An Unimaginable Tragedy.
The mood was definitely a more cheerful one as they all dispersed from the auditorium. They had all just witnessed another person join their fortunate band and that it was the brother of the recently deceased Thad was all the better. As a result, most of them did not notice Principal Lefevre as she came towards them, her face pale. She was only looking for one person at the moment, but once she had talked to them, she would need to inform her deputy too, before there was the most difficult conversation she had ever had with one of her students. She soon found the person that she was seeking, and for once they were on their own, their husband and son elsewhere amongst the group of friends…
"Nicholas, I need to have a conversation with you in private for a moment; could you come with me to my office just now?" she said when she reached her quarry…
For his part, Nick immediately felt uneasy, as he realised that this had to be the start of what Seth had just told him about. He nodded and followed her to the office in which he had regularly been told off for pranks so many years ago now. Time had certainly flown by since those days. Once there, he was motioned to take a seat and before the Principal could speak, he asked, "Has Wes done something that he shouldn't have, because if that is the case then Jeff should be here as well…"
Principal Lefevre sighed, and replied, "If only it was that I needed to tell you… No, your son has an unblemished record for both academics and discipline, with no pranks whatsoever, which did come as a surprise given who his parents are… What I have to tell you now will affect him greatly though and it will probably turn the lives of your entire family upside down…"
She paused, then went on, "Nick, do you recall making a promise to the Reverend Hart in this building on the day that Santana and Brittany Pierce-Lopez celebrated their wedding here? Did you promise him and indeed his wife that you and Jeff would take care of Timothy if anything untoward should happen to his parents?"
Nick stared at her for a moment, then as his head did the math he struggled to breathe. It had seemed so odd and out of character that having promised to be there for the funeral, Joe and Sugar had not arrived. It was even more odd because he had actually spoken to Joe the night before, when he and his wife were already on their way from South Dakota to Ohio… "Yes, that is true," he responded to the question he had been asked in a whisper. "Am I right to assume that you are asking that because something has happened to the Harts?"
"We received a call from the Highway Patrol in Illinois ten minutes ago," the Principal replied in a voice that was almost flat. "They had found a Dalton sweatshirt in the trunk of a car and with that and the details they could obtain from the licence plate, they were able to work out who they should call, assisted by the administrator of Reverend Hart's congregation in South Dakota…"
"What happened to them?" asked Nick, making the assumption that Joe and Sugar had passed away.
"According to the man I spoke to, a large truck was crossing one of the overpasses on the Interstate when the driver lost control of it and careened off the bridge, toppling onto the eastbound carriageway below. The truck was carrying a heavy load of steel girders and might well have been above the legal weight limit for the vehicle as a consequence, which made things worse. Unfortunately, the truck landed on the front half of the Harts' vehicle; essentially it crushed it flat, but the trunk was left undamaged… The only comfort I can take is that it was so swift that the Harts would not have known anything about it…"
Nick just stared at her as she finished speaking. He was in shock, his mind thrown into a state of turmoil; he knew that everyone else he knew would soon be too once the news was made public, especially the members of the New Directions. All of that, however, paled into insignificance compared to what else he realised. His son's best friend was now an orphan and he had promised his parents that he would take custody of him in those circumstances…
"So, what do we do now?" asked Nick, feeling a little bit calmer than he might have done having been forewarned by Seth.
"I will let Dylan know what has happened and then ask him to bring Tim to us. He will obviously need as much privacy as we can give him whilst he deals with this news."
Nick nodded, then said, "Perhaps after he has done that Dylan could go back and fetch Jeff, and Wes for that matter. He can tell them what you have told me but without the worst details, just that the Harts are dead. Tim is going to need not just the support of the adults around him, but of his best friend as well."
