Meeting with Gloria

"Hola Jay," I heard a womanly voice with a strong Latin accent shout. Soon after, I heard a loud bang.

It was the sound of a door closing.

I was currently at my grandpa's house because tonight was the dinner where he would tell the others about Gloria. I still haven't met her.

But I am very sure that I will meet her today, as there is a high probability that this will be Gloria.

Soon after, I saw the woman arrive.

"Who are you?" she asked, seeing me.

She looked beautiful. Really beautiful. If my grandpa hadn't told me her age, I would have thought she was younger than 35.

"This is one of the grandkids I told you about," my grandpa said, kissing her.

He leaned into her and whispered in her ear.

Well, you couldn't call that whispering as I easily overheard it. Maybe it was on purpose, or maybe my grandpa just had bad hearing.

"The genius one," that was what he whispered.

"Hola Gabriel. I am Gloria," she said in broken English.

"No necesitas hablar inglés. Puedo hablar español con fluidez,"(No need to speak English. I can speak Spanish fluently). I said, speaking Spanish with her. It was a fact that people could better adjust to new people if they had something familiar to them.

"Gracias a Dios. Pensé que nunca podría hablar inglés con alguien de la familia de Jay,"(Thank God. I thought I could never speak English with someone in Jay's family.) she said, heaving a sigh of relief.

"Excuse me? Could you please speak English? I don't understand a word," Grandpa said from the side.

Gloria and I looked at each other and started to laugh.

I understood why Jay loved Gloria. She was an excellent woman, especially her personality.

After that, Gloria and I mainly talked in English. We all started to decorate the dinner table. When Gloria and I were alone, we started to speak Spanish. If Jay joined, we switched to English.

I even promised to help her with English.

Our relationship didn't take long to advance by leaps and bounds.

Soon it was time for the main event to come.

"Hide, Gloria. You will be the surprise today," I said to her with mixed feelings.

A few seconds later, the door opened.

Mom, Dad, Haley, Alex, Luke, Uncle Mitchell, and Uncle Cameron came in through the door.

"I am just saying. You both shouldn't fly to Europe for vacation," I immediately heard Mom say as soon as the door opened.

"How do you know we shouldn't? You and we have never been to Europe. Maybe I would be a fashion king there," Uncle Mitchell said, showing off his clothes. Sadly, he wasn't that stylish. He wouldn't get scouted in Europe.

"Hi," I greeted them loudly as they hadn't noticed me before that.

"Oh, hi Gabe. What are you doing here with Grandpa?" Mom asked me. The others also listened curiously.

"I helped him decorate the place," I just said as a lame excuse.

The others knew it was an excuse for something, but they couldn't expose me.

Soon everyone sat down at the dining table. Meanwhile, Grandpa had already come and greeted everyone.

After we all sat down, Grandpa stood up.

"I have something to announce," Grandpa said.

"If it is about our trip to Europe, don't even try!" Uncle Mitchell said loudly.

"What trip to Europe—Anyway, I have something to tell you guys. It is important. As you know, DeDe and I have been separated for a considerable time now. I still like her—" Grandpa announced and wanted to introduce Gloria, but somehow he managed to formulate it in a way that was easily misunderstood.

Before he could clarify, Mom interrupted.

"Please don't tell me you are getting back with her," Mom said while taking a sip of her wine.

"Hola," Gloria suddenly came out of the room. It seems she misheard some things and accidentally came out too early.

"Since when did you get such a beautiful housekeeper, Jay?" Uncle Cam said with a chuckle.

"She isn't my housekeeper. SHE IS MY LOVER," Grandpa finally said it out loud.

To the shock of everyone. The atmosphere got pretty awkward.

"Gloria, please introduce yourself to us," I said to Gloria, trying to ease her way into the family.

"I am Gloria. I come from a poor Colombian village and am 35 years old. I love Jay deeply," Even though she tried to sound sincere, it was a huge trap. Almost everyone hearing that would misunderstand her for a gold digger.

As expected, the atmosphere became even more awkward.

I still tried to ease the atmosphere, but nothing helped.

After many failed attempts, the dinner ended in such a weird atmosphere.

Soon, Mom, Dad, Haley, Alex, Luke, and I all sat in the car.

"I can't believe that Dad has someone new after Mom. And she is a gold digger," Mom complained.

"Don't overreact, dear. It seems that she has a beautiful bo— personality," Dad said, saving himself at the last minute.

"Mom, I don't think you should judge her this soon. From what I have seen, she is a great woman. Grandpa didn't start to date her only because of her looks. I am sure of that. She has a great personality. You only need to get to know her better," I tried to convince my mom.

"I will, Gabe," she said, but I saw in her eyes that her judgment couldn't be changed as quickly as I hoped it could be.

With that dammed atmosphere, we all went to bed.

"Gabe?" I suddenly heard a voice say while I was trying to sleep.

"Yes," I answered. I knew it was Haley. Who would it be besides my roommate?

"Do you think we will see Nana again?" she asked with concern in her voice. Even though she wasn't young anymore, she was still very innocent.

"Of course. Nana loves us as much as Grandpa, but she can't show it as well as he does. She loves us in her way," I said, standing up and going towards Haley's bedside.

I went to her bedside and lay down on the floor.

I put my head on the bed to let it rest.

Just like that, I told her some stories to help her feel better.

We often did that.