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Chapter Twenty Seven - Thanksgiving

"We can't."

"You can."

"Mommy, I want turkey!"

Molly sighed. I knelt down next to Shelby. When all else failed, I relied on the kid.

"You know who makes great turkey?"

Shelby smiled and lifted her surgeon's mask.

"Who?"

"My mom."

Shelby's eyes went directly to Molly.

"Mommy..."

Molly sighed. "Okay, we'll go."

Thanksgiving had been the topic of discussion for the past three days. Once I had found out that Molly's dad was currently in Mexico on an archaeological dig and her mom was in England, I had invited her and Shelby to come with me to my mom's. Each time I brought it up, she refused.

Now I was two hours from leaving and I was wearing her down.

"C'mon, what's the big deal? It's just dinner."

"But...it's your mom!"

I smiled. "She doesn't bite, trust me."

Shelby squealed. "I'm gonna get pumpkin pie!"

"Shel, go get dressed okay?"

"Yup!"

She skipped up the stairs. Molly watched her and then turned back around. She was mid-sigh when I pulled her into my arms and kissed her.

"Relax," I whispered.

"That's kind of hard to do," she whispered.

"Why?"

"Because I'm not the type of girl you take home to mom."

I smiled. She had no idea how wrong she was about that.

---------------------------

"Molly, this is my mom, Denise. Mom, this is Molly and her daughter Shelby."

"How great to meet you. Alex's has told me a lot of great things."

Shelby had decided to wear a hula skirt, blue sweater, and a red and white Dr. Seuss hat for the occasion. She put her hands on her little Hawaiian hips.

"Who's Alex?" Shelby asked.

Mom laughed and hugged me. "This is Alex."

Shelby grinned. "Mr. J, is that really your name?"

I laughed. "Yup."

"I like it!"

It was nice to know I got a stamp of approval. Before we made it past the living room, mom had Ally and Joe out of their car seats and was holding both of them, one on each hip.

"Aren't you two getting so big!" she said. Joe grinned. I had been calling him Snaggletooth for the last two weeks. One pointy little bottom tooth had finally broken through. Ally, on the other hand, was Jaws. Her teeth had erupted like crazy.

"Do you have a date scheduled for Ally's surgery?" mom asked. I nodded.

"January 21. She's catching up so well that the doctor feels confident doing it then. February 20 they'll actually activate it."

"She's going to have a coconut implant!" Shelby added. I laughed.

"Cochlear implant."

Shelby shrugged. "Close enough!"

We finally made it to the kitchen where my stepdad Tony was pulling out heaps and heaps of food. I did another round of introductions. Shelby's hands wrapped around the counter and she lifted herself up.

"LOOK AT THAT BIRD!"

"Shelby, get DOWN!"

"Alex used to do the same thing when he was that age. He was literally in everything."

I groaned. Leave it to my mom to start telling the stories already.

"Can we just eat?"

Mom laughed. "See what I mean? Things don't change."

Molly laughed right along with her.

I went back out to the car and got the high chairs. Ally and Joe both dug into dishes of cranberry sauce the moment Mom put it down in front of them.

"Mom, I don't think they can have that."

Mom rolled her eyes. "Trust me, they can have cranberry sauce."

"Hey Mr. Alex J?"

I looked down right into Shelby's freckled face.

"Do these people have a phone book? The chair's too low!"

"Shelby," Molly groaned.

Mom waved a hand. "That's alright, I'm on it."

After everyone had found a chair and was comfortable, the dish passing started. Tony seemed oblivious to the craziness that I had brought into the house. That was just one of the reasons why I loved him. The main reason was that he treated my mom like a princess.

"So, Molly, is Alex a good boss?"

Molly's face turned a telltale shade of red.

"Very good."

"He kisses my mommy a lot," Shelby announced. Tony stopped mid-chew. I saw the corners of his mouth twitch. Molly looked like she wanted to crawl under the gob of mashed potatoes on her plate.

"Does that bother you?" my mom said. Shelby glanced at me.

"Naw, he's harmless."

Tony snorted. My mom looked like she just wanted to lean over and pinch Shelby's little cheeks.

Before mom could interrogate further, I busied myself in cleaning two sets of pink cranberry-sauced baby hands and faces. The minute I had them looking like normal babies again, mom put down two bowls of pumpkin pie filling. Once Ally tasted it, she practically dunked her head in it. She caught herself and just filled her hands with the glop.

"She's eating like a pig!" Shelby exclaimed.

"Shel---" Molly said. But it was too late. By the time I turned around, she had smashed her face into the plate and began to snort like a pig rooting around in a trough.

For the first time that I could remember, Shelby pushed Molly too far. Molly swooped down on her and scooped her up. Gravy dripped off her chin and her eyes widened in surprise.

"Excuse us," Molly said through gritted teeth. They headed in the direction of the bathroom.

"Oh, I know exactly how she feels," mom said with a sigh.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Do you know how many times you did embarassing things on the rare occasion I had a date?"

I scoffed. I only remembered myself being an amazing terrific, well-behaved child...

"You tried to set one of my dates on fire by tossing a firecracker into their hair."

I snorted. "I don't remember that."

"You should. I spanked you so hard you could barely sit down for three days."

My mom was the sweetest lady I knew, but corporeal punishment was not beyond her.

"Oh, I think I remember that now..."

Mom wiped the pumpkin off Ally and Joe's mouth.

"You like her?" she asked.

"What?"

"Molly. You like her?"

I picked up a green bean and folded it in half.

"I do."

"She's cute. I like redheads," Tony said. Mom gave him a look. He grinned.

"What? That's what made me ask you out."

"I thought it was my bubbly personality."

"Yeah, that too."

"Anyhow," mom said. "How serious is this?"

I set down my fork. I picked at a really good piece of skin on my thumb that I had been working on for the last week.

"I don't know," I answered honestly.

Before mom could ask me anything else, Molly came back into the kitchen. Shelby was holding onto her hand, her eyes red rimmed. She scrambled back into her chair and looked down morosely.

"I'm sorry I acted like a piggy," she said in the teeniest tiniest voice I had ever heard in my life.

"It's okay dear," mom said. "You're just in time for dessert."

Shelby smiled. "Dessert?"

And just like that, everything was all better.

--------------------------------

"You're mom is the sweetest lady."

I laughed. "I know."

"The look on her face when Joe started crawling around and then tried to pull himself up..."

"Hey, that blew my mind."

I was driving back to the house with three kids fast asleep in the backseat. Molly smelled like Dawn dishsoap. She refused to leave without helping mom with dishes. Mom thanked her by showing her my baby books.

Not my finest hour.

"That one picture of you with your little bare bottom sticking up in the air reminds me of Joe."

I groaned. Molly laughed.

"It's hard to believe you didn't come into this world with tattoos."

I smiled. I had on some sappy love song channel on the radio and the traffic was light. I reached over and took Molly's hand in mine. She leaned over and placed her head on my shoulder.

"Hey Molls?" I whispered.

"Mmm?"

"Thanks for coming today."

"No, thank you for putting up with us."

"Hey, this isn't the first time I've seen someone smash their whole face into a plate of food. Remember, I've toured with Nick for twenty years."

Molly lifted her head. Her lips brushed my cheek.

At that moment I felt extremely thankful.

I had a feeling the guy upstairs was giving me another chance.

And I wasn't going to let it slip through my fingers.