That same evening Alex went upstairs into the boys' room to help cheer up Peter. Alex knocked on the door, when she heard no response she opened the door, finding Peter laying on his bed.

"Hey Pete," said Alex.

"Hey," Peter greeted back.

"I brought you up some dinner," said Alex putting the plate and glass of milk on the desk. "I heated it up a bit cause it was a little cold, but it's good now it'll be here if you want it," she began to walk out.

"Wait Alex," said Peter he sat up. Alex stopped.

"Yeah Pete?" Alex asked.

"What do you think I should do?"

"As in?"

"Like, should I break up with her or not?"

"Well," Alex took a seat on Greg's bed. "I think we should know for sure before we do anything that drastic,"

"Then what do I do?" Peter asked.

"Make her tell you, but without totally confronting her," Alex replied.

"And how exactly am I going to do that?" asked Peter.

"I don't know exactly, but by the time we go back to school, I'll think of something,"

The next day it was Thanksgiving. It was morning and almost everyone was still asleep. The only ones awake were Mike and Greg.

Mike was in the family room drinking a cup of coffee he had made. Greg walks down the stairs and spots his father. "Oh hey dad," he says with a smile. "Happy Thanksgiving,"

"Happy Thanksgiving to you too son," Mike said back exchanging a smile as well. "What are you doing up so early?"

"I thought I'd have a small breakfast before the rush," replied Greg. "Can't seem to get any food with five other kids, plus one,"

Mike chuckled. "Yes, but it sure has been a joy with Alex around hasn't it?"

"It sure has," Greg replied. "Except for the brick incident, I hope they find out who did it before Christmas,"

Moments later Alex walked down the stairs.

"Now there's a surprise," said Mike. "You up this early, and it's not even a school day,"

"Yeah, good morning to you too, Uncle Mike," Alex replied with a yawn. As she made her way into the kitchen.

"Alex," said Mike, stopping her niece. Alex turned around.

"Yes?"

"You do know what today is, don't you?"

Alex thought for a minute. "Oh of course I do," she said. "Congratulations Uncle Mike, Happy Anniversary,"

Mike laughed. "No Alex, Happy Thanksgiving," he said.

"Oh yeah, right, Happy Thanksgiving," Alex replied. "I'm going to grab some breakfast before the other kids come down," she walked into the kitchen.

Alex walked into the kitchen, she saw Greg sitting there eating a small bowl of cereal. Greg spotted her. "Hey kiddo," he said. "Happy Thanksgiving,"

"Happy Thanksgiving," Alex said back. "What brand is that?"

Greg pointed his spoon to the box on the counter.

"Oh cool,"

Marcia walked into the kitchen with a stretch and a yawn. "Happy Thanksgiving everybody," she said.

"Happy Thanksgiving," Greg and Alex said back.

"What's with everybody waking up so early today?" asked Greg.

"It's like everybody's excited for Thanksgiving dinner, but don't realize that it's still eleven hours away," Alex chuckled with a bowl of cereal in her hand taking a seat at the table.

"Well, I'm just adjusted to the morning schedule that's all," said Marcia.

"I have a feeling Peter won't be waking up early today," said Alex. "It'll be a miracle if he wakes up in time for dinner,"

"Hey everybody," said Peter with a sadden tone slugging into the kitchen.

"Behold! A Thanksgiving Miracle!" Alex said with her arms up in the air.

"Yeah, make your jokes," Peter said sourly taking a seat at the table.

"I'm sorry Peter, I'm just trying to have a little fun with ya," said Alex. "It's Thanksgiving you know, Happy Thanksgiving,"

"Happy Thanksgiving," Peter replied.

"Hey Pete, you know, the Thanksgiving Parade is starting in a couple of hours, you know how we loved watching the parade when we were kids," Alex said trying to cheer her cousin up.

"Yeah," Peter replied still a bit down.

"Yeah, and I heard that they're going to have a Tom Turkey float this year," Alex went on. "And there will be cool new balloons this year and-"

Peter shot Alex a strange look.

"Well, you can't just mope around all day," said Alex. "Our grandparents are coming today, and besides anybody could have thrown the brick with the same handwriting, I know a couple of people who have identical handwriting as me,"

"I know," said Peter. "But it's also the fact that she might be cheating on me,"

Alex put her arm around her cousin trying to comfort him. "I know it's tough," she said. "We'll get through it,"

Later that day the family were watching the Thanksgiving parade when the doorbell rings. Peter was the closest to the door. He gets up. "I'll get it," he says walking up to the door. He opens the door and Rachel was standing there.

"Happy Thanksgiving, Peter," she said as she plants a kiss on his cheek. Peter stands there, eyes down casting.

"What's the matter?" she asked. Peter looks back in the house. He doesn't care what Alex says, he's going to say what he feels. He steps onto the porch and closes the door behind him.

"Rachel, we need to talk," said Peter.

"Oh?" asked Rachel.

"Yeah," replied Peter. "You see, my cousin, Alex and my little brother, Bobby, saw you at the Ice Cream Parlor the other day with a guy,"

"Oh," was all Rachel said. Continuing to listen as Peter went on.

"Yeah, and Alex and Bobby both said it looked like you were flirting with him, and he gave you his jacket and you gave him this," said Peter pulling out the napkin out of his back pocket and giving it to Rachel.

"Oh, Peter," Rachel said. "Oh I'm so sorry, let me explain. You see, that was my cousin,"

"What?" Peter asked with confusion.

"My cousin, his name is Eric Thomas he lives in Alaska. I haven't seen him since I was a little kid, when he visited last," Rachel began. "He came here to visit this past last three weeks, that was last day and we wanted to keep in touch so I gave him my number,"

"So, what about the jacket?" Peter asked.

"He saw that I didn't bring a jacket, so on the way there and back he lent me his jacket, he lives in Alaska, he's use to colder weather, he's the nicest guy," Rachel replied. "And I wasn't flirting, I don't know where your cousin got that from, I was just having a good time laughing and playing around that's all,"

Peter's face brightened. "So wait, what about this?" he asked pulling out the note that was tied to the brick. Rachel paused a moment to read it.

"Oh Peter, you wouldn't think I would do this, would you?"

"I was hoping you wouldn't, but it looked so familiar with your handwriting,"

"No, see whoever wrote this letter has a regular y, I curl my y's," Rachel said. "But you wouldn't have known that because there was no y's on the napkin, I'm so sorry for the confusion,"

"No," said Peter. "I'm sorry, I should have known better that you wouldn't do such a thing,"

That night the family got ready for dinner with the Alex and the boys' grandparents and the girls' grandparents joining them. "So that's the story," said Peter. "It was her cousin,"

"That's wonderful, Peter," Carol said with delight.

"Yeah, I'm so happy, I don't even care that we didn't find out who through the brick, just as long as she didn't," added Alex. "And you get to enjoy the Thanksgiving dinner with the rest of us,"

That evening everyone had a great Thanksgiving dinner, with this years swell guest, Alex Brady.

A couple of days later the kids had to go back to school. Peter and Rachel walked to school together holding each others hand. Happy that their relationship is still flowing healthfully. Jan and Alex walked with them laughing and talking with each other. When a kid Alex was unfamiliar with walked up to them.

"Hey Brady," he said. "Did you get my note?"