Dream // Van McCann

33. Blessing

I was only supposed to have a pint, but then Molly gave me one on the house, and then Larry bought some shots for me. And then some random guy who overheard us talking bought me a drink too.

"It's only 2 PM and I'm fucking drunk," I said, laughing at myself and my predicament. "Roman's coming in a few hours too."

"We can take care of Roman, don't worry," Larry assured me. He helped me to the couch and I laid down, sighing, with my arm covering my face. How'd I let this happen? But it felt good celebrating. Wait...what were we celebrating again?

I remember being anxious about Molly knowing I was going to propose to Florence. I'm not sure if she still fancies me anyway but the more alcohol I had, the less I cared. I'm not sure how much I told them. All I remember was being ecstatic to propose.

They'd given me pointers on how to approach talking to her parents. They were pretty split on asking her parents for their blessing but I made it clear that I wasn't asking for their permission. I'll marry her regardless but I wanted to make an honest effort seen as Florence is trying to reconnect with her family. The best tip I got from them was to tell them in advance that I wanted to talk. At the moment, they just think it's a regular visit and me dropping something off for Hannah and I've got to fix that.

There was no way I could get any work done so I laid on the couch and Larry just kept refilling my glass of water and feeding me biscuits. When 4 PM rolled around, there was a knock on the door and I instantly sat up in a panic. Bondy told me to relax and answered the door.

"Hi Roman, how're you doing?" Bondy asked, leading him into the room. Roman was beaming and made a beeline towards me.

"I'm fine, thank you. Did you hear the news, Van?" he asked, cutting right to the chase.

"That Clara is alive? Yes, I heard the news," I answered. "I'm drunk by the way so Bondy or Larry will go under with you." Roman found it humorous that I was drunk.

"Are you celebrating?" he laughed. My brain was a bit slow to realize he thought I'd been drinking because of Clara.

"Erm...yeah," I said, going along with him. I didn't feel like telling him about Florence anyway because I'll just go on a spiel about how much I love her and I wouldn't want to subject Bondy and Larry to that again. "How'd you find out?"

"My mother-in-law told me and I instantly thought of you...you know...because you had an idea she was alive and now it's confirmed."

I felt terrible for not filling Roman in on how much I knew. All he knows is that I had a suspicion she was alive and he found it strange that I went back to Portugal again but I didn't fill him in because I wasn't sure what Clara's decision was at the time. The whole situation was very complicated but now that the whole world knows, I don't mind telling him the truth.

"I actually met up with her the last time I went to Portugal. I didn't tell you because I wasn't sure if she was ever going to come forward. I'm sorry."

"No need to be sorry. I figured there was a reason you went back and my hope was that you found the answer you were looking for."

I swallowed and nodded my head, fighting the urge to hug him. I've always liked Roman. He was intimidating at first but none of this would've been possible without his help. He was the one who recognized the house and helped narrow down my search.

"I did. It was nice catching up with her and her daughter."

"Speaking of her and her daughter, my mother-in-law knows someone working on the case. He briefs her on what's happening and I think you'll be happy to hear this. He was there when Clara was reunited with her parents. It was a very emotional reunion that went well."