As the last person standing in her doorway stepped in and gave her a small smile, Shaliene felt her heart skip a beat. She shyly smiled at him and closed the door as her mother appeared, all dressed up, and greeted their guests.
"Tom, Suzie! It's so great to see y'all again after all these years! I didn't realize y'all had moved back?" Vivienne exclaimed as she went to hug both the new comers.
"Yes, we've been back in the country for about a year now." said Suzie, returning the embrace with a large grin.
"And this can't be little Benny! When you moved he was still a baby." exclaimed Vivienne, pointing to the young man who was trying to act like it didn't phase him to be called his childhood nickname. Shaliene noticed however, the particularly vibrant shade of red his face was turning.
"What's all this racket about?" said David as he descended the stairs from his office.
"Honey, these are the Smiths I've been telling you about!" said Vivienne as her husband joined her at the base of the stairs, "They're old family friends."
"Oh! It's so nice to finally meet your family." David asserted, reaching out to shake both Mr.Smiths hands. "You're all my wife can seem to talk about lately!"
"Oh, I forgot. You've never met our daughter, Shaliene." Vivienne realized as she introduced her daughter to the Mr. and Mrs. Smith. "Tom, Suzie, this is our daughter, Shaliene Deborah Lewis." she said, gesturing toward Shaliene.
Upon hearing her name mentioned, she snapped out of her mind and back into the conversation, mustering a simple, "Hi."
"Vivienne, she's every bit as beautiful as you." Tom politely said, which made Shaliene turn the same shade of red as "little Benny" did earlier. Beautiful wasn't a word Shaliene was used to being called.
"How is the rest of the family?" inquired Vivienne, leading the conversation toward extensive small talk, in which you hear who married who, who had a baby, who had died; the full circle of life.
As all this transpired Shaliene become more confused by each sentence. How does my mother know these people? When has she ever mentioned them? How is it that I've never heard of them? Distracted by all these questions Shaliene didn't even notice the young man stealing glances at her as their parents carried on.
YOU ARE READING
My Past, Your Past, Our Future (arranged marriage)
RomanceI knew the moment he walked through that door, and into my life, everything was about to change. For better or worse, I didn't know. But one thing I do know is that I'll never forget him and all we went through. This is our story. (Christian Romance)
