Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
Thanksgiving Day dawned crisp and clear.
Maeve had the turkey in the oven before they went to Mass.
Bridget, as always, volunteered to stay home and keep an eye on things.
The rest of the family met at Church for the Mass.
Maeve looked around at her family with pride.
Rory and Tess were there as well as Maggie and Nick and the kids.
Colleen, Noah and their children arrived a few minutes late, probably because Colleen was off sneaking a cigarette somewhere her husband couldn’t find her.
Colleen thought she was pulling something over on them, but Maeve intended to put a little bug in Noah’s ear at some point today.
Molly, Patrick and their boys were there before everyone else, but Molly was always on top of things. She looked like an angel herself today, Maeve thought. But then that was just Molly—always beautiful, always calm.
Rebecca and Mason were there too, with their new baby. Maeve couldn’t wait to get her hands on that little one later today.
The homily was wonderful, keeping them all mindful of just how much they had to be thankful for.
Rebecca and Mason took the baby home for a feeding and a nap.
They would be over around noon, but the rest of her family headed to Maeve’s house to help out.
Sean and Maeve stopped to pick up donuts to tide everyone over till dinner.
Nick and Patrick had already put the extra leaves in the dining room table and Molly and Maggie were busy with the table cloth while Lilly, Rose and Caitlin argued about who would get to sit next to grandma.
Shooing them off to play, Maeve helped set the table with the good china, crystal and silver.
Placing a lovely autumn floral arrangement in the center of the table, they finished off with matching silver candelabras that had been in Maeve’s family for generations.
Clever Molly folded each linen napkin into the shape of a swan and placed them on the center of each dinner plate.
Satisfied that everything looked lovely, they headed into the kitchen for coffee and donuts before they were all gone.
“What time do you want the squash to go in the oven, Ma?” Bridget asked.
“Aw, Ma,” Rory complained with the box of donuts in one arm and the other around Tess. “I thought you said Bridget wasn’t cooking today.”
“I’m only cooking your food, Rory,” Bridget replied with an evil grin. “You might want to stay close to a bathroom. Now, give me a donut,” she ordered trying to reach the box he now held high above his head.
“Let me get one first,” he taunted her, looking in the box she still couldn’t even reach.
“You have had three,” Tess shot back. “Do not be selfish.”
“Rory give your sister a donut, before I take a wooden spoon to you. And get out of this kitchen unless you’ll be wantin’ to put an apron on and wash some of these dishes,” Maeve told him.
“I’m going, give us a kiss, Tess, I won’t be back till the work is done,” he grinned snatching Tess up for a thorough lip lock despite her blushing refusal.
Exchanging grins, the girls went back to work.
Potatoes were peeled and set in cold water, cabbage, onions and carrots quickly became cabbage salad.
Extra stuffing was spooned into a big baking dish and cream was whipped for pies that had been baked the day before.
Pickles and olives were put into small crystal dishes along with tiny serving forks.
The girls chatted and joked, catching up on all that had gone on in their lives since the last time they had seen each other. Tess was fairly quiet, her ring on a chain around her neck and hidden inside her sweater. She did not want a lot of questions until Rory announced their engagement.
Thankfully, Maggie was not angry with her about having to find another nanny.
She understood Rory had made the decision without consulting Tess and while she had Rory on the phone ripping him a new one, Nick had calmly called an agency that sent over several qualified applicants.
The woman Nick hired was very kind and funny and the kids were already getting attached.
A widow with grown children, she fit in so well that Nick suggested having her live in when they found their dream home.
Finally, the conversation got around to Bridget and everyone wanted to know about the man she had invited to dinner.
“His name is, are you ready for this?” she grinned, “Delbert.”
“We call him, Del,” Tess put in quietly while she rolled dough into little balls that she placed in a muffin tin, three in each hole. “And he is a very nice man,” she continued, sending Bridget a disapproving look.
“I’ve met him,” Maggie said. “I thought his name was Del,” she giggled. “Really it’s Delbert?”
“Really,” Bridget replied. “I call him Winston, that’s his last name. Delbert Bertram Winston IV.”
“Why would you call him by his last name,” Colleen asked seriously.
“Because when I try to say Del, I think of Delbert and I can’t help but laugh,” she replied, trying her best to keep a straight face.
“It makes it much easier for me if I just call him Winston. I think I may have hurt his feelings the first day I met him, but it just struck me as so funny. I can’t imagine naming a child Delbert.
