Charlotte's Tangled Web: L.B. Pavlov (22 page)

He cocked his head. “You just happen to have a set of Santa hats under your bed, huh?” I felt goose bumps spread across my arms just in response to the way he looked at me.

“I want to give you yours first, OK?” I smiled, and I couldn’t hold back my excitement. I handed him his stocking. Daniel was one of those people that everyone loves to give gifts. I had noticed it since I was five years old. It didn’t matter if you gave him a piece of paper with a note on it or a large gift, he was a genuinely grateful person. He appreciated sentiment and kindness, and I always loved that about him. As he went through his stocking, he stopped and acknowledged each little gift. He laughed at the football chocolates and wondered where I found those special little treats. The socks, the magazines…he just loved everything that I had tucked into the stocking.

I was bursting with excitement because that wasn’t even my best gift. He opened his Notre Dame sweatshirt and baseball cap, and he beamed at me. “Very thoughtful, Charlotte,” he said, and he leaned forward and kissed me.

It was a short and sweet kiss, but it took all my strength not to fall back on the bed and collapse in response to it. He pulled his new sweatshirt over his head and took off the Santa hat to try on the baseball cap. My God, he was almost too adorable for me to look at that morning.

“Which hat would you like me to wear?” He smiled, and his green eyes looked right into mine.

“I actually think I prefer the baseball cap. You look like a college boy,” I said proudly.

“If you ever want to be able to open your presents, I wouldn’t bite your lip right now,” he said, chuckling while his eyes blazed through me.

“OK, just a few more for you to open,” I said.

“You don’t want to open a few of yours in between?” he offered.

“Nope! I want you to open all of yours first because I’m too excited to wait!” I said confidently.

He opened the
Charlotte’s Web
book, and when he turned the cover and read the inscription, I actually saw him shudder a little bit. He set it down, leaned forward, and kissed me slowly, and I could feel his heart racing and his warm breath on my face. He pulled his lips from mine and placed them against my ear. “Thank you. I love the book. And now I have my own copy,” he whispered.

Wow. The book wasn’t even my best gift either. I loved how happy he was about it. Good job, Charlotte, I thought. Now for the big gift. I couldn’t wait! I started bouncing and clapping, and Daniel laughed at how excited I was about the next gift.

The book weighed about ten pounds because it had so much stuff in it. I handed the package to him, and he looked puzzled, as if he was trying to figure out what it was. He unwrapped it, and he just stared at the cover in amazement. On the cover was a picture of Daniel holding the game ball and standing next to the huge state championship trophy from his senior year state game. It had big, cut-out letters that spelled his name out on the cover. He turned each page slowly and thoughtfully, looking at every detail.

“Oh my gosh, was this freshman year?” he asked excitedly. “Oh wait, I see you have the dates labeled on each page. This is absolutely unbelievable,” he said
ap
preciatively.

He was laughing at the pictures as he turned the pages and commenting on different emotions and memories that he would recall from each game. There were photos with his coaches, his parents, his grandparents, his teammates, his friends, his brothers, my brothers, and with me.

The book had ended up being over one hundred pages, and I was so glad that I had done it. Daniel had worked really hard, and he was one of the best high school quarterbacks in the country. He deserved to have all of his high school moments recorded. I had been collecting his photos and clippings since our freshman year, and I was happy I had written the dates on the back of all of the photos. It made it much easier. Grace had also contributed copies of all of her photos. I couldn’t wait to show her the finished book.

“Charlotte, I don’t even know what to say. This is the greatest gift that I have ever been given. Thank you,” he said softly.

Yahoo! I loved how happy he was with the book. Giving him this gift was the best part of Christmas for me. I had been thinking about making it for a long time. We hugged each other, and he quickly pulled away. “OK, it’s your turn now. Are you ready?” he said, teasing.

“Yes, please!” I said as I clapped my hands together, bouncing excitedly once again. The first gift was very grand. He gave me an iPhone, and he had completely programmed it for me. “It has Stanford and Notre Dame news updates sent directly to your phone,” he said proudly.

I was always reading the updates on both schools’ websites, watching for runners, and seeing what was happening at my brothers’ school. Now it would be sent directly to me through e-mail that I could get on my phone. This was great. He had put everyone’s numbers in for me that he could. He had programmed the phone to get
Runners World
updates and daily weather reports in both Northern California and Indiana. He said that way we would know how the weather was for one another when we were apart because he did it on his phone as well. It was so thoughtful, and I loved it.

“Thank you so much. This is incredible, Daniel!” I said happily.

The next gift he gave me was wrapped in cute reindeer paper. I was trying to save the paper as I unwrapped it, but he was growing impatient watching me, so I tore it open. It was a lovely silver box with a rhinestone “C” on top of it. It looked like a jewelry box or something to hold keepsakes. “Open it,” he said coyly.

I lifted the lid, and inside was a little square, silver picture frame rimmed in clear rhinestones. I loved anything with rhinestones, so I immediately squealed at the sight of the frame and the box. I lifted the frame out of the box to examine the black-and-white photo in it. It was Daniel and I asleep in the hammock out back with
Charlotte’s Web
resting on his chest. I gasped. It was a beautiful photo. Lenora must have taken it when we were both asleep.

“I love this picture,” I said, staring at it.

“So do I,” he said softly. “There’s one more thing under the frame,” he added.

I looked down and saw a CD case. It had a label on the cover that read:
Charlotte’s Web—Audio by: Daniel Hollingsworth.
“If you’re at school and you need to have me read to you, you can just put on your headset,” he said sweetly.

I couldn’t believe it. He had recorded himself reading the entire book. It was the nicest thing anyone had ever done for me, and it must have taken him hours. I gave him a huge hug.

