The Kids Grow Up by Trish Hanan (novel24 .TXT) 📖

yet, let’s stay calm,” Martin said and they agreed that was the best solution for now.
For Thanksgiving, Harry decided to have his whole family over and there wasn’t enough room in his dining room for seven children, one husband, six boyfriends, and his mothers so he decided to have it in the main room at the Center. And, of course, word got out to all the kids that Harry was having Thanksgiving Dinner at the Center so everyone naturally wanted to come. Harry decided to have an old-fashion dinner and invited everyone, even Farm One and told them he would supply the turkeys if they supplied the rest. They all got excited and began planning their tables and he took his kids and the lesbians hunting.
They found the turkeys in the same spot they always found them and killed enough for three or four dinners. Everyone split up the extras and Harry passed out his famous recipe to his children and his mother finally got the secret recipe which made her enormously happy. They all cooked two birds and Harry cooked four and everyone made different stuffing so they’d have a variety to choose from. When the day arrived Harry instructed his son Jackson to deliver two of his birds to his dad’s table.
“Jackson, make sure your dad’s table gets two of my turkeys,” he told his son as they were handing out the birds. Jackson grinned and delivered the turkeys and big pans of stuffing with a grand gesture. Both Dr. Jackson and Jake eyed the brown birds with greedy eyes, they were both hungry. Violet made a face at them; she hated these family dinners and wanted to sit with David and Gloria who were stuck sitting with Dr. George and their family. Here she was stuck at this enormous table with all of the Jackson’s and Emery’s and bored out of her mind. She glanced over at Harry who was sitting at a big table with his children and wanted to kill the little faggot; this was all his fault. Then she heard Jackson announce the delivery of the turkeys.
“Here you go ladies and gentlemen, Harry’s delicious whiskey soaked turkey with cornbread stuffing,” he said and placed the items on the table. Both Dr. Jackson and Jake looked at each other and grinned.
“Cornbread stuffing, oh, my God, we haven’t had this in years,” Dr. Jackson exclaimed and he dipped the spoon in and began to pile it on his plate. Jake reached for the turkey. Sissy and Sarah laughed at them and Reverend Milo grinned. Violet turned to Jackson who was walking away.
“Jackson, hold on, we don’t want cornbread stuffing, we want the chestnut stuffing,” she called out but he just kept walking. Then she turned to complain to Jake but he was helping himself to the stuffing and it was too late to take it back. She fumed.
“I don’t want to eat Harry’s lousy stuffing, I want chestnut stuffing,” Violet informed the table. Sissy sighed, she hated when the younger girl became difficult.
“Harry makes the best turkey and stuffing we’ve ever tasted, Violet, why don’t you try it before you complain about it,” she suggested gently. Sarah nodded.
“Really, Violet, how can you complain about food you’ve never even tasted,” she said, “That’s plain silly,” she added. Violet wanted to stand up and start screaming. Her brother Ben grinned and winked at her and helped himself to a big serving of each. Everyone gushed about the food and Violet was out-voted. She picked at the turkey, passed up on the hated stuffing and ate mostly salad; she did have a figure to maintain.
“Oh, man, this is the best turkey we’ve had in years,” Jake said to his father who grinned and put his arm around him. The two men had been laughing and joking with each other through out the meal. All the men at the table had been talking and having a good time.
Across the room Harry saw all of the Jackson and Emery men smiling and having a good time and saw Jake interacting with his dad and it finally hit him; Jake was happy with his life. He had moved on with his life and he was never coming home to him. Harry had been living in a fantasy world if he expected that door bell to ring and open the door to see Jake standing on the porch with his suitcase in his hand begging for his forgiveness and asking to come home. It was never going to happen. Jake had his new life with his wife and it was time for Harry to make a new life without him. A tear fell from his eye and down his cheek and he turned his head so no one would see it. Emma did just as she had seen her dad watching Jake from across the room and she turned around to see the happy laughing table and felt sorry for Harry. Then Harry smiled and the moment was over.
A few days later Harry called his kids into his office at the store and announced that he had to fly to Mykonos for a week but that he would be back, there was something there that he had to do. They were all curious but left the room to only Danny who they were sure would get the reason out of him and tell them. Harry laughed at their obvious ploy and was honest with his son.