Principal Lefevre considered Nick's request and agreed it was a good one. "Those two boys are very close and having a supportive friend will be helpful as Tim goes through the whole grieving process. He will also be moving from a small town to a big city and that might well come as of much of a shock as being orphaned. It couldn't have happened at a worse time as he will still be dealing with his emotions over the loss of Thad. All I can say right now is that I am grateful that the Reverend Hart made his wishes clear in the papers he submitted to the school when Tim was enrolled here. Effectively, you and Jeff are his next of kin; as far as I am aware, there are no siblings and no mention of grandparents either…"
Nick sighed, and replied, "That is another complicated story and for now it is best if I just say this; neither the Hart or the Motta families approved of Joe and Sugar's relationship, and they certainly would not have approved of their marriage. Tim has never met either set of grandparents and he will never meet them now, mainly because those two couples do not even know that he exists…" Then Nick paled, as he realised with horror that the police might well have tried to make contact with those very people to inform them that their child had died… "I trust that the police will also respect the choice that the Harts made when we appraise them of the complexity of the situation. Hopefully it is not too late to advise them of that…"
"Don't worry about that; the police officer that I spoke to said that he was glad to have found us, because when they spoke to the secretary of Reverend Hart's church, she said that both sets of parents were deceased. As far as that lady was aware, they were two orphaned only children. I have to ask, I have heard the name Motta before, in connection with…"
"Yes, that is the one. I guess that is why all those years ago Joe feared that something untoward might one day happen to him and Sugar; that her family might catch up with them one day and take Tim from them…"
Principal Lefevre's eyes had widened when Nick confirmed the connection, and now she said, "Well, I will certainly not be repeating anything you just said to me to anyone else in the school, because the last thing I want is to find Dalton in the sights of the mafia." Shaking her head, she picked up her phone and sent a text message. "I have just sent Dylan a message asking him to come and see me. I will appraise him of the situation as quickly as I can and then send him to find Tim and send him here, then seek out your husband and son. Then we will have to face a moment that neither of us will be looking forward to…"
Tim was actually with Jeff and Wes when Dylan found him; the Deputy Principal was still in shock at what he had just been told, but he put on a smile and hid what he felt at that moment. "Ah, Tim, could you just pop along to the Principal's office for a moment? She needs to talk to you about a small matter…"
Tim looked confused for a moment as to why he would be wanted, but then he saw the smile on Dylan's face and wondered if she had received a message from his parents. He nodded and headed off without saying a word. Dylan looked at his retreating back, then turned back to Jeff and Wes. "Now cousin, we have not had a chance to talk properly this last little while – what say we head along to my office and have a private family catch-up?"
Jeff nodded, agreeing that it had indeed been a while since he and Dylan had chatted and as they walked, he made small talk. Wes followed, but he sensed that something else was going on. He had a strong suspicion that Dylan's smile was being faked, as it did not register in his eyes. He was also curious as to why Tim had been summoned to see the Principal and as to the whereabouts of his own dad. He assumed that it might be because Tim's parents had sent a message to her explaining their absence, but that raised another worry, as surely they would have made direct contact with their son instead. Tim had been putting on a brave face, but the fact that they had not arrived had upset him greatly. Now as they entered Dylan's office, Wes saw the Deputy Principal's mask slip and realised that there had been an act being played, the family connection used as an excuse….
Dylan's office was smaller than that of the Principal, but being full of family photos it seemed very homely. He motioned to Jeff and Wes to take a seat and asked if they wanted a drink; when they both declined him, he headed over to the window, looked out over the playing fields and sighed deeply. "So, I am afraid that I had an ulterior motive in bringing you both here. The truth is that Nick is currently in the Principal's office with her and Tim. He is there because of a promise that he made along with you cousin many years ago, and also to help her deliver some news about that poor boy's parents…"
Wes felt his blood run cold then as he watched his papa's face pale, as if he was anticipating what Dylan was going to say next….
Tim meanwhile had headed to the office of Principal Lefevre with a growing sense of resignation; he guessed that she had news about his mom and dad. The family car was hardly a new one and was prone to breakdowns even on the shortest of trips within the state; a lengthy cross-country trip would have possibly pushed it to its limits. He knew that the town's mechanic would have checked it out for his dad before they set off; as a keen member of the congregation he would have done it for free and done all he could to ensure that the car would get them to Ohio and back. However, Tim also recalled a conversation that he and his father had had last summer, which had begun with the words, "I am not the good Lord, Reverend; I am not a miracle worker…" He had often wondered what would happen when the car became impossible to fix; he had supposed that they would receive another vehicle from a member of the congregation. After all, that was where their current car had come from…
He stood outside the door of the office for a moment when he got there, getting himself into the mindset that he needed to be in, the one where he listened to her words with a smile and hid the pain and disappointment that he felt. Then he knocked, expecting to be called in, but instead the door was opened by the Principal herself, which was something that he had never anticipated…
"Ah, Tim, I am so sorry to have had to call you in to see me, but an issue has arisen which we need to discuss in private. Come in and take a seat…" Tim smiled and nodded, but he was surprised as he walked in to see Nick was sitting on the sofa on one side of the room. "I think that it would be best if you took a seat next to Mr Sterling-Duval for me. I asked him to be present as he is also involved in the matter that we need to discuss…" Tim took a seat as instructed, but he now felt very confused, as the presence of his best friend's father was a complete curveball for him.
