Dorsai

Marilyns Return

I met Kelly through her friend Jan, who was my best friend's daughter. I'd been watching out for her and her two brothers one time when I'd accidentally interrupted her while she was masturbating. From that single event, my life changed – a LOT, and for the better. Before I really knew what had happened to me, I'd met Kelly, deflowered her, deflowered Jan (with her Dad's knowledge and permission, no less!), and four of their other friends. Kelly had moved in with me, and when she'd graduated college, had agreed to marry me. When the two of us had gone off to the Philippines for a business client of mine, we'd made a new friend, Marlyn, and sort-of adopted Marlyn's niece, Marilyn. After Kelly had had her little adventure, we'd gone to the doctor and used one of the frozen samples I'd left behind (before I'd gotten a vasectomy) to get her pregnant. We (Kelly, that is) had twins – Daniel Paul and Janet Kelly; Jan and the others had helped us out tremendously during and after Kelly's pregnancy. For all intents and purposes, our kids had six mothers: Kelly, of course, along with Jan, Susan, Robyn, Sandra, and Candice.

As the time went by, and Daniel and Janet grew up, we continued to keep in touch with Marlyn, the friend we'd made in the Philippines. She, in turn, kept us up on what all was happening in her life. Ted, the manager of the manufacturing plant that I'd helped get set up over there, had asked her to marry him, and she'd agreed. Several months after Kelly had our kids, we got word from Marlyn that she was pregnant – and happy as she could be. She also made sure that we knew what was going on with Marilyn – how she was doing in school, and so on. For her part, Marilyn wrote to us, too – just not as often.

When it came time, Marlyn wrote to us to ask if we would be able to help Marilyn into an American college. Of course, we were more than happy to do so – even going so far as to get several other people to write letters of recommendation for her to help pave the way. It was less a question of her grades and nationality than one of her age: having been promoted an extra grade, she would be starting college at 17, instead of the usual 18.

One of the schools she was accepted to was one that was only about a half-hour drive from where Kelly and I lived; it was a damn fine school for economics (which Marilyn wanted to major in), and had a fairly good political science curriculum, too (which she also wanted to study). Ted was making good money as the plant manager, but he wasn't rolling in dough – so when Marilyn was accepted to the college near us, Kelly and I both told them that Marilyn was more than welcome to stay with us; either on a temporary basis until she found a place of her own, or full-time. The reply we got from Marilyn was that she would be delighted to stay with us, provided that we were sure that she wouldn't be any trouble. That wasn't a problem, and we quickly reassured her of that fact. For our part, we didn't even have to add any furniture: with twins, Kelly and I had decided that we'd rather keep the house and add to it, instead of going out and trying to find something with more space. Since the added cost wasn't all that much, we'd gone ahead and added two rooms to the house. That left us with the Master bedroom where Kelly and I slept, my office, a bedroom for each of the kids (the addition), and the original 'guest' room. All told, it added nearly 600 square feet to the living space, what with the additional rooms and another bathroom for the kids to share.

Shortly after Marilyn agreed to stay with us, Ted sent us some money to get her a used car, as well as to pay for her to attend a U.S. driving school. She'd taken the equivalent of 'drivers ed' in the Philippines, but he and Marlyn both knew that driving in the U.S. was considerably different than driving in the Philippines! Kelly and I looked around, and finally found her an old, but dependable, Volvo DL. It wasn't fast and sexy (for which Ted thanked us, when we told him about it), but it would be more than enough to get her where she needed or wanted to go, winter or summer, with no trouble. We also made arrangements to have her put on our auto insurance policy. When Ted heard about it, he went so far as to call us – long distance from the Philippines – to object. I took the call, and after listening to him for a couple of minutes, finally told him "Look, Ted – its done, and I'm not going to UNdo it. If you want to argue about it, you can try Kelly; I'm not going to change anything." – and handed the phone to Kelly. She could be almost as stubborn as me, when it suited her.

