The massive front doors opened, and MJ could hear laughter and voices float out.

"Ready?" Heath asked.

MJ nodded.

"Okay, don't say I didn't warn you," he told her with a laugh. "They're seriously bonkers sometimes."

First came a boy who, at first glance, looked so much like Heath it was almost frightening. He was skinny, and his hair was gathered in a pony tail. He was wearing cutoff shorts that were almost falling off him and a T-shirt that said "fuck the monarchy." He was gangly, all knobby knees and bony elbows, so disconcertingly handsome it was hard to look away.

Next came Poppy, in a yellow polka dot sundress. She nearly tripped pushing the skinny boy out of the way as she hurried down the steps.

Last was a couple, both with dark hair, both of middling height, who looked almost like siblings more than spouses. They had the look of being outdoorsy, of being good at tennis and enjoying gardening and all that. Each had a sprinkling of gray in their brown hair.

"Get out of the way, you great lump!" Poppy was saying, giving her brother another push. "If poor MJ sees you first, she'll run screaming into the countryside and we'll never see her again."

"Please, everyone knows I'm the good looking one in the family," the boy replied, grabbing Poppy around the waist and tickling her. "I should greet her first, put our best foot forward and all that?"

"Archie, stop!" Poppy shrieked. "You're going to make me wee! Jesus! Fuck! Put me down!" The commotion had carried all the way over to the car, where they were now blocking MJ's door.

"Children! Please, don't carry on so, or you really will frighten the poor girl," the woman said. "And Penelope, language, dear, we're outside."

"Oh god, mum, are you worried one of the horses will hear me?" Poppy asked, gesturing toward the field as Archie continued to hold her sideways by the waist.

Heath just sat behind the wheel, covering his eyes with his hand, shaking his head. For a moment, the ticking sound of the cooling engine filled the evening air, mixing with the birdsong and calling of the bugs.

"Er, Archie, put your sister down, there's a good lad," their father finally suggested. "I'm afraid we can see her knickers," he added apologetically.

"Oh my god, Dad!" Poppy gasped, as Archie carefully set her down.

Everyone erupted in laughter, startling the quietly grazing horses.

Heath got out of the car, shaking his head as he continued to laugh. He came around and opened the door for MJ, giving her his hand to help her out.

He made the introductions as everyone tried to get their tears of mirth under control.

"Oh Jesus, I told her you were all nutters, but still, I don't think I underscored the situation enough," he said, wiping his eyes. He took a deep breath.

"MJ, this silly girl with the pretty, and may I also say thankfully clean yellow knickers is my sister Poppy, whom you've already met." Poppy stepped forward to hug MJ, who smiled and hugged her back.

"This extremely shy and homely boy who has absolutely no social skills whatsoever is my younger brother Archie," Heath said, hugging the boy in question before presenting him to MJ.

"Hullo, MJ, a great pleasure to meet you at long last," Archie said, sincerity etching his features and lighting up his face as he stepped forward to envelop her in a hug. It felt almost exactly like hugging Heath, albeit a very thin Heath.

How strange, in a comforting way.

"You too, Archie, how nice to meet you," MJ said, smiling.

"What a very lovely dimple you've got," Archie said, sounding delighted to have discovered such a thing, reaching up to place his finger in it.

"That's enough, you," Heath said, pushing his brother away with a grin.

"And these are my parents, Margaret and Hugh," he finished. "Mum, Dad, this is MJ. I'll leave it to her to tell you her last name, I muck it up all kinds of ways," he finished, smiling.

"Hi, I'm MJ Jassemolada," MJ said, holding her hand out.

"Welcome, welcome to our home, dear MJ," Margaret said, pulling her in to kiss her cheek.

"Yes, welcome," Hugh echoed, hugging her.

"This is the most beautiful place I've ever been in my life, bar none," MJ assured them. "I've only ever seen places like this on TV and in movies, so I'm thrilled."

"Well, we hope you'll enjoy your time with us," Hugh said. "Shall we go in?" He gestured toward the house.

"Archie, will you see to their bags, please, son?"

"You know, you should've just put that on my birth certificate," Archie responded. "So there was no confusion later? 'Archie-WillYou'," he said as he made writing motions in the air. "Instead of 'Archibald,' I mean."

"God, you do complain about every little thing," Heath said, smiling. "Come on, gobhead, I'll help you." He slung an arm around his brother's shoulders, and the two of them headed toward the back of the car.

"Well, since you're going to do it, couldn't I just skip it and go in?" Archie's voice carried as the rest of them climbed the steps. "I mean, the boot's so small you couldn't reasonably fit more than a shaving kit in there anyway..."

The brothers' laughing voices faded away as they entered the house. They were in a huge, tiled foyer, that had numerous rooms leading off it, and MJ could tell from the echoing that the rooms were high-ceilinged and spacious.

Wow.

"Now, do you want to freshen up, or are you hungry, or what, dear?" Margaret was asking.

