CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

15 minutes had turned into 30 minutes. 30 minutes had turned into one hour. With no Thanksgiving dinner in sight, Edward Quartermaine had become restless.

"What is taking so long?" he demanded.

"I'm not sure," Monica responded, "but dinner should have been served by now." She glanced at her watch.

"I knew it," he grumbled. "Something went wrong."

Alan wasn't in the mood for this, "Father, please give it a rest."

"What is he talking about?" Lorenzo Alcazar whispered to Skye.

"Edward fears that we're going to end up with pizza again."

"Pizza on Thanksgiving?" he questioned.

"It's sort of tradition, or so I've been told," Dillon joined their conversation.

In her motherly tone, Tracy spoke, "Dillon, do not talk to Mr. Alcazar. You will not have any association with that gangster."

"I'm not a gangster," Lorenzo stated seriously.

"And I'm not 5 anymore, Mom," Dillon said. "You don't get to tell me who I get to talk to."

"Do you want me to continue paying for your college or not?"

"Okay, Tracy, you really need to come up with something new," Georgie rose to her boyfriend's defense.

The threat was getting old, and Tracy knew it, but she'd never admit that the little Jones girl had a point. "Hmm," she put on a phony smile. "Was I talking to you, little girl?"

"Jeez Granny, just lay off of her, all right?" Brook Lynn wasn't sure if she wanted to be at the dysfunctional gathering in the first place, and the unnecessary arguing didn't help matters.

"Yeah, Spanky, come on."

"Why do you care, oh husband of mine?"

"Could it be because he's a decent human being, unlike you?"

"Easy there, Blaze."

"Oh, Dad. Please do not tell me you're defending the stepmother from hell."

"I will not stand for either of you insulting my wife," he looked at Tracy, who refused to express emotion. Her husband had gone from telling her to lay off to defending her within 10 seconds, but she couldn't even smile…not even a little.

"All right!" Ned took control. "I'm just going to order pizzas." He reached for the phone, but Edward stopped him.

"Not so fast. Our dinner should be here any minute now."

"What are you talking about, Grandfather? You're the one who insisted something went wrong," Ned pointed out.

"Grandfather was just being Grandfather," Emily said innocently.

"You know, Em. I'm really glad you could join us," Monica smiled. "I figured you were going to spend the holiday with, well, Sonny and the boys."

"I would've been out of place," she said.

"Oh, because you're not out of place here?" Tracy spoke rudely.

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Alan, knowing that he should've have started.

"You know what it means, Alan. It means she's not a real Quartermaine."

"Not this again," he shook his head. "Please, Tracy. I don't want to start with you because you're pregnant—"

"I can still give it just as good as before," she glared at him.

"Well, for the baby's sake, I'd rather we not find out."

"The baby is fine, Alan."

"He's right," Monica spoke. "You need to take the next 3 months easy."

"Yes, doctor," Tracy mocked.

"I'll be sure she listens," Luke put an arm around his wife. "Now, where's the food?" Tracy shook her head. Luke Spencer and his food would forever go hand-in-hand.

His timing could not have been anymore perfect as Alice entered the room…

"Bad news," she mumbled.

"I knew it! I knew it!" Edward yelled. "What happened this year?"

Alice sighed, "Cook hasn't even started dinner yet."

"What?" the family gasped despite the fact the aroma of the dinner could not be smelled.

"I don't believe this," Monica shook her head in disgust. "I am paying her so well too. What the hell happened, Alice? When is she going to start? I mean, does it even matter? At this rate, we won't have our turkey until 11 o'clock tonight."

Alice frowned, "She's not cooking this year."

"That's it! Monica, fire the staff!" ordered Edward.

"Aren't you being too harsh?" Skye wondered out loud. "Alice, please. Tell us what's going on."

Alice placed her hands on her hips, "Well, you see, Cook has been letting you all believe that she's been making dinner when she really hasn't."

"I don't get it," said Alan.

She continued, "I'm sure Ms. Tracy and Mr. Ned can explain."

Ned and Tracy exchanged glances.

"What did we do?" shrugged Tracy.

"As if you don't know. Tell the family why they're getting pizza this year—" she insisted.

Brook Lynn interrupted, "Wait, so we're getting pizza?"

"Wow! This is so cool!" smiled Lulu.

"Wait one minute. Ned, tell me what you and my deranged daughter did."

"We didn't do anything," Ned had no idea what was going on.

"Well, then I guess I'll have to tell the family, won't I?" Alice stated proudly. Her high and mighty attitude was enough for Tracy to want to knock her teeth into her mouth.

"Oh for Pete's sake…" muttered Monica.

"What is it, Alice?" Emily asked sweetly, trying to keep the peace.

"Well, you see the other day, Ms. Tracy and Mr. Ned thought they could steal orange juice from the kitchen…"

"Oh my God. Are you serious?" Tracy became annoyed.

"And they successfully did so," Alice continued. "Not realizing that Cook had an eye of them."

"This is just ridiculous," Ned spoke. Ridiculous it was. What kind of Cook punished an entire family because two of its members decided to serve themselves a glass of orange juice?

"So you're denying everything?" Monica wanted to know.

"No, this is just…Is this Cook's way of punishing us?" Ned questioned.

"Yep," answered Alice.

"So, it's Spanky and her son's fault we're not getting a real meal?"

Tracy scrunched up her face.

"Well then, it's a good thing I have a taste for pizza," he finished as he gently squeezed her shoulders.

Tracy smiled.

"This is just nonsense," Edward shook his head in disappointment. "Just nonsense." He walked out of the room.

"I'm so sorry about this," Skye told her guest.

"Don't worry about it. It's something different," Lorenzo responded in a whisper.

"All right! I guess I'm ordering the pizzas now," said Ned. "Any requests?"

The family began listing off various pizza toppings.

"Whoa, whoa. One at a time. One at a time…"

PREVIEW: The Quartermaines enjoy their annual Thanksgiving pizza.