Apparently, it suited her just fine, then. She politely argued with him about it for a little bit before telling him "Ted, here's how it works. Dan and I can't send any of the things that we want to for her graduation present, so we're only going to be able to send her some money. But this we can do. There's no point in you fussing about it: we're going to do it, and that's that. If you try to pay for it, we won't cash your check or money order or whatever you send, so don't bother. If you just HAVE to spend money, then put it in a savings account for when you and Marlyn have a baby, so your kid can go to college."

After she'd graduated high school (with a 3.93 grade point average, no less!), and had some time off from school, she came to the U.S. to stay with us for a couple of weeks before she had to start school.

Kelly and I – and the kids – were there to meet her when she cleared Customs in Los Angeles. It took a second for me to recognize her: she'd grown considerably.

At roughly five and a half feet tall, she probably towered over Marlyn; she was even cuter than when we'd seen her last, with a little button of a nose, beautiful brown eyes, and straight black hair that flowed over her shoulders.

She was wearing loose cotton clothing that simply couldn't hide the curve of her bust and the gentle arcs of her waist and hips; she'd grown into a very lovely young woman. When she saw us, she let out a delighted cry and ran over to us, where we all took turns kissing and hugging. Then she squatted down and was introduced to Daniel and Janet, who both took to her in an instant. They held her hands and both talked to her a mile a minute as Kelly and I (okay, mostly me) carried her luggage over to the airline that would be flying us back home. When we finally got home, we left her to put away her things and freshen up. When she was done, I fixed her up with one of the electronic keys that would let her into the house, and got her started on teaching Mabel (my home automation system: Machine Access By English Language) to recognize her voice – with Daniel and Janet helping her. Before she'd come over, Kelly and I had asked the others to give her a couple of days to get settled before we all got together so they could welcome her back. They'd all understood, and Paul had come up with the idea of a cookout at his place on Sunday after she arrived as a good way for everyone to see her again.

Supper that night was courtesy of Marilyn, despite our protests that she should rest: lumpia (a kind of thin-shelled VERY crispy burrito), pancit (fried rice), and a couple of other Filipino dishes.

After the kids had gone to bed, Marilyn sat with us in the den (with Cat on her lap, purring as Marilyn rubbed her ears), catching us up on what all was happening with Marlyn and Ted, the factory, and all the rest.

When she was done, she looked at Kelly, then me, and said "Tito (Uncle) Dan and Tita (Aunt) Kelly, I want to thank you, both of you, for being so much help in getting me into school here; and for letting me stay with you. I was so afraid that I was going to have to stay at the college, and that I wouldn't find any friends for a long time. But if I can stay here, then I know that I will always be with family."

Kelly told her "Marilyn, you are more than welcome to stay with us while you're here in this country, whether it's while you're going to school, or if you just want to visit. You are family to us, too, and we're always glad to have you here."

With that, Marilyn started to cry (with happiness, I hoped), and Kelly went over to hold her and comfort her, followed by me to do the same things.

After a bit, she settled down again, and after giving us both a kiss on the cheek and wishing us a good night, went to bed.

The next morning – Friday – Kelly and I got up and headed for the kitchen to get our coffee, and to start breakfast for the kids. Instead, we found that Marlyn had already gotten things going, and was waiting patiently for us. We asked her why she was up so early, and she blushed a little before telling us "I just want to make sure that you are not sorry that I am here, so I am trying to help you."

Kelly and I both hugged her and assured her that she didn't have to do anything special to 'help' – that just having her there was enough for us. She asked when the kids usually got up, and we told her that we usually had ourselves a cup of coffee and our own breakfast before waking the kids; that way we were assured of getting our own meals before it was feeding time at the 'zoo' – making her laugh.

She had breakfast with us, and when Kelly and I were down to the bottoms of our coffee cups, told us to stay in the kitchen if we wanted; that she would be the one to get the kids started. Kelly suggested she'd need a crowbar to get the kids out of bed, and Marilyn laughed before leaving on her self-appointed task. Much to our surprise, the kids were dressed and ready to start the day sooner than if Kelly or I had gone after them; apparently, Marilyn knew some trick to getting them going that Kelly and I needed to learn from her.

