rated * all ages
Author’s note: It’s short, but here’s my first post: my humble birthday tribute to a girl I couldn’t imagine life without.
Happy 70th Birthday, Trixie!
by Ashley
“Katie and Jeff are here!” cried Trixie Frayne. The small woman let the window curtain fall into place and moved toward the front door quite nimbly for her age.
“Looks like they brought the whole crew,” replied her husband Jim with a smile on his face as he raised his tall frame from his chair to greet their guests.”
Within seconds the front door was wide open and four tall young men were striding in.
“Hi Grandpa and Grandma! Happy Birthday, Grandma!” they said as they took turns for hugs.
“How are you, Mom, Dad,” said Katie, who had red hair as bright as shiny copper. She was the mother of the four boys, and she hugged her parents while her husband Jeff shook hands with his father-in-law.
“We’re still keeping up. But I feel like a midget next to the boys! And just look at Matt with his red hair—he’s the spitting image of your father when he was 16! Not so much the baby now, is he?”
“He keeps reminding us of that fact. And now, of course, he’s been begging to get his license! I’m sure Dad wasn’t as crazy to get behind a steering wheel as Matt is. Drivers beware!”
“Oh, I seem to remember that your dad was pretty eager to get a driver’s license, too. You know your uncle Brian taught him the basics...and I remember some pretty crazy car rides! Mostly chasing criminals...”
“Oh, Mom—you and your criminals!” Katie laughed.
“How about if everyone washes up while we wait for Pete’s family to get here.”
“And they better not be late!” Trixie added. “The table is set and the food is getting cold! We got out the little grill and made hamburgers.”
“Mmm!” said Joe, the oldest of Katie’s sons. “Grandma, your hamburgers are the best!”
“And I made windmill cookies. I know how you love them.”
“All right! Uncle Pete’s family needs to hurry up and get here!”
As if on cue, the other family walked in the door.
“Happy Birthday, Grandma Trixie!” shouted two long-legged girls, both aged 14, as they smothered Trixie in hugs and kisses.
“Oh! How are you girls?!” Trixie smiled as she wrapped her arms around both of them. “You two are getting prettier every day! And Helen, I believe you got your hair cut recently, didn’t you?” Trixie brushed the girl’s dark curls from her face.
“Yep.”
“Well I don’t blame you—my curls were always such a bother,” Trixie chuckled, then turned to the girls’ mother. “Hello Susan,” she said, hugging the petite, dark-haired woman.
“Hello mother,” said Pete Frayne, then, as he kissed Trixie’s cheek.
“Pete. I miss you, now that the Army takes you all over the place.” Trixie gazed at her son, tall and blond, proudly. She understood his craving for adventure. Often his blue eyes would light up as he spoke of the places he had been to and the things he had done, making her own vivid memories of crime fighting in her younger years come back to life.
“Well, let’s not wait another minute to eat!” Jim said loudly.
The group enthusiastically headed for the dining room. For the next half hour or so, everyone busily crammed their faces with famous seasoned Belden hamburgers. At the end of the meal, Katie left the room and returned with a birthday cake, lit with two candles: a “7” and an “0”.
“Happy Birthday to you!” everyone sang, and Trixie made a wish and easily blew out the candles.
“I guess the older you get the easier it is to blow out your candles,” Jim teased.
“You’re one to talk about age, Jim Frayne. You know you’re older than I am!”
“And none the worse for the wear...well, not much worse.”
The younger people were all watching this interchange amusedly. Then Madeleine, the other of the twins, said, “Grandma, tell us about when you were our age.”
“Yeah!” added Helen. “Did you ever find a treasure that you got to keep?”
“Well, yes and no,” Trixie replied. “You know our club, the Bob-Whites, always donated any reward money we got to charity. But I did keep the very first treasure I found.” She looked fondly at Jim. “That was, of course, your grandpa. And then the second—I got to keep that too.” She waved her hand, on which a large diamond sparkled.
“But only because I let you keep it—that is, keep them,” Jim replied, his green eyes twinkling.
“Oh you know you wouldn’t have had it any other way,” Trixie retorted.
“I almost regretted letting you have my diamond the time you used it to prove your love for Ben Riker,” Jim said.
Trixie laughed. “Have we told you kids that story before?”
“Yes, Grandma,” said Helen honestly, “but please tell it again.”
Trixie gladly launched into the story, which led to another and another, and before they knew it it was beginning to get late.
“Well, Mom,” said Katie at a pause in the conversation, “I think we have a little presentation we would like to make.” She left the room, and returned with a large gift-wrapped box.
“Oh—you shouldn’t have...” Trixie began.
Katie ignored her mild protests. “We all have been working together to get...this gift...for you, and so it’s from all of us.” She placed the box on the floor beside Trixie’s chair, and while everyone watched, Trixie tore off the paper and opened the lid. Then her eyes widened.
“Ohhhhhhh!!!!!!” she gasped, and in wonder said, “The entire hardcover set of Lucy Radcliffe novels, original editions! Oh, how I have often wished that I didn’t give mine away, and that I could get my hands on them again!” She looked around at her beaming family.
Matt spoke. “We knew that, so we all searched in used bookstores and on the internet until we found all of them.”
“You know these books really are what first inspired me to pursue detective work!” Her eyes were misty. “Thank you all so much!”
Jim picked up her hand. “You are the life of this family, Trixie, and you will never know how many other lives you have touched. There’s no way that we could ever repay you for all that you’ve given us, but we hope that this can at least somehow represent that feeling. Thank you for just being you.”
The End