"Goldie!"
Goldie couldn't help the grin that spread across her face. She hadn't seen her brother in nearly a year.
"Grant! Look at you, you skinny thing!" Goldie leapt up into her brother's arms and kissed him soundly on the mouth. "I'm so happy to see you, you ugly thing!"
And Grant, who was a very handsome young man, smacked her on the bottom before releasing her. "Smart aleck," he said. "Did I hear you brought your job with you? Your boss and babies?"
"Yes, I did," she responded, grabbing Jeff by the arm. "This is Jeffrey Ormonde. Jeff, my brother Grant."
"Pleasure to meet you," Grant said, holding out a hand. "I've heard of you, of course. I actually went to one of your concerts when I was in college with a girlfriend of mine. It was a great show."
"Thanks," Jeff answered. "Thought you looked familiar."
The two men laughed.
"And please introduce me to your daughters? Or are they leery of strangers?"
"They can be, but they've settled in and are very comfortable with your mother and father already, so probably they'll be fine. They're napping now, but should be waking up soon," Jeff explained.
"Where are Mom and Dad?" Grant asked.
"Store," Goldie responded. "Come on, we're supposed to be doing prep in the kitchen while they're gone, getting stuff ready for tomorrow."
"Let me put my stuff away, and I'll come help in about five minutes."
"Bro, be quiet upstairs, okay? The girls are sleeping in the spare room."
Grant gave her a thumbs up as he left with his duffel bag.
"He seems nice," Jeff mentioned as he chopped onions.
"He really is, now, though he was a real asshole to me when we were little," Goldie answered. She was rinsing vegetables at the sink.
"All older brothers are assholes to younger sisters, it's our job," Jeff said with a grin.
"He's right," Grant agreed as he entered the kitchen. "Besides, you're here, you're in one piece, what are you complaining about?"
"What kinds of things did he do to you?" Jeff asked curiously.
"Well, he cut my bangs straight across my hairline once, on picture day, no less," Goldie remembered.
"Oh yeah," Grant recalled fondly. "We should pull out that picture later and show him."
"Do it and lose a testicle," Goldie said, turning from her place at the sink. "And what about when you made me eat soap?"
"I didn't make you," Grant protested. "You wanted to!"
"You told me it tasted like 'flowers'!" Goldie retorted. "You said it tasted exactly how it smelled, and that I should take a bite, you dick!"
"Yeah." Grant held his stomach as he laughed. "You barfed all over the back porch, remember?"
"I remember," Goldie said darkly. "I still can't stand that particular brand of soap."
"And what about the magic umbrella incident?"
"The 'magic umbrella incident'?" Jeff repeated, forgetting to chop. "I must hear about this."
"He made me jump off the barn roof with an umbrella. He told me it was magic, and that I could fly if I was holding it." Goldie's mouth twitched as she backhanded her brother in the stomach. "We'd been watching Mary Poppins, you know?"
"Ah, I see," Jeff nodded.
"Again, may I point out that I didn't make you do anything," Grant defended himself. "You were dying to do it. 'I want to go first!'" he said, mimicking a very young Goldie, Jeff assumed. "So I let you, that's all."
"That's all?" Goldie repeated. "I broke my arm, you motherfucker."
"I know, I know," Grant consoled, putting an arm around his sister and kissing her temple. "It's what first made me want to be a doctor. I mean, I always wanted to be a doctor, but you breaking your arm made me want to go into orthopedics, so thanks for that."
"And did you?" Jeff asked.
"Yes, I'm an orthopedic surgeon, or I will be, once I finish my residency and all that.
"Not to change the subject or anything," Grant continued, looking between Goldie and Jeff, "but how long have you two been seeing each other?"
"What? How did you know?" Goldie asked, amazed.
"I'm your brother, I know these things," Grant answered modestly.
"Seriously, how?" Jeff asked.
Grant shrugged. "Just a vibe, the way you look at each other, the way you move around each other? It's not a big deal, is it? Is it supposed to be a secret?"
Goldie and Jeff shook their heads.
"No, not a secret," Goldie said. "Just not publicized. We haven't said anything to Mom and Dad. I wonder if they know?"
"Know what?" Harriet asked as she entered the kitchen carrying some bags. "Grant, how lovely to see you!" She enveloped her son in a hug.
"Hello, son." Tom, too, hugged his son after he set down his bags. "Give us a hand with the rest?"
"Jeff and I are sort of dating, though we're not making a big deal out of it," Goldie explained. "Jeff still gets publicity, even though he hasn't released any new music in a couple years, you know?"
"I thought I sensed something," Harriet said with a smile. "Should I have put you in the same bedroom?"
"No no, nothing like that," Goldie assured her.
"Besides, five people in one room would've been crazy, don't you think?"
"I do indeed. Now, let's get this bird rinsed," Harriet said, lifting it out of the bag.
