Getting ready for dinner.

"Hi, mom," Ryan greeted his mother after she opened the front door.

"Hello, mom!" Marlissa chirped with a blinding white smile.

"Hello, dear, please come in!" Catherine replied, stepping aside to let her son and daughter-in-law inside the townhouse.

"Where's dad?" Ryan asked.

"He's downstairs in the kitchen getting the salad ready."

"I'll see if he needs some help," Ryan replied and headed to the stairs.

"Okay, while the boys get dinner ready we can have some tea and chat," Catherine suggested to her daughter-in-law.

"I would love that, mom," Marlissa smiled.

Ryan's mother tolerated her husband's stale jokes about her British cooking because she knew he was great in the kitchen. His love of cooking was one of the reasons he won her heart and eventually hand in marriage. Cooking and baking also had helped him relieve stress, especially his days as an undergraduate student.

"Need help, dad?" Ryan asked.

"Just lay out the utensils, son," Edward replied. "Dinner's almost ready."

"Sure." Ryan opened a drawer to grab some knives and forks. "So what do you think of Sam?"

"She's beautiful."

"And...?"

"She's seems very nice."

"And...?"

Edward stopped cutting tomatoes for the salad to look at his son. "Does she make you happy?"

"Yes," Ryan grinned.

"Then I'm happy and that's all that matters."

"Thanks, dad."

"That and grandkids to shut your mother up," Edward laughed. "She hasn't stopped talking about babies since the two of you left this afternoon."

"I heard that, Edward," his wife yelled from upstairs.

"Her hearing is that good?" Ryan gasped.

"No," Edward chuckled and pointed to the intercom. "We installed that so we don't have to yell at each other."