“Thank you, Daniel, I can’t believe you did this. I love this so much!” I exclaimed, my eyes watering from the sentiment. He was very proud of himself, I could tell. Daniel loved to give surprises, and this was a good one. I hopped in his lap and hugged him some more. He hugged me back and then scooted me back on the bed, reaching over to grab one more present.

“There’s one more, you’re not done yet,” he said, chuckling.

The next gift was a smaller box. I opened it to reveal a pink satin, square box. When I lifted the lid, what was inside took my breath away. It was the most beautiful charm bracelet that I had ever seen. It was a gorgeous silver, looped bracelet with several charms dangling from it. I pulled it out of the box to examine it. The first charm I saw was a little spiderweb that was covered in teeny tiny rhinestones. Amazed, I asked, “How did you find this one?”

“I had it made. I designed each charm just for you,” he said proudly.

I had one hand on my heart, as if to calm myself, as I examined each charm. There was a little pink, diamond heart, a silver running shoe, a red “S” covered in small red rhinestones to represent Stanford, a green leprechaun to represent Notre Dame, a pink, rhinestone “C,” which I loved, and a silver “D,” which I was staring at.

“I didn’t want to rhinestone my initial. I hope that’s OK,” he laughed.

“I love it, it’s perfect,” I said, my voice cracking.

The next charm was a tiny evergreen tree with tiny green rhinestones on it. “That’s our tree that I have climbed a whole lot lately,” he explained.

I loved this bracelet so much. I gave him a huge hug, and then I fell back on my bed and stared at each charm again, taking in all the detail and the thought.

“I love you,” I said softly.

“I love you, too,” he said back.

That was by far the best Christmas I had ever had.

Christmas break felt too short. When school started back up, Charlotte resumed training with her team, and then the weeks really flew by. I missed running with her, but her training had increased so much that I had been riding my bike next to her a lot the last few weeks before she rejoined her team. I couldn’t run sixty-five miles a week. That was way out of my league, and I didn’t like her running alone.

I kept busy by attending all of Charlotte’s track meets. She seemed to be getting better every week. She really had a gift, and people in the stands would watch, flabbergasted, as she continued to go undefeated all season once again. I spent a lot of time watching the races with her dad, and my parents came to watch her often as well. When her brothers came home to see her race, it was the best.

James and I had decided to room together when I got to school in the fall, and I was very glad that I wouldn’t have to have a roommate whom I didn’t know. All of Charlotte’s brothers were guys that I considered close friends, so I was always happy when they were home.

I had also gotten to know Edward and Jacob during track season while they were out supporting their girlfriends as well. They were good guys, and we planned to go to prom as a big group. I knew that Sean and Gomez would like them because they were cool guys.

Katrina George was not getting much press coverage anymore. I thought that it was much more peaceful for Charlotte to not have the big build-up for the state meet. Katrina was not running great times this season, so I thought she had learned it may not be a good plan to promise things you can’t deliver, and besides, I didn’t think Charlotte was giving her a lot of thought.

I was happy that Charlotte had put her worries to rest about taking the next step in our relationship. I hated that Blane had made her feel insecure about that for a little while. I would have loved to get a minute alone with that guy. He had been prosecuted as an adult, and he was given a lot of community service hours and counseling. It turned out that it was not Blane’s first sexual assault offense, so he was on house arrest as well. I was glad that we never had to see him again, and I heard that his family was going to take him back to California as soon as the courts approved an out-of-state move.

I really always wanted to do the right thing by Charlotte, and I never wanted her to feel pressured about sex. I loved her, and I was willing to wait as long as she needed me to. But waiting was definitely challenging for both of us, and maintaining restraint was a constant battle for us both. I knew she wasn’t ready, though, and she did too, so one of us always came to our senses.

Her track season was going by quickly. I was so glad that the weather was warming up, and everyone was ready for spring. I was also looking forward to taking Charlotte to prom. Getting her to find a dress would be a whole other issue. She was actually talking about what kind of dress she wanted to find, so that was a good sign. Hopefully Kathleen and Steph could help her feel more comfortable about finding something special.

I was spending more time with Sean, Gomez, and a bunch of other friends lately too. Charlotte had practice every day, so we would go play pool or football at the park, or we would just hang out until I had to pick her up. Sean and Gomez were going out of state for college, so I would probably only see them when they came home for school breaks. I would miss those guys for sure, but that was nothing compared to how I was feeling about being separated from Charlotte.

As the reality grew closer, I dreaded it more and more. She was very anxious about it, and she suddenly seemed less excited about Stanford. I knew that Stanford had been the plan for her since she was a little girl, but she was nervous, which was understandable. She had never been away from home, and I think the idea of going alone was overwhelming for her. I tried not to talk about it too much, and I tried to just make the best of the time we had together right now.

When I pulled up to pick her up from track practice, I watched her run her cool down with her team. She was smiling and laughing. I thought back to a week ago, April 17, which was my birthday. Charlotte had been very mysterious about a big surprise she had in store for me.

She had taken me out to the lake. It was a Sunday afternoon, and she had convinced her dad’s partner to let her borrow his boat. I don’t think it took a lot of convincing. He had offered it to all of the Ford kids several times, but Jack Sr. had never allowed anyone to use it until then. He refused to let her take it out alone with me, so his partner enlisted the boat’s caretaker to drive us around all afternoon. That way we could water ski and go tubing behind the boat.

Charlotte had packed a huge picnic basket, and Lenora had baked all sorts of desserts to bring along. It was one of the best days that I had ever had. We were out on the lake until 10:00 p.m., when Jack Sr. called to say it was time to head home. It was a great birthday!