Elliot comes bounding through the open front door with his endless energy and without letting go of her hand introduces Kate to us all. Mom and dad give her a brief hug and kiss on the cheek and welcome her to our home. Mia is hopping from foot to foot behind them waiting impatiently before she swoops in to hug Kate forcing Elliot to move to one side. As Elliot admonishes Mia for being over the top I approach Kate cautiously and rather formally shake her hand telling her it's a pleasure to meet her, Elliot raises an eyebrow questionably and I'm not sure why, is it because I'm being so formal or the fact I've spoken.
As mom and Mia head for the kitchen whilst dad sorts out drinks I decide now is a good time to apologise to Elliot as we head into the living room. He smirks at me and then proceeds to tell Kate about my tantrum at the dinner table last night making it sound amusing, though he doesn't reveal how it all started and embarrass me more than necessary. Kate laughs at my antics in a good way and as she cuddles up with my oldest brother on one of the sofas I realise she is lovely, strawberry blonde hair, vivid green eyes and a beautiful smile.
Dad arrives with the Prosecco and we proceed to talk about how Elliot and Kate met and that they are going on vacation to Barbados next week. Wow, talk about my brother being a fast mover and taking a romantic break after only a week together.
We hear Christian's Audi SUV pull up on the drive, mom goes to open the door and dad politely excuses himself so that he can go and greet them as well. I hear Christian formally introducing Ana to dad, she has already met mom and then Mia goes barrelling down the hallway from the kitchen. She is so over the top, she's now exclaiming how he's never brought a girl home before and mom is telling her to calm down. How embarrassing is that girl.
Mia drags Ana into the living room, Kate bounces up to hug her and then Elliot picks her up and spins her round. Christian stands at Ana's side with an arm possessively round her as I rise from my sofa and Christian introduces us. I look at her shyly before shaking her hand and giving her a kiss on the cheek, her pale skin is so smooth and soft and her eyes are so blue, the most beautiful blue eyes I have ever seen. I can't speak as I stand there mesmerized. Christian clears his throat and as I drag my eyes away to look at him he asks with the Grey smirk if I'm allowed to leave the house next week to work at GEH. Everyone is amused as I once again apologise for my behaviour, all knowing that this is the last apology I have to make. Christian must have phoned earlier to check on how I was and if I was speaking otherwise he certainly wouldn't have teased me, especially in front of everyone. He's so much more caring and considerate than he gives himself credit for.
Mia goes off to get them some drinks whilst we continue our conversation on vacations. Ana tells us that she might visit her mother in Georgia for a few days; this is obviously news to Christian as he doesn't look happy.
Mom announces dinner is ready and we all make our way to the dining room, though Christian must be having words with Ana about something as we end up waiting for a few minutes so we can all sit down together. The seating arrangements are different to the usual to accommodate our guests. Mom and dad at one end, with Ana in-between dad and Christian on the next side. Mia is next to Christian and opposite dad. I'm next and have Kate on my other side and mom opposite. Elliot is across from Ana with Kate and mom on either side.
Gretchen is serving us tonight and appears with the entrees, her eyes immediately find where Christian is sitting, she's always done this, trying to get him to notice her but he never pays any attention. Ana has certainly noticed though and her eyes narrow jealously.
Just as we're about to eat the phone rings and dad goes to answer, mom doesn't look too happy but when he returns to say it's the hospital she immediately goes to see what's wrong. She returns and tells us about the measles case before saying how lucky we've all been apart from Elliot and the chicken pox, though Elliot changes the subject rather quickly. The conversation moves to safe ground about the Mariners latest game. Kate asks Ana about someone called Jose which riles Christian as he looks furious giving Kate a black look. I don't think he likes her too much which is strange considering she's Ana's best friend. Whenever she speaks he almost scowls at her, though I think Elliot is oblivious.
Mia moves the conversation on to herself, talking about her time in Paris, even lapsing into French without realising, Christian and I join in with her before she stops whilst giggling. Ana has never been to Paris so Mia pushes Christian to take her though he tells us she would prefer to go to London, and there's no doubting the look of love that Ana gives him when he says this. Elliot jokes that perhaps they could take me with them as I'm half-English and everyone at the table freezes to see my reaction.
All of a sudden the conversation loudly returns to the mariner's game. Mum eyes me with concern but I breathe deeply and focus on trying to stay relaxed. My daddy was English, from London. He'd met my mommy when she was on a course at one of the universities and they immediately fell in love. When she returned to Seattle he followed and relocated his company which had a reputation as being one of the best in the world for producing music. Grace and Carrick had also recently returned to Seattle from Detroit with a young Elliot and Christian. Living in the same street they socialised together often, and if mom and dad needed to attend a function together then it was my mommy and daddy that would babysit. In fact my siblings probably knew my birth parents better than me, and certainly have better memories, especially Elliot and Christian who had known them both very well for 11years. They had been on vacations together, parties, baseball games, movies, shopping and endless other things. They viewed the house that I was born in as their second home. I think this is sometimes where my insecurities, jealousy and anger come from .My biggest insecurity is the fear of change within our family. The five people that I love most in the world had a life with two people that I would have loved to have experienced more with and had around me a lot longer. It also makes me different from my brothers and sister who were all adopted through different circumstances from people my parents didn't know. Mom was best friends with my mommy for almost 40 years.
I zone back into the conversation, Elliot is talking about his latest building project, Christian and Ana are whispering to each other and have eyes for no-one else, we might as well be in a different room. I realise Kate and Ana are totally different, Ana is very shy, almost nervous about being here amongst strangers, however Kate is much more confident and I find her quite intimidating.
As we finish dinner dad nods so we understand we can leave. I help mom and Mia clear away the dishes. In the kitchen mom envelopes me in a hug, she just seems to understand that this is what I need right now. Christian and Ana pass through saying they are going to look at the backyard. Dad comes to get more wine; he pats me on the back and tells me he's very proud with how I handled dinner.
All too soon, it is time for my brothers and their new girlfriends to leave. Mia has just brought Christian and Ana back from the boathouse, he must have been showing her all his rowing trophies. There's lots of hugging and joviality as everyone says a jumble of goodbye's to each other. Christian teases that we're not to give Ana too much affection and in the same breath tells me in his controlling way that he'll see me at his office at Grey House at 8am sharp.