A Week Later...
Brian's mother, Bianca, set the dinner table with her two daughters bustling around her.
The dining room smelled warm and good. Her two young daughters were helping her, bickering softly over who got to place the cutlery.
She smoothed down her apron, looked over at her younger daughter, and gave a warm smile.
"Ashley, sweetie, do your mother a favour and go call your father from his study. The food is going to get cold if we wait any longer."
The girl hopped off down the hall.
"Don't run on the stairs! Be careful!" Bianca yelled after her, shaking her head with an amused sigh as she adjusted the flower arrangement in the middle of the table.
She finished setting the table and waited for her daughter and her husband to come back. But the minutes ticked by, and there was no sign of either her daughter or her husband.
"Ashley!" she called. "What is taking so long, darling?"
