The Birthday Treat

“Happy birthday, Mom!”

I opened my eyes to see my 11-year old twins holding out pancakes and coffee.

“You guys!” I exclaimed, sitting up in bed. “Did you make breakfast for me? That’s so sweet! Set it down there, please,” I gestured to the nightstand and reached out to pull them into a group hug.

“They’re blueberry pancakes,” said Danny.

“Because that’s your favorite,” chimed in Andy.

“Thank you, kiddos! That is such a lovely birthday surprise.” I kissed the tops of the twins’ heads.

“We also bought a present for you, Mom,” said Danny as Andy picked a box up from the floor.

“You did, wow! You’re spoiling me today.” I unwrapped the gift and opened the box. Inside was an ornate and, frankly, gaudy necklace nestled in tissue paper.

“Do you like it, Mom?” Andy asked.

“I love it!” I assured them, pulling it out and holding it against my neck. “How does it look?”

“Beautiful!” Danny cried. “Will you wear it for the party tonight?”

“Of course I will! Now, let me eat these yummy pancakes you made before they get cold.”

******

“Where is the birthday girl?” A loud voice called through the house later that evening as I was putting a large pizza into the oven.

“Aunt Cally!” my twins’ yelled as they raced to greet my best friend who had let herself in.

“Whoa, tweenies!” Cally said with a laugh as I walked to the door. “Hold on, don’t make me drop the cake!”

“Oh, yum!” said Andy

“What kind is it, Aunt Cally?” asked Danny.

“Chocolate, of course,” she said, pretending to be shocked. “Is there any other kind?”

“It looks like it was a lot of work,” I smirked at her, taking the cake and kissing her cheek. “I hope you didn’t put yourself out on my account.”

“I’m sure the bakery didn’t find the order terribly complicated,” Cally replied with a raspberry at my back as I carried the cake back to the kitchen.

“Go wash up, kiddos,” I called. “Then we can start the movie and have our pizza party with Aunt Cally.”

My friend followed me into the kitchen. After washing her hands at the sink, she gave me a hug. Pulling back a bit, while still holding my arms, she exclaimed, “where did you get that necklace?”

“Isn’t it something?” I asked her with a slight grimace. Then I smiled brightly as Danny and Andy galumphed into the room. “They gave it to me this morning.”

Cally’s expression was still solemn as she studied the heavy beads around my neck.

“Do you like it, Aunt Cally?” Andy chirped.

“Where did you get it?” she asked, turning to look at them.

“There was a garage sale near the park last month,” Andy began.

“We saw it there and thought it’d be perfect for Mom’s birthday,” Danny continued.

“How much was it?” Cally interrupted.

“It was fifteen dollars,” they answered together.

“They had some black notebooks that Danny wanted to get instead,” Andy tattled. “But we only had enough for the necklace and I said it was more important to get something nice for your birthday, Mom.”

Rolling her eyes at her brother, Danny said with quiet defensiveness, “The notebooks were really nice. They were small but the covers were a really soft black and the pages inside were all blank. I thought they’d be good for doing my art in. But,” she grinned at me, “your birthday IS more important!”

“Well, thank you to both of you,” I gave them quick hugs before shooing them into the living room to start the movie.

“Sarah,” Cally said quietly. “I think that necklace might be really valuable.”

“It’s just some funky beads, Cal,” I replied, taking the pizza out of the oven.

She stepped up close to me again and gently lifted the chain to study it closely. “I don’t think so, sweetie. You know my mom’s in the estate appraisal business, I’ve seen some pretty valuable things over the years. I’m telling you, I think this necklace is more of a treasure than you realize.”

“Don’t be silly,” I laugh. “Would it have been sold at a garage sale if it was truly worth anything?”

“You’d be shocked at some of the riches people may not realize they own. At least let me get you the name of a jewelry appraiser you can take it to.”

“If it’s really worth anything, it should go back to the people that had the garage sale,” I responded. I handed Cally a stack of plates and paper towels and nodded my head to the door, following behind her with the hot pie.

“Did you know the people who were having the garage sale?” I asked my kids as they got settled with their food.

