Everyone turned. Prescott, who usually appeared so devoid of emotion that Evan had once told the rest of the kids he was half Vulcan, looked at the floor. “I had to buy something. It was the only way I could get away from Edna May Tittlebury.”
“It was very thoughtful of you, Scott,” Daphne said, rubbing his shoulder before heading back toward the kitchen.
“And it is so getting regifted to you at Christmas, son,” Jack informed him.
“Welcome to my family,” Marguerite said as Cooper firmly shut the bathroom door on the crowd of them.
He’d met most of them throughout the day, but she refreshed him on all the names.
As they headed back down the hall, Jack said, “I wish you’d park that truck in Hidden Falls every day. The food was fantastic. Only next time, don’t bring my heart doctor down with you in the truck, so I can go back for seconds.”
“I’ll go help your mom in the kitchen, Alex said to her, touching her arm as he went by, exactly as though they were a couple.
She was setting the table when Paisley yelled from the living room. “Hey Mom, you’re going to be on TV. The Hidden Falls fair is up next.”
Once more feet pounded, this time into the living room where everyone gathered around the big screen TV that Jack had finally been allowed to buy after he’d been bedridden with a heart ailment.
Jack and Daphne flopped on the big couch with Paisley and Cooper. Rose and Matt shared a big armchair, Holly and Prescott another, and everyone else sat on the floor. Alex settled beside Marguerite and Lucy, the family’s golden retriever, walked among them, sensing the excitement, her wagging until she flopped beside Marguerite and put her head on her knee.
“That’s a great TV, Jack,” Alex said, as a toothpaste commercial played.
“Thanks. I damn near had to croak before Daphne would let me have a decent size TV.”
“Shhh,” said his loving wife as her face came up on the screen. The announcer said, “It’s Autumn Festival time and we’re here in Hidden Falls, Oregon where the annual Fall Harvest Fair took place today. With me is Daphne Chance, this year’s fair coordinator. Daphne, take us around and show us some of the attractions.”
“I’d be happy to,” Daphne said. “Of course, our fair isn’t only for fun. We raise money to keep after school programs funded for at risk children.” She turned to the camera and announced, “Because every community has an obligation to look after its kids.”
“Right on, Daphne,” Jack said.
Then the camera cut to the Hidden Falls Fiddlers, panned around the stalls. A couple of cute little kids, one holding cotton candy and the other an ice cream cone, said it was, “Really fun.”
“What’s on that kid’s face?” Cooper asked, squinting. “Did someone pelt him with a tomato?”
“It’s a fire-breathing dragon,” Paisley said.
“Shhh,” Daphne said.
On screen, Daphne walked the reporter right up to Alexei’s Greek. “And this year we were lucky enough to get support from five food trucks. This is Alexei Vasilopoulos and his brother Matt. They’re not only gorgeous, but they make fantastic Greek food.” In the background, Alex and Matt were so busy serving customers, they probably never even noticed they were being filmed.
“Mo-th-er!” Iris groaned.
“What? That’s excellent free publicity I gave you, right Alex?”
“Absolutely,” he said, grinning.
“But you were hitting on two young guys right on TV.”
“Oh, of course I wasn’t.”
“Dad?”
Jack thought for a moment and said, “I want the big screen TV in the divorce.”
Alex leaned closer and whispered, “I am crazy about your family.”
With Alexeias Daphne’s sous chef, dinner was a lot more fancy than usual. One minute he was taking his big bowl of glorious, fresh Greek salad into the kitchen, and the next thing she knew, things began to emerge from the kitchen that she only half recognized.
There was her mother’s meatloaf, but with a sauce that took it from the pedestrian to the sublime. He whipped up garlic and herb butters to serve with the long baguettes that Iris had brought from the bakery.