That morning started a pattern that lasted for the whole time Marilyn was with us: she would join Kelly and me for breakfast, then get the kids up and ready for whatever was in their day. On top of that, she assumed minor 'cleanup' duties – making sure things were generally put away in the house, helping the kids keep their rooms (mostly) cleaned, running the dishwasher, and so on. Several times, Kelly and I would try to tell her she was doing too much; her only reply was to say "I will be the one to do that."

Anyway, when everyone was ready to go, we told Marilyn that she was welcome to stay home or go out, whichever she wanted. She'd been told by Marlyn and Ted that she wouldn't be allowed to drive 'her' car until she completed her driver's ed course, so we gave her a bus schedule and map so she'd know how to get to anyplace she might want to visit. We also made sure that she had our office phone number, as well as Kelly's cell phone number, and strongly emphasized that she was to call us if she ran into any kind of problems or had any questions. She let us know she understood, and Kelly and I left with the kids.

On the way to the office, we dropped them off at daycare – they were to start school that fall – and went to work. Then, around two o'clock or so, Kelly or I would pick them up and bring them to the office for an hour or two before the other one would take them home.

Once at work, I made a quick call to make sure that Marilyn's 'spot' in her driver's education class was still good, then called home to let her know she would be starting it the following Monday. She was delighted, of course, and thanked me profusely.

The rest of the day went by as it usually did for Kelly and me – working out any hang ups in whatever design I was working on, making sure that any necessary parts and materials would be available when they were needed, and so on. It was Kelly's turn to pick up the kids, so I was the one that took them home around 3:30; when we got in the door, I could see that Marilyn must have spent most of her time cleaning the house – it was immaculate. I thanked her – making her blush slightly – then let her know that we usually did the housecleaning on Saturday. The only response I got was "I will be the one". Clearly, she was determined to 'pay' us for letting her stay there by doing whatever jobs she could get away with.

Supper that night was pizza – to Marilyn's specifications at our insistence – followed by a night of TV with Cat on Marilyn's lap (purring to beat the band as Marilyn petted her) and the kids nestled into the couch next to her.

The next morning, Kelly and I slept a bit later than usual. On our way to the kitchen, we heard Marilyn talking to someone. We looked in and saw that both of the kids were on the couch with her, listening wide-eyed as she told them a story. We stopped to listen for a bit, and it didn't take us long to realize that she was telling them about herself and Marlyn, and how Kelly and I had helped them. But she was doing it in a way that made the whole thing sound like a fairy tale – the poor little girl that lost her family and had to stay in a terrible place with other children that had not families, and the kind Aunt that tried to help her. Kelly stood there, transfixed by the story, so I went and got us each a cup of coffee. When I got back, I had to nudge Kelly a couple of times before she looked at me to see what I wanted – then gave me an embarrassed smile and took her coffee before turning back to listen to Marilyn's story. Marilyn finished telling the kids her story and both of them looked happy as could be at the happy ending; Marilyn then told them "That little girl was me, and the aunt that tried to help was my Momma Marlyn. But the Philippines is a poor place, so she was not able to do as much as she wanted – until the people from the far away place came and helped her. That place was this country, and the people that helped my Momma Marlyn and me was your Mom and Daddy."

Kelly and I could see that both kids were awe-struck that their plain-old Mom and Daddy could do something like that, and Marilyn told them "Your Mom and Daddy are very special, very good people. So you have to listen to them, and do what they tell you, so that you can grow up to be the kind of people that they are: good, and kind, and brave. Can you do that?"

Both kids nodded solemnly, and assured her that they could.

I nudged Kelly again, and when she looked at me, I gestured with my head toward the kitchen. She nodded, and the two of us quietly made our way there – then proceeded to make a little noise so that the others would know we were up and moving. Daniel and Janet both came rushing in to the kitchen, telling us about the wonderful story Marilyn had just told them; Kelly and I hugged both of them 'good morning', and asked if they were hungry. Both told us that Marilyn had already fed them, and rushed back to their rooms to get dressed, since both were still in their pajamas.