Tim sat down as he had been instructed and was even more surprised when the Principal sat down on his other side. He began to worry then, as this did not fit with his parents' car breaking down. He looked down at his feet as he waited for someone to speak…
"Tim, when I first met you, you were just a baby," began Nick. "You came as quite a surprise to us all when your mom carried you into Artie and Kitty's wedding. You hit it off with Wes that day you know; you and he reached out for each other when you were brought together and the moment that your hands touched you both giggled. Your parents and I weren't all that close before that, but as the only parents in our circle of friends at the time we were drawn to each other, exchanging stories and sharing parenting tips. We didn't meet in person often because we lived far apart and in very different worlds, but we had a feeling that you and Wes would be friends later in life; that was one of the reasons while you were allocated a room together here at Dalton."
Nick paused, wondering if Principal Lefevre would step in then, but she just nodded to him.
"One of the few times that your mom and dad ever came to Dalton was for a wedding. Santana and Brittany got married in the main stairwell; it was quite a day, and it was on that day that your dad took me aside and asked me to do something. It seemed like a strange request at the time, but I understood his motivation later. I have a sister and then there are Jeff's parents and my mum, all of whom love Wes and have his best interests at heart. Your mom and dad had no siblings and none of your grandparents are in the picture. So, your dad asked me to promise him that I would be there for you, if need be, and by extension that Jeff would be there too. I agreed, not thinking much of it at all at the time. I never break a promise..."
Nick stopped again and this time Principal Lefevre spoke. "Tim, what I'm about to say breaks my heart. You were expecting your parents to be here today, and they were on their way... It was a freak accident, just bad luck. The wrong place at the wrong time… Their car was hit by a truck. It all happened so quickly, and they would not have known anything about it…"
Tim would later say that with hindsight he had known that the news he was going to receive was bad; the lack of contact from his parents directly to him was an indication of that. He knew that his mom never went anywhere without her phone and that she never let the battery die. He knew too what the Principal meant by not knowing anything about it but he had to hear her say it directly. "Are they in hospital? Can I see them?"
"I'm afraid that they aren't in hospital… There was nothing that anyone could have done. I'm afraid that they died at the moment of impact…"
Tim nodded, his eyes now filling with tears for his mom and dad, who had taught him to love and be tolerant, and that it was okay to be whoever he was, as long as he was happy. He had never expected to lose them both before he was legally an adult…
"I promised your dad that we would take care of you, and Jeff and I will. I know that this is devastating coming so soon after the death of Mr Harwood as well, but know this here and now; you are not alone, and you are loved…" Having said those words, Nick carefully wrapped his arm around Tim's shoulders, not sure how the boy would react, but suddenly he had a sobbing teenager on his chest. He wrapped his other arm around him and held him close, his own tears falling as he did so…
That was when he heard the sound of running feet in the corridor outside and he knew exactly who it would be. Principle Lefevre also knew who it would be, and she said nothing as the door was suddenly flung open by a crying Wes, who then ran across the room to hug Tim as well. Nick let the two boys hug each other, both now sobbing as they wrapped their arms around each other. The soulmate bond that he had wondered about was now quite obvious. He could sense that his own soulmate was in pain too and turning around he saw Jeff standing in the doorway, tears running down his face. Leaving the two boys he walked over to his husband and hugged him, neither of them saying a word. They both knew that their life had just been turned on its head; the death of Joe and Sugar would change everything for their won little family as much as it had changed the whole world for Tim. They would now have another teenage boy living with them full time and that was bound to bring complications...
Nick eventually left Wes and Tim with Jeff and made his way back to the Senior Commons, where, as he had expected, he found his closest friends. The council table was unoccupied, but every other seat was in use and there were smiles at David's insistence. Nick's face however gave him away and it stopped Beats mid-sentence as he was the first to spot him in the doorway...
