“You
know Bette I think it does”

It made
my heart smile a little at her explanation it summed it up a friendship with no
expectation and blind acceptance, it was high school but I think it was easy
for the rest of us to forget that although maybe later in life it was good that
the two of them finally had what he rest of us found so easy to accommodate in
our lives. It was plenty for me as I took Bette’s arm again and we made our way
inside.

—————————————–Andy—————————————

I stood
with my arm around Karen’s shoulders. Glad to be with her again after leaving
her in London when we had returned to LA with Holly those months ago. We were
laughing over the part she had played in helping the gang to separate us which
had lead to my miserable attempt at escape with Alice who felt the need to prove
her innocence for once. Holly sat in my other arm a little shy due to all the
people crowded around, some of whom she didn’t know yet as she had not attended
the lunch we had yesterday with Rach’s family.

Rach had
not come in yet but I could see Bette missing too and figured they were having
a chat so I made my way over to Rachel’s family to try and immediately break
the divide in the room that seemed to be created due to the slightly
overwhelming nature of the group of people I had arrived with.

As I approached
the delight on their faces was unmistakable.

            “Mike,
Klara, I would like to introduce you to Holly”

I gently
prized holly’s head away from my neck so I could look into her eyes and
reassure her as I spoke.

            “Holly,
these are your mommy Rachel’s mum and dad, that makes them your nana and pop’s”

It took
a few seconds but once she had thought it through and it seemed she had decided
this was okay she looked over at them and waved her hand in greeting.

With the
ice broken it was not long at all before she was in Mike’s arms chatting to her
new found family Rachel’s brother sister and aunt joining the group once they
saw that Holly was okay with the attention. I moved away to give them some time
before we were called to dinner to start bonding with the girl I now considered
my daughter but made sure to stay in eye line so she could see me if she needed
to be reassured.