Larry was waiting outside Mr. Drummond's office. He gave Melanie and Alex a warm smile as they passed him by. It didn't matter anymore that he had snitched on them to his boss. They would have come clean anyway or Sebastian would have told him. Larry was only doing his duty.
How could there be any hard feelings? Alex and Melanie were walking on cloud nine, and then some.
The woman standing next to Larry made Alex freeze in his tracks.
"Alex, what is it sweetheart?" Melanie said. She looked at the wizened old lady with the kindest eyes she had ever seen twinkling amid the lines of her face. She was in her seventies at least. The smile on her lips was pure joy and happiness. Melanie couldn't help but respond with an open smile of her own in return.
"Alex, who is this?" She asked.
"Mother." Alex whispered. "What are you doing here? Melanie, this is my mother. I haven't seen her in over twenty years."
"Alex. My boy, it's so, so very good to see you." Tears began to flow down the little old lady's cheeks. Tears of sadness and joy. Alex took the tiny woman into his arms and raised her up. "Mother, it's so good to see you." He hugged her to him until she felt she would smother. Then he gathered up the two women together, kissing the top of their heads, Melanie's soft, lustrous blonde hair, and the thin, brittle gray hair of the former Mrs. Drummond.
"I thought I couldn't be happier than I already was, but mother, you've made this the greatest day of my life. What are you doing here? I thought father had forbidden you to enter any Drummond Corporation property for as long as he was alive?"
"I did." Old Mr. Drummond's voice came from behind. Alex's mother beamed with joy as she looked to him.
"I don't understand father, what's going on?" Alex was perplexed.
The old man walked to his son and put his arms around all of them. He was old and bent but still tall and broad. His hug squeezed Melanie in tight to the little family circle. Sebastian stood in the doorway of his father's office, jaw hanging open, and tears in his eyes.
"Mother? What are you doing here? Father, what's going on?"
Mr. Drummond released his bear hug and disentangled his former spouse from his son's arms.
"Shall you tell them dear, or shall I?" He put his long arm around the tiny old lady. Both of them beamed with joy.
"We're back together, honey." She said to Alex. "Sebastian, come here you bold boy." The Drummond black sheep came running to embrace her.