A young man goes to his fiancée’s grandmother’s house for dinner and is stunned to see a photo of himself on her wall and realizes he can’t marry the girl he loves.

Tony never imagined dinner with Carol’s grandmother would mean the end of their romance. Anthony Udell had met Carol Frank in college and they had been dating for three years before he proposed.

Tony had already met Carol’s parents and liked them immensely. Now he had to get the matriarch’s stamp of approval. Carol smiled at her nervous fiancé. “Relax, tiger! Grandma is a sweetie! This is going to be a piece of cake!” But it wasn’t. It would turn out to be disastrous

Carol’s parents had told Grandma Emily that Carol was bringing over a ‘special someone’ but they left the announcement of the engagement to the young couple. Tony, who’d grown up in an orphanage, was very nervous.

“I hope she likes me!” he told Carol anxiously. “I always wanted family, you know? But I get so nervous…”

Real life can sometimes be even stranger than fiction.

“Oh babes,” Carol laughed. “I promise it’s going to be OK! Gran Emily is a pushover for tall, dark, handsome men!”

They arrived at Gran Emily’s house and rang the doorbell, but a cheerful voice called to them, telling them to come into the garden. There, under a lovely old tree, Gran Emily had set the table for dinner with her best china and candles.

“Gran!” cried Carol, running to her grandmother and hugging her. “I’ve missed you!” Her grandmother hugged her back and peeked over her shoulder at Tony who stood there looking lost and confused.

“Come over here, young man,” Gran Emily laughed. “I don’t bite!” And she gave Tony a hug and a kiss too. “You two sit down! I’ve made all your favorites, Carol!”

The three of them sat for hours eating and chatting under the stars. Tony was about to serve Gran Emily another glass of wine when he noticed the bottle was empty.

“Mrs. Frank,” Tony said. “Is there more wine? Carol and I wanted to propose a special toast and make an announcement…”