Page 66 of Rainbow Kisses

I pulled out two gifts from beneath the pillow next to me. I’d stuffed them there when she’d been in her room changing. Linny had given me the present before she’d gone to rehab, telling me to give it to Maddy Christmas night. She explained that they always saved one gift to open Christmas night to extend the excitement of the day.

“This one’s from me.” I held out a gift bag, because I was a guy. “And this one’s from your mom.”

The small box was wrapped in shiny paper and had a bow on it.

Maddy stared at the gifts for a few long seconds before she took them. She opened mine first, flashing me a smile with a hintof tears in her eyes as she pulled out the fluffy pajamas with cats wearing sunglasses. I’d seen her eyeing them online the night we’d moved in here.

“Thank you, Uncle Bri.”

“They’re washed and everything. Ready to wear.”

Her smile grew even wider. “I love them.”

“I’m glad.” I paused, glancing at the box from her mom. “You don’t have to open that now. You can do it when you’re alone.”

I didn’t want her to feel she had to share her mom’s gift with me. The look she gave me was grateful, but she set the box on the couch and said, “Be right back.”

When she returned from her second-floor room, she handed me a bag.

“I got you something too.”

“So neither of us listened, huh?”

“Guess I take after you.”

Her smirk made me laugh and give a mental sigh of relief. No tears. I wasn’t equipped to handle tears tonight. And I didn’t want her to cry on Christmas. She’d had enough fucking upheaval. I didn’t want this night to be filled with tears and angst. But she still hadn’t opened her mom’s gift.

“Let’s open them together,” she said.

“Sure.”

I immediately dumped the bag on the cushion next to me and laughed at the small stuffed toy that dropped out. The vaguely human-shaped toy had an Elvis pompadour, an evil grin, red eyes, and wore a Devils’ sweater. The team mascot, Tony.

“Thanks, sweetheart. I’ll sleep with it every night.”

Maddy’s smile wavered a little as she tore the paper from her mom’s gift and lifted the lid on the small box. Then it widened as she lifted out a small key on a long chain.

I waited for her to explain as she slid it over her head. Until I realized she didn’t have to.

“I gave that to your mom.”

Maddy smiled up at me. “She told me you gave it to her when you got your driver’s license.. She said you told her that if she ever needed you, she should text you a pic of the key, and you would come. She didn’t need to tell you why. You’d just come get her.”

Linny had used that key a few times, once when I’d had to drag her out of a party because she’d gotten too drunk to walk. I’d been in high school then.

“She told me one day she’d give it to me when she didn’t need to be rescued by her little brother anymore.”

Yeah, I got the symbolism. And Maddy was smart enough to understand what it meant.

“She’s gonna be okay this time.” Maddy nodded, her smile tempering just a little, becoming a little more sure. “She will.”

“Absolutely, kid.”

For the first time, I had hope that she would.

Rain

Hey, you wanna grab lunch today?

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