Jane had her arms around Jamie before he was fully out of the car. He was lucky his seatbelt didn't get caught around his neck as Jane let loose her nonsensical joyous squeals.
Ophelia emerged from the truck in full eye roll. I laughed and hugged her lightly. Georgie hesitated a bit but eventually wound her arms around her sister's waist.
"I missed you." Ophelia sighed, bending her head into Georgie's hair.
"I was promised that you'd have a nose ring," Georgie said.
Ophelia looked up at me, and I shook my head.
Ben and Gabriel emerged from the house for manly shoulder pats.
"It's good to see a familiar face," Ophelia told me, putting her hand on my shoulder. "I have a feeling that after this ‘holiday' dinner, you and I will be hiding in the basement with a bottle of scotch."
"You are really overestimating my ability to handle my liquor, even when I was alive," I told her.
Ophelia wrinkled her nose. "Yes, Morgan and Keagan told me about the Jaegermeister incident."
"I still contend that the mascot should have moved out from under the balcony when he heard me say I felt sick. Also, having a Jaegermeister incident in college is practically a rite of passage."
Jane had finally stopped squealing long enough to coolly greet Ophelia. She sighed, wiping at her wet eyes. "OK, welcome home! We're all set up for you. Ophelia, I have you in the extra twin in Georgie's room, first door on the left. Jamie, I just put fresh sheets in the yellow room across from the bathroom."
"But that's my room," Ben said, frowning.
"Yeah, I thought you would double up with Meagan, seeing as how you sneak into her room most mornings anyway and then hustle back into your room as if we don't know what's going on," Jane said.
Ben turned a whiter shade of pale. "Sorry, what?"
Gabriel shrugged. "Yeah, we've known for a couple of weeks."
I made a weird death-rattle noise in my throat, like that chick in The Grudge. "Oh, that isn't good."
"Wait, they get to share a room, but we don't?" Ophelia asked.
"Yes, because I just made things so awkward they will never have sex under my roof again." Jane turned on us, smiling. "Didn't I?"
Ben could only grimace.
"I know I should be upset about this because I have these confusing maternal feelings, but I also know that you're technically not related and can't get pregnant," Jane said. "So I'm just going to ask you not to do anything that I will walk in on. Because there is not enough therapy in the world."
"Maybe this wouldn't seem so weird if we lived out on our own," Ben noted.
"Don't push it," she told him.
"If it makes you feel better, we've never had sex sex under your roof, mostly just-" I said as Ben stared at the sky. Jane shook her head. "Right, not helping. Never mind."
I woke up to the smell of turkey roasting in Jane's kitchen . . . and it was awful, like hot herb-y garbage. There were only a handful of solid-food-eating guests, but Tess had spent the afternoon preparing a full Thanksgiving feast. There were werewolves coming, and they counted as three or four guests each.
As soon as the sun set, the house was flooded with people. All of the partners and children who hadn't been available to show up for previous get-togethers arrived in full force. I met Libby's boyfriend, Wade, and his son. Nola and her adorable redneck fiancé, Jed the shapeshifter, brought smoked ribs and some cabbage-based Irish food I suspected would have smelled disgusting even without my vampire nose. Jane's human BFF Zeb's kids shifted from two to four feet and started chasing each other around on the front lawn, which no one seemed to register as a weird thing. I, on the other hand, was shocked enough to do a blood spit take, which is super-gross and ruined a really nice silk blouse that Andrea was wearing. She was nice about it, despite having to change into Dick's "I'm smiling because punching you in the face is socially unacceptable" shirt, which he kept in his trunk.
///
I worried for a second that I might be a danger to Libby's human son, Danny, or to the Lavelle twins. But frankly, the half-werewolf cubs smelled like wet dog, and Danny smelled like little-boy sweat and garlic, not exactly appetizing.
I was looking forward to a holiday for the first time in a very long time. For once, I didn't feel like I needed to hover around the edges of the room. I wasn't intruding on some hapless foster family's holiday gathering. I was part of the group. I was in the mix, stirring the blood blends as Tess directed and lighting candles in Jane's ornate harvest-themed centerpieces.