"Nick what's happened? You look as if your entire world just come crashing down," exclaimed the beatboxer. As he spoke, the rest of the room fell silent.
It was only then that Nick noticed that Owain was in the room too, the only one of this year's Warblers still present. "I've just had a bit of tragic news," Nick began. "It will be public knowledge very soon, but we need to keep it to ourselves for now. It's the Harts, Tim's parents. I know now why they didn't arrive; there was a freak accident on the Interstate, and well, Tim's been orphaned…"
Gasps rang out around the room; they all knew Joe and Sugar, and their deaths were traumatic. Trent was the first one on his feet to step over and he wrapped his arms around Nick, but then Owain was there as well. "Where is he? I should be with him. It's my duty as Head Warbler."
Nick was impressed with the young man's attitude and said, "He's in the Principal's office." Owain nodded and immediately hurried off in that direction, as the news sank in for the others.
"Who is going to break the news to the New Directions?" asked Beats quietly, saying what no-one else had wanted to at that moment. "I mean, we all knew them and have affection for Tim, but we didn't go to school with them and perform alongside them as most of them did."
"I guess that we will have to," admitted Nick with a sigh. "The question is which one of us does it; before the breaking of such news would have fallen to Thad…"
As all eyes in the room turned to Sebastian and Skylar, who had both gone very pale, Trent spoke up. "It is a great pity that they aren't still here, as such news is best broken face to face. What time was your jet booked to depart for the journey back to New York, Ethan?"
"Not for another thirty minutes or so," replied the man in question. "Trust you to have realised that we actually have them all in one place right now!"
"That is as maybe, but we still have to decide who is telling them, and let's be honest, even if there was no traffic whatsoever on the road to the airport, there is no way that anyone could drive there before their scheduled take-off," remarked Flint.
Sebastian sighed, and said, "Fine, I will do it! I will call Santana… She will be able to command the necessary silence and break the news to them all. All I can say right now is that I am very glad that I am not with them on that plane…"
Nick nodded, then added, "I will call Mike and tell him myself, because then there will be two of them telling the exact same story; there is always a risk that someone might think that the whole thing is just Santana being a nasty person and spreading malicious tales, as she was wont to do in high school…"
With that, Nick and Sebastian left the room together to find a private spot to make their two calls. Mike took Nick at his word at once, but remained calm as Nick spoke, not wanting the anguish he was feeling at the news to attract people's attention too quickly. With Santana, the opposite was true; she was immediately on the defensive, accusing Sebastian of making things up, until he had no choice but to say, "Santana, look at Mike. He is on the phone right now with Nick. I am telling you the truth; Tim Hart has just found out that he is an orphan. Do you really think that I could be so callous as to make something like that up?"
There was silence for a moment then and Sebastian knew that she would be looking at Mike's face and seeing his pain. "My abeula always said that all things in life happen in threes. If Thad was number one…"
"My grandmere in France says the exact same thing, but I think that it is nonsense. This is a nothing more than a tragic coincidence…" He said no more, and the call came to an end, but the old wives' tale was now stuck in his head. He began to wonder if there was an element of truth in it; had Thad not died, then would both Joe and Sugar have travelled to Dalton to pick Tim up? It would have been much more likely that only one of them would have come, or that Tim would have been sent a plane ticket to make his own way home…
With their respective calls now done, Sebastian turned to Nick and asked him the question that was foremost in his mind. "Can I just ask why you are the one that is telling us this news? Why were you the one to be informed first? Is it because of how close Wes is to Tim?"
"No, there is more to it than that… I am sure that we told you back when it happened that Jeff and I had made a promise to Joe that if anything happened to him and Sugar, we would be the ones that would take care of Tim…"
Sebastian thought for a moment and then he said, "Actually, I do recall that now that you mention it! I am guessing that information was written down in the instructions that every parent is asked to provide when they send their son to board here…"
"It was. My priority now is taking the utmost care of that poor boy and seeing that he is protected from any more harm. I can't even begin to imagine what he is going through right now; his entire world has just shifted on its axis…"
"It is going to be complicated too by the fact that Tim and Wes have become so close to each other," said Sebastian, not directly referring to what he and many other people suspected about the two boys.
