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Crystal could tell by the bright snancy announceh There was so about the way they looked at each other that spoke of pain--and a lot of it Gray’s ar, "But it’s been a difficult road for us We’ve tried es After our last loss, we decided that we couldn’t continue to put ourselves through that anymore" The women in the room were all teary-eyed as he dropped a kiss on Suzy’s forehead before speaking again "Then o down a different road I’ve long been in awe of the woth and conviction that day showed me that if I lived to be a thousand years old, I’d only have just enough time to scratch the surface of all that she is"
Crystal jerked as Mark pressed a napkin in her hand She hadn’t been aware that she was crying until that rateful sardless of as going on between theth he offered as Gray continued "Sorry I didn’t mean to move the ladies to tears," he joked "Declan,as soon as I’m finished" Crystal’s brother-in-law held his beer up in acknowledg Gray to chuckle "Anyway, that’s the history part Now on to anted to tell you all tonight Suzy and I decided to build our fah adoption We both felt that we had so much love to offer a child and at every point of the process, it felt right As if ere finally doing ereher eyes before throwing her hands in the air "What Gray is trying to say is that it has happened for us! We’reour son soon!"
The roo up and down as if she’d just won the lottery "Oh, my God, did you hear that?" she beamed at Mark "I’ just as thrilled as she felt "I don’t know Suzy that well, but Gray is a good guy I had no idea that they’d been going through so h" Mark propelled them forward until they reached the other couple to offer their congratulations He kept his hand on Crystal the entire ti, it was going to be okay Until she heard her sister’s voice above the noise in the living roo in the foyer with her hands on her hips
"Oh no," she breathed, hoping she was seeing things But after blinking a few times to clear away the disastrous scene before her eyes, it didn’t change
"What’s wrong?" Mark asked as she stopped abruptly as he was atteo help Ella for a moment," she stuttered as she tried to pull her hand away
Mark looked around, before zeroing in on her sister "Who’s Ella arguing with?"
"It’s our mother," she said with forced cheerfulness "I just need a second to see"
Crystal got no further Mark was now in the lead and pulling her toward her noking mother "Mrs Webber, I’ve heard a lot about you," he said in a voice that was pure ice The fact that he didn’t offer his hand also indicated his lack of friendliness toward the wo back
"Who, pray tell, are you?" Dot Webber sniffed "And why are you holdinga beat, Mark piped in, "My name is Mark DeSanto, and I’ her"
Herto watch--until she opened herto Crystal she said, "I swear, girl, you’ve been difficult since the day you were born There’s a troublemaker in every faasped, looking horrified Crystal had heard some version of that same theme so many times; it had almost lost its power to hurt her any heart Your sister’s a bad seed I oing toat Mark, she added, "and fornicating with this guy the next It’s not the behavior of a lady and certainly not a Webber"
Crystal could feel the blood drain from her face as her eyes flew to Mark’s Oh nohe looked beyond furious, but strangely enough, not surprised How could that be? Maybe all of her istered with hih!" His hiss ca the three of them to jerk A vein throbbed visibly on his forehead as he asked, "What’s wrong with you? You co, and then proceed to tear your other daughter to shreds in front of guests? And you’ve appointed yourself judge and jury of oing on here?" Declan asked as he walked up