It was a quiet trip home to the house and once River and Haruo got home, they were filled with memories. As Haruo walked in the door, he noticed River looking pensive and he knew that his wife was looking inward and remember how little Brianna used to be.
River was silent; she was too busy remembering what Brianna used to be, first the little baby that she had brought home from the hospital...
...and she remembered how Haruo used to dote on his daughter...and she smiled a sad smile...knowing that now those times were but a memory.
Haruo had doted on Brianna, cradling her when she wanted to be picked up and held and she seemed to always have been Daddy's girl.
What a beautiful young woman, Brianna had grown into, her mother thought on the day of her daughter's graduation, a milestone that would never come again.
Her daughter was so small back then as she remembered her daughter tugging at her hair on the birthday where she turned from a toddler to a child.
She remembered the little hopeful girl that gazed up at the sky trying to figure out what to wish for before she blew out her birthday cake when she aged up to teen.
...and even though she felt like a big girl, she never failed to ask her dad for advice...if she needed it. And those were memories that would never go away, even if, in her mind, they were faded.
Trying to hiccup back the tears, she gazed over at her grown daughter thinking: My baby girl is all grown up...
"You OK, honey?" Haruo asked River, interrupting her stroll down memory lane.
"I think so...but...just remembering how she was so small when she came home...and now..." her voice caught for a brief moment...
...Haruo didn't say anything but enfolded her into his arms. No words were needed. They were both feeling the same way.
"You'd better answer that phone, sweetheart..." River nudged him as that phone made Haruo want to throw it into the lake on their property.
This was definitely NOT the right time for Jamie Jolina-Frio to make a reappearance in their lives and Haruo let her have it: blasted her with both verbal barrels, telling her that they had a graduation dinner that they had to prepare and to kindly not intrude in their lives ever again. River despite her sadness at seeing another one of her children grow up and get ready to leave the nest...(even though they won't for a while yet) cracked a slight bit of a smile...as she heard Haruo rant at Jamie.
"I love you, you know that..." River said softly to Haruo as he looked back at her with an apologetic I'm sorry you had to hear that...look on his face.
Yasunobu was feeling his age even more...as he talked to his grandchildren who looked so grown-up now. They were starting on their life's journey and they would be establishing themselves in life. Gosh, how he loved them and he was sad that his own life was coming to an end; that he would be there to see them achieve great things.
"Alanna-chan, Alan-kun...Jinsei o ganbatte ne...tanomu desu..." he said to the kids who were standing in front of him.
"We'll do our best, Grandpa"...Alanna and Alan both said in unison.
Alanna by this time had changed over into her every-day clothes from her graduation robes when River looked over (memories still on her mind) at her. When everyone in the enormous house was all together in one room, one could really see just how crowded the communal section of the home became.
Both Braden and Aiden took that opportunity to sneak a snack from the fridge.
"You put that back..." River scolded the two boys, one of them hers, the other one her late friend's son...but family nonetheless as he was a Chikamori. "We'll be having dinner in a little while. You snack, you're not going to have any room left for real dinner!" Ah...such was life.
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