Emerald Eyes

38 - Family

As we arrived to the beautiful restaurant at the waterside, Martijn's parents and his younger sister were inside already. We parked the car and made our way inside after I had changed into my heels. As we arrived to the table, Karin and Gerard stood up to welcome us with a smile. Martijn gave each of them a hug and I followed afterwards. "Hello Karin.", I smiled as I hugged his mum, "Thank you so much for inviting me to come with you guys, I really appreciate it. Congratulations on your wedding anniversary!" "Line, my darling, you're so welcome. I hope we'll have a wonderful evening together!", she replied. Then Gerard approached me and gave me a hug as well: "Hello Line!", he said, "It's so good to see you. And if I may say that, you look beautiful tonight!" "Thank you so much, Gerard! That means a lot. Oh and congratulations on your wedding anniversary! Thanks for inviting me to celebrate with you!", I answered. It was crazy, Martijn's family was so kind and welcoming, that I immediately felt at home once more. Martijn then introduced me to his younger sister: "Okay, so honey, this is Laura, my younger sister. Laura, this is Line." Laura immediately came up to me with the same big smile that I loved on Martijn so much and offered me a hug: "Hey girl! It's so nice to finally meet you! Martijn has been talking about you non-stop, I swear! Welcome to the family!" She was just as nice as the rest of Martijn's family, he was really blessed with wonderful people around him. "Hi Laura! I'm so happy to finally get to meet you as well!" We were interrupted by Karin who asked us to take a seat so we could have a look at the menu. Martijn and Laura sat down next to their dad and Karin offered me to sit next to her. We all took a look at the menu and then ordered our food. Laura and Martijn were deep in a conversation with their father soon, so Karin turned her attention towards me and I attempted to start a conversation: "Thank you again so much for inviting me tonight, Karin. This really means a lot to me. It's a beautiful thing that you guys spend so much time together as a family." "Oh, of course darling! We're happy to have you here.", she said and added: "Spending time as a family has always been important to us, but especially since Martijn started his career. He says it keeps him grounded with all these crazy things going on." "I can imagine that. His schedule is crazy...", I answered. "Oh yes it is. But I feel like recently, he tries to be home in Amsterdam a little more than before. He's so genuinely happy when you're around.", she said. A smile appeared on my face: "I couldn't ask for a better person to spend time with than him. You know, he's always there, whenever I miss home or I feel down. He's amazing." "I'm glad to hear that. Martijn mentioned that you and your dad are really close, right? I'd love to meet him one day.", Karin answered. "Absolutely! I'd love to be able to return the favor. Maybe I can invite you all to come to Leiden, it's where I grew up and my dad still lives there. We'd be happy to have you over one day.", I suggested. Suddenly Martijn joined our conversation from the other side of the table: "She took me to Leiden once and it was such a beautiful weekend. Y'all really have to meet her dad, he's amazing!" "Aww, I'm sure he'd love to hear that. Thank you, Tijn.", I smiled at Martijn. "We should really make that happen one day. Or if not, we can still invite him to come to Amsterdam as well. We'll find a way for sure.", he smiled back at me. Oh, young love. We talked about growing up in Leiden for a little while, before our food arrived and we indulged in it. After dinner, we all went out for a walk along the waterfront together, before it was time for us to head home again. We hugged his family goodbye and as we closed the doors of my car behind us, I looked at Martijn and said: "Thank you." Nothing more than that. He gave me a smile and asked: "What for baby?" "For making me feel like a part of your family, for you all being so welcoming to me. I have never experienced that in a relationship before. It feels just so wonderful... and somehow it cures the sadness of "only" having my dad left as my family. There's not many others I would consider to be family, you know?", I explained. Martijn gave me a hug from the passenger seat and said: "Oh baby, I'm so glad you feel like part of the family, cause it is all that you deserve. You deserve all the love I could possibly give to another person. I might suck at showing it sometimes, but you mean the world to me, baby. I promise." "I love you.", I answered and Martijn said the same thing back. "I love you too."