"Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Doug! Happy birthday to yoooooooou!" Mine, my mum's and Nancy's in tune and very pleasant singing of the happy birthday song, thankfully drowns out the enthusiastic yet very bad singing of dad and Tezzer.

"Now that is what a chocolate cake should actually look like." Doug grins, eyeing up his large birthday cake that both mum and I are now nervously carrying into the room with almost a boyish joy held within them. "Did you really make this?" He keenly asks, looking at me with his grin gorgeously growing wider as mum and I carefully put his cake down in the middle of the dining room table.

With the chocolate creation safely where it should be, I keenly step back from the table. "Yup, I did!" My shoulders proudly rise as I slowly nod with a smugness all over my lips. "I hope you like chocolate fudge...because there's a yummy lot of it?"

Doug smiles, staring back at his cake yet again. "I looooove chocolate fudge." Comes his very appreciative reply.

"Blow out your candles, then!" Tezzer teasingly interrupts, not only excited about getting a slice of the wickedly fudgey birthday cake, but super excited to see Doug being here at our house again.

Since us both getting back on Sunday, Doug then finally met my parents on the Monday. That whole 'meet the parents' thing went so incredibly well, he was eagerly invited back for dinner on the Tuesday. When mum found out that Doug was turning thirty the very next day, she absolutely insisted that he came around yet again, so that we could all help him celebrate his birthday.

So here we are—Doug, me, Tezzer, my parents, and Nancy as well.

"Okay! Okay! I'm blowing!" Doug chuckles, then his cheeks puff out  just before he's about to extinguish the 3 and the 0 that burn brightly on the top of his cake. "There you go, Tez...you can now have a slice." He teases, winking at my brother.

Just as my almost salivating and very embarrassing brother is about to pick up the knife, mum swiftly taps the top of his hand and is giving him one of her 'death glares'. "It's your birthday, Doug, so Terence will be giving you the first slice...won't you, Terence?"

Under the constant death glare of our mother, Tezzer quickly remembers the manners that he was supposedly born with. "Of course, how big a slice do you want, Doug?"

"Man size." Doug jokes, still amused by mum's comical scolding of my brother in front of us all.

"Man size it is." Tezzer agrees, carefully slicing the knife deeper into the succulent cake.

"Make that two man size slices, will you, Terence?" Dad now also joins in with the fun. For a quiet man, he has such a subtle sense of humour. It's a warm and understated kind of humour, that only reveals itself around those he is feeling absolutely comfortable with. So to watch dad joining in with Doug and Tezzer over the 'man size slice of cake' thing, quietly means so much to me.

"I'm due on, Tez...do you do hormonal sized slices?" Nancy teasingly intrudes, holding her hand up as if she were in school or something.

Now it's mum's turn to be silly. "Um, I'm just getting over the menopause, if anyone is having an hormonal sized slice...it's going to be me." She teases with a very straight face.

While Tezzer continues to cut the cake, Doug playfully nudges him. "I think we might need a bigger cake, bud?"

With the silliness unfolding in front of me, I watch it all with an elated smile on my face. Doug seems to have slipped right into becoming part of my family. They have all welcomed him in with wide open arms. And Doug himself is relishing in their quick acceptance of him.

Maybe my parents have this incredible ability to be able to sense when someone desperately needs their understanding and their support?

Because just like they have always been with Nancy, they are now wanting Doug to be here with them too.

And he needed to feel that.

God, he really did need to feel that.

He needs to feel a part of a family again.

"How about you, hun...hormonal sized slice?" Nancy, my sweet and hugely fun friend, quickly snuggles up to me. When she looks into my blue eyes, she notices that they are glazed with sudden emotion—happiness, pride and love—it's all glassily there in my spheres.

Giving me a reassuring little squeeze, she then addresses my brother with a sweetly understanding. "Definitely another hormonal slice please, Tezzer?"

Which only makes me laugh. "Man size or hormonal...either will do, Tez." Is my happily given request.

Mum starts being 'mum' and starts handing out the cake. As soon as we all have our 'man or hormonal' slices of birthday cake, we bite into its chocolatey decadence. The room becomes full of "mmmm's" and "mhmmm's". One bite at a time, our tastebuds are being treated to chocolatey joy.

"Fair play, sis, this cake is proper wicked." Tezzer compliments me before eagerly taking yet another mouthful of his slice.

"Agreed." Nancy inaudibly chimes in, her mouth stuffed full of sponge and fudgey icing.

"I think this is the best chocolate cake I have ever had." Doug is wanting to slip his free arm momentarily around my waist, just wanting me to know how much he appreciates me making him this birthday cake.

"I'm glad you like it." I say, gently leaning against him as he temporarily holds me.

"What are your plans for later?" Dad asks, looking more at Doug than he is at me.

No longer having his arm around my waist, Doug is now holding his plate with both his hands. "I don't think we have any other plans, do we, Frankie?" Not waiting for me to even answer, he cheerily goes on. "I'm happy to just relax and watch a film, as I'm going back to Ibiza tomorrow night."

Dad nods with an understanding smile. "All that travelling must get to you?"

"I suppose I've got used to it, but yeah, there are times when it's tough."

Tezzer can't help himself, he is so keen to be involved in the conversation between Dad and Doug. "I'd love to join you and Frankie one weekend...would you both be up for that?"

