So far, Thanksgiving dinner had been going well. Right now, Oliver felt like his biggest accomplishment was keeping Emiko from attacking his mother, since he knew that while she didn't blame or Thea for what had happened, especially since Oliver had been helping to make up for it, he knew that she did rightfully place the blame on his mother, since she was the one who'd forced Robert to abandon Emiko and her mother.
Jasmine was of course being doted on as usual by Moira, who had practically ripped her out of Laurel's arms the moment they arrived, not that Laurel minded, since while she loved her daughter, it would be nice to be able to talk to grown ups without having to keep certain words out of the conversation, since while Jasmine didn't even know what words were yet, Laurel didn't want to risk one of her first ones being something dirty.
They were all sitting down for dinner when suddenly, there was a knock on the door.
"Who's that?" Oliver asked.
"I don't know. I thought all the guests had arrived." Moira said as she gestured to have a member of the mansion staff go and find out who it was.
To everyone's surprise, when the staff member returned with Laurel's mother of all people.
"Mom, what are you doing here?" Laurel asked.
"I'm sorry for crashing your Thanksgiving, but it was sort of a last minute decision to come here. I hope it's okay." Dinah said nervously.
"Of course. I actually prepared in case you did decide to accept my invitation." Moira said with a smile.
"I thought that you'd be celebrating with Sara, since they're already in Central City." Laurel said.
"True, but here I have a granddaughter that I don't want to completely forget about me. I already talked to Sara and she's actually the one who encouraged me to come here." Dinah said and Laurel was shocked and so was Quentin.
"Please, take a seat." Moira said, referring to the empty chair that suddenly made sense at the table.
"Thank you." Dinah said as she sat down.
"So, how long are you in town for?" Oliver asked his mother-in-law.
"A few days. I'm heading back to Central City this weekend. I hope that I can spend some time with my granddaughter before I go." Dinah said, looking at Laurel, since it was her choice.
"Of course you can mom." Laurel said and Dinah smiled at her thankfully.
"So, when were you going to tell me that your mom invited my mom to Thanksgiving?" Laurel asked her husband after dinner.
"Uh, when she walked in because I was as in the dark about that as you were." Oliver said and Laurel could he meant it.
"I really wish she would've called first." Laurel said.
"Are you okay?" Oliver asked.
"Honestly, half the time I can't even think about my mom without screaming. I mean, she abandoned my dad and I when we needed her the most." Laurel said.
"I know. But she was also grieving and maybe that was just her way of doing it." Oliver said.
"Maybe, but still." Laurel said.
"Hey, maybe she's trying to make up for it." Oliver said.
"How can she really be making up for it when she won't even stay in the same state as us for more than a few days. I mean, dad and I both live here in Star City and Sara lives in National City." Laurel said.
"You know, you should be lucky that your mom is trying to make an effort now." Oliver said and Laurel knew that he was thinking about his father.
"This isn't like your dad." Laurel said.
"Actually it is. My dad made a lot of mistakes, even bigger and more terrible mistakes then what your mom did, and yet, despite all that, I still miss him. All I'm saying is that maybe you should try and work things out with your mother. Maybe if you make her feel more welcome in Star City, she'll feel more compelled to stay here." Oliver said.
"Maybe." Laurel said as she thought about it.