Elvira looked over her shoulder at me then with her head she gestured to the kitchen table which was covered in bowls and plates filled with pre-Thanksgiving nibbles that might defeat the purpose of Thanksgiving. Then she gave me an approving look that said Fern was not Ada and this clear plus was to be reported to Martha at her earliest opportunity.

“Tess! These pies are just beautiful! ” Laura exclaimed and I looked to her.

She was right. My pies were gorgeous. I’d gone all out. The pumpkin ones had a border of egg-washed pumpkin cutouts I’d stamped out of pie crust and I’d even rolled out then arranged curly miniature vines that I’d attached to the pumpkin stems. The apple one had an apple cutout border. The maple buttermilk, maple leaves. And with the pecan, I’d painstakingly fashioned a decorative pie edge that was experimental but came out looking great.

It wasn’t just cakes that deserved to be pretty.

“Jesus, f**k me, flashback,” Levi muttered under his breath, eyeing the unveiled pies on his mother’s kitchen counter then he looked to Brock. “Olivia used to make you cinnamon nut muffins. Granted, they didn’t look that good or taste good but she did it.”

The air in the room went static as Laura snapped, “Levi!” Austin said low, “Dude, uncool,” Fritz muttered under his breath, “Jesus,” Elvira muttered under hers, “Oh boy,”

Kellie and Kalie whispered in unison, “Ohmigod,” Brock’s body went solid and Fern whirled on her son.

“Tell me you did not just say that,” she demanded and Lenore slid closer to her man who was not her man.

“Am I wrong?” Levi asked his mother.

“What you’re wrong about is thinking you’re too old to get a slap across the mouth from your mother,” Fern shot back.

“Outside,” Brock growled and everyone looked to him but Brock only had eyes for his brother.

“Seriously?” Levi asked.

“Now,” Brock rumbled and, again, within ten minutes of arrival, it was time for damage control and I got close to him, curling my hands on his arm and tugging.

“Leave it,” I whispered and his flashing, mercury eyes tipped down to me.

“Tess –”

I shook my head and gave his arm a squeeze. “The options available, have a brother who doesn’t give a shit or have a brother who does. You’re pissed now, honey, so you don’t get, with those options, you lucked out.”

Brock’s jaw got hard and I looked to Levi.

“I get it, your brother was f**ked over, you care about him and you’re cautious. Thank you for being that way.”

Levi blinked at me.

I let Brock go and moved to Fern asking, “Now what can I do?”

Fern didn’t answer because she was committed to the act of glaring at her youngest son so Jill said, “You can help me lay the tables, Tess.”

I ignored the family tension and followed Jill’s lead setting the table.

On the way from dining table back to kitchen, I ran into Fritz, smiled at him but suddenly found my hand clasped in his and he got close.

When he did, he whispered, “Good play, Tess. This crew is tough to crack, twenty years and I gave them my two girls and sometimes, they get together, honest to God, I still feel like an outsider. But me and Austin, honey, we’ll have your back.”

Then before I could say a word, he squeezed my hand and headed to the door that I guessed led to the basement.

I watched even after he disappeared and I did it feeling a whole lot better.

This again lasted ten minutes. In that ten minutes, the good news was, Jill and I set the tables (plural because there were folding ones set up in the living room for the overspill), the men disappeared to watch TV, Fern got the sweet potato casserole in the oven, Laura and Elvira tackled the mountain of potatoes and they were on the stove, Kalie and Kellie had arranged my plethora of desserts on the side table in the dining room and were currently arranging my bouquet of flowers in a vase and Fern, Jill and Laura clearly had a good deal of experience with Levi loving them and leaving them and were inclusive and gentle with Lenore even though it was probably the last time they would see her.

The bad news was, after ten minutes of relative harmony, Ellie came in shrieking,

“Grandpa’s here! ”

The air in the room got thick as everyone in the room froze; Elvira and Lenore doing it just because they felt the vibe and had no idea that Ellie’s delighted shriek heralded Armageddon.

Then Elvira muttered a premonitory, “Oo lawdy, I’m thinkin’ family drama is far from over.”

“Uh…” Jill started, “Mom, we should have, um… Laura and me should have probably told you we invited Dad.”

Oh man!

“We thought that…” Laura began then hesitated, “well, it would be the kind of news better delivered at the last minute.”

My eyes flew to Elvira who had her hands full with shoving potato peels down the disposal, her eyes hit mine and her eyebrows hit her hairline.

Fern didn’t move. Fern was frozen. Fern was engaged in what fifteen seconds before was a thought she never thought she’d have and that was that she wanted to commit double homicide with her victims being her daughters.

“Grandpa’s here! Grandpa’s here! Grandpa’s here! ” Ellie shouted from the doorway then added, “Yippee!” then she raced away, shouting “Grandpa’s here!” in what I was guessing was on her way to the TV room.

Dylan filled the doorway next and he did it tugging on Cob’s hand. “Look!” he cried.

“Grandpa! Isn’t it cool? Grandpa hasn’t ever been to Thanksgiving!”

“Heya girls,” Cob said carefully to Jill, Laura and his granddaughters then his eyes came to me. “Heya Tess, honey.” Then they went to Lenore and Elvira in turn and he bowed his head slightly in greeting.

“Hey Dad,” Jill warily whispered.

That was when we heard, “What… the… fuck? ”

My eyes got big and my lower lip stretched out in an “eek!” look at Elvira as everyone turned to the door.

“What the f**k? ” This time it was shouted and I didn’t know him very well but I knew it was Levi.

“Dylan, honey, go get your sister and go outside and play,” Laura said urgently to her bewildered and somewhat frightened looking son who had his head tipped back and looking at someone in the hallway. “Now, honey, all you kids stay outside.” Dylan dazedly looked at his Mom and she repeated, “Now, baby.”