Strength In Our Bonds (The Strength in Generations Accompanying Book)

Parental Visits

Eventually, Martine was going to ask his girlfriend to marry him; he was sure of this. However, he hadn't really thought about it until one particular day at home: his parents would probably want to meet her first.

Martine had a terrible habit of getting ahead of himself sometimes.

His father, Irvine, and Leiria's mother, Spencer-Lynn, had been good friends back in their day, so his parents knew who Leiria was; they just didn't exactly know her, as a person. They didn't know about her good manners or her quirks or any of that other stuff that made Martine fall head over heels. He'd have to change that soon.

"You want me to meet your parents?" asked Leiria, clearly surprised. She held a vanilla milkshake in her left hand, her right hand tightly clutching Martine's left, as they walked together. "Oh. Okay. I guess so."

"You know you can tell me how you actually feel about the idea, Leiria."

"I don't mind. Really." She took a sip from her milkshake. "Where would we meet? I don't believe that civilians are allowed into Garden."

"Aw, damn. I didn't think of that!" Martine facepalmed. "Maybe I can talk to Raine's dad, see if I can get an exception for this."

Leiria giggled, "From what I've heard of him, Mr. Leonhart doesn't seem inclined to bend the rules ever, Martine."

"Yeah." Martine sighed. "Why so formal? Squall is your..." He did the math in his head, "Your cousin. I'm sure you could get away with just calling him Squall."

"Be that as it may, not only have we never held a conversation a day in our lives, we're only cousins by marriage. We have not built up the rapport for that to be acceptable."

"You're starting to sound like Aurelie's gram," Martine said with a chuckle.

"I guess so." Leiria faintly smiled.

"Anyway, I'll go home and talk to my parents about it. Maybe we can all meet up somewhere, maybe to have lunch."

"Okay." Leiria nodded. "Will you be busy tonight? I wanted to call you before I fall asleep again."

"It's always so cute when you fall asleep on the phone." Martine laughed. They'd made it to Leiria's house now, and they both stood on the stairs. "Nah, I ain't busy at all today that I know of. I'll call you this time, okay?"

Leiria nodded again. "Okay."

Martine pulled her close, giving her a kiss, before heading back to Garden.

~ * ~

"He wants you to meet his parents?" asked Logan, more surprised than Leiria had been. "É muito estranho, you already know his parents, no?"

"I know who they are, yes." Leiria nodded. "But I've never actually sat and talked to them, that I can remember."

"Hmm." Logan sat on the couch in the living room, and signaled for Leiria to sit with him. "I must think about this."

Leiria was confused. "Think about it how?"

"If he is so formally asking you to meet his parents, there must be some underlying reason why."

"Eu conheci. Martine isn't secretive; he'd probably tell me if I asked. I just... didn't ask. I'm sorry." Leiria was mentally scolding herself for not doing so.

"Don't be sorry. I realize now, Leiry, that your mother and I don't know Martine very well, either. Perhaps you should invite him to meet us, after you've done so with his parents." Logan put his feet up on the coffee table- something he could only do if his wife wasn't around. Spencer-Lynn hated that.