Chapter Twenty-Six
When Mabel opened the door and saw two Fitzgeralds with Gwen, she sighed heavily.
“What’s this then?”
“It’s Christmas!” Gwen said brightly. “The more the merrier!”
Mabel stood blocking the doorway, frowning at Gwen. “I only have food for three. You, me, and Lenny upstairs.”
“We brought cookies and cinnamon rolls, and we stopped at the store for a rotisserie chicken and premade yams.”
Alex lifted the tray weakly, as if to prove the point.
Mabel let them in, and Gwen noticed that she barely glanced in Ava’s direction, her jaw tight.
Gwen said hi to Lenny, a half-deaf ninety-four-year-old who was sitting on the couch, snacking on mixed nuts, and introduced him to Alex and Ava.
“Ava Fitzgerald,” Lenny said with a watery smile. “It’s been decades, hasn’t it?”
“Leonard,” Ava said fondly, sitting on the couch and taking his hand. “How’s your brother?”
“Still kicking!” Lenny said with a chuckle.
Gwen had never heard him mention a brother in all the Christmases and Thanksgivings she’d been at. She turned to Mabel to see if she had any reaction, but Mabel was ignoring the entire conversation.
Gwen offered to open the bottle of wine and hovered close enough to whisper to Mabel, “I know you’re not happy with this…”
Mabel shrugged. “When am I ever happy?” Her eyes flicked to Alex, who was looking at all of the instruments hung on Mabel’s walls. “What happened to his Bono tour?”
“He left. He’s given it up.”
“We’ll see,” Mabel said softly.
“No. His agent said he was out. If he walked, he could never come back.”
Mabel was quiet for a moment as Gwen pulled the cork out of the Pinot. Gwen opened her mouth to beg Mabel to give the Fitzgeralds a chance in the name of Christmas when Mabel called out, “Alexander. I need a mixing bowl. See if you can be useful.”
Turning to look over her shoulder, Gwen saw Alex dutifully move into the kitchen and search the cabinets. She’d never heard anyone call him Alexander.
Gwen snuck away, allowing Alex to work in the kitchen with Mabel for a bit. She sat with Lenny and heard all the things she’d missed at Thanksgiving. Alex chopped vegetables and whispered back and forth with Mabel, and Gwen saw Mabel reach up and squeeze his arm—probably the closest thing to a Mabel Hug she could give him. Ava seemed to be waiting for that exact moment as her cue to move into the kitchen and offer to help. She pulled open cabinets and drawers, knowing exactly where everything was. Ava took over chopping the onion, leaving Alex to come sit on the couch with Gwen and Lenny.
They watched Ava and Mabel speak softly to each other.
“I didn’t know you wanted to keep working on the symphony,” Ava said, finally loud enough for Gwen to overhear. “I thought you were done composing.”
“I didn’t say I wanted to finish it. I just wanted credit for what I did write.” Mabel took the knife from her, frustrated with her chopping skills.
Ava stood silently for a moment. “I couldn’t understand why you didn’t approve of Nathan. It made me want to just choose one of you, instead of try to force everyone together.” Gwen watched as Ava glanced over at Alex. “I think I made that mistake a lot. But I’m not choosing Nathan anymore.”
Mabel peeked at Ava from where she was expertly chopping the parsley and sage. “What does that mean?”
Gwen strained to hear over the conversation happening next to her between Lenny and Alex.
“It means…if he leaves for Berlin, then I’m leaving him. He can’t just drift to whatever orchestra fascinates him at any given time. I should fascinate him.”
Gwen watched as Mabel put down the knife. “You’re Ava Fucking Fitzgerald. You’re the most fascinating person in any room.” Ava sniffed. “Well, except for your son. He’s about to be trouble. Both of them are.”
Mabel nodded over at Gwen and Alex on the couch as Ava laughed. Whatever Ava might have said in response was drowned out by a knock at the front door. Before Gwen could even ask who else they were expecting, the door opened, and Jacob and Declan poked their heads inside.
“Room for two more?”
Gwen jumped up from the couch. “What are you doing here?!”
“Gwen, babe,” Declan said, “I saw you crying in that video last night, and I said to Jake, ‘We gotta get back to New York. Baby girl is spiraling.’”
