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It was hard to believe that another Thanksgiving lurked around the corner. Even the air shifted with this passage of time, growing harsher and chillier by the day, throwing the still-green leaves toward oranges and crisp yellows and fire engine reds. Out on another run along the shoreline, Nicole stopped short, realizing she’d just breezed through a wicked puddle of mud and doused the edges of her toes with gunk. She laughed aloud at the sight and the sludgy feel of it as it squelched through her socks. She was normally aware of her surroundings, but this day, she’d grown captivated with the volatile ocean and its mighty depths. Heather would maybe never return to the ocean again, not after what it had taken from her. Nicole could understand that fear. Even from the shoreline, the ocean seemed to whisper its danger.
They’d already begun to finalize a rather enormous Thanksgiving guest list. Family members would begin to arrive today, a full four days prior to the big day, which meant non-stop wine-drinking and snack-eating till the day of infinite stuffing. Abby was ecstatic to welcome Nate back into the fold, while Casey was thrilled that both of her children, Melody and Donnie, had agreed to come. Kristine and Bella’s flight arrived from the city just after noon, and Heather was in a tizzy of activity to prepare everything for them. “But we have to invite my new family,” Heather had insisted several times, as she’d recently gotten closer with her Aunt Kim. “They don’t have an extended family. We’ll be that for them. We have to be.”
Nicole walked her tired legs back to the Keating House, where she slicked off her muddy shoes and socks and waddled barefoot into the house. Casey sat with her children in the living room around a pot of coffee and freshly-baked croissants.
“What did you do, Aunt Nicole? Barefoot running?” Donnie asked with a laugh.
“Got myself into a sticky situation, I’m afraid,” Nicole told them. “I’ll grab a shower and come down for big hugs, okay?”
She hustled upstairs, where she found Abby and Nate laughing at something on Abby’s phone. Nicole paused and watched them, remembering long-ago afternoons when they’d done just that over a storybook. Abby glanced up and said, “What are you doing? Creeping on us?”
“You’re just lucky I didn’t take your picture,” Nicole said.
Nicole steamed in the shower for five minutes, scrubbed herself clean, then made her way back to her bedroom— Uncle Joe’s old space, where she discovered that Evan Snow had sent her a text message. This wasn’t necessarily a different sort of event these days. In fact, he texted her pretty frequently as they waded into “will they, won’t they” territory.
EVAN SNOW: Hope you have a beautiful day with your family.
EVAN SNOW: Here’s a parenting win for me: Maddy has agreed to stay home tonight and watch a movie with popcorn. I can’t remember the last time we did that. Probably never.
EVAN SNOW: Wish me luck. I told her she could choose the movie.
Nicole’s heart lifted into her throat. To watch Evan Snow become a different sort of man was like having a front-row seat to a miracle.
Back downstairs, Nicole poured herself a steaming mug of coffee and settled onto the couch alongside Abby and Nate, while Casey told a funny story about the Keating Inn.
“You should have seen this guy. Dressed all in plaid from head to toe and telling me he had a duck in his bedroom and I needed to get it out,” Casey cried. “I told him, sir, I really don’t think there’s a duck in your bedroom. But he begged and pleaded with me, so I finally followed him up to the third floor. Sure enough! A mallard had flown in through his window. The poor thing was so discombobulated. The man was irate, as though I’d personally asked the duck to go in there and mess up his day of rest.”
“What did you do?” Donnie asked through tears in his eyes.
“I remembered those old commercials of people saving ducks from oil spills, grabbed a towel, wrapped the poor thing up in it, and took it downstairs,” Casey said. “I didn’t care at all about the guy. Ultimately, I sent him a free bottle of champagne, which he drank all of before coming back down to the front desk to ask me on a date.”
“Mom! No!” Melody cried. “Did you tell Dad?”
Casey paused for the briefest of seconds. “Oh, you know, Dad. Always so busy with his work. But this guy left a five-star review for the Keating Inn online. Guess, all in all, the duck was happy, he was happy, and I got asked on a date. Not a bad day.”
Everyone howled with laughter as Heather, Kristine, and Bella entered the house. Several of the cousins stood up to greet Kristine and Bella, their exotic and fashion-forward city cousins. Heather looked tired but infinitely happy. She fell onto the couch in the space where Abby had been and placed her head on Nicole’s shoulder.
“My girls are home,” she whispered.
“All of our kids are here,” Nicole echoed.
Casey snapped her fingers. “That reminds me. I have something to show you.” She hustled up toward the antique desk, where a rolled-up piece of drafting paper lay behind an old lamp. She then flung the paper across the coffee table to reveal the grand surprise.
“Look. I thought this could be the house we build a bit further into the property, along the tree line,” she said, gesturing toward her masterful design. “It’s two stories with a little attic library, four bedrooms, a large open kitchen and dining space, and a living area. I imagine we’ll have plenty of family get-togethers over the years. We’ll need both spaces so we can swap.”
“Mom! You still got it,” Melody beamed, impressed.
“I didn’t go to architecture school for nothing,” Casey said. Her grin was infectious as she gave another little shrug and rolled back up the draft. “Oh, but today isn’t about all that. Today is about catching up. We just snacked on some croissants, but I have to admit, I could eat lunch pretty soon.”
“Don’t worry,” Nicole said brightly. “I have a plan for that.”
“There she goes. Our little chef,” Heather teased as she hopped up.
“No little chef about her,” Casey corrected. “Maine Monthly calls her one of the most important chefs to watch out on the east coast.”
“First, the east coast. Then, the world,” Abby called out as she walked up behind her mother and placed her hands on her shoulders.
“What are you doing here?” Nicole asked as they settled at the kitchen counter.
“I’m here to help, Mom. Put me to work,” Abby said as she rolled up her sleeves. “That is if you can find space for me in the kitchen.” Her eyes glittered.
She positioned the cutting board before her daughter, along with a number of red onions. How many nights she’d ached for Abby to be in her life! How many days she’d prayed she would return! And now, here she was— with her sleeves rolled up and an onion in hand. Nicole turned on the radio to a favorite song of theirs from long-ago days when they’d driven through Portland in the rain. Perhaps they would have only perfect days from here on out. Perhaps the bad days were through.
**
Coming Next in Mount Desert Series
You can now order Christmas in Bar Harbor
