Chapter Thirty-Three -- Because I Love Him
Maddox peeked at his phone, to see if Jonathan had happened to send him a message, and he missed it by accident. Not that they had talked about sending messages to and fro as soon as each went his way, but he missed him already. Probably Jonathan was caught up with his family by now. His plane must have landed about an hour or so ago. And that family reunion was bound to be strained, from the little he had managed to learn from Jonathan. It felt a bit disheartening to think they were still not sharing everything, but Maddox knew that he needed to be patient.
Still, he thought, while taking out his phone one last time before reaching the front door of his house, he missed him so much already.
He didn't even have to reach for the handle before the door opened wide in front of him, and his mom, an apron tied around her waist and her entire face shining, emerged through it. Maddox laughed and took her in his arms, making sure to pretend that she weighed a ton. She laughed, too, and slapped him with the kitchen towel she had in one hand. "And to think that I tell everyone you're my favorite. Put me down this instant, odious child!"
His dad was already at the door and Maddox hugged him, as well.
"So glad you made it. Mary is still not here, and she might not join us at all this year," his mom began to chatter. "Hope has an ear infection. She's at that age. I just hope they don't end up spending Thanksgiving at the hospital, and that it's not that serious. But Vern is here, full team included."
"You've grown a bit," his dad said and guided him into the large living room.
An assortment of curly-haired heads turned toward him in an instant, and soon Maddox was surrounded by his nephews and nieces. Of all his siblings, Vern was the one to follow most closely in their parents' footsteps. He had four kids. Mary only had Hope, and the others who were married had yet to consider having children. The look of pride on his mom's face when she took in her extended family reminded him of how many times she told them that her children had always been her biggest wealth.
Vern and his wife joined in, patiently pulling their offspring from Maddox before he managed to lose his balance. The youngest, Noah, was like a monkey, and had already managed to climb on his back and was now refusing to get down from Maddox's shoulders. His mom had to bribe him with a piece of candy.
"Glad to see you, guys," he told everyone as he hugged one relative after another. "Who else besides Mary is missing all the action?"
"Stenton is in the Bahamas, can you believe it?" Emma, his second sister, interjected.
"I do. Facebook notifies me of everything. And he sent me a message to let me know I'm not going to see him till Christmas."
"Bahamas," his mom scoffed as she convinced her grandkids to return to their seats, "what kind of place is that for Thanksgiving? I bet they won't even have turkey or pie."
"Let him be, Flo," their dad intervened. "He'll see how it is there, and once he realizes the Bahamas have nothing on your pumpkin pie, he'll repent."
That seemed enough for their mom because she went back to smiling broadly. "You go to your room and leave your luggage," she told Maddox.
Emma was there with her husband, and although he had yet to see Sophia anywhere, his mom informed him that she was in her room with her fiancé, apparently making up after a bit of a row concerning his choice of dress shirts.
"I'm telling you, Sophia's lucky that boy Marcus is so patient," she commented while she pushed Maddox up the stairs. "I swear that she still needs to get her head screwed on straight. I don't know why she's so hardheaded."
Maddox had his theory about that, one shared by his dad and almost everyone else, but he kept his mouth shut. His mom would deny that Sophia was, basically, her spitting image. Funny how she was the only one who failed to see the uncanny resemblance. His dad swore Sophia was his beloved spouse from head to toe at the same age.
There was still someone he had yet to hear about. "What about Alicia?" She was the youngest daughter and Maddox's best friend while growing up, seeing how they had been born only two years apart.
"She's here," his mom said. "Holed up in her room, getting in touch with the universe. I won't even start to pretend I understand what's going on in there. As long as there aren't any drugs involved, I'm happy. I must be," she added, very matter-of-factly.
So Alicia was getting sucked into a new hobby. One thing Maddox loved about his sister was her special ability or strength to find something new and fall in love with it at a frightening speed, but with a clockwork regularity.
"In three months' time, she'll be into something else," he stated.
"True enough. Tomorrow, we'll have the traditional Thanksgiving dinner, but that doesn't mean that we'll go hungry today. So just freshen up that pretty face of yours," she said, pinching his cheek once they were on the landing, "and then get downstairs. I want to hear everything about what you've been up to since we last saw you."
Maddox felt what he'd been up to dangling on the tip of his tongue but stopped himself. Jonathan was right. The fact that he had a boyfriend now, and they were as serious as they could get after their short time together, wasn't the kind of thing to blurt out while his mom was going down the stairs and throwing over her shoulder not to take forever and make her come get him, when dinner was going to be ready in half an hour tops.
Maybe he'd just call Jonathan later and talk to him for a bit. Hmm, but he'd probably ask if Maddox had broken the news yet to his mom and dad. Better to wait until he talked to his parents, and then call Jonathan. That sounded like a better plan.
***
"So, we're going to be cooking it tomorrow? Since that's when Thanksgiving is?" Rusty asked while opening the freezer and pointing proudly at the poultry wrapped up snugly in its plastic packaging.
"We could also roast it today, then carve it and just warm it up tomorrow. Some chefs say it's a better method if it works for you since the meat will become tenderer and tastier."
Rusty nodded in a professional manner as if he knew exactly what Jonathan was talking about. Then he grabbed the frozen turkey with both hands. "Oh, fuck, it's stuck."
"What do you mean?" Jonathan peeked over his shoulder.
"Grab me and pull," Rusty suggested in a tone that said that it wasn't as much a suggestion as an order.
"Your freezer is a bit too small," Jonathan said. "Make way, let me see. Ah, I think it got stuck to the bottom."
"Yeah, we need to pull it out." Rusty grabbed the turkey again and put one foot against the door for balance. He grunted as he struggled. "Hamilton, a little help here."
Jonathan took Rusty by the shoulders and guided him away from the freezer. "There are other, less brutal, methods."
Although he got a suspicious look in return for his remark, Rusty plopped himself down on a chair and watched him expectantly.
Jonathan observed the problem carefully. "Do you have any salt?"
"There's some of that somewhere," Rusty said and gestured vaguely. "Do you need pepper, too? Are you going to start cooking it while it's still frozen?"
Jonathan huffed in disbelief and turned to face Rusty. He wasn't making fun this time around. Jonathan shook his head. "I need salt to get it unstuck. Forget it, I'll try only with some hot water first."
***
"Hey, stranger." Alicia jumped on his back, and it looked like he had to carry her like that to the table. Her hair was dyed a deep shade of black, so intense that it looked like a black hole ready to swallow the universe. Maddox doubted Alicia was trying as much to get in touch with it, as their mom thought, as to devour it completely. He had yet to figure out if she was trying a retro goth look or if there was some other, more obscure reason behind her dark clothes and dark makeup. Unlike him, who had inherited his dad's darker complexion, Alicia's skin was as white as snow, so the contrast between her face and the rest of her was on the disturbing side. But sticking out and being shocking to everyone around her was Alicia's way of being, and her family never thought she was anything out of the ordinary, no matter what clothes she chose to wear or how she changed her makeup.
"Hey, creature of the night," he replied while he walked down the stairs, tipping her dangerously close to the rail, just to mess with her.
Alicia smacked him on the head. "Quit playing, jerk."
Maddox peered around the corner to see if everyone else was already seated. By the flurry of activity around the table, there was still time for a detour, so he veered away, going in the opposite direction.
"Where are you dragging me off to, monster?" his sister asked in a cavernous voice.
