My Stepbrother Banned My Fish Fry, So I Made Him Beg novel · Chapter 23 of 24
Chapter 23: Wigilia
At my mother's house on Christmas Eve, supper did not start until somebody saw the first star.
Gerry stood at the picture window with his bad leg braced.
Karl stood beside him, and they both looked at the sky over the lake.
"There," Karl said, and pointed.
"I see it," Gerry said. "Krysia, it's up."
My mother clapped.
She had spread hay under the white tablecloth, as she had every year of my life, and set one more place than there were people.
The empty chair sat between Karl and me.
"For the stranger," my mother said, in Polish and then English. "For anyone who needs a seat tonight."
"And for Karl's mother," Gerry said, quietly, and nobody argued with him.
My mother held out the wafer on her plate.
It was thin and white, stamped with a nativity, and she broke it in half and gave one piece to me.
"To your health," she said. "And to your fish, and the man who finally writes your name on a wall."
I broke a corner off hers.
"To the baby," I said. "To you. To a mother who sent two idiots for pickles."
She laughed until she cried.
Karl took the wafer from his father and they broke it together, awkwardly, over the potatoes.
"Karli," Gerry said. "Your mother would have liked her."
"I know, Dad."
"She'd have liked her a lot."
Karl nodded and could not speak.
Under the tablecloth his knee found mine, and I let it stay.
We ate beet soup, and pierogi, and fried carp, and nobody mentioned the alley.
My mother had her hand on her stomach, as she did all the time now.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–6 of My Stepbrother Banned My Fish Fry, So I Made Him Beg are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
← Chapter 22 · All chapters · Chapter 24 →
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend