Alyssa x Dennise

Coming Home

Ella's

The loud beating of a graduation march plays in the background but Den doesn't seem to notice the enormity of the moment as she is obviously entranced by the presence of the woman slowly walking to our direction.

"I'm sorry I'm late, Den. Thank you for saving me a seat." Alyssa arrives and I can see the momentary pause they both took to look at each other, as if allowing themselves to get lost in the moment. Seeing them together have always been such a beautiful experience.

"No problem, Ly. Anything for you." Alyssa smiles a gentle one which I know is only intended for Den. She then notices my presence and greets me.

Alyssa smiles and kisses me on my forehead whispering the words "Thank you," and me being the emotional wreck I am, cried a little.

The ceremony went on and I couldn't help but tear up on how beautiful and bittersweet this moment is. I look at Alyssa and tears are also starting to well up under her eyes and then I turn my attention to Dennise who is intently watching Alyssa. She still looks at her with cosmic affection and I couldn't stop the tears of seeing the two most important people in my life get lost in each other.

As the closing remarks were read and the final march began, I was already crying full on. "C'mon, Ells. It's not like you're the one who graduated on top of her class," Alyssa teases and I just roll my eyes at her. Alyssa and I have always been like this. Always getting on each others nerves but at the end of the day, we always have each other's backs.

I look at Alyssa as she started crying too. Den touches her gently on her arms and if I don't know her a little too well I wouldn't notice how she cried a little harder to that touch.

"You did well, Ly. I'm proud of you." I hear Dennise say and Alyssa hooks her arms around her shoulder and kisses her gently on the forehead.

"They're beautiful, aren't they Mama Ells?" I hear someone say behind me and I turn around to see Bea still on her toga watching the two still lost in each other.

I hold my favorite niece between my arms and pepper her face with kisses. "I'm so proud of you, my little love. Though you're not so little anymore. You're taller than I am now."

"Thank you, Mama Ells. Please don't miss dinner tonight, okay?"

"Oh you know I won't, Bey. I wouldn't trade being on monumental parts of your life for anything else." Bea smiles and I pop Dennise and Alyssa out of their little bubble.

"Uhmmm. Excuse me, scene stealers. But the star of the day is here." Den and Ly finally looks at us and as soon as Den saw Bea she enveloped her in a tight embrace and started bawling.

"I'm so proud of you, Sunshine. I love you so much." Den, in between sobs, managed to utter a few words as Alyssa watched the two most important women in her life share such a candid moment.

"Thank you, mama Den. And I love you too. Now you and mama Ells should stop crying. You two look beat up already." Bea laughs and we all know where she got that teasing and playful demeanor.

"Hello, mommy. This is for you and all of your hard work. Thank you." Bea takes all of her medals off and puts them on Alyssa. Den and I watch in awe of how beautifully this young lady was raised.

"It is your hard work too, Bea. Mommy is very very proud of you." I have never seen Alyssa this lost for words. Well, in this moment she didn't actually need any. We can all see in the way she looks at Bea how she is in awe of the kid she took in 15 years ago.

"Now, enough with this drama. Let's take pictures." I say and so we did and after a while, we all drove home to prepare for Bea's dinner party.