Jacob hugged her. “I texted Mabel, and we invited ourselves over. Didn’t know it was a full house, though!”
Gwen squeezed him tightly. “I’m fine.” She glanced at Alex, who was saying hello to Declan with a manly handshake. “I’m really fine now.”
They introduced Jacob and Declan to Ava and Lenny. Jacob went to the kitchen and started fighting with Mabel about how to season the meat. Mabel chased him out with a wooden spoon.
Declan sat with Alex at the table and started unpacking the wine they’d brought over. Gwen heard him asking about “Xander Thorne.”
“Will you send me that contract?” Declan asked as he expertly pulled the cork. “I can take a look.”
“I don’t really want to bother,” Alex said. Gwen came to his side. “I’ve had people look at it.”
“But it was like seven years ago,” Declan said, pouring the wine. “My job is literally to find loopholes. ‘Xander Thorne’ belongs to your agent, but what about your orchestrations? The arrangements the band played?”
“He owns the tracks.”
Declan snorted. “Okay, Scooter. But I bet I could find something. Who owns the program you wrote the music in?”
Alex paused, and she watched his mind work.
Gwen wrapped her arms around Alex’s side. “It wouldn’t hurt to send it over.”
Alex nodded. “I won’t hold my breath, but I’d appreciate you looking at it.”
They clinked wineglasses, and Gwen snuggled into Alex’s side, happy.
At Mabel’s small table, the seven of them huddled around a meager dinner and laughed and drank.
After dinner as they were washing dishes, Gwen said to Alex, “Did you know Mabel and your mom wrote music together?”
“The symphony? Yeah. She played it all the time when I was growing up.”
“I’d love to hear it one day.”
Gwen smiled up at Alex, and found Ava on the other side of him, setting down more dishes for the sink. Ava turned to look over her shoulder. “Mabel, do you…do you have the sheet music still?”
There was a still silence, where only the water from the faucet sounded. Mabel pressed her lips together and stared down at her salt and pepper shakers. “Mm-hm.”
Gwen stared at Mabel hopefully. Mabel heaved herself up from her chair and moved to her upright piano. She pulled a binder out of the piano bench and placed it on the piano before taking a seat.
Ava moved to help her turn pages before Mabel slapped her hand. “I can turn a page perfectly well, you know—”
“Why do you have to be so crotchety all the time—?”
“Go be useful and grab that old violin.”
Ava paused, taken aback. Gwen looped her arm through Alex’s as Ava pulled one of the violins off the wall, feeling like she was about to see something magnificent.
Mabel started a beautiful tune on the piano—something grand and sweeping. Jacob cooed from the couch, laying his head on Declan’s shoulder. Ava came in over the top with the violin. They laughed when Mabel messed up and cursed, and when Ava came in too early on a section, Mabel snapped at her playfully.
Alex left her side, and Gwen watched as he pulled the other violin off the wall and joined the two of them. She sat next to Lenny at the table and listened as Alex took second violin. Ava stared at him with tears in her eyes, and Mabel yelled at him when he tried to show off.
Eventually, Jacob asked if he could take over the piano.
Mabel huffed. “Fine. Alex? There’s a cello in the closet.”
“I’m fine on violin, but you should hear Gwen on cello.” He grinned at her. “She holds it like a subway pole most of the time, but I think she’ll do okay today.”
Gwen glared at him and bumped his hip as she went to grab the cello. She took a few seconds to tune it and peeked over Mabel’s shoulder.
Ava was openly crying, refusing to stop playing.
Mabel found an old viola, Jacob was on piano, the Fitzgeralds were on violin, and Gwen was on cello. Declan asked if anyone needed him on tambourine, to a resounding no.
It was beautiful. They played pieces of the symphony, and Mabel would yell out things like “The trumpets take this!” and “We’d have a piece connecting these two.”
Lenny nodded happily to the sound of five musicians filling the apartment, and Declan sat there in awe.
After dessert, Gwen convinced Alex to play what they could of their love song. Ava cried throughout, and Mabel closed her eyes. Lenny fell asleep with a smile as it started to snow.