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"Where did you find hi Gemma

"Would you believe, in Central Park?"

"We were just there yesterday," Mom said

I tried to catch Philip’s eye and warn him, but he never took his eyes off Geical he was other than that he’d been enchanted and didn’t seeins fro a scene

We got Thanksgiving dinner on the table with a minimum of disasters, and Jeff and Philip were both intiot a better sense of why dates in high school had been few and far between for me Between my dad and my three older brothers, it would have taken a very brave boy to come anywhere near me

Ethan arrived just in tih the door "I got sidetracked catching up on soain, Mr and Mrs Chandler" I introduced hiathered around the table to say grace

Dad made us all hold hands and bow our heads Jeff looked baffled, but he followed along I hoped Dad went for a shorter prayer instead of the ser "Oh Lord, thank you for bringing us all together here today," he began It looked like ere in for the long version Midway through, there was a yelp from across the circle as apparently Marcia had to keep Jeff fro fro my hand with his thu bolt fro a prayer I wasn’t sure which I feared ht us We all joined in a hearty "Aht the prayer to a close

Then it was ti in, and orked our way around the table to fill our plates As Ethan put a slice of turkey on ? You look stressed"

I debated whether I should tell hiot weird "I figured out yesterday that ot it"

He nodded "I see So now you’re constantly worried about what she’s going to notice"

"Yeah I almost ran out of explanations yesterday Please don’t say anything about work I want to get her ho to tell her the whole story You’re as i I’d need to explain And please don’t tell anyone about this e go back to the office"

"What are you so worried about?"

"I just--I just want things to be nor totally whacked out, that my boss is Merlin, and that I have a fairy in the office next to o on things tend to zap in and out of existence, or scary things try to hurt s serenadestory But I need my faed Theirs doesn’t have to I want theo home and be happy, understand?"

"I think I see your point," he whispered

"What are you two lovebirds doing whispering over the turkey?" my mom called out from across the room

"Of course, with h

Ethan laughed and handed lass of Mom’s traditional cranberry punch "I’m not sure any family is truly normal," he said

There wasn’t room for us to sit at the table with all the food on it, so we took our plates to the living roo chairs, or the sofa I tried to think of a safe conversation to start, but Mom beatI’ up here, but it’s traditional for us back home"

There were ood the food was Food seemed to be a safe topic "I know a few people were surprised by the corn bread dressing I made last year," I said

"Myentirely," Ethan commented Mom looked like he’d uttered a blasphemy Okay, so maybe food wasn’t such a safe topic I’d seen froe that what to serve for holidays was a bigger source ofperson and a sausage stuffing person weren’t likely to see eye-to-eye Oysters in the dressing could be grounds for a holy war I noticed with great relief that Ethan didn’t see we’d made