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 Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2016 6:26 pm
Dari saw the hug coming and so didn't tense. In fact, he returned it wholeheartedly. He laughed with delight at the offhand compliment.
"Thank you!" he chimed, "You're Susan, then? It seems you know who I am. It's nice to meet you!" How in the world did two children from the same family have such apparently different ideas about homosexuality?
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Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2016 6:31 pm
Susan smiled. "That's right. Cody won't have mentioned me," she paused and lowered her voice to a stage whisper, "He thinks I'm embarrassing." "You are sweet," she observed, louder. "It's nice to meet you, too!"
Cody started tp head for the dining room. The sooner they ate, the sooner they could leave!
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Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2016 6:35 pm
Dari chuckled again. "Well, I don't think you're embarrassing. You must be the cool aunt." He looked up briefly to watch Cody retreat and shook his head.
"He didn't want to come in." He shared a Look with Susan. "I can't believe this is all for us, though! We thought we were coming up here to tell them..."
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Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2016 6:39 pm
"I am," Susan agreed, smiling at Dari. "I was still a teenager when he was born, so I was always taking him to the park. Spoiling him rotten." She shook her head. "Hannah knows everything. Apparently he'd mentioned where he'd wanted to propose and then that you were going yesterday." She seemed amused. "Good luck leaving. Now that you two are here, she's bound to invite everyone and their neighbor."
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Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2016 6:42 pm
"Oh, and this is the thanks you get?" Dari asked, gesturing in the direction Cody had escaped. "Tsk. Well, that's what I figured. It's alright. We don't have any plans until nighttime anyway. Cody's probably going to try and escape as fast as he can, though." The last phrase was murmured under his breath. Poor Cody. Why did he think family was embarrassing? Family was everything.
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Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2016 6:52 pm
Susan chuckled. "Only when he's being shy," she admitted. "He can be quite sweet." She headed out to the dining room and hugged Cody. "Don't worry. No one else is here," she said. "We didn't know if you'd show up!"
Cody returned the hug. "Did you pick out the cake?" he asked.
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Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2016 7:00 pm
Dari watched from a distance, a pleased half-smile on his face. Finally he entered the dining room himself to grab some food, just for the sake of normalcy. He smiled to Cody and looked around the table. Cake, right. Ice cream cake. It was probably in the freezer.
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Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2016 7:07 pm
Hannah brought out the cake from the kitchen. It was a small round cake; reading "Congratulations Cody and Dari!" in blue. She set it on the table. "It still needs to thaw a bit," she said. "Dari, want to help me in the kitchen?"
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Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2016 7:09 pm
"Hm? Oh, sure," Dari said. He set his food down and patted Cody's shoulder before jogging off to the kitchen. He wasn't sure if Hannah actually wanted help or just to talk, but he was willing to do either.
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Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2016 7:13 pm
Hannah leaned against a counter. She was holding a small, neatly wrapped gift in her hand, and offered it to Dari. "When you open this, I don't want you to show Cody." She said, in a low voice. "My mother in law gave me something similar when I got married."
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Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2016 7:14 pm
Dari's brow furrowed and his eyes showed great meaning. A secret gift? Between them? He took the gift carefully and unwrapped it with great care.
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Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2016 7:28 pm
The gift was obviously handmade; it was a scrap book with several hundred pages--most of them blank. Hannah flipped open the first page. "Its your life story, yours and Cody's. Here's the day he was born." She pointed to the page on the right. "And here's the day you were. I don't have any pictures, but if you bring me some, I can finish it for you." She kissed his cheek, and flipped to the last pages she'd filled out. These ones had pictures. "Here's the day you met," she said, smiling at him.
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Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2016 7:31 pm
Dari couldn't help but well up just a bit,and he threw his arms around Hannah and kissed her cheek.
"Thank you."
If there had been any doubt for her sincerity before, there certainly wasn't now. He laughed, pulled back, and snuffled. He laughed again looking at the pages. Oh, if only she knew.
"Thank you."
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Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2016 7:39 pm
Hannah returned the hug, smiling softly. "I just wanted to welcome you into the family properly," she said, after a moment. "I love you, Dari." She'd seen how happy her son was with him, and how much he loved Cody; and now that she was getting to know him, she was seeing him more as family rather than her son's boyfriend.
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Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2016 7:42 pm
"I love you too," he said, touching her face once and then wiping his eyes with the back of his hand. He smiled and pointed a thumb out the door."I'll be right back."
He left for the car, knowing Cody was likely to catch him on his way out, and was already formulating casual lies.
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