Kelly and I took our coffee into the den, and saw Marilyn sitting there looking a bit abashed. She quietly asked us "You heard?"

Kelly nodded, and Marilyn blushed before telling us "Please do not be upset with me. When I got up, they were already awake, so after I fixed them some breakfast I wanted to keep them quiet so you could sleep. So I told them about how you came to the Philippines and helped Momma Marlyn and me."

I nodded, and after sharing a look with Kelly, told her "That's okay, Marilyn. The way you tell it, it makes it sound like we did a whole lot more than actually happened, I think; but you haven't done anything wrong."

To Marilyn's visible relief, Kelly added "You can tell them stories if you want, Marilyn – but you don't have to do or say anything that makes Dan and I sound like more than we are, either."

Marilyn hastened to tell us "But I don't! If you heard, you know that I did not tell them anything that was not absolutely true! Maybe it was not such a big thing to you, but it was for Momma Marlyn and me – and we will never forget about it!"

I looked at Kelly, and the two of us realized that there simply wasn't any way that we were going to change her mind, and mutually agreed to drop the subject. It was Kelly that asked her "Was there anything that you wanted to do today, Marilyn? Go to a movie or shopping or anything like that? We don't have to go to work today, and we usually take the kids to the park or someplace after the house is cleaned. But since you already took care of that, we can leave sooner, if you want. We'll be happy to either drop you off someplace, or keep you company – whichever you prefer."

Marilyn looked delighted, and said "Really? If it is not out of your way, I would like to buy some things."

"That's not a problem, Marilyn. Would you like us to leave you someplace, or would you feel better if we stayed with you?" I asked.

She got a shy grin on her face and answered "I think maybe I would like you with me, this time. I think I will need some help with American sizes", with a look at Kelly.

Kelly just smiled and said "I'll be glad to help, Marilyn" – to Marilyn's visible relief.

About that time, the kids came swarming in again, and quickly convinced Marilyn to watch cartoons with them – apparently, she remembered how much she'd enjoyed them from the time she'd stayed with us before.

While they were in the den watching TV, Kelly and I went into the kitchen and got our own breakfast, then went back to get dressed. While we were in the shower, Kelly got a mischievous look on her face, and dropped to her knees to take my penis in her mouth. When she had me fully erect (!), she stood up again, and kissed me. Then she turned around and bent over slightly, putting her hands on the shower wall before looking over her shoulder and giving me a Look that made it clear – in case I didn't already know – that she wanted me to make love with her.

In response, I dropped to my knees and eagerly put my face at the junction of her firm, smooth thighs. There I found that she was already wet inside, her labia parted and shiny with a mixture of her internal oils and the back spray from the shower. I dipped my tongue into her cleft and heard her soft moan when I quickly fluttered my tongue across her slightly exposed clitoris.

In just a minute or so, her vaginal lips were dark with her arousal, and fully extended in open invitation. Standing again, I positioned the head of my erect penis against her opening, and after cupping her water-slickened breasts in my hands, began to press into her. There was only a momentary resistance, then I was through her entrance and slowly filling her with my manhood as she released a low groan of pleasure.

When I was fully inside her, I paused long enough to gently squeeze her breasts and pull on her nipples a little before easing myself back out a ways, then filling her again. Over the next few minutes, I continued to steadily thrust in and out of her, feeling her hot, wet vagina clenching around me as she became more and more aroused. Feeling the first twinges of my own release, I leaned forward and began to softly bite the back of Kelly's neck – something that always got her going, good and hard. It didn't fail to do so that time, either, and she was soon gasping and moaning as she got closer and closer to her release.

I was on the verge of unloading myself into her when she suddenly threw her head back and released a soft cry as her she found her pleasure. The sensation of her vagina spasming around my manhood was enough to trigger my own climax, and with a couple of short, hard thrusts into her, I pressed myself as deeply inside her as I could as the first jet of my cum began to spray her insides.

