Chapter 17

Two weeks before Thanksgiving came, they finally released Uncle Henry from the hospital after his surgery. He was supposed to take it easy for three more weeks, but they were having a hard time convincing him to stay home and heal. This was a busy time at the grocery and he wanted to be there.

Emily had been running things at the store like she had when they’d first opened. Henry was driving her and the rest of the staff insane by calling several times a day. Mysti and Samantha had been taking turns trying to keep him in bed, resting.

To everyone’s surprise, Debbie volunteered to take over looking after Henry while Emily was at the grocery. She reminded them she didn’t have a class to teach or a shop to run. She could come over and make sure he had what he needed and it would give her something to do while Heath was working.

While Mike hadn’t called the crew back and wouldn’t until after Thanksgiving, there were things that Heath could do that would help the project be ahead of schedule. So he was spending his days painting empty rooms. He had been making notes of things that needed to be done in the new sections. That way, Mike could just assign teams to those projects when they all started back to work. They were close to being done, and they wanted to open the restaurant on Christmas Eve. Harry would have a grand reopening for the expanded Gladstone Inn on New Year’s Eve.

So that was how Debbie found herself alone at Henry and Emily’s home with her uncle by marriage. They kept each other company. She made sure he was resting and not overdoing it as he healed. They talked about her concerns with her father. Henry agreed with her assessment. His judgemental attitude seemed to have gotten worse over the last year.

However, As they thought back, it became apparent to them both that it had started four years ago. About the time her dad had to send EJ away for his indiscretions against single women in the church. Her father had almost lost the church then, and one woman EJ had made inappropriate advances to was Samantha Gladstone. Her dad had been very upset and made arrangements for EJ to spend six months at a boy’s mission that dealt with sexual deviants. EJ returned six months later and never acted inappropriate again, but her dad seemed to have changed then.

The thing with Mysti back in August had been the biggest change that the town could see. However, Debbie told Henry about hearing her father talking to no one in his office. He promised that he’d try to get someone to offer to get him some professional help.

It was funny because as the weeks passed, she and Heath’s uncle grew closer and even became friends. He never asked her about how she’d wound up a statistic of the pastor’s daughter, who turned up unwed and pregnant. She was grateful because she would have told him the entire story, and then the whole family would know Heath married her when he wasn’t the baby’s daddy.

She took her guitar and keyboard as well and played some of her favorite old rock and rockabilly tunes. Henry was thrilled and told her she would need to play for the family after Thanksgiving dinner. The whole family always came to the homestead for dinner together. This year, Leanne was cooking for them all. She insisted she didn’t need or want their help. She just wanted them to show up and eat together. It would give her a last run through before her soft opening Christmas Eve. Henry told Debbie if she played some old Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis and Buddy Holly tunes, his brother, Mayor Hal, would become an instant fan of hers. He loved that old music, but no one ever played it anymore. Just to make Henry laugh, she’d launched into the rockabilly song “Old Time Rock and Roll” on her keyboard. Sure enough, he laughed, and she played the whole thing, then went into Jerry Lee’s “Great Balls of Fire.”

He laughed and told her, “That will do it, Debbie, my dear. You’ll make your father-in-law’s night with some of that music.”

She smiled; she loved that old music anyway, and she’d play a few of those for them and then she’d play Poison’s “Your Mama Don’t Dance” to cap the night. Then if they wanted some Christmas carols. She smiled, and they goofed around the rest of the time before Thanksgiving, picking songs that Henry thought his brother and the family would enjoy. She couldn’t wait for after dinner to entertain them and show off the instruments Heath had bought her.

Thanksgiving dawned with fresh snow falling. It didn’t look like it was going to be a snowstorm, but a gentle snowfall all day long. Heath loved it wouldn’t interfere with the big family gathering that afternoon. Leanne was cooking dinner for the family and they’d eat around two that afternoon. They would bring any leftovers to Heath and Debbie’s place. That was where the men of the family planned to watch football games in the main room. The women would watch Hallmark movies or something in the dining area. Plus, Debbie had asked him to set up her keyboard and guitar in the front room. Apparently, she and Uncle Henry had decided she’d put on a concert for the family after the big game. Or maybe before the game right after dinner.

He fixed Debbie her ginger tea and carried it up to her. They’d entered a routine of sorts since getting back from their honeymoon. He’d get up before her and fix her tea and carry it up and set in on her nightstand. Then he’d slip back into bed and wake her with a few gentle kisses. She’d sip her tea as they talked about their plans for the day. They also talked about the baby, their likes or dislikes, asked questions of each other, taking time to grow closer as a couple. Then, after the tea was drunk and Debbie felt like she could move around without getting sick, she’d go grab a shower and get dressed.