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“Excellent! Now go look at the presents on your bed.”

“Presents? Plural?” That was instigating.

“Yes, your birthday went by and you were away, so your father and I got a little too excited.” I had to laugh at the statement.

The air at the Winfrey mansion was much calmer and happier than the last time I was there, but there was also a much more careful and loving atmosphere as well.

And I couldn't deny it, I was enjoying it.

“Kenny!” Dad appeared in his typical social clothes. “Hi, darling…” He came to me and placed a kiss on my face. “How was the trip?”

“Normal.” I shrugged. “Is it true that we are going to stay together at home on the last day?”

“Yes…” He assured and then looked at my mother and then at me. “Unless you don't want to, princess.”

I laughed, he said the sentence so nervously that it felt like he was walking on eggshells.

“No, I want to.”

“Excellent.” He checked his watch. “Well, I promised tonight that we would have dinner at the club, with your uncles, although I am still reconsidering saying that something serious happened to cancel it.”

My mother laughed.

“No, we have to go and put Ivy Bryant in her place.” Mom declared, accurately.

I had a feeling she still was furious at my aunt because of what happened at the charity event and also because she didn't go to Texas when Colleen got hurt.

Daddy raised his hand in surrender.

“The sister-in-law is yours.”

We laughed and I got the feeling that they both didn't know what this was anymore, but they made the best of it.

“Yeah… quick question” I raised my finger, just like at school. “Are you really going to get a divorce?”

Dad was the first to let out a long sigh.

“Kendra, darling...” He seemed to want to speak, but then mom's phone rang, stealing our attention.

“It's Conrad, I'll go answer it.” She warned us. “But, Kenny, we're going to talk about when we have more time, okay?!”

“We promise!” Dad added.

The only option I had was to agree. Mom ended up going to talk to Uncle Conrad and Dad said I should rest a little and then get ready for dinner.

I went to my room and as soon as I entered I found more bags and boxes than I could have imagined. Mom was right when she said they got carried away. The last time I had seen so many bags together was when I maxed out my dad's credit card when I was fourteen. And I got the biggest scolding of my life for that. Luckily, this time there were several bags and no sermons.

Uncle Hendrix was all excited to hear us talk about college. Derek talked about lacrosse and his internship at a construction company in his university's town. And I commented about cheer practice and that college ended up being easy, because despite demanding grades, they weren't difficult to achieve. My goal was to attend another university later and specialize further in Internet Marketing, but that would only happen after my two years at Belinda.

“Well, we’re glad to see you're doing fine, children…” My uncle commented.

“But they’re not the only ones with news…” Aunt Isabel added.

We had just finished dinner and the light environment became curious.

“Are you going to adopt a dog?” Derek guessed.

My uncles laughed and denied it.