I continued to flood her vagina with my inert seed as her delightfully hot and tight sheath clasped at me. Finally, I had nothing left to give her; but I continued to hold her breasts in my hand and my penis inside her as I felt a series of small spasms course through her body. Only when several seconds had gone since the last one did Kelly let her head fall forward; that was my signal that her orgasm was over, and I eased my hips back to let my softening penis pull free of her. She stood and turned around, and the two of us hugged and kissed, having again shown our love for each other.

Kelly eased herself out of my arms, and I looked down to where I could see a wad of my jism slowly running down the inside of one of her thighs. She saw my penis twitch, and laughingly told me "I don't know what it is about you, Dan, that you find the sight of your cum running down my leg so sexy!"

I grinned and told her "I don't either – but I do!"

She grinned back and told me "Yeah, I've noticed. But we still need to clean up – so let's clean up! And no more funny business, either, mister!"

"But you're the one that started it!" I protested, still smiling.

"That's right, I did, didn't I?" she answered, before adding "Well, then, I guess you'll get to start it next time, okay?"

I laughed, and agreed "Deal!" – and getting a laugh in reply.

A few minutes later, we were both cleaned up (again), and had a little fun when we dried each other off.

Back in the den, we found Marilyn having as much fun watching cartoons as the kids, if her laughter was any indication.

Later that day, the five of us went out to a local park where Kelly and I played Frisbee with the kids, and watched as they played for a while on the jungle gym and other toys and rides. As I watched them, I could only wish (as I had so many times before) that I had even half the energy they displayed as they played.

When the kids were done, we all headed for one of the local shopping malls. These were something Marilyn was familiar with, since they had them in the Philippines. As we visited some of the different stores, I was careful to keep the kids from bothering them whenever Marilyn indicated that there was something of a personal nature that she wanted to buy. I saw her, and even Kelly, both give me grateful looks when I would suggest to the kids that while Marilyn was busy, we could go look at something else.

That night was pretty much a repeat of the night before, except that Kelly prepared supper for all of us.

Sunday morning, Marilyn was surprised (and somewhat overawed) when Bishop Ferguson showed up to give her a ride to church. After he brought her back, she told us that he'd picked her up that time just to make sure she knew she was welcome, and that he'd made arrangements for some other people in the area to get her to church and home again until she was able to drive herself. She knew that Kelly and I weren't religious, despite Kelly's having gone to a Catholic school, and was perfectly accepting of the fact that we didn't go with her.

When it was time to head over to Paul's, we all changed clothes and got into my car. Once there, Marilyn was quickly greeted and welcomed by everyone that had met her before, and could make it there. Candice was off on an assignment for the newspaper she wrote for, and couldn't make it – but Jan and the others made sure that Marilyn knew that Candice was looking forward to seeing her again, too.

Between Paul, his boys Leo and John, Sarah's husband Al and their two boys George and Mike, and Bill (my client that had sent me to the Philippines), Daniel had plenty of people to keep him entertained. Ditto for Janet, who had all the girls, Sarah, Bill's wife Trudy, and Paul's girlfriend Stacy.

The afternoon went by with all of us having a great time; everyone was eager to hear how things were going for Marlyn and Ted, and Marilyn had more than enough opportunities to tell everyone about what she planned to do in school, and how happy she was to see all of them again.

When the afternoon finally wore down and all of us were ready to go home again, Marilyn made it a point to stop and thank everyone for coming, and telling them how welcome they made her feel.

On the ride home, Marilyn (in the back seat between the kids so there wouldn't be any fussing about who got a window seat) told us "Thank you, Tito Dan and Tita Kelly, for this afternoon. It was so nice to see everyone again!"

Kelly turned her head to tell Marilyn "Marilyn, it doesn't have to be just this once that you see them. I know that any of them would be delighted to see you, any time you wanted to invite them over, or go over to their place."

Marilyn seemed a little unsure, and asked "Really?"

I caught her eye via the rearview mirror and answered "Really, Marilyn. You are family to us, and they are our friends; so if you will let them, they will be YOUR friends, too."

Reassured that she really was welcome to see them more, she got a happy look on her face before pointing something out to the kids.

