthday gifts," Nile said. "You should have called."
"We decided that it could wait until tomorrow," Joe replied as he sat down with Ophelia. "We got jet lack."
"I got a knife she can have," Andy said. "The first amongst many."
Both Joe, Nicky, and Quynh gave a look at Andy that said it would never happen. Ophelia only ate a couple of bites of her birthday cake before she fell asleep. Joe and Nicky tucked Ophelia into the travel cot before they gathered with their friends in the living room.
"Marcella became a mother last year, we knew that," Nicky said. "The original plan was to fly out to Rome, spend a couple of weeks there with Ophelia and Marcella since we didn't have any parents left, before going home again because of Joe's winter exhibition. It became very clear to us, that Marcella was ill when we got there because all she wanted was to sleep instead of spending time with Ophelia. While Joe looked after Ophelia, I took Marcella to the hospital, where she got diagnosed with cancer. We decided to stay and help."
"When it became clear that the doctors couldn't help Marcella, we decided to make her last time the best we could," Joe said as he placed an arm around Nicky's shoulder. "For 20 days, we stayed in that hospice room us four. What happened there is between us, but Marcella died with Ophelia sitting on the bed and us holding her hands. We kept on promising Marcella, that we would look after Ophelia for her."
They all let Nicky cry.
"I flew out to Italy when Joe asked for help," Booker said. "I kept an eye on Ophelia during the funeral."
"And we thank you for that," Joe said. "For being there."
"The reason why we didn't call everyone when Marcella died is that she wanted a quiet funeral," Nicky said. "We scattered her ashes in the ocean."
"We respect that," Quynh replied. "And tomorrow, we're going to help you with settling in and getting what you need for Ophelia."
"It can wait a day or two," Nicky said. "I want to have a birthday party for Ophelia where she is going to meet Joe's family. Even if it's a day late."
"Then that's what we do," Andy replied just as the sky lit up. "Looks like the fireworks have started."
Ophelia started to cry and Joe got her. He decided to walk into the living room to the rest, so he could show her the fireworks that always would be a part of her birthday.
"Look, Ophelia," Joe pointed up at the night sky. "This is all for you because it's your birthday."
"You know that's a lie," Andy said which made Quynh elbow Andy. "But a beautiful lie nonetheless."
Nile handed out a glass of champagne to everyone. They all wished each other a Happy New Year and hugged each other. A couple of minutes past midnight, Joe and Nicky decided it was best to get some sleep all three because it had been a long day. Joe and Nicky decided to let Ophelia sleep between them.
"Happy New Year, Love," Joe said and kissed Nicky.
"Happy New Year, Amore," Nicky said with a smile.
They looked down at a sleeping Ophelia.
"You do know that if we get the dog you promised Ophelia," Nicky said. "Then we're going to need a bigger bed."
"More than fine with me," Joe replied. "We got room to spare."
They both lay down and it didn't take long before they all three were sleeping.