by MagdalenMary495
Disclaimer: The characters and situations of the TV program
"Big Valley" are the creations of Four Star/Republic Pictures and
have been used without permission. No
copyright infringement is intended by the author. The ideas expressed in this story are copyrighted to the author.
“Silas, is that
apple cake I smell?”
“Apple cake, Miz
Barkley?” Silas feigned innocence while waving a dish cloth behind his back to
disperse the tantalizing aroma coming from the oven. “Must be where that apple
pie spilled over last night. I best clean that real good.”
Victoria smiled
quick to agree. Let Silas keep up his pretense.
She knew as well as he did there was an apple cake baking for her birthday.
“That must be it. If you need any help, I’ll be outside trimming my roses.”
“You goes right
ahead,” Silas was so pleased over her plans for the morning he practically
shoed her out the kitchen door. “It’s a fine day for garden chores, a fine
day.”
Outside in the
sunshine, Victoria chuckled to herself. The house was so full of birthday
secrets she was certain her children and Silas all heaved sighs of relief to
have her occupied elsewhere. Happily she went about her trimming knowing the
family planned to surprise her at dinner.
“Happy Birthday,
Mother!”
The dinner had been
lovely with every one of her favorite foods appearing. Silas brought in the
apple cake, beaming at having kept her from guessing. Victoria made the
regulation wish and blew out the candles in one puff much to Jenny’s delight.
After dinner there
were presents to be opened. Jarrod presented her with a beautiful pearl
necklace and matching earrings.
“Jarrod! You
shouldn’t have!” She pulled her eldest son down for a kiss, “But I’m glad you
did.”
“Mother, I ordered
this all the way from Paris,” Audra qualified her gift as Victoria opened a
soft shawl with an intricate design of roses done in silk ribbon. “I was so
afraid it wouldn’t come in time for your birthday.”
Victoria let Heath
drape it across her shoulders, fingering the silky surface with delight. How
thoughtful of Audra to order it for today?
“Our turn, Nick,”
Heath nodded toward his brother who struggled into the parlor with a large,
blanket draped gift hidden under it.
Yanking off the
blanket, Nick shouted, “Happy birthday, Mother!”
“Nick! Heath!” She
stood up, holding the shawl with one hand as she ran her fingers lightly over
the smooth leather of a new saddle. The very one she’d admired so often on her
trips into town. “How did you know?”
“Well, now,” Nick
teased, “sure was hard to guess wasn’t it Heath? Especially since she
practically ordered us to buy it for her birthday...”
Victoria batted at
his arm in protest, “Oh, you! I did not. Although I might have mentioned it
once or twice.”
This brought out
the laughter in everyone. Everyone except for Jenny. As she hugged both her
strong sons and thanked them for their gift, Victoria glanced up to see the
unhappy expression on her granddaughter’s face. Perhaps she’d been wrong in not
opening Jenny’s present first. Jenny’s smile had been the happiest one around
the table as they ate the birthday cake. Her teasing little remarks, “Just
wait, Grammie, till you open my present,” were made with wiggling impatience
for that second to arrive.
“I think I have
one more gift left,” Victoria spoke up brightly reaching for the small, square
package wrapped in tissue paper and tied with a pretty pink bow. Before her
fingers could close on it, Jenny snatched it away and stood up holding it tight
against the front of her Sunday dress.
“It was a dumb
present anyway,” Jenny whispered before she burst into tears. “I don’t want you
to open it.”
To everyone’s
complete surprise, Jenny turned and ran out of the room. A few minutes later
they heard the door of her room slam shut.
“What the...” Nick
began but Victoria cut him off with a motion of her hand.
“She begged to
clean my office for pay so she could buy you a gift,” Jarrod explained, “I paid
her quite handsomely, in fact. I know she got you something nice, Mother. I
can’t understand why she’d behave like this.”
Victoria didn’t
either but she aimed to find out. Perhaps she’d hurt Jenny’s feelings. “I’ll go
talk to her.”
When she opened
the door of Jenny’s room, she found a woebegone little girl sobbing into her
pillow, the “dumb” present tossed in the floor.
“Jenny?” She sat
on the edge of the bed, patting Jenny’s back in the hopes of stemming her
tears. “I think since this is my birthday I’d rather see some smiles instead of
tears. Do you think you could give me one?”
“Oh, Grammie, I’m
sorry, I’m sorry!” Jenny sat up and threw her arms around Victoria’s waist.
With her face pressed into her grandmother’s best blue dress, she cried out the
dilemma. “My present isn’t nice as everybody else’s. Not like jewelry or a
saddle...an I didn’t buy it at a store or with a catalog.”
“ I’m sure I’ll
love whatever you gave me, darling. It’s the thought that counts, not how much
you spend. Or where your gift came from.”
“But, I only
bought part of your present at the store...most of it I made myself.”
Victoria looked to
the package on the floor. Nodding toward it she asked, “May I open it and see?”
Jenny sniffed.
Nodded unhappily.
“Oh, Jenny,”
Victoria tried to think of words to express her joy as she tore open the tissue
paper and saw a silver frame with a drawing inside. Suddenly her eyes blurred.
Her throat grew tight and tears spilled over.
“You don’t like
it!” Jenny sobbed. “It made you cry.”
“I’m crying,
darling, because it’s the nicest gift anyone has given me in a long time. It’s
easy to buy something at a store or through a catalog...but, Jenny, you gave me
something from your heart. A gift I'll treasure always."
Victoria held the
silver frame–quite an expensive frame as she knew from seeing it at Elaine Jacob's
store--but it could never compare to the priceless gift inside. A tracing of
Jenny’s hand filled most of the page. She’d printed her name and the date
neatly at the top of the drawing. Along the bottom, Victoria read the simple
message with blurry eyes, “Dearest Grammie, I drew my left hand because it’s
the one closest to my heart. I love you. Jenny.”