The following couple of weeks, we settled into something close to a routine.

After Kelly and I left, Marilyn would catch a city bus to where her Drivers Ed classes were; each class was only a couple of hours, and the first week was spent in the classroom as they taught the students road signs, safety, and all the rest. After classes, Marilyn would come back home and carefully study the material she'd learned that day until Kelly or I brought the kids home. When the classroom instruction was done, an hour or so of each afternoon would be spent at a local game arcade, where she would use one of the road racing games to 'practice' driving. Since her goal was to be safe, versus go fast, her scores were abysmal – something that she took a measure of pride in. Sometimes, Kelly or I would go out with her in her car to let her get a little more practice. By mutual agreement, Kelly and I were intentionally harder on her than we knew the driving examiner would be – our thinking being that finding out how easy-going most examiners were would relax her for the test. We didn't tell her that, though, so the effect wouldn't be lost.

Inevitably, the day came for her to take her test. She passed the written part of the exam with a perfect score. She was visibly nervous when the road test began, but by the time she got back, we could see that she'd calmed considerably. When she got out of the car, she gave us a happy smile, and clapped her hands together in joy when the examiner told us "She did just fine – better than most I have to ride with! If she'll come inside, we'll have her temporary license ready in about five minutes; the regular one will arrive in the mail in a couple of weeks."

It was a very happy, very satisfied Marilyn that came out of the Motor Vehicles building, clutching her U.S. driver's license in her hand. When she got over to where Kelly and I, and the kids, were waiting, she told us "He was a much nicer man than I thought he would be. I thought that you were being kind to me when you were talking to me while I was driving, but you weren't!" – the last accompanied by a look of mild accusation. Kelly smiled and told her what we'd done – and why. Marilyn looked baffled for a few seconds, then understood – and promptly thanked us, admitting that when she'd realized how patient the examiner was, she'd relaxed a lot.

When Kelly and I insisted that she be the one to drive all of us home, she tried to protest – but not too hard, and looked inordinately pleased and happy during the trip.

For the first week or so, Marilyn would ask Kelly or me to keep her company whenever she had to go someplace – she was obviously timing her trips for when we would be home so that we would be available. We agreed, and soon realized that she was using us as a means of building her own confidence. With each assurance that she was doing fine, she got a little surer of herself, and it wasn't long before she was willing to drive herself wherever she needed to go, by herself.

With a driver's license and a car, there wasn't much keeping Marilyn from doing what she wanted to, when she wanted to. She didn't have the slightest hesitation about driving to school and getting herself registered, and buying the books she would need for her classes. She faithfully attended the couple of orientation classes the school held for new freshmen, and was ready to go when her classes started.

For our part, Kelly and I got the kids registered for their school: the primary section of the same Catholic school that Kelly had attended and Jan was teaching at. Jan was teaching the middle school kids, so it would be a few years before anyone had to be 'worried' about our kids being in one of Jan's classes.

A couple of weeks went by before Marilyn approached us with an idea: that she could easily pick the kids up from school, since she finished her classes a full hour before they got out. That way, Kelly and I wouldn't have to interrupt whatever we were doing, and could still be certain that Daniel and Janet were being taken care of properly. Marilyn assured us that the kids weren't any problem, and that she could study for her classes while the kids were home for those couple of hours until Kelly and I arrived.

It sounded like a reasonable thing to do, but Kelly and I were still a bit unsure. Not because we didn't trust Marilyn; far from it. Rather, we wanted to be sure that the kids wouldn't disturb her, and make it harder for her to study. Still, it did seem like a good idea, and we finally agreed to try it.

The kids, of course, thought it was a great idea: they got home sooner, and had Marilyn (who they adored) for company. Marilyn had gotten into the habit of showing us her homework and different quizzes after they'd been graded; after she started picking the kids up from school, we could see from the grades she was getting that she wasn't having any trouble keeping up with her schoolwork. Reassured that Marilyn's education wasn't suffering because of her willingness to try and help us, we decided that it would be appropriate to pay her for what she was doing.

That was the time we had our one and only 'argument' with her.

