Welcome to the Family

When Matt and I pulled up in my parents' driveway, I felt terribly sick. It wasn't Matt's driving or the fact that I didn't only cancel our date, but also bring him to my parents' house, just like my mother had told me to, but it was how incredibly sad her voice had sounded on the phone. I knew something terrible must have happened.

My father opened the door few minutes later. He looked normal, with his grayish black, thinning short hair and his neatly trimmed beard, which was also showing some gray hair. His icy blue eyes ran up and down Matt, and I thanked god that he wasn't wearing what he usually did, although I still noticed my dad's disapproving look at his tattooed arms. Don't get me wrong, my dad is the nicest person ever, he is just a little old-fashioned.

"Hello, you must be Matthew, I'm Ludwig," my dad greeted Matt with his cute German accent. Unlike my mom, who'd grown up in Montreal as the daughter of two German immigrants, he'd only moved to the States with my mom when my sister and I were very little, which is why he still had some accent left, especially with his th and r sounds.

"Yes, that would be me, pleasure to meet you," Matt replied politely and firmly shook his hand. "Come on in," my dad commanded and we followed him into my home. My mom sat there on the table, all dressed in black, but she'd carefully done her make-up and hair, so that if you didn't know her like I did, you'd think she was okay. "Vicky, love," she said as she got up to hug me. "Hi, Edith," Matt greeted her, and she gave him a hug, too. I was still amazed by how fond she was of him after such a short period of time.

"Vicky, I'm sorry. It's Opa," my mom began carefully, and I immediately knew what she meant. It can't be... Not Opa... "Who's Opa?" Matt interrupted us, while I felt my eyes burn. My world was collapsing. "Her grandpa, my dad...," my mom said silently, and then added, "Opa's the german word for grandpa. Anyway, he had an unexpected heart attack at the grocery store yesterday. He didn't suffer. He was dead immediately." I knew she was going to say something like that, but hearing the ugly truth said directly to my face pulled the trigger, and the first tear fell down my face. Please, God, let this be a nightmare. Please. Not Opa.

"Oh, fu-, uhm, I mean that's not good," Matt replied, obviously feeling very uncomfortable. It was only then that he turned around and saw me crying. "Vicky...," he whispered, but I didn't know what to say. I didn't even take notice of him carefully stroking my back while my mom pulled me into a tight embrace. It didn't really hit me unexpected though, we'd known his heart would eventually fail, and he'd lived far beyond his life expectancy anyway. There was also a strange comfort in knowing it didn't hurt, somehow.

"Vicky," my dad began and then swallowed thickly. My mom let go of me and sat down across Matt and me again while dad arrived with some iced tea. Matt immediately positioned his arm around my chair's backrest, obviously not that uncomfortable with physical contact in front of my parents. "There's another thing, Vicky. He was up in the cabin at Lac Louisa at that time. Axel is still there. We're taking him, but you have to go fetch him right now. He's probably starving," my mom ordered.

Sometimes, I find the coincidences in my life terrifying. Like the fact that Opa died in the middle of a grocery store in the middle of nowhere instead of an hour before or after grocery shopping in his house. I hate thinking about the what-ifs, but I find myself doing it over and over again anyway. What if he'd died in his cabin? Who, and when, would have found him? The cabin was literally at the end of the world, and the closest house was at least two kilometers away. It was also a vacation house, so most likely no-one would be there now anyway, and if so, they would never think of going to Opa's house.

"Who's Axel and why aren't you going?" Matt asked. I turned to him, still ashamed of my red and swollen face, and explained, "Axel is Opa's dog. German Shepherd, about 9 years old. The sweetest dog you'll ever meet."

Mom then said, "Vicky, you need to go now. I have this Blogdenheimer trial tomorrow, I still have so much to do. They changed almost all the witnesses on short notice, can you believe that…? Also, Matt, your trial is on wednesday, June 17. There's been a change of the date because the other party urged to get it out of the way as soon as possible. Are the two of you still fake going out?" Well, good question mom.

"I don't know, Matt, are we?" I asked him, feeling curious. Of course we'd fought, but we'd made up, too. But then again, when we decided on pretending to date, we were only friends. Of course I knew I had a major crush on him, but did he know he liked me back then? Had anything changed, just because now he knew I liked him more than just a friend or a hookup-buddy, and because now I was certain that he liked me - to a certain degree - too?

The singer then flashed me a dimpled smile while reaching out for my hand, flirtatiously rasping, "I'd love us to, baby. You even introduced me to your parents, so I'd say shit just got serious." He then changed to a more serious tone, "but Vicca, if you don't want to do this, just tell me. It's all up to you." Before he could remove his hand, I closed my grip and squeezed it tightly. "Sure baby, let's be together," I replied. I had no other choice.

"That's so cute, let me get my camera. Just so we have proof, you know. I'm pretty sure the other lawyer is going to question your relationship, he already did that in one of his letters to me," my mom said while getting up. "Sure, whatever," Matt mumbled, obviously not in the mood to talk about the upcoming trial.


Mom motioned us to get closer while assaulting us with her camera. "Come on guys, don't you know what it's like to be in love?" she asked, and my dad grinned while pushing us closer together. Matt threw me a questioning look while wrapping his arm around my waist, but I said "it's okay Matt, I won't bite." He immediately loosened up, realizing that I wasn't uncomfortable with him in front of my parents.

"Come on Vicky, peck his cheek or something," Mom ordered, and before I could reach up to his cheek, he gently lifted me up - bridal style - so that I could kiss his dimpled cheek. At the end of our little photo session, we had photos in four different poses. Matt with his arm around my waist, Matt sitting and me hugging him from behind, me kissing him on the cheek while being lifted up, and him kissing my hair while I was resting my head against his cheek.

Strangely, the photoshooting was a good way to get my mind off my grandad and his sudden, but somewhat expected death.

"Lovely," my dad commented. Mom then began once again, "Vicky, Canada. You have to go now. Come to think of it, Matt, why don't you go with her? Make it a weekend trip, or even longer. You're together, after all. Help her through a hard time, enjoy yourselves?" What? MOM! You can't order me to go on a honeymoon-ish vacation with the guy I actually like when I'm supposed to grieve... Or can you?

"Wait, what? Slow down, we just got together a couple of minutes ago, now we're going to Canada? Like... now?" Matt seemed as baffled as I was. A couple of days alone in a lakehouse with zero neighbors, with MATT? And my own mother is the one to make me go, with HIM? What kind of mother is she?

But then again, I knew my mom suspected nothing about me and Matt. The only thing I knew was that, even though the circumstances were pretty sad, I was excited like a four-year-old on the day before her birthday. That again made me sad, because I knew I should be grieving, but then again, we'd all expected it somehow.


"Yes Matt, dear boyfriend, do you want to come to Canada with me?"

Notes

Hello lovies, I hope you had a nice weekend. Here's my update.

What do you think? Will Matt come to Canada with her? If so, what do you think will happen?