Iris and Seth Sileski were positively euphoric about the possibilities of their future family—they were having a girl. Sileskis didn’t get a lot of girls—there was only the one granddaughter before this one and Seth’s parents had brought three sons to the family. Seth and Iris had come together after years of separation—they’d known each other since childhood and now, reunited, in love and marriage, were adding to the local population.

Even some of the more mature couples in town were enjoying bliss just prior to the holidays. Carrie and Rawley were now officially living together in Carrie’s house. Ray Anne and Al couldn’t be happier or more settled, proud of Al’s foster sons and how well they were doing in school and in their home life. Sarah and Cooper were kicking around the idea of squeezing out one more baby before calling it quits on the reproductive front.

But one couple, long married, seemed to be on the skids. Norm Sileski came home from the service station one cold and rainy afternoon just a week before Thanksgiving and his wife, Gwen, said, “I want a divorce.”

“Don’t be silly,” Norm said. “People our age don’t get divorced.”

“They do now,” she said. “I’ll keep the house and, since I don’t hold an outside job, we’ll split the savings and work out alimony. You’ll have to move out.”

“Is that right?” he said indignantly. “And where exactly am I supposed to go?”

“I’m sure there’s a place at the garage, some unused corner you can store a cot. You like it there best, anyway.”

“Well, I’m not going to. How about that?”

“I’ve seen a lawyer,” she said. “You’ll be served papers and asked to leave.”

“Old woman, I think you’ve finally had one too many hot flashes and fried your brain.”

“I haven’t had a flash in ten years, that’s what you know!” she said.

“All right, I hate like hell to ask this, but what the devil has you asking for a divorce now after all these years?”

“If you have to ask, you don’t deserve an answer.”

“Is it those widows again? Because they didn’t mean no harm.”

“Is that what you think?” she shot back. “You’d’a gone home with any one of them!”

“Well, did I?”

“No, but just because you’re lazy.”

“Lazy! I been working my whole life! Never took a day off! I’m seventy and I’m still bringing home a paycheck! I think you maybe lost your mind!”

“I want you to get dinner at the diner and, on your way, stop at Seth and Iris’s house and tell them I’m not having Thanksgiving this year. Because I’m getting divorced. I should be all settled before the baby comes so I can help with the day care.”

“I’m not doing that,” he said. “That’s a damn fool thing to do. I’m ignoring you because of your Alzheimer’s, but I’ll get dinner at the diner because I’m hungry. And if you want to tell them you’re getting a divorce, you go right ahead. Ruin their holiday! See if I get you out of it.”

He put his cap on his head and headed out the door.

Gwen called Iris on her cell phone. “Iris, I’m afraid I’m not going to be able to have Thanksgiving for the family this year.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. Aren’t you feeling up to it?”

“I’m feeling all right,” Gwen said. “But I’ve decided to get a divorce.”

Gwen heard the opening and closing of a door through the phone line and the next thing she knew Iris was waddling into her living room, cell phone in hand.

“You’re getting a what?” she asked.

* * *

Charlie had never seen his mother happier. In fact, though he’d only known Blake for a few months, he’d never seen the Ironman happier, either. By the time Charlie got home from the wedding at the Lacoumette farm, there was an obvious special light shining in both their eyes. They were seen talking softly from time to time, giving each other little fits of secret laughter. And they held hands. Right out in the open.

This was a mother Charlie had never experienced and he liked it. He was having little fantasies about Blake stepping into the role of his stepfather; he couldn’t help that. But he kept his mouth shut, crossed his fingers and didn’t ask any questions. All that really mattered was that things just stayed nice for everyone concerned. Even if they didn’t end up living happily ever after, he’d appreciate it if they’d just remain happy for a while.

When Lin Su had someone other than Charlie to focus on, to think about all the time, Charlie had a much easier existence. He was progressing in his training, reaching his goals and surpassing them, and he wasn’t having asthma attacks. He had started doing some exercising without using his inhaler first and he didn’t have to always use it afterward. On a couple of cool, sunny days, Blake loaned him a bike and helmet and they went out for a long ride together. Lin Su hadn’t even told him to be careful or asked him if he had his inhaler and EpiPen.

The whole town was getting ready for the long Thanksgiving weekend. Predictably, Lin Su, Charlie and Blake would be sharing Winnie’s table. Lin Su and Grace would work on the cooking of a robust turkey and all the trimmings. This might be Grace’s last big event—she was having her baby in about three weeks or so and her new employee at the shop, Ronaldo, was delighted to be taking over for the Christmas holidays. She planned to work when she could, helping with arrangements, wreaths and other decorations, but after Thanksgiving she was going to be around the house a lot.

Charlie had a little something going on in his life that no one knew about, and pretty soon, like any second, it was going to come out. He’d been communicating with his aunt Leigh. She’d answered his email, asking about Lin Su, of course. He was cautious. He told her that his mother didn’t know Charlie had been searching out his roots and was sure she’d try to talk him out of it if she knew. She might even forbid it. That aside, he had a lot of questions.

So they exchanged emails and she answered what questions she could. Yes, as far as she knew his biological father was alive. He’d been a high school student with Lin Su. When Lin Su left the Simmons family, Jake went to Princeton. He was an attorney like his father, like Leigh and Lin Su’s father. Leigh’s mother and father divorced almost immediately after Lin Su left, then their mother passed away from cancer soon after at a very young age—fifty-five—and her father, Gordon, had remarried in less than six months to a woman only a few years older than Leigh. A woman her sister Karyn’s age. The family relationship was somewhat strained.