"Oh, we took our time coming here, and we ate pretty late, so I'm fine, though you should ask Heath when he comes in and see how he feels?" MJ said as she took a seat in a beautifully appointed family room. She knew, though, that it was probably called a "lounge" over here.

Poppy excused herself to the kitchen, presumably to make tea, and when Archie and Heath came in a few minutes later, Archie disappeared to help her, while Heath just plopped down next to MJ.

MJ leaned over and whispered, "Shouldn't we go help them? Or shouldn't you, at least?"

Heath looked at MJ in surprise. "We've only just arrived! I'm exhausted!"

MJ gave him a look. "How can you be exhausted? Sitting that little car is so fun and comfortable!" She gave him a little nudge. "Go." She swiveled her head toward the kitchen. "Go!"

"Heath?" His mother's voice was mild. "Listen to your girl, young man."

"Yes, Mum," Heath said as he rose. He gave MJ a raised eyebrow as he left.

"I like her, very much indeed," Margaret said to Heath's retreating back.

"Yeah, I do too, for the most part," he threw over his shoulder.

"So, young lady, tell us a bit about yourself," Hugh encouraged with a smile. "Heath tells us you're quite musically gifted?"

MJ felt herself beginning to blush, and hoped it wasn't going to be the blotchy kind. "I don't know about a gift. I've always loved it, so I majored in it in college, that's all. My mother was very talented, so she passed along a real enjoyment of it to me, I guess? She died when I was really little, so I kept it up to feel close to her, I think. It was a nice way to keep her memory alive."

"Oh, dear, we're so very sorry," Margaret began, so MJ of course told them about how it was very sudden, and everything was okay.

"My father and I had a nice life," she assured them. "He has three brothers, and they own a Greek diner together in Santa Monica, which is a suburb of Los Angeles. I had a wonderful time growing up with them. I had my own little play area in the back of the diner, and they taught me some Greek, some of it not at all appropriate for a little girl, some of it really fun drinking songs--it was a great way to grow up."

"How marvelous," Hugh said with a smile.

The three Spencer children returned with the tea things on a tray.

"Mum, thanks for the biscuits," Heath said, leaning over to kiss his mom.

"These are my favorites," he told MJ, reaching for a cookie, shoving it in his mouth, and grabbing another one before he sat.

"Heath, manners," his mother admonished, slapping at is hand.

"But mum, I haven't had any for months," he protested, spitting a few crumbs as he spoke.

"Fuck me, I've raised an animal," his mother said, looking around and shaking her head.

"Mum," Poppy burst out as she laughed, looking at MJ, who was laughing also. "Why is okay for you to say 'fuck' now when you chastised me for saying it a while ago?"

"Please, Penelope, you were outside earlier," Margaret said as she poured the tea, as if it should be obvious to anyone.

This made Archie and Heath start laughing, too, as they picked up their teacups.

"Now, boys, don't laugh at your mother, it's not kind," their dad said as he, too, picked up his teacup, his mouth twitching suspiciously.

Oh lord.

Their attempt to not laugh was interrupted by the dinging of a bell, coming from the kitchen, it sounded like.

"Oh, that'll be Pringle," Archie said with a smile, jumping up. "She took the babies out for a toddle a bit ago--" and he left the room, presumably to go see about the mysterious "Pringle."

"You should see them, Heath Michael," Poppy was saying to Heath. "They're adorable, at the cutest age right now, I think, and we're lucky she only had six, I think we're going to be able to keep all of them--?" she broke off and looked interrogatively at her parents, both of whom were nodding. "Yay!" She looked back at Heath and continued, blue eyes glowing. "So they're all just little waddling butterballs right now, you'll see--"

Heath had turned to MJ and taken a deep breath, presumably to explain, when he was interrupted by the sound of clicking on the tile floors, and Archie's encouraging voice, saying, "Come on, guys, there you go, we've got company, yes we have!"

Suddenly the swinging door was pushed open and a medium-sized dog entered who looked to be mostly golden retriever, with possibly a bit of large breed terrier, who did indeed have almost the exact coloring of that popular pressed potato chip product that came in the bright red can. Gamboling around her were six fat puppies, tails waving like flags, drop ears flapping, as they came waddling into the room, sniffing at everything, smiling in that way that puppies seemed to have.

They were enchanting, adorable, captivating, winsome, fetching, and all those adjectives that have been applied to puppies since the beginning of puppies.

MJ gasped, and all of her latent animal love came bubbling up to the surface of her big heart.

"Ohmygod, Heath, look!"

And Heath looked at MJ, and his heart swelled even larger, seeing the girl he loved looking at the baby dogs.

MJ put her teacup down and sat on the floor, where, as expected, the puppies made a beeline for her and proceed to knock her over, making her laugh as they crawled all over her.

Heath took out his phone immediately and began taking pictures.

"Heath?" Archie called in a whisper.

Heath looked over from his phone.

Archie gave him a smile and a thumbs up.

Heath nodded and smiled.

I know.