When they walked together from the curb up to the Jamesons’ front door (actually, Hallie was walking, her steps measured to fit his, and her boyfriend was hobbling with cane in hand), Hallie had been adorned once more with the exquisite diamond pendant.

Instead of summoning a limo, as Karim usually did, she had insisted the Sheikh climb into the passenger seat of her battered car for the ride to her parents’ house. In the car, she had made a quick call to warn them of the impending visit. She had barely ended the call when Karim had reached for her hand to kiss it.

“I am returning my gift to you.”

Stopped at a traffic light, he’d fastened the necklace back on for her.

After a beat, he’d asked, “Do you think they’ll like me?”

Turning her head, she’d grinned at him.

“Why, you getting cold feet about meeting them?” she’d asked.

“Not so much. The weather, in case you hadn’t noticed, is quite warm. But I think it’s perfectly normal for the man who is dating their daughter to be anxious about meeting them.”

Frank and Joanne Jameson lived in a compact, two-story house, in a neighborhood of many other compact, two-story houses. A working-class neighborhood, filled with flower beds and children’s scattered toys. This was where she had grown up, Hallie explained, as she parked her car in the driveway.

A narrow, screened-in front porch, painted white, led to the living room, rather crowded with too much furniture and too many mementoes—mostly framed photographs of Hallie herself: as a toddler, as a freckled first-grader, as a high school graduate in blue and gold, as a proud LPN receiving her diploma—which led to the kitchen and a small dining room. The upstairs, according to Hallie’s description, held three small bedrooms and a full bath.

As it turned out, the only person left unaffected by this sudden inclusion of a stranger into their midst was baby Aaron. He crawled to greet Karim with a blissful, “Gah!” and an inspection of the bulky blue boot that could have been no more diligent than had he worked at the Cranston ER.

A flustered Joanne, unsure of how to greet this injured man who had escorted Hallie inside her house, showed them into the small living room and then offered the always safe segue of something to drink.

“Don’t fuss over us, Mom,” Hallie said with a warm hug. “We’re fresh from the coffee shop; we’ve already had plenty to drink. We just need to talk. Unless you and Dad—”

“Well, no—I mean, it is close to lunch time, and we’ll be wanting to eat soon, but—where is your father, anyway? Excuse me just for a minute…”

A broad smile that almost cracked her face in half seemed to be permanently etched into Hallie’s expression. Bending over, she removed Aaron from harm’s way, where he had gotten a trifle too enthusiastic with his work at the bindings of Karim’s medical paraphernalia.

“Silly boy,” she murmured, tickling the little boy’s stomach until he chortled, rolled away, and wiggled his padded bottom toward the box of toys waiting for distribution.

“Well, hi, there, honey.” Tall, gray-haired, somewhat stooped, Frank Jameson made his slow way from the kitchen to join them, with Joanne trailing along behind. “We don’t often get a chance to see you in the middle of the day. Everything okay?”

Hallie beamed and embraced her father in a hug that was careful of his physical condition. At this time of the day, his back was sure to be aching, and probably his hips and shoulders as well.

“Everything’s okay, Dad. More than okay. Dad, Mom, meet Karim Al Ahsan—my boyfriend.”

As Karim cautiously stood to reach out for a hand shake, everyone could hear her mother’s gasp.

“Boyfriend! But, Hallie—! When I spoke to you just a few hours ago, you said everything was a mess, and you blamed yourself, and you felt it could never get right…” Her mother could certainly be justified in her bewilderment. “What happened?”

“Well, Karim is what happened. Please, sit down, both of you. We’ll explain all about it. And I want you to get to know this wonderful man. He really is quite a—” Hallie’s eyes twinkled as she glanced his way, “—unique individual.”

From there, the story went on for some time. If her parents had some small difficulties in making sense of all that had occurred in the past week, that was understandable, as well.

Frank and Joanne, seated side by side on a loveseat while their grandson rooted through his toys, held hands and exchanged meaningful glances now and then. As if their little duckling (never ugly, however) had suddenly sprouted wings and transformed into a full-grown swan before their eyes.

Were they ecstatic about this giant leap into another world their daughter was about to take? No parents are happy with the reality of their children growing up. But they could count on her maturity, and her clear vision, and her generous heart—and their own never-failing support—to see her through whatever adjustment might lie ahead.

Meanwhile, they would warily welcome Karim into the family, since Hallie was obviously enthralled, and they would get to know him a little, here and now, and more, as time went on.

I’m sure there will be many great things about him, Joanne’s brown eyes telegraphed to her husband’s. We just have to be patient and wait to find out.

After a while, when they had been chatting casually and commenting on the progress Aaron was making on his road to standing up alone, Joanne asked if Hallie were not scheduled to work today.

“Oh! Oh! My gosh, I’d forgotten all about it!” Flustered, she glanced at her watch to check the time. “Thanks, Mom, for the reminder. Good thing I’ve got you to keep me on the straight and narrow! We’ll really have to leave now, because I have to get home and change, and then—oh, but, Karim, I’ll need to get you back to—”

“There’s no need to rush,” he assured her, with his usual smile. “Once we reach your place, I’ll call for a car to return me to my mine. You will have plenty of time for what you must do.”

That alone indicated the depth of caring and concern for their daughter from this man. Joanne’s stiff stance softened a little.

“Yes, that will help a lot. Okay, then. We’d better get going. Mom, Dad—” Jumping to her feet, Hallie paused, her imploring gaze shifting back and forth between two of the most important people in her world.

Immediately, Joanne surged upright to envelope her daughter in a fierce, clinging hug. “Oh, sweetheart, I’m so happy for you. Hopefully we’ll get to know Karim better soon—”

“Might I suggest the four of us have dinner together, on Saturday night?” asked Karim, rising. “Certainly, we will need much more time than this brief visit to get acquainted. Will that be convenient for you?”

Put thus, how could it not be? And agreeable. And acceptable.

It had been an amicable, friendly arrival, and it was an amicable, friendly departure, after hugs and kisses all around. Once Karim got himself settled into Hallie’s car’s front seat, he reached for his cell to call for a driver.

“Hallie, my dear.” He glanced sideways at her while she maneuvered her car away from the curb. “I hope you will be able to reduce your hours at work soon? I have no doubt your patients and fellow employees need you there, at Cranston. But I—well, I will need you more.”

She swallowed down the lump in her throat. “Please don’t say such nice things to me when I’m driving. I can’t concentrate on traffic if I’m looking at your handsome face.”

“Ah.” He smiled. “A fine state of affairs. We should continue in that vein, yes?”