I pressed my lips together. Laura made a noise like a whimper. Kalie moved so she was closer to Kellie. And Fern decided she was done. I knew this because she said so.

She did this with a whispered, “I’m done with this.”

Brock disengaged from the angry-man stare down, turned, and stepped to his brother’s side.

All eyes turned to Fern.

Fern looked to Cob.

“This is my house and I say who’s welcome here. It’s Thanksgiving, Cob, and I’m sorry for you that you don’t know if you’ll have another one. But I’m happy for you to sit at the table with your family for this one. You didn’t give me much but you did give me the four most precious things in my life. For that, I can give you this.”

Okay, well, I pretty much liked Fern before.

Now I knew I really liked her.

She looked to Levi and kept talking.

“I love you, sweetheart, but you have to get that hate out of your gut or it’ll eat out your insides like the cancer is eating your father. And”—her eyes slid to Lenore then back to Levi—“I’ll add it might be a good time for you to wake up.”

I felt eyes, looked to Elvira, and saw her grinning at me.

Fern wasn’t done.

“Now, we’ve got dinner to finish off so go and watch your game and, I’ll tell you this”—her eyes honed in on Levi—“it might be Cob’s last Thanksgiving with his family but that also means it might be his family’s last Thanksgiving with him. And we all should do what we can to make it a damned good memory because, for my grandbabies out there, it’s gonna need to last a while.”

No one said anything and no one moved.

So Fern went on, “Levi, can you do that for your family?”

Levi didn’t answer. Levi stared at his mother for long moments before his eyes sliced through his sisters, he turned on his boot and walked out.

Fern sighed.

Cob said quietly, “Appreciate it, Fern.”

Her eyes went to him and she nodded.

Then she looked to her granddaughters and said softly, “That looks pretty, girls. Put it in the middle of the dining room table, would you?”

Then she went to the stove to check the potatoes.

I looked to Brock in time to see him jerk his chin up at his father, pass him, and turn in the same direction Levi went. Austin and Fritz guided Cob out.

Elvira came to me.

“Shoo, girl, big ole honkin’ W… T… F? Your bad boy’s family is whacked. Makes my brother with his skinny, skanky, natty-’fro ho and my sister with her inability to return that fabulous dress she borrowed without red wine stains seem tame.”