When we first brought up the idea, Marilyn was horrified, then adamant. We continued to try and reason with her, using every argument we could come up with, and finally got her to concede that watching out for the kids that way was something 'extra'. Then we had the problem of trying to negotiate payment with her – with a twist. Rather than us trying to get the price down, we were trying to convince her to accept more money. It was through a combination of cajolery, threats (to start picking the kids up ourselves, telling her that if she wouldn't accept payment then we weren't going to let her do it, among similar comments), and pure stubbornness that we finally got her to accept the princely sum of $75 a week – and even then, it took a lot of talking to convince her that it wasn't "too much". One of the things that motivated us was the fact that when she'd gone shopping, she'd bought the least expensive things she could, according to Kelly; we were sure that she was already on a tight budget, and wanted to do what we could to help.

The next few months went by quickly. Marilyn was delighted to help us plan a small party for the kids for Halloween, and was honored when she was included in the invitation to spend Thanksgiving at Paul's house.

She couldn't help but notice that Jan or one of the others would sometimes come by for a visit and spend the night with Kelly and me – but she never said word about it.

Marilyn's birthday was December 8th, and Kelly and I and the kids all took her out to eat by way of celebration – and to get her out of the house so Jan and the others could prepare the surprise party we'd planned.

And it was a surprise.

When we got home, Marilyn started to help get the kids out of the car, and Kelly told her to go on in – that she and I would take care of it, it being 'her' night. She smiled at us, and did as we said; we could hear her shriek of surprise when she saw everyone inside, and the birthday cake and trimmings.

The kids, Kelly, and I came into the house behind her, listening to all the laughter at the expression on Marilyn's face when she realized that all of the fuss was for HER. She turned and looked at us, and simply said "Oh, you!" – provoking another round of laughter.

She was guided to a seat on the couch, where Daniel and Janet eagerly joined her; happy as could be that their Tita Marilyn (she'd been teaching them Tagalog) was having a birthday party.

Over the next several minutes everyone took turns giving her the gift they'd gotten her. Robyn and the others had each gotten her some nice clothing. Paul gave her a solid gold crucifix with a diamond in the center and a gold chain so she could wear it around her neck. Bill's gift was a fancy graphing calculator that we'd seen her drooling over. Daniel and Janet had teamed up to get her a collection of Tom and Jerry cartoons (her favorites). Sarah and her husband had given her a very nice pen and pencil set. Finally, it was my and Kelly's turn – and she was in awe of the nice briefcase we'd gotten her; inside, she discovered that we'd included a high-end laptop, too. Crying, she tried to protest that it was too much, and it was Kelly that told her "Marilyn, if you're going to be an economist, you have to have the right tools. I'm sure that all of us know you will make us proud; but now you can do it without having to work so hard. Happy birthday!"

Marilyn started crying in happiness then, of course. I saw a brief wistfulness cross her face, and knew that what she really missed was having Marlyn and Ted there with us. As though on cue, the phone rang then – and when Kelly answered it, she got a mischievous smile on her face and held it out to Marilyn, telling her "It's for you."

It was a very perplexed Marilyn that stood up and went to the phone, wondering who could possibly be calling her at our place – then finding out: it was Marlyn and Ted, calling to wish her a happy birthday. The joy on her face was something to see; I think all of us had to blink back a tear at seeing how happy she was to hear from the only mother she'd ever known, and the only man she'd ever been able to call 'Papa'. Kelly and I knew that she'd been writing letters home, of course, and gotten replies; but we also knew that a letter was a poor substitute for actually talking to someone.

The rest of us kept ourselves amused – and out of earshot – as Marilyn spent nearly an hour talking with her family back in the Philippines. When she was done, she hung up the phone and came over to give me a big hug, saying "Thank you, Tito Dan. Momma told me that it was you that said they should call tonight."

I hugged her back, and then brushed a couple of tears from her eyes before answering "Happy birthday, Marilyn."

She gave me a happy smile, and went in to join everyone as the cake and ice cream were dished out – after she'd blown out all 18 candles, of course.