Chloe sat quietly on the patio, enjoying the cool weather on her skin. England's late summers were so much cooler than Florida's were and she found herself enamored with the change. Only one more day in this gorgeous countryside before she had to head back to the States with Cal. She had definitely enjoyed visiting with his family.
When Cal had first proposed the idea to her, she had been ecstatic, but when he had left her alone to start making travel arrangements, the weight of what she had agreed to had started to weigh heavily upon her. She knew her own personality better than anyone else, because it was her personality, and bearing that in mind, she knew that there a few negative things to be said about her character. She had overheard people talking about her more times than she cared to remember and she had the hurtful things engrained in her mind. According to the world, she was a ditzy blonde, who flirted outrageously with everyone, including men who were "taken." According to the world, she had no qualms about how she acted and she did what she pleased, when she pleased. Chloe had tried not to let the comments get to her, but they snuck in somehow. If only people would just understand that she was overly friendly and her flirtatious nature was just her most comfortable persona when in company. But, she knew that she was devoted to Cal and Cal knew that she was devoted to Cal, so, in all practicality, she didn't care what the rest of the world thought. He understood that it was part of who she was and he accepted it.
The thing that had bothered Chloe the most was whether Cal's family could accept her as he had done. He knew her almost as well as she knew herself, but his family would be complete strangers to her and she to them. Would they be able to see past her flirty, outgoing exterior and see the person within, the person Cal saw? She had never truly cared what people thought about her before, even though their comments outlasted their presence in her life, but she found herself fretting over being accepted by his family.
She already had it made up in her mind that Cal was the man she was going to marry, even if he hadn't realized it yet. She was going to let him slide for a little bit longer before she felt that she would have to resort to dropping subtle hints about marriage in their future. She truly hoped that by going with her to her friend Trish's wedding, the idea would plant itself into Cal's mind and he would start looking towards a shared future with her. She could also use the wedding week as a way to look for clues in his behavior about his thoughts on marriage.
The day for their departure to England had arrived, far quicker than Chloe desired, but it arrived nonetheless. She had been fidgety the whole plane ride over there and nineteen hours is a long time to fidget. Cal had been forced to grab her hands and hold them in his own halfway through the ride as he kept reassuring her that his family would love her as much as he did. She wasn't sure she believed him, but his touch had been soothing to her frantic state of mind and the rest of the plane ride had passed uneventfully.
They had arrived, Cal full of happiness, Chloe full of butterflies. His parents were waiting for them at the gate. Chloe recognized Cal's mother at once, because she shared her son's eyes. Crystal blue. Which made the man standing next to her Cal's father. They seemed like a pleasant couple, but the official introductions were soon to occur and then everything would lay out in the open. Cal's mother's eyes had lit up upon viewing her son and she rushed across the diminishing distance to wrap her arms tightly around him. Cal had looked at Chloe out of the corner of his eye and proceeded to roll his eyes in a dramatic fashion, but Chloe could see that he was happy to be there. Before Cal could even introduce Chloe to his parents, his mother had moved on and without skipping a beat had grabbed Chloe and pulled her into a bear hug. Chloe would never forget the first words Cal's mother ever said to her, "We have heard so much about you and are so happy to finally meet you. You sound like the daughter we never had." Chloe had floated out of the airport on cloud nine. They had accepted her without even knowing her.
::~*~::
Chloe shifted in her seat on the patio as she watched Cal running around with his nieces and nephews on the back lawn. There were eight of them and they were giving him a merry chase, trying to steal back a red handkerchief that he was holding high above their heads. Finally, their lack of capture and their growing exhaustion required them to stop, so they huddled together a few yards from where Cal had stopped. Confused, Cal had turned to them and started walking back towards the small group. Chloe laughed aloud from her vantage point as a battle cry issued from the huddled mass of children and as one, they broke apart and swarmed over their startled uncle. They managed to pull him to the ground and completely cover him with their wriggling figures and Chloe started to get worried when Cal didn't immediately reappear. Just as she got to her feet to run to his rescue, one small boy jumped off of the pile and started running away with the red handkerchief held high in his little hand and the others quickly followed after him. Cal was left lying on the green grass, but even from the distance where Chloe stood watching, she could see his body shaking with laughter. She smiled at the sight of him, her Cal, playing with the kids. He would make a great father someday. Even though that day was a ways off, she unconsciously placed her hand tenderly on her stomach. Someday...