UNMASKING THE DANCER

37. Home again.

Diane's pov

    I excused myself a few hours into the film and went outside to make an important call, "hello Diane" the familiar voice said on the other line after a few rings,

   "Catlyn, where are you?"

   "I'm at my aunt's place"

   "Your aunt's place.....I don't understand"

   "Yeah. Uhmm, so I was planning to tell you this but I wanted to be sure before informing you about it and then I didn't get the time to tell you cause of all the preparations" she ranted off and I sighed,

   "Catlyn......go straight to the point"

    "Okay....... I'm starting college here in New York in a few months time"

    "Wow that's splendid, why didn't you just tell me?"

    "I already told you, it's because I wanted to be sure and then the preparations....."

    "It's okay, I'm so happy for you"

    "Yeah, I'm happy too"

    "Would you be free tomorrow?"

    "I guess, why?"

    "Well, I want to introduce you to my best friends that I've always talked about"

    "Okay......were they the ones I saw at the airport?"

    "Yeah"

    "About what happened in the airport, you have some explaining to do"

    "Well yeah, I knew you wouldn't let it go that easily"

   "You bet"

   "I'll call you later today to give you the whole gist"

   "Okay, see you later"

   "Bye"

    The line went dead and I went back into Ryan's room which was a little different from how I knew it back then. Jade and Ryan were both sitting on the floor with a space in their middle where I had sat moments ago and I plopped down back into the space.

    "So, what has happened?" I asked no one in particular as I picked up a bowl of popcorn,

    "The woman has found out that her husband is cheating on her and is looking for a way to revenge" Jade replied, her eyes glued to the TV and I nodded.

   We watched about two more episodes before deciding that our moms would have finished their reunion chat, so we went downstairs into the sitting room only to find them still talking.

    They looked up at our entrance and smiled, "you guys enjoying yourselves?" Aunt Melanie asked,

   "Yeah sure......"

   "But I'm starving" Ryan chipped in,

   "Okay then, I'll get started on dinner"

    "Melanie, I think I should be getting to the hotel now" my mum said,

    "Won't you stay for dinner?" Aunt Melanie asked and she sighed,

    "I don't want to bother you"

    "Oh stop that, having dinner with us is no bother besides Frank would be excited to see you"

    "That's true, where is he?"

    I turned to face my best friends as our moms started chatting again, "let's go make something for ourselves" I said and they nodded in agreement. If we waited for dinner, we would starve till thy kingdom come.

   We entered the kitchen and rummaged through the fridge for something to eat buy found nothing ready made, "should we go to donnakins?" Jade asked,

   "Isn't it late?"

   "It's just past seven"

    "Fine let's go"

    We went into the sitting room again and was going out when Aunt Melanie stopped us, "children, there's something I want to show all of you",

   "What's that?" My mom asked before we could and we all faced Aunt Melanie,

   "It's a surprise, come with me" she said and stood up with my mom following suit.

   "I'm getting curious" I muttered  to Jade and Ryan,

    "Yeah, me too" Jade said.

   We followed Aunt Melanie outside and she led us to the backyard where the gate connecting both houses sat.

    Wait a damn minute!

   Is this what I think it is?

   Turning to Jade and Ryan, I saw similar looks of surprise or should I say apprehension on their faces giving me no answer to my question and I faced front again.

   We all watched as Aunt Melanie opened the connecting gate and led us into the backyard of the other house that meant so much to me and my mom. It sat there looking forlorn and dark with no single soul in it but suddenly all the lights went on and Uncle Richard came out,

   "Surprise!" He and Aunt Melanie said to us and I felt tears sting my eyes, "Oh my god" I muttered silently, staring at the house that was suddenly looking lively and occupied.

   "Melanie, what is this?" My mom asked, surprise evident in her voice,

   "This is your house and there's no need for an hotel"

   "But I thought the house would have been sold by now"

   "Well, I and Richard decided to keep it because we knew you would come back one day"

   "Oh my god" my mum muttered too, her eyes turning glassy and she pulled Aunt Melanie into a hug,

   "Thank you so much, you don't know how much this means to me"

   I do understand" she replied with a wavering voice and I felt tears run down my cheeks. This is a lot.

   Two pair of arms came around me for a hug and I knew without looking that they were the arms of my best friends. It felt so good to have them around and I muttered it to them making them smile.

   We pulled back from the hug after a while and faced our moms and Uncle Richard, "thanks for this, it means a lot",

   "Come here" Aunt Melanie said and I went willingly into her arms for a hug.

   I gave uncle Richard a hug too before cleaning the traces of tears on my cheeks, "let's go in" he said and we went into the brightly lit house.

                           ****

    "I still can't believe you didn't tell us about all this...... we could have helped" Ryan accused about an hour later as we sat down to a nice dinner of fish and vegetables,

   "You're right, we would have loved to help" Jade agreed,

   "Yeah, we just thought to keep it a surprise for all of you" Aunt Melanie said and I smiled,

  "It was indeed a surprise"

   "I'm just glad that we are all together now........uhmm.... how about a minute silence for Frank?",

    "Sure" we all chorused and during that minute of silence, I remembered all the love and care my father had for me and my best friends.

   After that, we dug into dinner with conversations flowing around.

                         ****

     I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter?