Underwater

Chapter 33: The Second

"Hello, mother," Reina greeted Erika, who seemed to have been waiting by the door for their arrival. Reina hadn't even rung the doorbell but Erika had rushed to let her in.

"Hello, both!" she said excitedly.

Reina felt a bit bad. Both Delwyn and her family had expressed an interest in meeting each other and there had been a loose plan involving her bringing Delwyn back on the weekend, but she hadn't finalized any of details. She wasn't sure if she should, because there were too many unknowns. Like if her grandfather refused to undo the seal, or if Delwyn suddenly needed to be return to Aquina.

But after everything went well at the Evenstad main house and even her grandfather had asked her to introduce Delwyn to her parents, she decided that the time had come. So Reina had called her parents and told them that they would be there in an hour.

Seeing her mother's disheveled state, Reina figured that her mother had run around trying to ready the house to welcome Delwyn and accommodate their sudden arrival. It weighed on Reina's conscience.

"Sorry for giving you such late notice," Reina apologized as her mother welcomed them both in. Delwyn had to lower his head to enter the house.

"Oh, not at all! We knew you'd be visiting sometime this weekend, so everything was more or less ready," Erika said. Her eyes were glued to Reina's lover, who seemed slightly uncomfortable under Erika's appraising stare. "Delwyn, yes? We've been so excited to meet you." Erika embraced Delwyn and the prince shot Reina an alarmed look.

I doubt anyone has ever hugged him on their first meeting... He was, after all, a member of a royal family.

"...I've been looking forward to our meeting too," he responded stiffly. Reina suppressed a chuckle, pressing her hand to her mouth.

"Are they here?" Alan asked, jogging around a corner.

"Yes! And look at what amazing taste our daughter has!" Erika said as she released Delwyn, patting him on the back. "Ah, I can only imagine how gorgeous Cade is! You have to send us a photo as soon as you can, Reina."

"I'll do my best." After a lot of pestering, Reina had told her parents that she would try to get an image of their son sent to her parents. She wasn't sure how she would manage it. For one, their son couldn't shift into a human yet.

"I'm Alan. Welcome to our home, son." Alan said, stretching out his arm so that Delwyn could shake it. Delwyn stared at it in confusion for a moment. Alan wasn't thwarted – he grasped Delwyn's hand and shook it in between two of his.

"Thank you. I'm sorry it's taken me so long to visit," Delwyn said.

Before Alan could reply, Reina's brothers then came skidding around the corner. When they caught sight of Delwyn, they stopped.

"Alright, let's not overwhelm Delwyn. Everyone to the living room!" Erika declared.

The entire party moved to the living room, where an array of couches were arranged around a coffee table. A large flat screen TV was on the low table opposite the three-seater couch. Reina pulled her lover to one of the two-seaters, so that no one could try to further invade Delwyn's personal space. He already seemed uneasy enough.

"Oh, Delwyn's here. Hi again," Alice greeted. Heather, Reina's sister, hid behind a wall. She seemed conflicted.

"Heather. Come here," Reina told the youngest, holding open her arms. Hearing her name, Heather ran over to her sister, eyeing Delwyn warily the whole time.

"Careful of Reina's stomach," Erika warned as she lowered a tray of drinks to the table.

Heather nodded and sat in Reina's lap gingerly, careful not to exert any pressure on Reina's midriff.