Chapter 16: Thanksgiving

Thursday, November 22nd, 2007

At 5:00 Thanksgiving morning, the alarm went off. “What the fuck is that?” David complained.

“The alarm,” Hath said, yawning. “I’ve gotta get the turkey in the oven. It’s a big one. I’ll be back in two minutes. Don’t get up.”

“OK,” David murmured, already on his way back to sleep. Hath hurried downstairs, got the bird in the oven, and ran back upstairs. She reset the alarm for 10:30 just in case, and crawled back into bed. David rolled toward her and snuggled against her, and she fell asleep smiling.

“Yoo-Hoo!” Hath’s mother, Pauline, called from the front door.

David sat straight up in bed and nudged Hath. “Hey, someone’s here,” he said.

“Huh? What?” she said, then heard her mother yoo-hoo again. “Shit!” she exclaimed, then looked at the clock. 10:25. “They’re early,” she said. “Yeah, Mom, just a minute!” she called out.

“Mom? Oh shit,” David said. It never made a good first impression to have your girl’s mother find you in bed with her.

“Yeah,” Hath said, laughing. “Oh shit indeed.” She got out of bed and threw on jeans and a sweatshirt. “Go jump in the shower, I’ll run interference.” Nobody had to tell David twice. With a hard kiss on Hathor’s mouth, he jumped from the bed and streaked, literally, into the bathroom. Chuckling to herself, Hath went downstairs.

“Mom! Dad! You’re early!” she said.

Hath’s father, a John like her brother, answered, “Yes, well your mother was ready to come over here at eight. I got her to wait.”

“Thanks, Daddy,” Hath said, kissing his cheek.

“So,” Pauline said, “Where is this David?”

“Mom,” Hathor whined, “he’s in the shower. Be nice, I really like him.”

“Well, I should hope so, since he’s staying here in your house, and I assume in your bed?”

“MOM!” Hath said, mortified. There were some things a girl just didn’t talk about in front of her father, and who she was bedding was one of them.

“Don’t MOM me, Jenilee,” her mother said sternly.

Hath groaned. “Mom, please, with the name, huh? You know I go by my middle name. At least call me ‘Jen’.”

“Don’t tell me he doesn’t even know your real name,” she said.

“Of course he does, Mom,” Hath said, exasperated.

“Hey Hath?” David called as he came down the stairs. “I can’t find your hair dryer.”

“Thank God,” Hath muttered under her breath. “It’s in the bathroom down here,” she said. She watched as David, dressed nicely in snug but not too tight black denim and an untucked grey pin-striped shirt came downstairs. His feet were still bare, and Hath thought that was wonderfully intimate.

“Hi,” David said, extending his hand to her father. “I’m David Rashbaum. Nice to meet you.”

“I’m John, and this is Pauline,” her father answered, shaking the younger man’s hand.

David shook hands with Hath’s mother. “So,” Pauline said, and Hath groaned. “You call her ‘Hath’?”

David slid a look at the ‘her’ in question, and smiled. “I tried calling her Jenilee once, and she nearly took my head off,” he laughed. “I like my head right where it is, so I do whatever she tells me to.”

“Smart man,” John said in a low voice.

“I heard that,” Pauline said.

The four sat and chatted. Hath had warned David about her mother, so he was ready for the interrogation. He answered everything they thought to ask, and smiled the whole time. He could see where Hath got her personality from: she got the quiet strength from her father and the smart-ass from her mother. He was genuinely enjoying himself, and he could tell that her parents liked him. They were just being protective of their little girl.

A little while later, the front door opened again. “Hello?” a deep baritone called out.

“Auntie Jen?” a little voice squeaked.

“Up here, Joanna-bean,” Hath said. A beautiful little girl with long, brown hair and wide brown eyes came running up the stairs and into the living room, launching herself at Hath. Hath scooped her up and showered her face with kisses. “And how is my little Joanna-bean?”

“I not little, I four!” she answered, making the grownups laugh. She looked at David. “I know you,” she said, and my sister-in-law turned eight shades of red. “You play piano for bon-joe-bee,” she said.

“Yes I do, little miss,” David answered laughing. He held out his hand. “It’s very nice to meet you,” he said to her.

She took David’s hand and jumped from Hath’s lap onto his. “My mommy plays piano, and daddy plays guitar. Are you my Uncle David?” she asked innocently, hugging him.

David laughed and slid a glance at Hath, who had herself turned eight shades of red. “No, but you can call me that if it’s OK with your Mom and Dad.” David got up and handed the girl to her mother then introduced himself to her and Hath’s brother. “It’s nice to meet you,” David said. “You’ve got a beautiful little girl there.”

“Yeah, we do,” John said. “It’s nice to meet you too.”

“Come on in, everyone, and sit down.” Hath thought this was going about as good as it was going to. She was just so glad that David didn’t seem to mind the peppering of questions from her family. She groaned. It’d be her turn soon enough, she supposed. And David had kids. Good Lord. She gave herself a little shake and went to the kitchen to baste the bird. Sue, her sister-in-law, followed her in.

“I still can’t believe you’re dating David Bryan!” she said, hugging Hath.

“I know, I can hardly believe it myself sometimes,” Hath answered. They took care of the turkey and went back into the living room.

Joanna had gotten the basket of toys that Hath kept in the guest room and was showing David all her treasures. To his credit, David was on the floor playing with her, and oohing and aahing over all her things. Sue elbowed Hath and nodded toward her mother. Pauline was watching the interaction with a smile on her face.

John-the-father (that’s what Pauline called them: John-the-father and John-the-son) looked at his watch. “It’s nearly noon, who needs a beer?”

Hath smiled. “I’ll get them. David, you want?”

“Nah, I’m OK for now,” he said smiling at her and winking.

“They out in the bah?” John-the-son asked. His Claven was full on all the time. Hath nodded. John said, “I’ll go. Dad, wanna shoot some stick?”

“Yeah, sure,” his father answered. “David, you shoot?”

“Well enough I guess,” he said, rising from the floor. “Thank you for playing with me, little miss,” he said to Joanna, tugging on her ponytail.

“You’re welcome,” she said by rote, not having even looked up from her toys.

The men went to shoot pool. As David passed Hath, he gave her hip a squeeze, and kissed her cheek. “Later baby,” he said. Smiling, Hath went into the kitchen to start the potatoes and vegetables. “What can I do?” her mother asked, coming into the kitchen behind her.

“I think it’s all done except for the salad,” she said.

Pauline opened the fridge to get the salad stuff and gasped. “What happened to your pie?” Hath looked in and laughed at the sad little chocolate mousse pie. Yesterday, when she left for work, Hath had left David with the fixings for stuffing, and had come home to a god-awful mess. She told her mother and sister-in-law about the genesis of the pie, and they laughed at the story, and her mother looked hard at Hath’s face.

“You really like this guy, don’t you?” she asked.

“Yeah, Mom,” she said, giving the older woman a hug. “I really do.”

Once dinner was ready, Sue sent Joanna in to fetch the men from the game room. David came into the kitchen and kissed Hath’s cheek. “You didn’t tell me your brother and father were sharks!” he accused.

“You think that’s bad, try playing Scrabble or Cribbage with them,” Hath laughed.

“You guys play Cribbage?” David asked, and Hath just nodded, a big grin splitting her face.

Everyone settled down to a wonderful dinner, Joanna making sure that bon-joe-bee-uncle-david sat next to her. The conversation turned to football, and when Hath and her father got into an argument about the Patriots’ chances of going 16-0 this season, David laughed. He saw now where she got her temper from. He expected it from the Italian side not the Portuguese. They declared the argument a draw, and Hath got up and started clearing the table.

“I’ll help,” David said, rising with his own plate.

“I help too, bon-joe-bee-uncle-david,” Joanna echoed. David handed his plate to Joanna and she proudly brought it into the kitchen. “Here, Auntie Jen!”

“Thanks, bean!” Joanna smiled and went to get more stuff.

David came up behind Hath and kissed her neck. “I like your family,” he said. “They’re really nice.”

“They like you too,” Hath said. “And I like you too.” She finished with a kiss that deepened for a minute but broke abruptly when a little voice said, “Bon-joe-bee-uncle-david is kissing Auntie Jen! Can we have pie now?”

Eventually, everyone had left with their goodie bags and Hath had the dishwasher humming happily. She and David were curled up on the over-stuffed couch, watching “It’s A Wonderful Life” on TV and kissing tenderly. Their kisses became more passionate and Hath was soon humming happily as David’s clever fingers snaked under her sweatshirt to pluck at her nipples. “Let’s go to bed,” David said between kisses.

“Yes, let’s,” Hath answered. And so they did.