Chapter Three:
Another One
Two days passed and Fester hadn't come home or contacted them. Morticia was worried but Gomez assured her that his brother was fine. When he was down, he always felt better after spending a few days out of the country blowing up dynamite caps in crowded subways.
That afternoon she was taking care of her plants in the conservatory while her husband was in his office doing some work. Her henbane was really blooming this year and the deadly nightshade looked as deadly as ever. After giving them all some water she busied herself feeding her African Strangler, Cleopatra. She turned when she heard a shout at the door.
A man in a suit stood there looking horrified.
"Are you alright sir?" she asked concerned.
"I just saw a severed hand!" he exclaimed.
Morticia smiled. "Oh yes, Thing just loves to greet our guests. How may I help you sir?"
The man looked at her in shock. "I-I'm Dr. Thompson, I'm here for a meeting with Mr. Addams."
"He's upstairs in his office right now. I'll ring for our butler to have him take you there." She pulled the noose hanging from the ceiling and it rang a bell for Lurch that crashed throughout the house. Lurch, always efficient, appeared in the doorway in seconds.
"You rang?" he said in his deep voice.
"Lurch, would you please take Mr. Thompson upstairs to Gomez's office?" she asked.
Lurch put a big hand on Mr. Thompson's shoulder and he nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw the huge, Frankenstein-like man he was face to face with. "Follow me," Lurch said. Mr. Thompson looked at Morticia helplessly and after realizing this wasn't a joke, reluctantly followed Lurch upstairs.
"Make sure he doesn't trip over anything Lurch, Mr. Thompson seems quite jumpy today."
Morticia continued to feed her plant and afterwards went into the kitchen to make herself some tea, black tea to be exact. Just as she had sat down in the living room and gotten comfortable the doorbell rang again. Lurch answered the door and soon brought in a blubbering Ophelia.
"Morticia!" she cried.
Morticia stood up and went over to her. "Ophelia, what's the matter?" Through all of her sobs, Morticia couldn't understand a word her sister was saying. She sighed and sat her on the couch and got her some tissues but the crying didn't seem like it would ever end. "Ophelia, I can't help you if you don't stop crying so you can tell me what's wrong."
"Jacob left me!" Ophelia sobbed.
"Why would he do that?" she asked.
"He said I was too much to handle and he didn't want to be with me anymore so he left and threw me out of the house!" Jacob was Ophelia's husband. They had been married for two years. Morticia agreed that Ophelia was a little bit much to deal with sometimes but she never would have thought Jacob would up and leave her like that.
"I'm sorry Ophelia…"
"I mean, I don't understand why he left. I'm not too much to deal with! At least I don't leave my socks all over the floor and tell him that he can't shop as much as he wants to. I'm not going to cook for him every day. But I'm the one that's too much to handle! Can you believe that Morticia? Me, too much to handle! Who needs men? They're nothing but a bunch of jerks!"
Morticia wasn't really sure how to respond to that. Yes there were men who were jerks, but not all of them were. Her husband was living proof of that. So she changed the subject. "So what are you going to do since he threw you out?"
"I'm going to live with you," Ophelia said wiping her eyes.
"What?"
"Yeah, you have a big house. I'm sure you have plenty of guest rooms."
"Yes but...what about mom and dad? Why don't you stay with them?"
"They're on vacation in Fiji for a month. What am I supposed to do until they get back?" She could see that Morticia was still skeptical. "Come on Morticia, it'll only be for a few weeks. Just until I can get back on my feet, I swear. You'll hardly know I'm here."
Morticia wasn't too enthusiastic about her sister staying over. Growing up with Ophelia had been enough. Her sister had always been incredibly spoiled, refused to do any chores, and sang loudly in the shower. But she also couldn't abandon her in her time of need. "Well...I guess it'll be alright."
"Yay!" Ophelia hugged Morticia tightly. "Thank you, thank you, thank you Morticia!"
"I'll see you later Mr. Thompson," Gomez said from the hallway where he was letting Mr. Thompson out. Then he came into the living room. "Hey ladies." He went over to Morticia and gave her a kiss.
"Guess who's living here now?" Ophelia said excitedly.
"Who?" Gomez said worriedly. Please don't let it be her, he thought.
"Me! Isn't it great?"
Gomez looked at his wife in desperation. Tell me she's lying, he said with his eyes.
Morticia gave a helpless shrug.
Ophelia hopped up from the couch. "I'm going to go bring in my stuff."
She left the room and Gomez looked at Morticia. "Cara mia…"
"I'm only for a little while Gomez," Morticia explained. "Jacob left her and she has nowhere else to go."
"There are hotels!"
"Gomez, she's my sister."
Gomez sighed. He knew she didn't like it either, but he also knew that she would do anything to help her sister no matter how annoying she was. He held her hands and kissed them. "Alright querida, I'm on your side."
Morticia smiled. She could always count on Gomez for anything. She ran her fingers across his cheek. "Merci mon cher."
"Tish, that's French!" he said, his dismay over Ophelia staying with them completely forgotten. He started to kiss her fingers. She giggled as his lips trailed up her arm to her neck.
"Oh my god, would you two chill?" Ophelia said from the doorway.
The two of them glared at her. Gomez sighed. This was not going to be easy.