"You know, Maggie never went in for the big Thanksgiving thing," Jeff said. "And we were always alone, since she was estranged from her family, so this is going to be my first time to experience the full, American Thanksgiving experience. I'm looking forward to it."
*************
The girls and Jeff enjoyed their first Thanksgiving very much. From the turkey to the mashed potatoes to the rolls to the pie, they partook of everything, though Goldie had to grind the babies' up first.
"You know, I've never put pressure on either one of you to have children or anything, but I'm seriously starting to feel grandma pangs over here," Harriet said, watching the girls at the table. "They're adorable."
"Let's see how you feel when they're all crying at three in the morning," Jeff said drily, helping Jemma eat her pumpkin pie.
"Goldie, how did you end up with this job, anyway?" Grant asked as he started on his second piece of pie. "Last I heard you were going to work as a paralegal for an attorney or something? I thought you were going to work for him for a year before you went off to law school?"
"Oh, yeah, that fell through, so I applied to the nanny agency instead," Goldie explained as she wiped Genie's mouth and helped her take a drink from her sippy cup. "I mean, law school next year is still a go, no worries, this job is just until next fall."
"You're going to miss these little guys, aren't you?" Grant said, watching the tableau.
"Not as much as we'll miss her, I assure you," Jeff said with a smile Goldie's way.
"Well, I think they're finished, how about we clean them up and take them out to play in the snow?" Goldie suggested.
"Sounds like fun," Harriet enthused. "Tom, go see if you can find the tires and saucers we used to use for sledding."
Tom left to do her bidding, and Grant and Harriet cleaned up the meal while Jeff and Goldie got the girls dressed in their snow suits.
Luckily, the storm had been fast moving, and had dumped ten inches of snow in the night before moving on, leaving a blue skied, cloudless day for everyone to enjoy.
"God, this is truly beautiful," Jeff said when they got outside. "Could really give Kent a run for its money."
"Well, it isn't called New England for nothing," Goldie quipped.
"No," Genie said, pointing to the snow, which was all over. "No."
"Yes, and we're going to play in it," Goldie told her. She waved to her father, who was coming from the barn with a couple of black inner tubes and brightly colored saucers.
"Come on, let's slide," Grant said to Pippa, who was in his arms.
"Side?" Pippa repeated.
"Exactly," Grant answered, nodding.
They slid down the small hill that was behind the house, seated in the inner tube, and Jeff got a great picture of the delight on Pippa's face as she sailed by, secure in Grant's arms.
"Side?" Pippa requested, pointing to the top of the hill.
"Side!" Jemma demanded, squirming to get down from her father's arms. "Jemma side."
So began an afternoon of sliding and playing in the crisp outdoors, while Tom and Harriet took pictures. Roses bloomed in the girls' cheeks from being out in the cold, and the light breeze moved their fine hair around their small faces.
"I think it's about time to go in," Jeff finally said. It was starting to get dark, and the babies were rubbing their eyes with mittened hands.
"Agreed. They still need bathing and everything," Goldie said.
"You guys need help?" Grant asked as they were going upstairs.
"No, we've got the routine down," Goldie assured him. "We'll bring them down for a bit after they're in their PJs, but I think they're going to fold early tonight."
"Oh, look how adorable," Harriet gushed when Goldie and Jeff brought the babies, warm and sleepy, down in their matching pajamas. They were at their roly-poly best, smiling at everyone, petting the cats.
"Kee-cat," Genie exclaimed, patting the cat. "Kee-cat."
"They're very early talkers," Tom remarked. "Just barely one, right?"
"Yes, had their birthdays a couple of weeks ago," Jeff answered with a nod.
"Remarkable," Tom said. "You know, our Goldie was an early talker. Grant, though, didn't talk for so long we thought something was wrong with him."
"Yeah, yeah, we know, you thought I was going to be 'slow,'" Grant said with a sigh and a grin. He was pointing out pictures in a book to Jemma.
"Look how true that turned out to be," Goldie laughed.
"We have a saying here, 'boys are walkers, girls are talkers,' I guess it's true," Harriet said.
"Okay, we better get these little monkeys to bed, I think," Jeff said. "Jemma, Genie, Pips? Bedtime, okay?"
All three girls immediately rose and began going around the room, hugging and kissing everyone. Goldie's parents and brother had been enchanted when they'd done this the night before. They then began hugging and kissing each other, tiny arms going around each other's necks, tiny lips pecking each other.
They carried the girls upstairs and laid them in the play pen, saying good night and covering them up, patting their bottoms and helping them to settle down.
Sure enough, all three were out cold in less than five minutes.
Jeff and Goldie stood back and looked at them for a minute, and Goldie felt Jeff's arm go around her. "We really are going to miss you when you're gone."
"I'm going to miss you, too," Goldie answered. She put her arms around him, and kissed him softly.
"You're so good, and honest, and true, and I'm so, so grateful you came into our lives," Jeff murmured, kissing her back, pulling her close to him.