I drove the minivan up the winding hill toward the hotel, my heart hammering in my chest while I did my best to keep my composure. This was the last place I wanted to be and the last thing I wanted to be doing on no sleep and with a giant mess waiting to explode on the other side of the ocean. But when I told Gabriel who it was had asked to meet him, he was instantly insistent.
"My father's mother?" His hazel eyes lit with green sparks.
"You've met her once before," I said, not going into detail. Not admitting the one and only time Sonja saw her grandson he was a baby. That he freaked out and sobbed at the sight of her though he'd only ever been a sweet and loving infant to that point and after. "You were very little." I hesitated before going on. "We don't have to do this now. But she asked to see you and you deserve to meet her if that's what you want."
"Me, too!" Ethie's typical jealousy at not being the center of attention prodded her brother who nodded and smiled.