“Oh man, Mom!” Joseph said, his face practically glowing as he hugged her. “That’s perfect for you. With us helping you out at the shop, you could afford to stretch your wings a little, and people will love listening to you.”
“I know, right?” Tamara said, all atwitter as she hugged her, too. “I’m so proud of you! You said yes, right?”
“Well…”
Joseph put his arm around his mother. “Do this for you, Mom. Not because we want you to.”
Ivan took her hand. “Baby, your eyes tell me your heart is already committed to the idea. You just got your confirmation.”
“Okay, I’ll do it! I’ll call him and tell him yes. He said it would all be finished by late spring.”
“That’s perfect,” Joseph replied. “I’ll be well into the swing of things at the shop by then, and with Tamara coming in another year, you could retire if you wanted to.”
Cassie looked around all of them and began to sniffle. “Well, now, don’t put me out to pasture just yet, guys. I can do both.”
“Yeah, but you won’t need to, not with us around,” Tamara replied. She slid a glance at Samson and Ivan. “And who knows? You may have even more on your plate.” Then the little minx winked. Samson softly snorted but gave her a slight nod. Ivan’s heart felt as if it would bust out of his chest as Cassie hugged her kids and then turned watery eyes on him and Samson.
With her arms spread wide to encompass both of their shoulders, she kissed them both and whispered, “Happy Thanksgiving, my loves. I have so much to be thankful for. My cup surely runneth over.”
Ivan’s cheeks grew warm when he heard Tamara from the doorway to the kitchen. “Awwwww.”
When Samson was done smooching Cassie, Delicia approached him, a little teary-eyed, and whispered quiet words to him while Cassie hugged and kissed Ivan again.
The storm swelled outside, the rain pounding on the roof and the lightning and thunder rumbling all around, but inside the house, the warmth of the fireplace was overshadowed by the love and affection shared by all within.
While the ladies put away the ornament boxes and Cassie retrieved her guitar from its case in the bedroom, Samson nudged Ivan and said, “Delicia told me any man, or men, who would encourage Cassie’s gift deserved her blessing.”
“She did? Wow.” All Ivan could do was grin from ear to ear, enjoying the sappy feelings. A parent’s blessing on a marriage proposal was an antiquated notion but one that meant a lot. Delicia’s blessing on their relationship and their future would also mean a lot to Cassie. He didn’t have any illusions about obtaining the same from Cassie’s dad.
“One day at a time,” Samson said, as if reading his mind. The next big step would be that weekend when Cassie visited Hazelle House for the first time.
Cassie and Delicia came back into the room, and Cassie said, “Okay, flip the switch and let’s see how those Christmas lights look.”
Tamara did the honors, and Cassie gasped with happiness as the lights illuminated the darkened living room—just in time for the power to go out and leave them in darkness. Tamara squeaked and then giggled.
Ivan nudged Cassie, and in his best Albus Dumbledore impression, he said, “‘Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light’.”
In the pitch-black, Tamara squealed and said, “Fam! I took you for a Muggle!”
Samson groaned in the darkness and muttered, “Oh no, here we go again.”
Ivan quipped, “So says the frequent quirky quoter of Monty Python humor.”
Samson snorted, and in a reedy voice with an obnoxious English accent, he warbled, “We are no longer the Knights Who Say Ni! We are now the Knights Who Say….Ekki-ekki-ekki-ekki-ptang-zoom-boing!’”
Delicia groaned from her recliner in the corner as Ivan, Joseph, and Samson bantered back and forth and murmured, “Ay, Madre di Dios! Not another one.”
Through his laughter, Joseph quoted Graham Chapman in kind. “‘You must find…another shrubbery!’”
The lights flickered on, and he looked over at Cassie as she cast a gaze, which was teary from laughter, around her living room. When he tilted his head down to her, she said, “I was holding on to this house because I thought it was the right thing to do for the kids, to preserve the home they grew up in, but I see now that this—” She gestured at their group, including him and his brother. “This is my home. Not the walls, windows, or doors. All the people I love are my home. What should I sing for you?” she asked as she began tuning the guitar.