Thanksgiving dawned gray and misty, but Gaines had a cheery fire already ablaze in the hearth when Tommy Lee, Rachel, and Beth arrived at the Gentry home. The aroma of roasting turkey filled the place, and there was a sense of true welcome as the three stepped inside. Gaines and Lily were smiling and
jovial, and though it was easy to see the 445 excitement shining from their eyes, upon meeting Beth there was a first cautious reserve. To Rachel and Tommy Lee's delight, it was Beth who put it to rout.
With the offhand congeniality that can sprout from teenagers at the most unexpected yet opportune times, Beth assessed the two eager faces, grinned over her shoulder at Tommy Lee, who stood behind her, and commented, 'You're right, Daddy, I do look like them.'
The laughter that followed broke the ice, and within half an hour of their arrival they were all immersed in photo albums filled with pictures of Tommy Lee and Rachel, and for each picture there was a story. Beth listened raptly, laughing at the photographs of her father as a skinny teenager who appeared to be all bones and hair, and at Rachel in a ponytail and spit curls. Lily proved to have a marvelous talent for storytelling, relating tales even Rachel had forgotten.
Gaines served hot cranberry drinks and soon Lily excused herself to tend to things in the kitchen. Rachel offered her hand, and as they left
the living room Lily turned back to suggest, 'Tommy Lee, why don't you take Beth upstairs and show her your old room?'
'Oh, yes, Daddy, please?' Beth pleaded.
And so it was that with everyone occupied, Gaines found himself alone. He sat before the fire, sipping his hot drink, staring at the flames and reliving the years, the happy memories revived by the photographs and stories.
Of course, there had been pictures of Everett and Eulice, and these, too, he admitted, had brought their share of nostalgia. A golden flame leaped and licked while he stared at it, unseeing.
Who was it that got stubborn first… me or Everett? he wondered. So long ago… it was hard to remember. The kids went away and all the happiness seemed to go out of our lives. We were ashamed of what we'd done, and every time we faced each other we faced our own shame, and so it was easier to simply stop facing each other.
Gaines sighed, took an absent sip of his drink, listened to the sounds of the women getting things ready in the kitchen, an occasional spurt of
laughter from overhead, and pictured 447 Everett all alone in that empty house.
Everett, you and I have been a pair of mule-headed old fools, and it's time one of us did something about it.
He set his glass on the coffee table, sighed weightily, and went to the coat closet under the stairs to find his warm maroon sweater. After buttoning it from neck to hip, he slipped out the side door, closed it behind himself, and paused to look across the lifeless grass to the stone house beyond. He rolled the thick collar of the sweater up around his neck, stuck his hands into its pockets, and studied his feet as he made his way toward the familiar break in the hedge. There he stopped and took a moment to survey the opening-so much narrower now but still not quite obliterated. It appeared to have been waiting all these years for one of them to breach it again and lay the past to rest. He ducked low, pushed a branch aside, and crossed to the other side.
Front door or back? But a chill drizzle was falling, and the back door was closer. He climbed the steps, opened a squeaking screen and door, and moved with echoing footsteps across the wooden floor of the porch to a closed door that led
– he knew-into the back hall just beside the kitchen.
He knocked, stuffed his hands into his sweater pockets again, and waited.
An interminable time seemed to pass while Gaines pondered the probability that nobody ever came to Everett's back door anymore. He had just raised his knuckles to rap harder when the latch clicked and the door wheezed open with a grating of old swollen wood.
When Everett saw who was on his back porch his face became a mask of concealed surprise. He seemed unable to move and obviously didn't know what to say. The two men studied each other for several long, silent seconds while time spun backwards to a day when they, like their children, had freely moved within the scope of each other's everyday lives. They had missed a lot of shared good times in the last twenty-four years, and as their eyes met and held, they both realized it. Then the wind blew in through the screen, sending a shiver up Gaines's spine, and he took the bit between his teeth to state, 'I think it's high time you and I had a talk, Everett. Can I come in?'
The turkey was on a carving board and the stuffing
had been scooped into a serving bowl. 449 Bustling trips were being made back and forth between the kitchen and the dining room, and Lily called again, 'Gaines?' She scowled and fussed. 'Now, where is that man?'
Tommy Lee and Beth breezed into the kitchen. 'Can we help?'
'Yes, carry that bird to the table and find your daddy. It's time he started carving it.'
Board and bird disappeared through the doorway in the hands of Tommy Lee and were followed by vegetable bowls and gravy boats carried by the women. They were attempting to make room on the linen-covered table for the last of the dishes when the side door slammed and Gaines appeared in the dining room doorway.
'Set a place for one more, Mother. Look who's here.'
Rachel was leaning over the table with a tureen of steaming sweet potatoes in her hands when Gaines stepped aside to reveal a slightly sheepish-looking Everett behind him. He hung back, his hands in his pockets, while Rachel stared, dumbfounded, then suddenly dropped the tureen and squealed, 'Ouch!' as she pressed a
burned palm to her thigh.
Somebody said, 'Rachel, are you all right?' But she didn't hear. Her attention was riveted on the man in the doorway. His eyes found her, and he gave a trembling smile that at last sent her moving around the table.
Even before she reached him, both hands were extended, and as he clasped them, she felt a tremor in his flesh.
'Daddy…' she said. Then she was in his arms.
'Baby…' he murmured against her ear, holding her as if she'd been lost and just now found.
Her heart felt as if it could not be contained within her breast; it threatened to swell and burst with its burden of joy.
'Oh, Daddy, you're here.'
She backed off and lost herself for a brief emotional moment in his uncertain eyes, then spun to bestow a hug of equal fervor on Gaines. 'Thank you… oh, thank you,' she whispered, kissing his florid cheek.
Then she returned to her father, and took his elbow to draw him into the room. She found tears in her eyes as she watched him pick out his hostess, nod, and murmur, 'Lily.'
'Welcome, Everett,' Lily 451 greeted, coming forward to offer her hands much as Rachel had done a moment ago. And when she'd stepped back, Everett's eyes came to rest on Tommy Lee. Again he nodded stiffly, and though it was a stilted beginning, it was a beginning nevertheless.
'I don't believe you've met Tommy Lee's daughter, Beth,' Rachel put in, to fill the awkward moment.
'Hello, Beth.'
'Hi.' Beth smiled.
Rachel's eyes met Tommy Lee's, and she didn't stop to question the awesome need that suddenly propelled her-she only knew she had to press herself against his chest, feel his arms around her shoulders, her heart beating vibrantly against his, while celebrating this moment for which they'd both waited so long.
He seemed to understand it, though, for when she came to him he held her tightly, his cheek against her hair, his chest solid and warm.
'I have everything I want now,' Rachel whispered in his ear.
'So do I,' came Tommy Lee's answer, while together they shared the overwhelming sense of true
thanksgiving.
They were married two days later in the parsonage of the First Baptist Church. It would have been asking too much too soon to expect Everett to be present. And anyway, Tommy Lee and Rachel wanted to keep the celebration as private as possible, so they decided the only witnesses they'd invite would be Beth and Sam and Daisy Davis.
