The restaurant parking lot held only a smattering of cars. Three p.m. was a good time to meet in public and still keep a little bit of privacy.

Dara had baked a loaf of pumpkin bread, and she held it out in front of her like a lifeline as they were walking up to the restaurant doors. Jiyong had never loved her more than in that moment. She was obviously terrified, but facing it head on as she always did, armed with a baked goods offering.

He linked his arm with hers. “I’d say I’m more nervous than you are, but that’s not true, is it?”

“I might pee my pants, but we’re fine, right?”

“We’re excellent.”

She leaned into him. “I’m glad I brought you with me.”

“Thank you for letting me come.”

“You don’t mind?” she asked, looking up at him.

“Why would I mind?” he asked. “I’m crazy about you, and sometimes that will make me crazy protective. Let me know when it’s too much.”

“As long as you let me know when I’m too much.”

He wouldn’t say never, because he had a feeling Dara wasn’t ready to believe that yet. But he’d show her, little by little, that he was sticking around, that she lit him up inside and changed his world for the better every day.

Once inside the restaurant, his eyes adjusted to the sudden dimness. Dara had exchanged pictures with her uncle so they’d know what the other looked like. She glanced around, eyeing the tables and the long bar. A balding man and a tiny woman with a fluff of white hair waved them over from a table in the corner.

“Oh, Jiyong. He brought his mom,” Dara whispered. “She’s looking right at me.”

Dara was drawn to her like a magnet. They shared the same eyes and smile. The woman slowly got up from her chair, and Dara was in her arms before her grandmother’s back even straightened to a standing position.

“Jay tried to keep it from me, but I pestered him until the whole story came out. He said maybe you weren’t really Teddy’s child, but one look at your picture, and I knew.” She held Dara’s face in her little wrinkled hands. “So beautiful.”

Jay, Dara’s uncle, held out a hand to Jiyong. “Thanks for coming. Are you her..?”

“Yeah, I’m her boyfriend,’ Jiyong said. It didn’t feel presumptuous coming out of his mouth anymore.

Dara moved from hugging her grandmother to shaking Jay’s hand as soon as Jiyong let go of it.

They all sat back down, with Jay and his mom exclaiming over Dara’s loaf of pumpkin bread. Dara found Jiyong’s hand under the table and laced her fingers through his. She was shaking a little, but you’d never known it based on her friendly smile and eager eyes.

Jay glanced at his mother. “Well, we don’t want to keep you in suspense, Dara. You’re probably wondering about your dad. Sorry for being so cautious, but I wanted to talk to him first. It’s a lot to take in, especially for old guys like us who get set in our ways. Teddy is an airline pilot, and was a bush pilot before that. He did contract work overseas for years. Sort of a recovering nomad these days. He usually works over the holidays and is a little hard to get a hold of. But when I got him to call me back, we had a long talk. He remembers your mom. I think that’s a story best heard from him, to be honest.”

Dara dipped her head. “I can understand that.”

From what she’d told Jiyong, he knew Dara’s mom hadn’t thought highly of the man. Jiyong hoped her dad was someone worth getting to know now.

Jay leaned forward. “He’s so very excited that you reached out. Like you said, he had no idea you existed. He’s in the process of rearranging his schedule so he can fly into Sky Harbor Airport and meet you before the end of the year. How would you feel about that?”

+++

Dara felt so many things all at once. Fear, hope, excitement. She nodded. “I’d like that.” The war between hope and fear might rage on, but there was no need to get into all that right now. It wasn’t like she was going to ask her dad not to come see her. She just hadn’t expected to find him so quickly.

“Is my dad married? Does he have a family?”

Jay shook his head. “No to both of those. This is big. Having you here…” He cleared his throat and looked down at the tablecloth. “I had no idea taking a DNA test would lead to this.”

A waitress came over to take the drink orders, providing a much-needed break in the conversation. Dara was afraid she’d bawl right then and there. She loved Jay and her grandmother already.

Her grandmother swatted Jay when he brought up the test results as soon as the waitress left. “Jay, hold on a minute and let’s do proper introductions before we get into all that. Dara, dear, you are my one and only grandchild so you can pick whatever you’d like to call me. Grammy, Grandma, Nana. My name is Yejin. You can call me Yejin if that feels better.”

Dara’s heart melted a little more. She had a feeling Yejin would prefer a grandmother kind of name. “How about Nana, then?”

“Then I’m Nana. Your young man can call me Nana too, if he likes. Who did you bring with you?”

Dara squeezed Jiyong’s hand. “This is Jiyong.”

Jiyong shook her hand. “Nice to meet you, Nana.”

Earning brownie points already, that one.

The conversation moved to lighter things—what looked good on the menu and how the Seoul winters dried out the skin something fierce. But eventually, as Dara knew they would, Nana and Jay asked details about Dara’s childhood and the fact that her mom had already passed on.

Dara had processed losing her mom, but it was still hard to talk about. She always felt responsible for other people’s sympathy and discomfort with death. It was worse with these two, because she sensed some guilt on their part for not being there during Dara’s growing up years when she moved around from rental to r