The next two through the door were Irene and Edward. Irene was fussing about Edward"s yukata when she saw Amelia. She rushed to Amelia"s side. "Amelia, how are you feeling, my dear sweet girl?" Edward bowed to Edna then followed his wife and looked at Amelia. "Hey, I"m home. I hope that you are doing well."
"Mother, Father, thank you. I am doing a lot better now. I do not know why I had another bad attack but Gabriel was able to take care of me. Please take a seat. Dinner should be served soon." Amelia touched her mother"s hand. "Father, I am glad to see that you have returned safely. It must have been a long trip. I hope that you are doing okay and that you were able to get some rest. Please do not worry about me. I am doing well." Amelia bowed her head.
"Okay, if you say you are doing alright then we will take our seats." Edward guided Irene next to the door and sat down.
Amelia watched her parents walk away and sit down. She leaned her back against the post and closed her eyes. "I love that we are able to spend some time with everyone. I bet that you are excited to see your family all together again."
"It is nice to see everyone in one place. I am willing to be that Kazuki is going to continue to freak out but honestly, my family is happy to see him again." Gabriel shook his head and sighed. "Silly older brother I have." after he whispered that the door opened and in walked Clarence.
Clarence looked around the room and his eyes narrowed at Kazuki but he ignored him for now and went to Amelia. "I heard that you had another attack. Are you doing better now?"
"Yes, Father Clarence. I am feeling better now. I am sorry for causing you concern." Amelia looked at Clarence surprised.
"After dinner, I would like to do a check-up. I heard from Miyuki that you had a bad attack. Gabriel, you did well on keeping the bowl in your room. I will take a sample so that we can go over a few tests. Now, I have to ask. What business do you think that it is any of yours to show up here again Kazuki?" Clarence turned and was glaring at Kazuki. "I do not blame you Suzuka."
"EEEPP." Kazuki cowered in fear as Clarence stepped closer and closer to Kazuki. "I"m sorry Father. I was wrong to leave the house in the first place. Please forgive me." Kazuki bowed down to Clarence"s feet.
"Oh, is that so? So you stole your finance and took off to G.o.d knows where and you never once came home in the last six years. Did you not think about the repercussions for your actions?!" Clarence raises his voice.
Mayumi crawls over to Amelia. She pulls on Amelia"s sleeve and looks at the hidden bundle. "May I grab the flowers for Grandfather now?"
Gabriel nodded at the girl and smiled. "Go ahead. I think that now is a good time to give him the flowers."
Mayumi pulls out the bundle of flowers and skips to her Grandfather"s side. She pulls on his sleeve. "h.e.l.lo, Grandfather. My name is Mayumi. I have a gift for you!"
Clarence breaks eye contact with Kazuki and looks down at the little girl that was pulling on his sleeve. "Well aren"t you such a sweetheart. What did you get for me?"
Mayumi holds out the flowers to Clarence. Her smile was so bright with happiness. She handed the gift to him, "Don"t be too hard on Daddy, please."
Clarence took the flowers from Mayumi and patted her head. Well, aren"t you such a cute little angel. Mayumi, I am glad that I finally get to meet you."
Mayumi smiled and went back to the pile and started to hand out her flowers to everyone. Then Itsuki got up and joined her and gave flowers to everyone.
Amelia watched and stayed seated. "We will hand ours out after dinner. That way everyone will have food in their bellies and they do not get upset that food is delayed. Suzuka needs food the most."
After the children were seated again. Clarence took one more glare at Kazuki before taking his seat. "Good evening. To all the new faces welcome to our dinner party to all the old faces well you know what will happen. To those of you who are new welcome. There is a tradition in the family that each time we gather we have a drink but there are four of you that will not be able to drink so I have had the servants prepare you something safer." He clapped his hands.
The side doors opened and the servants came in carrying sake. They went to all the adults and gave them sake skipping Amelia and Suzuka. Miyuki came in with a red juice for her to drink and gave the same to Suzuka. Sara brought out some Apple juice for the children and poured the gla.s.ses.
"To new beginnings!" Clarence says this, then holds his cup up. And everyone else raised their cups and drank their drinks. Clarence was glancing at Mayumi and Suzuka.
The servants poured another gla.s.s and then left the room. They came back a few minutes later and started to hand out food. Miyuki served Amelia and Gabriel their food and sat off to the side.
Clarence waited until everyone had food before saying something else. "Now that we all have our meals. I just want to congratulate Gabriel for finally agreeing to a partner and to the sweet Amelia, Welcome to the family. Kazuki as mad as I am, I expect that you will work hard and make it up to Gabriel who stepped into your position while you were gone. Suzuka welcome back and thank you for taking care of my foolish son. Let"s eat. Itadakimasu."