Fulfillment(23)

He opened the back door and let Nate and Charli out. They ran towards my parents and wrapped their arms around them while Bryce came around to my door and unbuckled my belt. He shot a quick glance toward my family which I found to be incredibly adorable. I placed my finger under his chin and directed his face to look at me.

“Hey, I thought you said us Blaxlos were going to be putty in your hands, so why the nerves? Everything is going to be fine; they are going to love you.” I leaned forward once my buckle was undone and gave him a quick kiss.

He reached in and placed both his hands on my hips then lifted me to the ground. “I’m not nervous.”

“Liar. Come on.” I grabbed his hand and led him to my smiling family.





As we approached, Olivia was singing ‘riding in a copta...wocka wocka wocka’. She put her arms out, so I took her from Jen as I kissed my sister on the cheek.

“Hello Livy, did you see the big copta?”

She excitedly pointed to the helicopter. “Dere dere”

“Yes. And what sound does a copta make?”

She bounced up and down in my arms. “ Wocka wocka wocka.”

I laughed. “Good girl.” I leaned in and gave a Steven a peck on the cheek too. “Hi, Steven. Steven this is Bryce. Bryce, my brother-in-law Steven.”

They shook hands. “Nice to meet ya, Mate.”

“Likewise,” Bryce said with a smile.

“And you remember Jen.”

“Hi, Bryce, it’s nice to see you again. So, it would appear you don’t like driving,” she said with a silly grin. “I’m just kidding.”

Bryce went to explain. “I could’ve—”

I interrupted. “The kids wanted to fly, so we flew to cheer them up.” I raised my eyebrows at her. “Anyway, why drive when you can fly?”

“Yeah, fair enough,” she replied.

I gently placed my hand back in Bryce’s, his grip tightening to let me know he appreciated my closeness. We moved along the receiving line my family had created while Olivia kept singing ‘wocka wocka’ into my ear.

“Hi, Mum.” She wrapped her arms around me, squashing Livy at the same time. I pulled back after kissing her cheek. “Mum this is Bryce. Bryce, this is my mum, Maryann.”

She practically pushed me aside and wrapped her arms around him. “It’s so lovely to finally meet you, Bryce. Alexis has told me so much about you.”

You’re such a liar, Mum. I haven’t told you SO much about anything.

Bryce raised his eyebrows at me, obviously pleased to hear of my so-called ‘bragging’. “It’s a pleasure to meet you too, Mrs. Blaxlo,” he said.

“Oh, you’re so sweet, but please, call me Maryann.”

I passed Olivia to Mum and then approached my Dad who was still eyeing off the helicopter. “Bryce, this is my dad, Graeme.”

Bryce shot out his hand. “Nice to meet you, Graeme—”

“Please, call me Mr. Blaxlo.” Dad said, in a stern and mildly intimidating voice.

“Dad!” I smiled at my father’s not so funny joke. “He’s kidding, Bryce,” I said as I gave my dad a hug. “You’re not funny, Dad.”

Dad held out his hand to Bryce while chuckling to himself. He shrugged his shoulders. “Nice to meet you, Bryce.” They shook hands.

“Thanks for letting us land the chopper in your paddock. I hope it didn’t spook your cattle.”

Dad seemed pleased with Bryce’s concern for his beloved bovine. “Nah, it’s all good, although, you can do me a favour.”

“Sure, what is it?”

“I wouldn’t mind an aerial view of my property while your here.”

“Of course, not a problem. Do you want to go up now?” Bryce asked enthusiastically.

I butted in. “No, not yet. Let us get settled in and then you can go joyriding.”

***

After the formal introductions were complete—apart from my brother who had no sense of appointed time—we settled in. Bryce got better acquainted with my family over a coffee and some of Mum’s scones. He was impressed with her baked masterpieces, so much so that he asked her what she had put in them. I watched her put her finger up to her lips, indicating it was a secret ingredient, but then dragging him into the kitchen to reveal what it was. I observed his expression of disbelief which had me now wondering what it was too—she refused to tell me...and so I did Bryce. I’ll remember that.

Mum had also put out a platter of cheeses. I would normally dig in to the blue cheese, but I knew it was on the not-safe-to-eat-while-you’re-pregnant-list, so I avoided it and selected the cubed cheddar instead. Unfortunately, blue cheese had a powerful and God awful stench, and my super-human smelling abilities had honed in on that stench, triggering my vomit-express to leave stomach-station and begin its journey to its destination—my mouth. In my panic, I quickly covered my nose and mouth with my hand, then realising being sick was inevitable, shot up and ran for the toilet.