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Family Affair (Thanksgiving Fanfic Challenge)
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“Can’t a daughter call her Daddy just to say hello?”
“Of course she can. But this daughter has never made a habit of anything so frivolous as that. She’s far too busy,” Melvin said with his peculiar brand of humor. Bette knew he was proud of her work and her success, she could hear it in his voice.
“Well, I suppose I do have a bit of an ulterior motive for calling,” Bette conceded. “I wondered… well, I wondered what your plans were for Thanksgiving,” she said.
“The plans are the same as they always are, Elizabeth. Dinner is at three. Your aunt Adele and uncle Rufus have plans to get the train down from Connecticut, and Adele intends to prepare the meal. I’d just as soon have Frances handle it all,” Melvin said wearily. Frances was his trusted housekeeper, still relatively new after eight years on the job.
“Oh. I thought you might be invited somewhere or something,” Bette said.
“I get at least one invitation every year, but as I always say, the holidays are for -”
“Family,” Bette finished. “I know, Daddy.”
“Will you be joining us?” Melvin asked. Bette thought she heard a faint hope in his voice.
“I’d like to, Daddy. I’d like for you to -”
“It just hasn’t been the same, with your mother gone,” Melvin said wistfully. “I miss her more at this time of the year. She loved it so.”
Bette pushed down a wave of emotion. She missed her mother too, beyond all description. The holidays had been her mother’s favorite times. She used to throw herself into the planning and preparations. Her joy was so infectious that even Melvin managed to enter into the spirit of the holidays, even though it was against his rather staid nature. He put up with the lavish Christmas and New Year’s parties her mother threw each year, filling their spacious home with guests, and the impractical overabundance of food she cooked each Thanksgiving. All that had changed once her mother had left. From that point on, holidays had been rather grim affairs in the Porter household. Bette had grown to look upon all of them as just another day and nothing special. It kept the happy, colorful childhood memories at bay.
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That is just so cute!
Bittersweet but well written.
Both fathers are jerks. Loved the story
Sigh..but as Tina had put it,..”Well that’s that” …And at least … THEY HAVE EACH OTHER.
10 Stars.Thank you.
I wonder of all those family members out there who practice their bigotry really get just how much love they are missing out on?
That was sweet and bittersweet. Where are the other girls in this story? A little Alice is always nice.
Thanks omalley!! :-) ITS such a down to earth story, kinda sad to read how their families are rejecting them, but sometimes that’s what happened. That’s fact. Well written story, thanks!! :-)
Poignant…truthful, with the tinge of hope and joy. Thanks for reminding us that Thanksgiving is about love. Well done OMalley! You’re the queen of holiday stories. :)
Aw that’s sad to see that their fathers aren’t very accepting. But they have each other and so much love to give between the two of them. Cute story. Thanks
That was great, poor Bette and Tina, they are so sweet. Thanks for sharing this with us!
That was just excellent, very well written and so easy to read on my sacrosanct Sunday morning FF reading time! in the light of their respective rejections, now is as good a time as ever to start their own tradition… Bittersweet but hopeful none the less! Thank you for starting the proceedings. :0) Kx
Love shouldn’t be as conditional as their fathers are making it… As sad as it is for them, they’re better off without. I enjoyed that, thank you for posting. :)
So wonderful and excellently written. THank you.
Sad. But someday they will come around. Melvin did, on his deathbed, but still.
Sad that people can be so closeminded ugh…when people happiness is all that matters