She Lays Down [h.s.]

Fourteen

"I did. It actually wasn't too difficult, just a little time consuming. You can just add your present to the pile on the island."

Carefully, he sets his present down and rushes to the door to hold it open for her because there's no way that she's going to be able to open it by herself. Mary smiles and thanks him as she steps outside.

All of the kids are occupied with the bounce house and the water slide, so no one other than the parents notice that she's brought the cake out. Mary's grateful for that because she hasn't put the candles on top yet, let alone light them.

Harry's at her side until he realizes that she didn't bring out a knife to cut the cake. He runs back inside to get one and runs out with a triumphant smile when he catches Mary's eyes.

"You forgot this, thought you might want it considering those plastic knives won't do much good."

Mary smiles softly as he places the cake cutter beside her on the table and grabs the rest of the candles to put them in the cake. Their hands brush a few times and she blushes because it's something that she knows he put some effort into, even if he made it look like he didn't.

"What would I do without you?"

She sneaks a glance at him as she's lighting the candles and he grins, "You'd be cutting cake with a plastic knife."

Mary playfully rolls her eyes as she lights the last candle. Ember and her friends have noticed the cake and are stopping their play time to rush over and huddle around Mary to see the cake. She steps aside when Ember tugs on the bottom of her dress and the kids all hop into the plastic chairs like rabbits.

Everyone sings happy birthday and Ember blows out the candles with a smile as bright as the sun. The kids all eat like it's a race and end up back on the blow up rentals in only a few minutes. All of the parents are congregated in small groups here and there and Harry stays by Mary and talks to her for the remainder of the party.

When they make it to the presents, Ember's happy with what everyone's gotten her, but she's in love with what Harry got for her. He bought her another stuffed elephant to join Miss Elly, a journal so that she can write down her feelings and how her day went if she really wants to, some colored pens to write with, and a new coloring book with new colored pencils.

Ember got so many new clothes and so much jewelry that she was practically bouncing off the walls. Harry decides to stick around after everyone leaves and he's currently helping Mary take down decorations and playing with Ember.

"You can't catch me!" Ember shouts as she runs around the house and giggles as Harry jumps over furniture and makes himself slower to pretend that he really can't catch her. As he goes, he's pulling down decorations and leaving them in small piles to pick up later when they're done playing.

Mary laughs as she roams the house, pulling down the decorations that Harry's missed and picking up the things that he's already torn down. It means everything to Mary that he's come to Ember's party and that he's stayed to play with her and help clean up.

He's so much more of a father to her than Alec has really ever been and she's so glad that he's taken the time to lend his heart and his attention to her during the divorce process. Ember's been a little down lately and she's glad that he can help her take the pain away from her sweet little girl.

She's been trying her best to keep Ember happy and to keep her mind away from the fact that her parents are separating, but Harry is much better at it than she is right now. It probably has something to do with the fact that he's a father figure to her and the fact that he's been through the same thing before, so he knows how to nurture her heart like he had to nurture his own. And, it also helps that he's happy and Mary is hurting, so he can give one hundred percent without having to try so much.