A savage sound came from somewhere in the crowd, but I didn’t need to look to know whom it had come from. The entire room was suddenly charged with Ryan’s emotions, making me tense even as confusion clouded my head.

What the hell was his problem?

“Us next, us next!” Ian and Isaac shouted as they ran over to the table and grabbed the gift bag their dad had been carrying earlier. “Open ours now, Nova,” Ian instructed.

Laughing, I dropped to my knees on the floor with them and started pulling out the tissue paper. But before I could get to the present beneath, Gianna and Lilliana ran over to join us, followed by Lexa’s son, Finn, and Tavia’s daughter, Rai. For the next twenty minutes, the six of them helped me open one gift after another. I got more enjoyment out of their excitement over the gifts than the actual presents themselves.

“Okay, one more and then cake!” Dad announced as he stepped on the pile of torn wrapping and tissue paper that the little kids had been playing with. He offered me his hand and pulled me to my feet since I’d been sitting on the floor with Rocco in my lap, letting him crinkle some of the paper.

I passed Rocco over to his daddy, just as Mom came to join us once she’d handed her camera over to Aunt Raven. I didn’t get why she needed to take pictures of me unwrapping presents at every party I’d ever had, but I figured it was a mom kind of thing, that they had to document every moment, no matter how big or small.

“We haven’t shared this with many of you yet.” Dad spoke up again, his arm tightening around me. “Mainly because it has taken me a while to wrap my head around it. It was both a proud moment for me and a gut-punch all at once. But since we have everyone here, Felicity and I thought it was the best time to make the announcement.”

“Dad,” I muttered, shaking my head, knowing right away what he was going to say.

But he didn’t see my pleading eyes, begging him not to say anything yet. His gaze was on the crowd, and the pride in his voice made me press my lips together. “This is probably the last birthday party our Nova will be having here for a long time. Unless she decides to come home to celebrate it with us, that is.”

Everyone was looking at us in confusion now, except for the few people who already knew, which wasn’t many, considering the one person I’d wanted to share the news with had been too busy for me to confide in.

“Nova has been working so hard at school and taking extra classes over at Trinity. Which means, my little girl will be graduating an entire year earlier than expected and will start college next fall.” Mom pulled something from a gift bag Lexa handed to her and produced three huge envelopes, each of them labeled with one of the three schools I’d applied to in New York. “And as of yesterday, she’s got her choice of schools begging for her attendance.”