SIERRA'S LEONE

IN-LAWS

Everyone held their breath and waited for a reaction from the Patels. Finally, Ms. Patel spoke, "hello Sierra, welcome."

Neither cold nor warm, Sierra accepted the greeting, and Mr. Patel led the way into the golden bricked semi-detached house full of aunts, uncles, elders, and grandchildren. A strong but pleasant fragrance of incense came to tickle Sierra's nose. Sierra copied Elise's gestures; she took off her shoes and placed them in the most extensive shoe racks the woman had ever seen. What startled her was to see how full the furniture was.

How many people waited in the living room?

Sierra had looked up everything she could before coming. She found a greeting, but she was afraid to pronounce it badly or to appear pretentious. The woman went with simple hellos, and nice to meet you with every relative they presented to her.

The living room was huge. It represented almost two-thirds of the ground floor. Modern the large cream-tiled base only had one rug under the glass coffee table. The walls had two large family portraits, while a full display was dedicated to the Patel children's achievements with trophies, rewards, and graduation photos. A large L-shaped sofa blocked on the corner of the room, Sierra could not see since the family was seated, but round orange crumple cushions decorated it. The ensemble was sober, and it was clear that space was privileged in the furniture layout.

Sierra was both at ease and stressed in the environment.

The woman would have felt like an attraction in other circumstances, but she knew it was custom.

The elders, as expected, did nothing but watch; the other adults looked keen to see what would happen as if they sat in front of their daily episode of a sitcom.

Among the adults, three teens harbored blasé expression as if they hung on the last inches of their lifeline. Even if Sierra brought a little spice to the gathering for them, it was a family reunion too many as they wondered what exciting activities their friends were doing that Saturday.

"Ishaan isn't here yet," Elise said.

Of all the encounters, it was the oldest son's Sierra dreaded. Somehow she had an impression his say was essential.

The woman acknowledged being engaged was not a finality as long as the family did not accept her.

Sierra looked around the room and the colorful clothing the women wore. Most of the older women wore wide-legged pants and knee-length tunics with golden embroideries at the hems. If Wikipedia and other Quora didn't lie, the correct name for the clothes was Salwar Kameez. The colors were bright like those of a sari. Sierra sought the garment, she thought Saris would be the highlight at the family gathering, but only one person wore one like those seen in Bollywood movies. The woman seemed to be the eldest. She also had a complete wrap with her almost white hair and face full of wrinkles; the woman almost looked holy.

"That's our grandmother," Elise whispered.

To everyone surprise, Sierra greeted the older woman traditionally. The woman stooped down to touch the elder's feet; the gesture made the old woman smile.

"She didn't kiss our feet," Ms. Patel said in her husband's ear.

Sierra was relieved to have Elise guide her. Vincent didn't lie when he said he would be different. The man barely paid attention to Sierra's presence though they got to sit side by side.

Stressed, Sierra wished to cross her legs to stop them trembling, but she remembered it was rude to do so as her feet sole would be exposed.

"I hope you had a good flight, Sierra," Mr. Patel said.