"I know and whilst it will be good for Tim to have his best friend around as he goes through the whole process of grieving for his parents and then adjusts to his new life with us, I am going to have to set down a whole set of ground rules for their conduct around each other," replied Nick. "That will have to wait for later, however, as there are so many other things that need to be worked out as a priority. There will be a funeral, of course, but I suspect that it will not be a big one with old friends requested to attend from across the globe; I am guessing that they would much rather most of us stayed away and did not attract attention to their deaths, in case a certain Mr Motta is watching… The last thing that Joe and Sugar would have wanted is for her dad to discover that he has a grandson."
Sebastian nodded, then said, "Yeah, that would not be good; the last thing Tim needs is a grandfather he never knew demanding custody of him."
"I think that it will probably be best if I go to the funeral alone as well; from what I gathered reading between the lines, the place that Joe ministered to is a small, conservative town where being gay is probably still an issue, and the idea of two gay men taking care of their preacher's son… No, it might be best if I go as a lawyer that has been appointed to be the legal guardian of Timothy Hart, there to help him through the funeral, supervise him as he collects what he wants from the family home and then there to escort him to his new permanent home with a family friend on the East Coast…"
Sebastian was thoughtful for a moment, then said, "Actually, it might be even better if you ask your sister to get involved in that process. Face it, a female lawyer being appointed as the legal guardian will be even more okay to the people of such a small town…"
Nick said nothing, but he realised that Sebastian had actually made a valid point, and that in any case, he should probably be speaking to Grace in any case as a matter of urgency, as she specialised in family law. She was also aware of the promise he had made to Joe and Sugar and would know what specific laws applied in the situation he now found himself in.
As if he knew that he had started off a thought process in Nick's head, Sebastian nodded to him and then headed back to the Senior Commons and the others, leaving Nick to pull out his phone and try to call his sister. She had decided not to head straight back to New York on the flight with the others but had gone to see their grandparents whilst she had the opportunity to be in Ohio. Nick was aware that Cooper was on the plane, so there was a possibility that he would have called Grace and told her what was going on. He was glad when his call did not go straight to the answering service and even more relieved that when she answered his call, she did not sound tetchy as she spoke. "Grace, I need your advice as an expert in family law right now. I have a situation…"
There was a moment of silence and then his sister replied, "Okay. I do not see any of the four horsemen of the apocalypse, nor is today April Fool's Day, so I am going to assume that this advice does not entail the custody of Wes if you and Jeff divorce, nor do I imagine for one moment that Michelle has put in a claim for custody either…"
Nick couldn't help but chuckle, then he realised that she obviously didn't know what had happened. "No, it is none of that, but I am serious about needing your help. You see, there has been a serious accident, and I did make a promise…"
Grace did not tell her grandparents why Nick's phone call sent her scurrying off to the relative privacy of her grandfather's study. She never went anywhere without her tablet computer, and she knew exactly where to go to find the relative legal stuff for the situation. Having double-checked and discovered what she already knew, she called her brother back.
"Well, firstly I have to tell you that a promise doesn't amount to much when it comes to the custody of a child, and had that been all there was, Tim's situation now would be extremely difficult. However, having obtained that promise from you, Joe contacted me and explained the situation. I was sceptical at first, but then you admitted to me what you had done, and after that I was happy to set up the documentation that put it into an appropriate legal framework. Joe and Sugar were not in New York often, but on the next visit they made, they came by my office and signed it off, in front of two independent witnesses. You can rest easy; I have paperwork which states that you and Jeff are to be Tim's legal guardians in the event that his parents passed away…"
Nick let out a sigh of relief at the other end of the call at that point, something that would have made Grace laugh if the whole situation had not been so tragic. "Okay, so I need to get that physical document into my hands and then we will be taking a trip alongside him into the Bible Belt, little brother. It should really just be a formality, a visit to collect the few items that he still has in the family home and some of his parents' personal items too; the house itself belongs to the church. I am not expecting it to be quite so simple however… For a start, I think that we should not give anyone we meet there your home address; we tell them that all future contact with Tim will have to be via my office. That way there is no-one that could possibly pass on those details to an outside party, like a certain Al Motta…"
"You know all about that then?" asked Nick, slightly surprised that Sugar had told his sister so much.
