My Stepbrother Came Home for the Anniversary, and I Didn't Know Him novel · Chapter 23 of 24
Chapter 23: Thanksgiving
My mother opened the door at two o'clock on Thanksgiving in an apron, with flour on her wrist.
She didn't hug us.
She stepped back and held the door wide and said, "Come in, it's cold."
Her hair was brushed flat and her hands were not still.
Matti wiped his boots on the mat twice.
Arvid was in the dining room, setting out the good plates with his bad shoulder tucked up.
He looked at us over the top of the glasses and nodded, once.
The table was set for four.
My mother had put Matti's place at the corner beside mine, with the second-best napkin folded in a triangle.
I looked at it for a long moment.
I sat down.
Matti sat on my left, so close that our knees knocked, and he didn't move his away.
Arvid took the head of the table and laid both hands on the cloth.
"I'll say the grace," he said. "Sit still, all of you."
We bowed our heads.
"For this food," he said, in his slow voice, "and for the hands that made it. For my daughter and my son at my table, which is something I didn't know I'd see again. And for anyone who is trying to do better than they did."
Nobody looked at anyone.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–6 of My Stepbrother Came Home for the Anniversary, and I Didn't Know Him are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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