Merry Ex-Mas. Sheila Roberts

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СКАЧАТЬ and if Cass had to choose she’d rather have her mother with them for that holiday.

      Drew reached for the turkey and Cass rapped his hand with a serving spoon. “Grace first, you heathen.”

      Willie snickered, which earned him the privilege of offering thanks. He barely had “Amen” out of his mouth before he was into the dressing, piling it high on his plate.

      Normally she’d remind him that other people might actually want some, too, but not today. Thanksgiving was for feasting and she’d made plenty. Besides, she was going to have an extra serving herself.

      For a while conversation consisted of comments like “Pass the rolls” and “Where’d the olives end up?” As plates and then stomachs filled, new topics arose: whose fantasy football team was going to win, how well Cass and Dani’s new gingerbread necklaces were selling, Dot’s upcoming bunion surgery.

      Then it was time for pie. In spite of how crazy-busy Cass had been with work, she’d managed to bake pumpkin, pecan and her brother’s favorite, wild huckleberry. “This will be enough for me,” he joked, grabbing the whole pie.

      With dessert came another tradition, one Cass had started when the kids were small.

      “Okay,” she said once everyone had been served, “it’s gratitude time. Who wants to go first?”

      Gratitude. Sometimes the challenge to be grateful had been as big as the word. Often she’d been a world-class hypocrite, encouraging her children to look on the bright side while she indulged in resentment.

      It seemed like she’d spent most of her married life in that particular mental state. She’d resented Mason’s decision to join the navy when they were engaged. They’d barely set up housekeeping when he shipped out the first time. He’d missed his daughter’s birth; Cass’s childbirth partner had been her mother. Better her mother than his, she’d told herself. That was something to be grateful for. And she’d been grateful when he got out of the navy. Not so much when he went back to school and neglected his family for his studies. Not so much when he carved out a career that seemed to keep him gone more than it allowed him to be home. Mason had been determined to find the path to success but that path had little room for his family. She was the one who’d always been there to soothe every heartbreak, puzzle over every math problem, cheer at every ball game. And what had he done?

      Gratitude, remember? Okay, she was grateful she wasn’t with him anymore.

      “I’m grateful for something,” Dani said. She reached into her jeans pocket and pulled out a diamond ring and slid it on her finger.

      “Oh, my gosh, you’re engaged!” cried Amber.

      Cass set down her fork and gaped. Of course she’d known this was coming, but she was a little upset that her daughter hadn’t told her before everyone else. “When did this happen?” she asked.

      Dani’s brown eyes sparkled with excitement. She looked at Mike and they shared the smile reserved for a couple in possession of newly minted love. “Last night. We wanted to wait and surprise everyone.”

      Well, they had.

      “Don’t know how surprised anyone is,” Dot said, “but I think you made your mother’s day.”

      Of course she had. Why was Cass sitting there like a turkey in a pan? She jumped up and went to hug her daughter and future son-in-law. “This is wonderful. You two are going to be so happy.”

      How could they not be? Unlike her mother at that age, Danielle had been wise and thoughtful when selecting a mate. She hadn’t rushed into a relationship with her hormones on fire and her brain dead from smoke inhalation. She’d held out for the right man. They even looked perfect together, Mike with his dark hair and eyes and that big frame, Dani with her lighter coloring and sandy hair and willowy figure. In their wedding garb they’d look fit for the top of a wedding cake.

      “This calls for more pie,” Drew said with a grin, and helped himself to another piece.

      “I’m going to be a bridesmaid, right?” Amber asked her sister.

      “Of course,” Dani said.

      “You’d better dig out your Armani,” Cass said to Drew. “Dani’s going to need you to walk her down the aisle.”

      Dani’s face lost some of its bride-to-be glow and she bit her lip.

      “Hey, I’m cool sitting in the front row with your mom,” Drew said quickly. “I don’t have to be the one.”

      Oh, yes, he did. Who else was going to? Oh, no. Surely not…

      “Actually, I was hoping Daddy would walk me down the aisle,” Dani said.

      The undeserving absent father? The man who’d been M.I.A. for most of Dani’s life? Cass fell back against her chair and stared across the table at her daughter.

      Dani’s cheeks bloomed with a guilty flush and she studiously avoided her mother’s gaze.

      “Daddy?” Cass echoed. It came out frosted with scorn. Way to be mature and poison your daughter’s happy moment, she scolded herself.

      With her sunny disposition and eagerness to please, Danielle was generally easy to get along with, but now her chin jutted out at a pugnacious angle. “I know he’ll want to.”

      Oh, he always wanted to be there, but he never had been.

      Until lately. Now that their children were practically grown. He and his thirty-two-year-old trophy wife, Babette, seemed to think they could have the kids come over to Seattle anytime he swooped in from his business trips and buy their affection with shopping expeditions and Seahawks tickets.

      Obviously it was working, and that made Cass want to break the wishbone she’d been saving into a thousand pieces. This wasn’t right. How to get Dani to see that, though?

      She cleared her throat. “You know he travels a lot.”

      “I know,” Dani said, “but we want a Christmas wedding and he’ll be here for Christmas.”

      “Christmas Day?” Willie made a face.

      Dani frowned at him. “What, are you afraid Santa won’t come?” To the others she said, “We thought the weekend before.”

      “That’s not much time to plan a wedding,” Dot pointed out. “What’s the rush?”

      Now Mike was beaming like a man with a big announcement.

      “Because Mike got a job as assistant manager at a hardware store in Spokane,” Dani announced for him, “and when he moves for his new job I want to go with him.”

      Everyone at the table got busy offering Mike congratulations.

      Except Cass, who was in shock. They’d be moving away. Her daughter would be leaving practically the minute after she got married. The vision of Dani raising her family here in Icicle Falls, of someday taking over the bakery, went up in smoke. It was all Cass could do not to cry. She pushed away the plate with her half-finished pumpkin pie and hoped nobody asked her what she was thankful for.

      “Anyway, СКАЧАТЬ