Meet the Parents

Edwin’s parents are the hippies turned business oriented, where his dad took over his dad’s company and basically was a workaholic most of the time to take care of his young family, they’re well off, and eventually he switches careers with his wife that allow plenty of travel. Mrs. Underhill is a photographer, so they end up traveling so lots of weird and remote places, sorta trying to make up for missed opportunities. Eventually they realize they are missing out on their kids lives. The kids live with their grandma, and when edwins 14 his parents make the career change, so he’s largely left with his grandma to take care of his sisters. His parents do come back a bit, but by the time he’s 24 they largely are busy traveling. They think they’re doing what’s best for their family, only to come home and realize they don’t really know their kids, and that their daughters largely refer to Edwin when it comes to problems (likely he would go with his grandma to the youngests parent teacher meetings since he’s the one helping the girls), they also have been wanting to fix their son up with someone, and they find out through his sister that he’s not only been seeing someone, but he told them… and they brushed it off like a joke/they were too busy so he didn’t bring it up again. He’s been dating Portia for about a year (plus their fwb era), and they invite her over for a very awkward dinner and they don’t really understand why it’s awkward until she lays it out to them, pretty unceremoniously. She’s known them since she was little, and is more aware of the situation that Edwin is at some times, basically saying she finds it interesting that they’re trying to get to know her, when they don’t even know their son. Making money and having comfort is great, but did u know he’s very successful? Did you know he is in a band? Did you know he cooks now? Or that he paints? Or that your daughter went on her first date? And she talks to him about it OF ALL PEOPLE. Think Edwin is the ‘self sufficient, we don’t need to worry about him, he’s smart and he gets in trouble but it’s just a phase’ kid that was kinda neglected a lil bit since he was quiet, and ‘doing just fine’, not that he wasn’t loved.

Portia on the other hand has a very doting father, but he’s sick on and off the majority of her life, and her mom either snapped and walked out, or she passed (haven’t decided, likely the first) so Portia steps up to take care of her dad a lot and run the family business and works hard and is largely alone. She lives alone in their small home that’s full of her mother’s junk since her dad can’t part with it, and she visits her dad. Her dad is her confidant, and does everything in his power to make sure Portia is happy, doing his best to try to give her a normal childhood but they’re not well off, and he can’t do everything he wants to. I think he has phases where he’s well and working, and others where he’s not, and eventually once portia is older they figure out what could help him, and he slowly gets a bit better to the point that he’s back home and slowly heals up.

Portia is afraid of being left, and being unwanted, where as Edwin always feels invisible, or not good enough. Edwin makes Portia feel very wanted, and is very blunt in the fact that he worked hard to make her his gf so no way is he leaving. Portia picks up on the tiny things he does, and is overly appreciative of everything, and pushes him to do things outside his comfort zone that obvi he ends up being great at cause she knows. They’re both care givers in their own sense, and help one another out, Portia is great with the girls, and Edwin is more than happy to fix things/help out with household chores Portia has to do. They visit her dad a lot, and her dad was the first and only person she told when she was seeing Edwin. Obvi she didn’t give all the details, or that they were friends with benefits, just that, she was seeing someone… and she was happy. Her dad is pleased to find out it’s Edwin because he likes him and thinks he’s a good kid. Portia stays with Edwin and his family aka sister and grandma, grandma loves her, and runs the house a bit.

Eventually the youngest daughter is older, and Portia’s dad is well, and they’re both successful enough, so they move out. They do the shitty apartment thing, then a better apartment… then things are going well, and Edwin decided he wants to do something for Portia (that he’s been thinking about since they started dating) and buys her the fixer upper she had an eye on, so he can gift her the house. It would be the first thing she’s really ever been GIVEN (he gives her stuff all the time) not an accomplishment she’s had to work for. She tells him right before that she’s pregnant and she thinks he’s having an affair because he’s been so suspicious. He blurts out that he bought a house for her. They’d been dating a LONG time at this point, and Portia is the one that pitches that maybe… they keep it? He tentatively agrees, secretly thrilled. They have their first appointment where Edwin has to introduce himself as ‘the boyfriend’ ‘the father’, and it’s confirmed she’s pregnant and how far along. They leave and he says he cannot be some baby daddy, he wants to marry her, and if she hates it she can divorce him. She agrees immediately, and tells him to go to city hall. He’s shocked. They decide to start the process, she admits she doesn’t think they can afford the wedding, and they sign the papers, then gift each other rings later down the line

They realize the house is WAY MORE of a fixer upper than that anticipated and Edwin refuses to let Portia live in it in her condition, which she screams at him about, so they move back into his family home to save on rent. Not sure if his parents are around, but they’d come home to find out his son is married and expecting lol. Portia’s dad weeps