"So how did she take it?" asked Natalie. After days of avoiding contact with his mother, Ralph had finally called her to tell her of his marriage to Natalie and move to California.
"How do you think she took it?" Ralph snorted. "She's furious, of course, but I let her have it good. Told her exactly how I felt about her and my sisters dominating and controlling my life, how I'm almost forty years old and it's high time I started living life on my own terms."
"I'll bet that went well."
"Huh," Ralph spat. "She might not want to accept it, but she's eventually gonna realize that she doesn't have any other choice."
An icy chill went down Natalie's spine. Did Ralph truly love her, or had he married her as an excuse to move away from New York? Whatever the truth was, it was too late to do anything about it now, as she was already married to him.
"Something wrong, babe?" Ralph looked at her with concern.
"Ah, no, everything's fine," Natalie said quickly. "I'm sure she'll come around eventually."
"To be honest, I don't really care whether she does or not. If she really has cut me out of her life for good, it's her loss."
Natalie was shocked. "Did she really say that, that she's cut you out of her life for good?"
"She said that I was no longer her son. She was crying really hard when she said that." For the first time, Ralph sounded slightly uncertain about how he truly felt about the conversation with his mother. Natalie felt slightly guilty. Had she caused a permanent rift between mother and son?
"Hey, don't worry about it. It's not your fault." Ralph seemed to have read her mind. "It'll be all right. It always is."
For Bethany's first birthday party, Jo went to WalMart and bought party decorations, balloons, disposable plates, cups, and silverware, and a vanilla sheet cake with pink frosting and Miss Piggy decorations. That Saturday morning she decorated the house and invited all her and Doug's family members and close friends.
"Well, hey there, girlie!" Blair, who was first to arrive, sat her present down on the table, picked Bethany up, and kissed her cheek. Bethany smiled and blew a raspberry at Blair, which made everyone present burst out laughing.
"Hard to believe it's really been a whole year," Doug remarked. "Seems like only yesterday I held her in my arms for the very first time."
"This year has really flown by," Jo agreed.
Grace, Rhetta, and Paige were next. Paige's pregnancy was obvious now. "How are you doing?" Jo asked her.
"Great!" Paige replied. "I'm finally over my morning sickness, and now I'm hungry all the time."
Earl arrived alone, bearing a gift. Sensing how special he was, Bethany stopped her play and looked solemnly up at him. Suddenly she broke into a wide grin and held her arms up to him. He picked her up and held her close, and she made happy baby noises. "Happy birthday, little one," he told her. "You've brought so much sunshine into so many lives this year. You truly are a little gift from heaven."
Jo put Bethany in her high chair and then served cake and ice cream to everyone. Bethany immediately dived into the cake with both hands, giggling excitedly as she smeared it all over her face and into her hair. Jo snapped several photographs of her daughter, then cleaned her up and gave her her presents one by one. Jamie showed her how to rip into them and she did so, enthusiastically. In the end, the little girl sat grinning ear to ear in the midst of piles of wrapping and tissue paper. Doug snapped a photograph of her, knowing that it would be one he'd always treasure.
"It just doesn't seem like Thanksgiving without my family being here." Ralph glanced dismally around the table. Although Natalie had cleaned the apartment from top to bottom and spent the entire morning cooking turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, peas, and sweet potato crunch, Ralph found the relative silence uncanny.
"I haven't had Thanksgiving with my own family in so long that I can't even remember the last time," Natalie replied. "It's a little strange for the first couple of years, but you'll get used to it."
Ralph stared dismally into his glass of iced tea as he swirled it and watched the ice cubes bob. "I remember how the adults always sat around the table and the nieces and nephews in the living room with TV trays. They'd eat while watching the parade on television. Later on, we men would trade places with them to watch the football game."
"We could watch the football game together later, if you want," Natalie offered.
"Nah, that's all right. I think I'll just take a nap. No point in staying up. I know nobody's gonna call." As it turned out, he was wrong. He'd only been lying down for about half an hour when the telephone rang.
"Hi, may I please speak to Ralph?" asked a woman's voice. "This is his sister, Jeanette."
"Jeanette!" Natalie exclaimed. "Ralph's told me all about you! I'll go see if he's awake."
"Oh, no. Don't disturb him if he's taking a nap," Jeanette replied. "I just wanted to call and wish him a happy Thanksgiving, and you as well, of course."
"Well, I appreciate it," said Natalie. "He's been pretty down lately. He thinks his whole family's mad at him."
"We were all shocked," Jeanette conceded. "But I was never angry at him. He's an adult and is free to make his own choices. I've always felt that way."
"He'll be glad to hear that," Natalie replied. "I hope that you and the rest of the family are all doing well."
"Oh, yeah! We're all fine." Jeanette and Natalie ended up having a lengthy conversation, cut short only by Natalie's concern about the telephone bill. She learned much more about Ralph's family and began to feel very close to her new sister-in-law. She hoped that Jeanette would be able to visit some day.