“Seeing your dad at Thanksgiving, Danny, made me realize that he’s happy with his life, he’s moved on and I haven’t yet. I’m still stuck here waiting for him to come home to me and that’s never going to happen. I’ve finally realized that, it’s taken thirty years but it’s finally sunk in, Jake is never coming home and its time for me to make a new life for myself,” he explained. Danny nodded. Harry continued.
“When I was on Mykonos I did a few sculptures of Jake, more than a few I did hundreds, trying to work his memory out of my system. Before I can move on, I need to go there and destroy all of those statues so that no one will ever see how really pathetic I was. It will be a sort of cleansing of my soul and once I do that, then Jake Jackson will be truly out of my system and I will be ready to love again,” he said firmly. Danny hugged him.
“You deserve to be happy, Dad, you truly do,” he whispered. Harry nodded.
“Thanks, Son, I’ll be leaving on Sunday morning and I’ll come back the next Sunday morning, promise,” he said. Danny nodded.
“Martin and I can come with you,” he offered. Harry shook his head.
“Nah, I think I can do this on my own,” he told him. Danny nodded. Then Harry grinned. “Now go out and tell your brothers and sisters, they’re probably hiding down the hall waiting for you,” he teased and they both laughed.
Harry went home and thought about it and knew it was a good idea. Then the phone rang and it was Chan asking him to dinner Saturday night.
“I’m flying to Mykonos Sunday, Chan, I don’t think I’m up for dinner the night before,” he told him. Chan laughed.
“Why don’t I come to dinner, sleep over and fly to Mykonos with you, we will have a wonderful time, moonlight walks on the shore, swimming in the lake, you don’t want to be alone do you?” he asked softly and suddenly Harry really didn’t want to be alone.
“No, you’re right, why don’t you come with me,” he offered and Chan was delighted. They made arrangements for him to come to dinner at six and Harry hung up. This might be fun. Chan was adequate in bed but he was fun to be with and he didn’t take a lot of concentration so Harry could smash Jake out of his life and deal with Chan at the same time.
Danny told his siblings what their dad had said and they all agreed it was bad news.
“Is it time for Adam’s plan yet?” Cassie asked half seriously. Emma giggled.
“Almost,” she joked, half seriously.
That Friday night they had a big sale and Emma had the jewelry counter, of course, because she was the expert on jewelry. She was surprised to see Chan walking up and greeted him as warmly as she could, after all, this was her big chance to find out all she could about his and her dad’s relationship and how it was going. She didn’t even have to pump him for information the man was boasting like mad.
“Emma, darling I have something special planned for your father and I need your help,” he said in his charming manner. She smiled and said she’d be willing to help of course. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a familiar looking ring and showed it to her. She gasped when she realized what it was.
“That’s my dad’s wedding ring, where did you get that?” she asked in an angry tone. He laughed and leaned forward so no one would overhear them.
“I swiped it from his drawer, don’t worry, I’ll put it back tonight when I take him home,” he promised. She nodded. “I needed it for his ring size, I want to buy him a special ring today and you can help me pick it out,” he said. She showed him the rings they had but none of them suited him.
“I want a diamond, Emma, something that says; I love you, will you be mine?” he gushed. “Your father is taking me to Mykonos with him on Sunday and I want to ask him to marry me. Picture us on a blanket having a moonlight picnic and I hide the ring in a glass of champagne. Harry will be so surprised, it will be so wonderful, so romantic, how could he possible say no, he cannot,” Chan gushed on and on until she wanted to kill him but she helped him pick out a splendid round diamond men’s ring that she had cut herself and he wrote a check and she put it in a box and he left to take her dad home.
Then she rushed to find her siblings to tell them the news, it was the time to panic.
Harry let Chan follow him home and invited him in, the man insisted in coming in and he insisted on using the bathroom in the master bedroom saying that he thought he left his cufflinks in there. Harry could have told him he hadn’t because he had cleaned in there but he let him look because he wouldn’t have left if he hadn’t. He turned down the offer of sex because he wasn’t in the mood to do all the work tonight and he had a lot of house cleaning to do to prepare for their trip so Chan reluctantly left to come back the next night for dinner and to sleep over and Harry to his supreme relief was left alone to feed his animals, eat dinner and clean out his refrigerator which was his exciting plans for his Friday night.
Violet had exciting plans for Friday night too. David was throwing Gloria a birthday party and invited everyone to the Bird Cage which was closed to everyone except for them for the whole night. It