Cassie Devlin sat across from her mom and stepdad at the large wooden dining room table of their Seattle waterfront home. In the background and out the numerous sliding glass doors, you could see a late-night patrol ship passing by out on Lake Washington. The home, like all the other gorgeous entries neighboring to it, was well appointed. The back yard emptied out onto an in-ground jacuzzi and small gated flower garden, which led out to the family's boathouse and dock.
Cassie was very excited because today was her 18th birthday and she was fresh off of her recent high school graduation. Her mom had promised her that if she had gotten in to any of her loftier college goals, the family would be there to support her all the way through it.
And Cassie had done just that. She'd be heading off to Stanford in the fall and she knew that meant that her mom would probably be helping her out quite a bit.
Cassie couldn't wait to find out what her present or presents were. The family was definitely well off. Cassie had never had to worry about where money would be coming from or how she'd be getting through her early adulthood.
It hadn't always been this way. When Cassie was very young her father had passed away quite suddenly, leaving her very young mother to raise a single child and work all the jobs and yadda, yadda, yadda. You've all seen the movie before.
But it worked out in the end. Cassie's mom, Emily, was still a strikingly beautiful women in her twenties when she met Cassie's stepdad, a good looking guy in his early 30's that was quickly rising up the Seattle architecture power charts. Emily too had found success in her dress design company and the family story was quickly propelled into a higher tax bracket and a much more comfortable way of life. They were lucky.
The two social climbers quickly fell in love, and after dating for a few years they decided to remarry. It just made sense.
Cassie was ten when they made it official, and being that she had never really known her original father due to how young she was when he passed, the family decided as one that everyone would be changing their last name to 'Devlin.' Cassie didn't mind. She loved her mom and was happy to see her so happy.
She also liked her stepdad quite a bit. They had always gotten along and while the relationship never quite developed in exactly the same way as it had with her own mother, she was glad for their modern family and the way they all made it work. Her stepdad sort of became like a cool best friend around the house while her mom tended to handle anything involving punishment or discipline. She liked James for this. He didn't try to play some character from a Lifetime original movie; he just allowed their relationship to play out in a way that was easiest for everyone. She loved them both and she occasionally called her stepfather "dad" rather than just "James."
When it came time for discipline though, this was where Cassie had found so many of her loopholes.
Because James was only her stepdad, Cassie played the system and often found herself getting into trouble just because she could. Most of her punishment came from her mother, who currently was in the process of finding success in her own very busy career, which made it pretty easy for Cassie to do just about whatever she wanted.
This led to a dramatic swing midway through high school for the rambunctiously independent girl. She found boys, she found parties, and she found all of the wonders therein. As a career good girl, she relished the feeling of finally getting to be bad. Because of this sudden downswing in her sparkling grade school resume, she ended up having to retake a class or two and batten down the hatches in order to save her collegiate dreams.
She hated to admit it but, if she was being honest with herself, she had become too spoiled under the magnificent roof of her stepdad's skyrocketing career. His design firm had won a number of city contracts in the previews years and the family suddenly started to see more zero's filling up their various banks accounts.
As an only child Cassie wildly benefited from the familial trickle down economics of her parent's combined successes.
Cassie knew she had them as an anchor and in knowing this, she almost ruined her chances with one of her dream schools as her high school partying and general lack of caring became more prominent in her older teen years.
Luckily, she hadn't gone completely overboard. Her parents had finally clamped down with some ultimatums and she'd stuck with the program her mom and stepdad had set in place for the last six months of her time in high school. Somehow, against all odds, she'd pulled her academic standing back into place just in time for applications.
And now here she was, sitting down at the table with her parents as they sat in front of her and smiled at their little girl all grown up. She could hardly contain her excitement.
"Happy 18th Birthday my wildly adventurous daughter!" Her mother said as she placed a funfetti cupcake with a single candle in front of her (well maybe not TOO grownup). Cassie quickly blew it out as she made a gigantic wish with her eyes squeezed shut, and then as she opened them back up her stepdad handed her a single, square box with fancy, black wrapping-paper and white bow that he'd been hiding under the table.
Cassie could hardly contain herself. She quickly opened up the card, read the sweet message inside, and then ripped open the package to reveal a beautiful, dark-wooded box with four drawers featuring polished brass leaf-handles. It was a hand-carved jewelry box that she had made eyes at while window-shopping in the city some months prior with her mom.
She pulled the first drawer out because she knew this wasn't all. Not with how much money her step-dad made, this was definitely only the beginning. She knew she'd upheld her end of the bargain. They would too. They couldn't help but spoil her.
In the first drawer of the jewelry box was a set of keys with a fob featuring the JEEP logo. She squealed with joy as she ran over to the window and looked out to see a black Jeep Wrangler with a giant yellow bow draped across it sitting in their front drive.
She came back to the table where her parents hadn't moved and hugged them both profusely as she thanked them and kissed them on the cheeks.
She sat back down and opened the next drawer and found another set of keys. She knew right away they were the keys to her apartment in the city. She squealed again as she clutched them to her chest.
For months Cassie had been begging her mom to get her an apartment for the summer in Seattle. She reasoned that it would be the best gift ever. She didn't need some fancy European vacation or some random cruise to the Bahamas like some of her friends were doing to celebrate their 18th's, just an apartment for the summer so she could experience being out on her own. Her parents had held firm though, telling her that there was no way that was going to happen unless she focused fully on school and turned her grades and college apps around. And so she did. Cassie was bursting with joy. She was gobsmacked at the birthday haul so far.
She opened the third drawer and found an American Express card.
"Are you kidding me?" She said as she smiled at them both across the table.
"It has a limit on it!" her Mom said as she explained that the card should only be used for regular city expenses and an appropriate amount of fun, nothing too crazy, "And we're taking it back at the end of the summer young lady so don't get too attached to having an unlimited stream of credit!"
And then when she thought things couldn't get any better, she opened the fourth drawer...and she was right, they couldn't actually.