"Oh yes, I had to understand why they did not want custody of their child to pass to either set of grandparents. The fact that Joe did not want his parents involved because of their religious intolerance paled into insignificance compared to the reasons that Sugar gave me… Okay, so I will go and organise getting a copy of the document signed by the Harts sent to me express, so that we can head to South Dakota as soon as possible. Joe did assure me that he kept his will updated and that he named you in it as his son's legal guardian if both he and Sugar died; she did the same. Notice what I said there – it is just your name in their wills, no mention of Jeff…"
Nick understood why at once, but he said quietly to his sister, "We can never let Jeff know that; he will understand why it had to be like that, but he will still be ever so hurt by it."
"I won't tell anyone, trust me. I suggest that you use the excuse that you are a lawyer and that someone has to take Wes home to the West Village as a reason why I am going with you, not him. He can prepare one of the spare rooms as a permanent home for Tim, with Wes' help. He is at that age where he will need his own space…" Grace replied. 'Also,' she thought to herself, 'it will help keep our two potential lovebirds apart and away from temptation.'
Armed with the information from his sister that Joe and Sugar had placed the details of the promise into writing, Nick headed back to the office of Principal Lefevre, and found that little had altered in his absence. Tim was still crying, albeit not as much now, and Wes was still sitting at his side, an arm wrapped firmly around his shoulders. Owain was now sitting on Tim's other side, holding his hand, his own eyes a little red. As for Jeff, as well as looking upset he now looked a little stressed; on seeing his husband come back into the room, he quickly made his way over to him. Before he could speak, Nick whispered a few things to him…
"First things first; Joe had the good sense to write down in a legal document his and Sugar's desire that we take care of Tim should anything happen to them. He lodged it with Grace at her office, and it is signed not only by the two of them but also by two independent witnesses. She is going to get it sent over so that we can use it as proof of our rights…"
"I'm glad, because I was worried that as it was only a verbal promise, there might be people out there that would mount a legal challenge to it…" replied Jeff.
"Secondly, once she has that document, she is going to accompany me and Tim to South Dakota to collect his personal effects from the family home…" Nick paused, seeing the look of surprise on his husband's face at that. "It makes a lot of sense for her to come as she is the lawyer named by Joe and Sugar as dealing with matters concerning Tim in their wills. I know that you were probably expecting to travel with me, but this way you can take Wes back home and between you, you can set up the spare room as a comfortable bedroom for Tim to move into. You have always been so much better than me at interior design and, in all honesty, I don't want to expose Wes to any risk of hatred or homophobic comments… You and I both know that out west attitudes can be a little conservative and old-fashioned, to say the least…"
Jeff nodded, and responded, "It's okay, I understand your thinking and well, I was kind of dreading having to go into that kind of environment with our boy…"
"There is also the issue of the funeral; at the request of Joe and Sugar it will be a small, private affair, with minimal publicity. That will be hard for some of the New Directions to understand, but I think that they were right in assuming that Al Motta might be keeping an eye on the media for mentions of his daughter's more famous schoolfriends; if they all suddenly converged on a small town in South Dakota, he would quickly put two and two together… Obviously I will need to check, but I have the feeling that the funeral might well be as soon as Monday, again a request that Joe and Sugar made according to Grace…"
Jeff would eventually manage to pry Wes away from Tim, his protests silenced with a bit of assistance from a surprisingly forceful Owain, who reminded Wes that he had to be ready to help his dorm mate that night, and he would be better able to do so if he went back to the dorms now so that they could gather up all that they might need. Before he left, Owain turned to Tim and told him softly that he would be there for him too, and not just that night…
"I will be coming to live in the West Village myself very shortly; indeed, as I understand it, I will be living right next door to you. I might not officially be your Head Warbler any longer, but that doesn't mean that I won't still care about you. I will be there in New York as well if you need me…"
With that he left, leaving Nick to marvel at how like Wes Montgomery such a statement was; Owain seemed to have adopted his attitude when he became Head Warbler. After all, he had never stopped caring for any of them, even when he was studying at Harvard…
Jeff decided he should go with them at the last minute and so Nick found himself alone with Tim once again. As he sat down beside him, the boy spoke. "Thank you so much for agreeing to take me in. I know that you made a promise to my parents, but it was the kind of promise people never imagine having to keep. I know that this is going to mean that there will be a lot of changes for you all as a family…"
"That is true, Tim, but the changes it brings for you are much greater than them. I only hope that we can make you feel welcome in our home and that you are a part of the family now…"
Tim looked at Nick with moist eyes and replied, "I think that being part of your family will be more than okay…"