“No,” they mumbled around their cheesy bites.

“Do you think you could take me to see them?”

“They were moving,” Andy said.

“They’re gone now,” Danny gulped down her bite before continuing. “ I saw the moving van driving away when we were at the park the week after we bought the necklace.” She ducked her head before mumbling, “I thought I might ask someone where they found those black notebooks and maybe save up to buy one of my own.”

I ruffled her hair and gave her a quick kiss as I settled onto the couch. “We’ll see what we can find. Now, who’s ready for the movie?”

******

A few hours later, cake and pizza finished and the twins settled into bed, Cally and I sat chatting on the couch with glasses of wine.

“I got you a gift, too,” she said, handing me an envelope.

“Oh, thank you!” I opened it up and pulled out a card. Inside of that, there was a gift certificate for a pedicure at a nearby spa. “What a treat!”

“I was going to get you a full-service package, you know, mani, pedi, massage, the works, but I didn’t think you’d use that.”

I shrugged. “That does sound a bit much.”

“Well, this way I figured we could schedule something together while your kids are at school or something. Have lunch out as well.”

“That sounds wonderful.”

Cally set down her glass and stood up with a stretch. “I should get going. It’s supposed to start raining soon and I don’t want to still be out walking when it does.”

“Do you want me to call you an Uber?”

“No, that’s alright. It’s only a few blocks.”

“Okay.” I hugged her. “Thanks for coming over. Text me when you get home.”

I locked the door behind her and yawned as I carried our wine glasses into the kitchen. Deciding to leave the tidying until the morning, I checked on Andy and Danny, turning off their lights and dropping kisses on their heads, before going to my room.

I was settling into bed with a library book when Cally texted.

“Home. I’ll talk to my mom tomorrow and get back to you with an appraiser’s number soon. Night!”

I rolled my eyes at the screen and then looked over at where I’d hung the necklace on my jewelry organizer, along with my few other trinkets. “Imagine that being worth anything,” I whispered softly to myself with a smile at the thoughtfulness of my children before returning to my book.

******

Two weeks later, I was sitting in my living room reeling in shock when the twins arrived home from school.

“Mom, what is it?” Andy cried, as they both rushed over to where I was sitting.

“Your face is so pale,” Danny murmured. “What happened?”

“I just had a phone call,” I told them, my voice weak. “It was the jewelry appraiser that Cally told me about. He’s been looking at the necklace that you gave me for my birthday and it turns out your aunt was right.”

“It was worth a lot?” Danny asked.

“How much?” Andy piped up when I nodded.

I looked at them, my sweet children who too often over the years had gotten used to not having the nice things their friends at school enjoyed; who didn’t complain when eating repetitive meals made from discount food when my paychecks were on the meager side; who didn’t fuss when I sometimes had to buy their clothing from second-hand stores. The wonderful children who had bought me a necklace that turned out to not just be made of worthless beads but quality gems. A necklace that the appraiser had just offered me $20,000 for.

“Enough that we can definitely afford to go out for a nice dinner tonight,” I answered Andy. “And enough to go buy you a dozen of those black notebooks you wanted,” I said to Danny. “Enough that the two of you can get some brand new shoes and clothes. Enough that we can take a family vacation together this summer to someplace really nice.”

They were both grinning at me, their eyes bright.

“Can we go to the beach?” Andy asked.

“No, the mountains!” Danny countered.

“Maybe we can do both,” I said with a laugh as they both whooped. “But,” I cautioned, “to do any of this it will mean I’d have to sell the lovely present you got me for my birthday.”

“That’s okay!”

“We understand!”

“No problem!”

The two of them shouted over each other exuberantly in their rush to reassure me. I couldn’t help laughing as I sent them off to get some homework done before we left to have dinner out.

When they were settled, I sent a text to Cally.

“Let’s go get spa treatments soon, my treat! You were right about the necklace and I owe you big!!! Talk soon!”

I sat there, looking around my living room and imagining updating my decade-old sofa and upgrading my laptop. I couldn’t stop smiling.