22 Edmond the King of Gift Giving

Eli walked Olivia towards the refreshment table and offered to grab her a drink. Olivia wanted time to compose herself so she gave him a really forced "Ya sure!" Eli came back with two glasses of fruit punch and handed one to Olivia. As she was taking the glass she noticed Ms. Masama walking towards them.

"Sweetie you danced so beautifully!" she said as she gave Olivia a big hug and kiss on her cheek. "Thank you!" was all so could say as Ms. Masama gave her a tight squeeze. Ms. Masama straighten herself up and looked towards Eli. She gave a small gasp as she brought her delicate hand to her mouth "Oh my goodness your Philip's boy aren't you! You look exactly like him when he was young!" Eli was slightly shocked that this woman spoke so intimately about his father. "Yes I am."

"What a small world! I helped him pick out your mother's anniversary gift not too long ago at one of my boutiques. Did she like her bangle and matching anklet?" Eli slightly dropped his guard as he nodded at Ms. Masam's words "Wonderful!" she said as she clapped her hands together.

"This is such a small world you know! See that girl over there in the red dress. That's one of my girls her name is Loreley and see she is actually really good friends with River Ruse." she said as she started to move closer towards him "You know River right? Well of course you do! I mean she is your fiancee..." and slapped Eli on the back.

Olivia dropped the glass cup she was holding and looked at Eli with hurt filled eyes "So you were just using me" Olivia couldn't bare to look at Eli anymore and turned to run away but instead of running she collided into a broad chest. "I'm so sorry..." she started to say but when she looked up her face instantly lit up "Edmond!"

Edmond straighten his light purple, two button suit and slicked back his signature salt and pepper pompadour hair. He flashed Olivia his killer smile "Princess! Happy birthday! Did I surprise you?" Olivia took a step back and looked Edmond over from head to toe.

His copper eyes were glowing brightly under the setting sun, while the light purple suit complimented his bronze skin, his dark grey shirt was neatly tucked in and he finished of his look with a beautiful white silk tie and white dance shoes, in truth if it was any other man that tried to pull off the look they would have failed but Edmond was just handsome "Yes!" she shouted.

Edmond towered over her and gave the sweetest hug he could give "I'm glad princess." he said as he glared coldly at Ms. Masama unknowingly to Olivia. Edmond brought her out of his embraced "Now for my birthday gift to you!" he said as he spun her around to face Eli. Eli didn't know what to do but stare at the man who was holding Olivia and place. Edmond gave him a wink and lowered his head towards Olivia's ear. "He's never been engaged to anyone..." he whispered.

Edmond gave Olivia a quick kiss on her cheek and stood right back up. He looked down at Olivia and said "Also listen to both sides of the story before making a decision. Don't let other's dictate your actions." He hissed the last few words towards Ms. Masama and turned to leave. Olivia quickly reached out and grabbed Edmond's hand, she looked at his face and said "Thank you."

Edmond's eyes danced with mischief "For what princess! I'm here to steal your party!" and with that he disappeared into the crowd. It took a few moments for Eli to compose himself from the shock, he gave a light cough and brought Olivia's attention back to him. He looked her in the eyes and stated "River and I are not engaged. I have no idea how that rumor started but I will set it straight."

There was small 'tsk' sound but no one knew where it came from. Ms. Masama gave Eli an apologetic face and with slightly pouted lips she said "I am so sorry I should not have partook in spreading a nasty rumor. Will you ever forgive this old lady?" Olivia couldn't help but feel a chill run down her back as she looked at Ms. Masama.

There was no way this woman could be considered an old lady. She was wearing a royal blue, sweat heart cut gown that hugged her hour glass shaped body. In Olivia's opinion the sweat heart cut was a little to low for her liking especially when she bent down to look at Eli's face. Eli politely looked at her forehead and answered "Of course" but the slight blush he gave revealed that he had seen her package.

"Well isn't that great! Now that everything is all cleared up I am going to pick up my glass cup, yup here we go and go find my friends." Olivia turn and walked away. They rest of the night was great, absolutely great! Olivia was able to talk to everyone at her party and caught up with them. She was able to get in a few dances in with her friends, family members and to her surprise even Porter. Most importantly she was finally able to cut her cake, all the while avoiding Eli.

Olivia was happy and annoyed. She couldn't really put her finger on why she was annoyed but every time she saw Eli's face she would run the other way. When Olivia was finally able to sit down with a slice of cake, her friends surrounded her. Blair and Autumn sat on either side of Olivia and gently placed their flowers on Olivia's slice of cake. The girls kept the tradition of giving the birthday girl the flowers off their birthday cake and today was no exception.

The guys took the chance to sit at the same table and chatted up the girls. Autumn gave a heart felt laugh as she tried to cover her mouth "What's so funny?" Blair asked "Edmond is stealing people's cake slices!" she said in between her laughs. Blair and Olivia looked around before Autumn could point them in the right direction.

"See there!" Everyone at the table to look to where Autumn had pointed and were surprised to see a greedy Edmond grabbing the unsuspecting person's slice of cake before disappearing again. "Only you can ever find Edmond!" Blair laughed. Eli looked annoyed and asked "So Edmond is a relative or something..."

The three girls all looked at each other and smiled as the said "He's someone irreplaceable in our lives!" Copper eyes suddenly shone behind Olivia and a handsome face crept beside hers. Edmond stretched out his big arms and hugged all three girls "My darlings! I feel the same way!" and kissed each girl with a big 'muah' on the top of their heads.

Eli's smile started to twitch so he decided to stab and eat his cake instead. "Hello" Marek said but Edmond completely ignored him and turned to Blair. "My beautiful Blair! Look at you your so dressed up tonight! It can't be just because it's Olivia's birthday hhmmm sweetie..."

Blair completely paled as she started moving her mouth up and down but no words came out. "Oh honey did you want a kiss? Well we can't be too greedy or we might make a strapping young man jealous you know." Edmond looked towards Marek and gave him a wink. "But then again that might not be a bad thing either as I would love to take your first kiss..." Edmond gently placed his hand under her chin and brought his face closer towards her.

Marek banged the table and stood up. His eyes were blazing with fire and murder as he looked towards Edmond "Mmmh it looks like someone has an eye on you Blair darling." He let go of her face and stood up. He gave a wide grin to Blair and then looked at Marek "You know Blair finally named her puppy..." Blair stood up instantly looking horrified "She let's him kiss her every day as she happily calls out 'Mars'... Well I gotta go find some more sweets! good bye my darlings and good bye to you Mr. God of War."

Blair started to breath heavily and tears were forming in her eyes. She gave a small look at Marek and her lips trembled. Marek didn't move from his spot as he was trying to process what was said. Blair couldn't take the silence and run away from the table. "Go after her!" Olivia shouted but Marek didn't budge "Marek she named the puppy after you! Mars is YOU!" Autumn shouted. With that Marek snapped back to his senses and ran after Blair.

It was finally time to open Olivia's gifts but Blair and Marek hadn't returned. After Olivia thanked her guest for the gifts and decided she would go looking for her friend. Instead she found Cheryl-Lynn as she was rocking baby Ryan to sleep. "Cheryl-Lynn have you seen Blair?" she asked. "Blair has gone home already sweetie. She balled her eyes out apparently, not entirely sure from what though... pretty sure it was from happiness as she said her 'boyfriend' was walking her home."

As Olivia was walking back towards Autumn to tell her the news the words "Your welcome" were whispered into her ear. She quickly looked around and spotted Edmond before he made it back into the house for the night. Olivia couldn't help but smile. Edmond was the king of gift giving tonight.