Noah exhaled. “You never choose yourself, Bree.”
“And we didn’t want you to keep doing that,” Lily finished.
“The money… where did you get all that?” I asked.
“You never choose yourself, Bree.”
They exchanged quick glances. “We earned it,” Noah confessed, unsure of how I’d react.
“Earned?” I repeated, staring at him.
Jake rubbed the back of his neck. “I’ve been mowing lawns around the block.”
Maya nodded. “I walk Mrs. Carter’s dogs after school.”
Sophie added softly, “I help Mrs. Jensen with groceries every week.”
Noah looked at me. “I babysit for the Collins family on weekends.”
Lily added softly, “I help Mrs. Lewis around the house and watch her granddaughter for a bit… she pays me for it.” She hesitated, then glanced at her siblings. “We kept the ring and the money in a box in my room… we didn’t think there was a better place to hide it.”
“We earned it.”
“But you guys told me you were just out playing,” I said.
Lily lowered her gaze. “We knew you’d say no if we told you the truth, Bree.”
She wasn’t wrong.
Right then, the front door opened, and a moment later, Mrs. Lewis appeared in the hallway, slightly out of breath but calm.
“Jake messaged me just now,” she said gently. “I figured it was time you knew.”
Across the room, I caught Jake quickly pocketing his phone.
“But you guys told me you were just out playing.”
Then Mrs. Lewis confirmed everything: she had found the ring, mentioned to Lily once while she was babysitting that she no longer wore it, and Lily had quietly asked if she could buy it.
“They made me promise not to tell you, Brianna.” Mrs. Lewis gave a small, apologetic smile. “Said it was supposed to be a surprise for their sister.” She looked at my siblings, her expression softening. “They’d been coming by every week, saving whatever they could until they had enough to buy the ring. But it didn’t stop there… they had a plan.”
“What plan?” I asked.
Lily stepped forward and reached into her pocket, pulling out a folded piece of paper. “We weren’t just saving for the ring,” she revealed.
I frowned slightly. “What do you mean?”
“They made me promise not to tell you, Brianna.”
Lily handed me the paper. It was a pencil sketch of a long, flowing dress. Light fabric. Gentle lines. Soft blue.
“We were going to buy it for you,” Noah added.
“You always say you don’t need anything,” Sophie said gently.
“So we wanted to give you something anyway,” Maya cut in.
“And we were close,” Jake admitted. “Just a few dollars left.”
I thought about the note: “Just a few more days… and it’ll finally be ours.”
Now every word of it made sense. It wasn’t about something hidden. It was about something my siblings were building. Something they wanted to give me.
“Just a few more days… and it’ll finally be ours.”
Andrew let out a quiet breath beside me. “I don’t think I’ve ever been this humbled in my life.”
