Busy Weekend - Part One

As I told you all last week, I invited all of Sean's family down for Thanksgiving - partly so we could meet them but mainly so Sean wouldn't feel so miserable here when the only family he has known were hours away celebrating without him. I wanted this to be a surprise for Sean, so I didn't tell anyone besides Reed about my plans and he thought it was a good idea not too.

Well, maybe I should've told them, then maybe they wouldn't have been so upset when they found out that his family was in town. And maybe they wouldn't have been so mad at me for 'trying to control things and making decisions about the family when I had no right to do so'.

Sorry! I thought their son's happiness was the most important thing in all this and Sean wanted to see his family!

Friday night I got a call from Sean's sister Gina, she called to say that her parents, Rae and Dwight, and Landon and her were all checked into the hotel. "I just want to thank you," she told me at the end of the call. "I know my brother will be so happy when he sees us all again!" She went on to tell me that Mack, Lynn and Bonnie were coming too. "I don't know when they were going to check in but mom did say that they were going to be here tonight."

I didn't hear from Mack until the next morning; they were late getting in but they were here now and that's all that mattered.

We had made plans before they came here that we would all get together for lunch on Saturday so that we could meet everyone and Sean would know that his family hadn't forgotten about him like he thought they had.

The only problem was, breaking the news to Lucinda, Roger and Madeline. Let's just say they weren't too happy that we were setting them up to meet Sean's family without warning. There were complaints about our methods, where we planned to go for lunch and the fact that we planned on having Thanksgiving dinner at our place instead of the club, where they've been having dinner for years.

It was so bad, their reaction, I was actually in tears and had to leave the room. Reed stayed behind, his voice carried as he told his family to stop being so selfish. "This is Sean's first Thanksgiving with us, he misses his family and Amber was only trying to make him feel more at home here. Do you think that he's used to going to the club for a 'family dinner'? No! He's used to his mother -"

"She's not his mother!" I heard Lucinda exclaimed.

"She is his mother!" Reed told her. "She's the only one he never knew and he's used to her cooking dinner, not ordering it from a menu!"

"Why is Amber trying to hurt us?"

Reed groaned, "She's not trying to hurt you mom, she's trying to make Sean feel like he belongs and if bringing his family here, meeting them, and cooking dinner from scratch is what makes him feel like he belongs, then that's what she's determined to do! And I stand behind her 100%!"

In the end, we all went to the restaurant in the hotel where they were all staying. I thought it would be best if we met with them for a few minutes before Sean got there so we could get to know them a little and it wouldn't be so awkward for him.

I guess I was being naive, thinking that it would go smoothly. It wasn't completely horrible but you could see the judgement on Reed's families faces the moment they spotted Sean's family. Then again, I guess they didn't realize just how different Sean's upbringing was, that 'dressed up' for them (the men anyway) was their favorite cowboy boots and hat with a pair of jeans and a dress shirt not a pressed shirt and tie with a pair of dress pants. That wasn't the only difference but it was the first one that we noticed when we walked into the restaurant.

And I have to say, I was very disappointed when I heard Madeline mutter, "Oh my Lord, they are a bunch of hicks!"

"Madeline!" I gave her a dirty look, I didn't care for one moment that she was the head of Reed's family, with that attitude she would alienate her oldest grandson and I didn't want that to happen, I wanted Sean to be at home with us because of Reed. "Come on honey," I smiled up at Reed as I slipped my hand in his. "Let's go meet our new family." Sean's family hadn't noticed our arrival at the restaurant, so they didn't see the judgemental looks in every one's eyes when they saw them, which I was very grateful for.

As Reed and I made our way over to their table, one of the older men looked up, smiled brightly and then slowly the smile disappeared. At first I didn't realize why but as we reached the table, he stood up and with his eyes on Reed, he introduced himself as Mack.

"For a moment there I thought you were my boy!" He laughed as he stared at Reed. "Sean said you guys looked alike but hotdamn! you could be his twin!" He pulled Reed into a big bear hug, "Good to meet you," he said when he released him and turned his attention to me. "You have to be Amber," he said. I nodded and he went right to Alexis, who was staring at him with an amused look on her face. "Oh aren't you a pretty little thing!" He took Alexis from me, "Come give Papaw Mack some sugar!" Alexis let out little squeals of laughter as Mack rubbed his whiskers against her soft cheek.

"Mack where are your manners?" The lady who was sitting beside him when we came in was not standing, looking at us as she held out her hand. "You'll have to forgive my husband, he just loves them babies. I'm Lynn," she smiled and then introduced us to her daughter Bonnie before pointing out Sean's mother. "Gertie will take it from here."

Gertie introduced her family and then I introduced Reed's family to all of them. About ten minutes had passed from the time we walked in until that moment and we only had about twenty more to use to get to know each other better before Sean was supposed to arrive.

And I'll be damned if the little bugger didn't show up ten minutes early!

"No shit!" I heard Reed muttered as he poked me in the side and pointed to the doorway where Sean was talking to one of the waitresses.

"I'll be right back," I jumped up and hightailed it over to the front counter, happy that we were seated near the back where he couldn't see us right away.

"I'm sorry sir," the waitress was saying. "We didn't have a table for 6 for this time, are you sure it was today?"

"Yes, my sister in law said that -"

"Hey Sean!" I gave him a hug and the waitress slipped away. "I'm so glad you could make it but you are way early!"

"How early could I be," he asked. "If you are already here?"

I ignored that one. "Come on," I took his hand. "Close your eyes and -"

"I'm not closing my eyes Amber, I would look a little silly walking through a restaurant like that."

"Oh come on," I smiled up at him. "You'll be my favorite brother in law if you do it."

Sean laughed, "I'm your only brother in law, so that won't work."

"True," I laughed. "But that doesn't mean that you have to be my favorite."

He thought about that for a moment and just when it looked like he was going to argue with me, he closed his eyes. "This doesn't mean that I don't feel like a moron," he told me as we started towards the back of the room.

Sean was completely shocked when I finally let him open his eyes again; he looked like a kid who had gotten everything he wanted for Christmas, when he saw his family seated around the table. "Mom, dad!" Mack and Gertie both got up and met him halfway; it was so good to see how excited they all were to see each other again. "This is..." he seemed to be at a lost for words as he went around the table, hugging every single one of his family members. "I can't believe you are all here," he said finally. "Why didn't you tell me you were coming? I thought you all had plans..."

Gina laughed through her tears; it had been a few months since she had seen him. "We made plans to come see you," she looked at me. "With Amber's help."

"You did this?" He spun around to face me, his expression unreadable as he stared at me.

"Yes," I nodded. "Reed and I wanted to do this for you, we wanted you to be happy."

He shifted from one foot to the other as he looked back and forth between Reed and me. "You have no idea..." his voice broke. "Thank you," he pulled both of us into his arms, almost squeezing the life out of me. "You two are amazing."

I was pleasantly surprised how well lunch went after that considering the differences between the two families but having Sean there, talking about him, his past, how he grew up and what he's doing now, seemed to bridge the gap more than anything else could have.

I was starting to think that Thanksgiving dinner with both families wouldn't be as bad as I thought it would be...