Austin and Fritz clearly thought she was a hoot, Cob not far behind, Jill, Laura, and Kalie shortly joined in, and finally Fern melted. For his part, Brock mostly studied Elvira like she was an unknown creature he didn’t know what to make of but I could sense he was relaxed and pleased his family was enjoying dinner. I could sense this because that was the mood he filled the room with.

Further making things seem almost festive was the fact that Uncle Levi, although having a short fuse, was clearly the funny uncle and much beloved by his siblings’ progeny because laughter rang from the card tables across the way with a lot of giggled “Uncle Levi!” shrieked from Ellie.

Since we made it through dessert without another scene, I relaxed and unfortunately let my guard down.

Therefore, I wasn’t prepared to feel the snap and crackle of Brock’s mood hitting the room.

My head swiveled to him to see his back straight, his face like thunder, and his eyes pointed out the window.

Then I heard from the card tables, “You are fuckin’ shitting me.”

This was Levi.

Suddenly there was motion and that motion was Brock and Levi folding out of their chairs and the rest of us craning our necks to look out the window.

When we saw what we saw, I froze and stared.

Fern, Jill, and Laura didn’t freeze.

Fern hissed, “Oh no, I do not think so.”

Jill snapped, “I do not believe that woman.”

And Laura bit off, “On Thanksgiving.”

They jumped up and followed Brock and Levi, Cob going with them, and both Fritz and Austin scooted closer to me, with Fritz saying, “Kalie, honey, you and your sister get your cousins downstairs, yeah?”

Kalie turned her own angry face from her contemplation of the window. Kalie and Kellie, I had noted, much like their younger counterparts, had a close relationship with their Uncle Slim. They had also, it would appear, been old enough to have some dealings with Olivia. And, it would also appear, had not liked those dealings. She headed to the living room to do what she was told.

I hadn’t moved.

That was because Olivia was outside.

What on earth?

“Uh… who’s that?” Elvira asked the window, still looking out, and now Olivia was standing on the front walk confronting the full force of the Lucas Brigade.

“Brock’s ex-wife,” I whispered.

“Oo lawdy,” Elvira whispered back.

She could say that again.

Half a second later, we heard Laura shriek, “Bitch!” and we saw her lunge at Olivia.

Elvira repeated a whispered, now emphasized, “Oo lawdy.”

Austin muttered, “Fuck,” at my side, pushed his chair back, and took off.