"James, you haven't met my godparents, yet, right? This is Uncle David and Aunt Truc."

James shook their hands. "Pleasure, sir, ma'am."

"Are you on the way out, cô? Why so early?" ("Cô" means auntie in Vietnamese.)

"I'm sorry, con. I wish we could stay longer, but our flight is tonight. International flights are just so hard to schedule, you understand?" ("Con" means child.)

"Then let's hurry and take the photos, so we don't hold them up, Claire."

Anticipating the countless guests we'd have to meet tonight, I took another appetite suppressor when I changed into the ruby-red reception gown. Who knows when I'll finally be able to eat comfortably?

"Mr. Crowe." I shook James's dad's hand. "You look dashing tonight."

"Thank you, Claira, but don't you think you should start calling me dad, now?" He gave me a teasing smile and patted my hand in his.

I laughed off his comment as we posed. I was not ready to call him dad.

"Oh Claira," James said as we left Mr. Crowe to make our way through the tables. "I want you to meet my cousin Mel. She just came back from a semester in Copenhagen."

"That's exciting! I'd love to meet her."

Then, I introduced him to my favorite cousins who I used to stay with every summer until I turned 18. After that, we took photos with his childhood friends who suffered through the years of vacation bible school with him. Then, he bonded with my college friend from St. Louis who is also obsessed with Bruce Lee and dated action films.

Before we knew it, dinner was over and all our older relatives had gotten bored of dancing and went home; the afterparty had started.