“Shane, Tina and I got this for you… we know all of us exchanged gifts the other night, but we wanted to get this for you.”

I tentatively accepted the gift. Then I quickly put it on the coffee table and jumped up.

“Hang on, I left yours in my truck.” I ran outside and retrieved the gift. I had actually gotten them a present as well at the street fair, but wasn’t sure if I’d give it to them. With the gift exchange, I didn’t want to give it to them then, and if I did give it to them, I wanted to do it privately. These two women, out of all of them, had become the closest to me, very special in my heart, but I wasn’t sure how idiotic I would have looked if I got them a gift on top of our gift exchange. And I didn’t want them to then feel like they had to get me something later on. I closed my truck back up and headed back inside. I handed the gift to Bette.

“I… um… got this for you two…”

Tina motioned to my gift on the table, “Well, you open yours first.”

I picked up the gift and slowly unwrapped it. It was a small jewellery box. I opened the lid and saw this beautiful small gold cross on a chain. I lifted the necklace out of the box and held it up.

“Bette, Tina, its gorgeous…”

Tina smiled, “I – we hope it isn’t too forward of us. You’ve said you grew up in church shelters, and went to a church school, so if you’ve had your fill of religion, we’ll get you something else. We just thought maybe you’d like it. When I was a teenager, my parents gave me a necklace like that.”

Bette nodded, “So did mine. I was thirteen. But Tina’s right, if you don’t like it, we’ll exchange it.”

I shook my head, “No, I love it… I’ve never gotten anything like this… thank you both so much.”