to go to war over. He just wondered how long it would take for people to wake up and stop bombing each other, especially when it seemed the targets mainly included old men, women, and children. But he had to tell Dan's people something that they could wrap their minds around. Demon hunting wasn't such a thing, so he kept it to world politics as the closest analogy he could come up with.
After a moment, Carlos pressed on, knowing that the well-timed pause had probably engendered awe in Dan's parents. "What your son does is dangerous, is important, and is part of... eliminating the axis of evil. He has indeed been invaluable to our special forces." Carlos looked at Dan and gave him a crisp salute. "This is why, as his commanding officer, I wanted to escort him to his parents' home and to personally meet the fine people who made him who he is. We know this is hard on families, not knowing where your loved ones are or what they are doing, but we appreciate the sacrifice." Carlos gave Dan the eye when his mother practically swooned with pride and his father's chest puffed up, that now would be a good time to explain a quick marriage. An elbow in
the ribs from Rabbi Zeitloff helped Dan spit it out.
"Mom, Dad... because things were so hectic, and abnormal, and dangerous as Car... uh, General Rivera said - and I met someone who works with me in the same unit, who also can't discuss what she does," Dan said, bringing Heather closer to him with a hug, "I want you to meet Heather, my wife, and uh - "
"Wife! Frank, did he say wife?" Mrs. Weinstein's voice hit a decibel like fingernails down a blackboard as she covered her mouth with both hands.
"That's what he said, Stella - wife," Mr. Weinstein said with a smile.
"Mom - "
Mrs. Weinstein looked at the rabbi, ignoring her son. "Is she - "
"I married them. What do you think?" the rabbi said in a feigned huff, cutting off Mrs. Weinstein's question before she could ask if Heather was Jewish.
"She's beautiful," Mrs. Weinstein said, coming up to Heather to look her over. "My son married a girl this gor geous? My Daniel, who in high school, wasn't able to - "
"Mom!" Dan said closing his eyes.
"He was too smart for those other girls," his mother said, preening and kissing Dan's cheek. "But I bet they'd be sick now to see our Daniel with such a lovely wife," she added, holding Heather back and then hugging her.
"And smart, too, don't forget, Stella - she has an important, high-security job like Dan ... the two of them have the same shtick. Cut from the same cloth."
"Yes, sir," Carlos said, now fully enjoying the role. "She works in Dan's same unit."
"I'm so pleased to meet you both," Heather said in a quiet, relieved tone as Mrs. Weinstein released her. "I've heard so much about you both. Dan loves you so." She looked at Dan, and he touched her hair.
Dan's parents hugged her again, taking turns handing her off to each other and then embracing their son. Dan's father gave him a huge smile of approval that made Dan seem to stand even taller.
"So, when was this wedding, and we have to meet your parents; I have so many questions," Mrs. Weinstein said in one run-on sentence. "And you want children, right?" Heather's eyes filled with terror and she glanced at Dan, who'd lost the color in his face.
"I just have one question," Mr. Weinstein said, making everyone turn. "Why are we standing in the foyer? Why haven't we come into the house like normal people?"
"Yes, yes, we should come in and everyone just relax for a very short while," Rabbi said, already staging the excuse to leave as he and Mr. Weinstein deflected Mrs. Weinstein's probing questions.
"But you have to have dinner." Stella Weinstein looked around at everyone as though mortified by the concept that her son could visit, bring home important guests, and even a rabbi, and not eat. "If I'd known you were coming," she said, covering her chest with her hand in mild shock, "I would have cooked. General, make my son eat - he doesn't eat." The thought of food made Carlos's stomach roil, but he knew better than to decline. This was family.
Dan and Heather looked at Carlos with such appreciation and affection that Carlos looked away.