I look at Doug, he then fully looks at me. "I don't see why not?" Comes my carefree answer to my brother.

"If Fanny Franny is happy for you to join us one weekend, then I'm cool with it, as well." Comes Doug's just as carefree answer back.

Throwing Doug a 'death stare' of my very own, I squint my eyes at him. "If you call me Fanny Franny again, you'll find yourself wearing that cake, mister!"

Laughing, Doug shoves more of it into his mouth. "Not if I've eaten it first." He is barely able to speak, his mouth now so full of the cake that was so thoughtfully made just for him.

Rolling my eyes, I can't help but laugh as well. "You're going to choke in a minute, and my Heimlich Manoeuvre has only ever been performed on dummies."

Doug has to suppress another laugh, which does indeed cause him to nearly choke. That then makes us all laugh. Together, we are laughing over cake. Laughter is uniting us. Deepening our connections.

After his difficult weekend, Doug needed this.

He needed the silliness and the laughter.

And wonderfully, he seems to need me.

"What film are we watching?" Tezzer has each one of his arms draped over me and Doug.

After all of the laughter, I don't quite know how to put it to my little brother that I selfishly just want Doug all to myself for the rest of the evening.

Nancy being Nance, promptly puts me out of my sisterly dilemma. "You don't want to be a third wheel to these two, you'll get to do that when you go to Ibiza with them...we can watch a film together, if you fancy it?"

Mum then wisely adds. "Good idea, Nancy."

Tezzer smiles, seemingly agreeing that it is a good idea. "That works for me." He says, happily deciding to finish off the rest of his cake.

Don't get me wrong, I love my brother, but after sharing Doug with everyone, I now just want my wonderful boyfriend all to myself. Thankfully, Nancy now has her own room in the main house. Mum and dad both figured that the poor girl could do with some stability in her life, so the spare room has now permanently been made hers. Which is perfect timing for me, because now that Doug and I are serious about one another, we need our privacy in the conversion. And being as I won't be able to go to Ibiza this weekend because I am working the day shifts on both Saturday and Sunday, I have even more of a valid reason as to why I am now wanting that 'alone time' with my Doug DiCarto.

"Anyone want more cake?" Mum asks, looking at us all in turn.

She gets a choral "No thanks."

As I start tidying away the plates, Mum kindly takes over. "Why don't you and Doug go and watch that film now?" Her motherly eyes warmly give me permission to go and be with the guy who she knows is why I am so happy these days.

Leaning in towards her, I gratefully say. "Thanks mum." Then I kiss her soft cheek before giving her a really quick and daughterly cuddle.

Coming up behind me, Doug strokes my back with one hand, while leaning in to also thank my mum. "I probably won't see you again until I'm back from Ibiza, but I just wanted to thank you for everything...you've made me feel so welcome over the past few days, Mrs Fenner." He too, then politely kisses my mother's cheek.

It's not often I see mum looking all bashful, yet now she so is. "Honestly Doug, we have loved having you, haven't we, Roger?" She searches for dad, who is caught using his fingers to get the last of the chocolate fudge from off his plate. Tutting and smirking, mum is now talking a little louder to him across the table. "Doug and Frankie are off to watch their film now, love...and we won't see Doug until he's back from Ibiza, so wipe your fingers and come and say goodbye?"

Mum can be bossy, but her bossiness is always given in a loving and lighthearted manner to my father. As he's quickly wiping his fingers and then his mouth with a serviette, dad is keenly walking towards Doug. "It's been a pleasure having you, safe journey to Spain and all that." Dad reaches for Doug's hand, eagerly shaking it as he smiles at him. "Enjoy the rest of your birthday with our girl, it's nice to see her with someone who really knows how to make her happy." Then he finally pats the top of Doug's arm, it's dad's way of saying 'thank you for treating my little girl right'. He was never keen on Falco. He tolerated him through gritted and protective-father teeth. Dad thought that he was always too full of himself. But being the quiet man that he is, he never said anything to me about Falco until it was all over with him.

"Thank you, Mr Fenner...that means a lot." Doug replies, happily needing to momentarily look my way.

"Seriously, please call me Roger...you're making me feel about eighty when you keep calling me Mr Fenner." Dad chuckles.

From the back of the room, Tezzer can't help but tease our dad. "You listen to Neil Sedaka in the car, Dad...I think you are eighty!"

Everyone is laughing again, and I feel wonderfully detached from the laughter while I just stand here listening and watching the room fill up with more of it, wearing only a serene smile on my face.

This all feels so right.

For once, I feel so complete.

I don't think any of us realise just how incomplete we actually are, until we finally do meet someone who does complete us.

And Doug, he completes me.

I believe, I complete him.

I'm looking at him now, feeling so euphorically full of completeness. Euphorically so full of happiness. My desires and dreams, all come alive because of him. Noticing how I am staring at him with a tranquil gaze, Doug gifts me with such a fantastic smile, it actually nearly floors me.

He nearly floors me.

I now have this desirous need for Doug, tugging on my insides.

It's a quiet longing, that shoots through my entire body—until it stops at my fingers and toes with a succession of delightful little tingles.

That is the sensation of love...delight and tingles.

I am in love with Doug.

I love him.

I love him loving me.

I am beginning to love every single thing about us.

And us, is what I need right now.

**The track above is: BON APPÉTIT - KATY PERRY ft MIGOS**