I’ll bet the kids in school teased him terribly. ”
“It sounds like you certainly didn’t help, if that was the case,” Maeve put in. “I thought I’d raised you better than that Bridget. ‘Tis ashamed I am of you, teasing that poor young man.”
“All right, enough about his name,” Colleen said. “What does he look like? Is he cute? Does he have a nice ass?”
“Colleen!” Maeve yelled in surprise. “What kind of a question is that to be askin’?”
“An important one, Ma,” Colleen replied with a grin, “right girls?”
They all nodded and laughed agreeing with Colleen until Maeve laughed too.
“He’s cute,” Bridget answered, “in a geeky, nerdy way. He’s very tall with sandy hair and everything about him simply oozes establishment. Apparently, he comes from a ‘long line of influential Winstons,’” she quoted with her little nose in the air as she drawled out the words in a deep voice.
The girls cracked up at her impersonation.
“If he’s such a jerk, why did you invite him to dinner?” asked Molly who had been quiet till now. Fixing Bridget in her stare, Molly wordlessly dared her to tell the truth.
“He’s not really a jerk, in fact, he’s quite nice and for some unexplainable reason I find him sexy as hell.”
“Bridget!”
“Sorry, Ma, I don’t understand it myself.
His glasses are the ugliest things, but his eyes are beautiful and you know he’s intelligent right away.
He wears these suits that probably cost a fortune and then a two-dollar pocket protector in his pocket,” she giggled.
“I think I could do something with him, you know? Like a project boyfriend. He’s not interested in sports as far as I can tell.
I don’t think he has had many girlfriends, but he kisses like a dream,” she sighed not realizing how much she had revealed.
“You’ve kissed him?” Tess, Colleen and her mother asked all at once.
“I’m not a bit surprised,” Maggie snorted. “Nick told me about the way you dressed last week when you were covering for Tess. It was a wonder Del didn’t have a heart attack. You tormented that poor man all week. Really, Bridget, was that necessary?”
“Absolutely not,” Bridget agreed with a huge smile, “but I can’t tell you the last time I had so much fun. There is nothing better than teasing a self-righteous man. He was putty in my hands,” she boasted happily.
“Watch out, Bridget, even putty becomes hard after a while,” Molly warned softly.
“Molly, are you making an observation or do you see something I need to know?” Bridget asked a little concerned.
By the end of last week, she had noticed a slight change in Winston’s attitude and it started right after Nick had taken him to lunch.
“Just a word to the wise, little sister,” Molly answered mysteriously. “Things aren’t always as they seem. I’m going to go check on the kids,” she said, taking her apron off and slipping out the door.
“So what else is there about this Del that you find so attractive?” Maeve asked.
“I don’t know. He just seems so mild mannered, you know, he’s a real gentleman.”
“Oh my God,” Colleen gasped, laughing so hard she got the hiccups.
When she finally caught her breath, she continued.
“That’s just what I thought about Noah when I first met him.
He was like the mild-mannered professor on Gilligan’s Island.
He never got mad or raised his voice. I figured I’d found the perfect man, the exact opposite of Da and the boys.
Sorry, Ma,” she grinned apologetically at her mother.
“Turns out I got the spanking version. Not that I would trade him for the world, but I certainly didn’t expect to spend my wedding night over his knee getting the spanking of my life for being a bridezilla. I think he actually coined that term and never got credit for it,” she said thoughtfully.
“Well shit, shit, shit,” Bridget swore.
“Bridget, I think next week you best be goin’ to Mass and I’ll stay home and start dinner,” Maeve stated firmly giving her daughter a sharp look.
“Sorry, Ma. Colleen, you’re wrong. Winston is nothing like Noah. You’ll see when you meet him,” Bridget insisted firmly.
Colleen just laughed. “Whatever you say, Bridge. You better go make yourself pretty. Sometimes they go easy on you if you look pathetic enough.”
“Shut up, Colleen,” Bridget shot back as she left the kitchen.
* * *
The doorbell rang and before Bridget could get down the stairs her Da was at the door.
“You must be the young man Bridget invited. I’m Sean O’Malley, her Da. Come right in and make yourself to home, son,” Sean offered holding the door open wide.
“Del Winston,” he stated, shaking the older man’s huge hand. “It’s kind of you to have me, Mr. O’Malley.”