Gregory loved the old photographs, he looked for a long time at the photo of his dad, holding him as a baby, then he said: "I wish I knew him, David has such a nice dad."
Louise gulped on the thickness in her throat and she wiped the lonely tear from her cheek. "Me too sweetie." She gave him a sideways hug, then she picked a photo of her parents, holding Gregory on his fifth birthday and him and his grandpa with the fishing rod.
His face lit up, "when are we going to visit them again?" He asked.
"We will see how it goes, it might be soon, would you mind if we take uncle Clint with us?"
"Why?" He asked, with a raised eyebrow.
"Maybe to show them the person who took care of us when everything was hopeless and we nearly landed on the streets."
"Okay, it makes sense."
"Let's finish this family page, here is a new photo of you and granny Tersia at the cottage, then we can make a page of you, this one on your bicycle, the one with the fish and one of you in your secret garden."
"I like that, now I can show David my secret garden. Can we make a page of you and me together?"
"Sure, there is a lot of nice photos that granny took of us in your secret garden."
"I love you mom, you're the best, this is such a special birthday gift." He said, giving her a bear hug.
"You're welcome, we can add on as the years go by, would you like that?"
"Yes." He replied with a big smile.
Louise started her new job and Gregory loved to help David on Saturdays with his garden chores, he even asked if he could stay over on Friday nights to enable them an early start on Saturday mornings.
Clint loved the idea of a movie night on Friday nights, it became a habit and he even agreed that Louise may choose every second video. As it was one of her favorite stories when she was a child, she chose "Little house on the prairie" one night.
Clint smiled at her silent tears when she tried to wipe them off before he noticed. He gave her a sideways hug. She smiled, "I'm sorry, I should have known I would miss my family big time if I watch this." She said shyly.
"Why don't we go and visit them, we are living together for more than eight months now, I would like to meet them."
"Would you like to meet them, can we go next weekend? Can I phone them tomorrow to make arrangements?" She asked excited, as he nodded to all her questions. Then she surprised him with a kiss on his forehead.
He took her in his arms and lifted her chin, as he pressed his lips to her half-open mouth and kissed her passionately.
"I have been looking forward to this for such a long time now, I just couldn't help it. You changed my life in so many ways, my mom and my sister are telling me that every day. You don't know how they nag me to take it one step further."
"They do? I thought they were laughing behind my back because I moved in with a man that I hardly knew."
"Did they treat you that way?"
"No, Riana treats me more like a sister than Lucy and your mom is really sweet, I can't complain, they are good to me."
"They better be, if they want this selfish old bachelor to get closer to the girl that he loves."
Louise looked into his eyes, the surprise was written all over her face: "Yes, I said that I knew it the day that I met you, but I didn't want to scare you away," He said as he took her face in his hands and kissed her again.