Thanksgiving came upon the Cleverly household before any of them felt quite ready for it. Zelda was trying to remember the last time she had been on a vacation with her daughter and came up empty: she herself had only been away on business, and a few times one of her siblings had come to take Megan for a few weeks in the summer. This would be the first time they ever left on a trip together, and it wouldn't even be alone. That didn't really bother Zelda—she was glad there would be some adult company on the journey—but then immediately felt guilty for not wishing she and Megan could be alone. Did that make her a bad mother?
Yes…
Zelda had quickly remembered why she hated flying—there were at least three screaming babies on the plane, not to mention the kid sitting behind her that kept kicking her chair and the steward that kept hitting on her every time he came by. She managed to drown out most of the crying noises by listening to her iPod at a dangerously high volume (Malon teased her for "blasting" George Winston), and, unbeknownst to Zelda, Link took care of her two other problems: when the flirty steward came by to offer Zelda a refill on her water, Link fixed him with an icy glare, daring him to make another shady move (or comment). He then offered the kid kicking Zelda's chair a bag of Skittles if he would sit still for the rest of the flight—this went unheard by Link's boss, who was still deep into her moody piano music and trying to pretend that she was not on a plane.
They were met at the airport (baggage claim) by Zelda's sister Vivien, the raven-haired beauty Link had come to feel familiar with after having seen her photograph so many times. She was surrounded by four small children who all looked Asian; for a moment Link thought she must have adopted them but soon remembered Malon telling him that Vivien had married a Chinese guy. Megan ran forward to greet the other kids, and several high-fives and air punches were quickly established. Vivien stepped around them to embrace her sister, who looked more than ready to collapse into anybody's arms.
"Hey there, honey!" Vivien laughed, patting Zelda on the back. "Let me get a look at you!" With some effort, she pulled her sister off at arm's length, then observed, "I forgot how much air travel seems to disagree with you."
"Thanks, sis."
"Any time." Vivien turned her attention to Malon, who immediately squealed with girlish delight and threw her arms around their host.
"VIV! I haven't seen you in so long! My gosh, the last time we were together you were pregnant with your second kid! And now look at them, oh, they are so precious!" Malon gushed, very quickly and without taking breath. Instead of giving Vivien the opportunity to respond with equal enthusiasm, Malon hurried over to go and mingle with the adorable children.
"Well, I guess I know who she came here to see," Vivien chuckled, no fixing her eyes on Link, who had just gotten the last piece of luggage. "And let me guess, here. Hm… you must be Link, am I right?"
"Good guess, Dr. Lee," Link said, extending his hand towards her. He felt immediately comforted by Vivien's sincere smile and gentle handshake, both of which contrasted deeply with Zelda's.
"Oh, you don't have to be so formal with me, Link," Vivien said, reaching over to take Zelda's luggage for her. "You can call me Mrs. Lee." When Zelda asked how they were all going to fit in the car alongside their baggage, Vivien said, "Uh-oh, you're right. I didn't think about that when the kids asked to come with me. Relax, I'm kidding. Mom drove up here with that monster truck thing of hers from when we were young'ns, so there's more than enough room."
"Um, when you say monster truck…" Link started.
"I just mean that it's a ridiculously large vehicle," Vivien laughed, leading the group towards the parking lot. "I hate driving it, it feels like you're driving a building! And I hope you remembered to pack warm clothes; I don't think you're used to chilly weather out in sunny California, but it can get pretty cold around here this time of year."
"Don't worry, we've packed the essentials," Zelda sighed. She jumped slightly when she felt her cell phone vibrating in her pocket. "Mm, sorry, I have to take this."
"Come on, Zel, no business on this trip!" Vivien complained lightly.
"It's not business, it's Schreiber," Zelda muttered, opening the phone. "She probably wants to make sure we got in okay…. Hello? Eliza? Hey…"
"Aunt Viv, is it going to snow?" Megan asked eagerly, skipping to the head of the line to catch up with Vivien as Zelda fell back. Having spent every winter of her life in California, "snow" was still something mythical to her that she had only ever seen in the movies—and almost didn't want to believe it existed until she experienced it for herself.
"According to our local weatherman, we can start expecting it this weekend," Vivien replied. "So hopefully you won't have to wait that long." She cleared her throat and slowed down somewhat so that she was level with the 'bodyguard.' "So! Link! Do you care for baseball?"
"Yeah, I love it," Link said. "I used to play it in high school, actually."
"Did you really? Anyway, I ask because my boys—Henry and Joe, by the way—absolutely love it, as does my husband, but they can rarely assemble enough people to play a full game. But as we have family pouring in from all sides of the continent for Thanksgiving, I think they might have a fair shot at a good game. That is, if no one minds playing it this cold… although I should think that after running around a bit you would warm up pretty fast."
"Don't they let girls play?" Malon asked.
"Girls can't play sports!" howled Joe, the younger of the two boys. "They aren't athletic at all!"
"That's not true," Malon said before promptly tripping over a curb.
"I'm just teasin' ya," Joe giggled, helping her to her feet.
Malon didn't seem to mind getting teased by the kids, which turned out to be just as well because she was stuck in the back with all five of them for the entire ride from the airport to Vivien's home. The palatial house was one of the most beautiful buildings Link had ever seen; he had mistaken it for a school or a library before Vivien pulled into the driveway and announced that they'd made it. There were still a considerable amount of leaves on the trees lining the estate that hadn't fallen yet, and the colors were the most delightfully autumn-like things Link had seen in years.
As soon as Vivien opened the front door, the kids all went barreling inside the house with Malon in tow. True to the word of both Zelda and Viv, it really did look as if their entire family was congregated there—although it really looked like enough people to constitute three or four families, Link thought. It was clear to him by the tense atmosphere the way everyone seemed to be clinging on to each of Vivien's words of introduction that theirs had been the most anticipated arrival. Link was introduced to more people than he could keep track of, and it felt strange to recognize some of them from pictures he'd seen that had been taken of them years into the past. Once they'd made all the rounds and everybody went back to their own conversations, Link realized that the only person he hadn't met was the legendary Mrs. Cleverly. That, however, was about to be rectified.
"Hey bro, where's Terra?" Vivien asked the man she had just introduced to Link as her brother Jack.
"She's in the kitchen with mom," Jack answered, nodding at the door behind him. "I know," he added, seeing the looks of surprise on Vivien and Zelda's faces. "I don't know how Terra got her in there, but she probably regrets. They most likely need an interruption like Zellie's arrival to get them in slightly better spirits than they were the last time I was in there…"
"Well Link, I hope this doesn't scare you away for the rest of the holiday," Vivien said in a joking tone that belied her statement. Link only smiled and followed her, but came to a halt when Vivien turned around said, "Zel, come on, grow up! She's not going to bite your head off."
"That's not what I'm worried about," Zelda said sourly, folding her arms as she reluctantly stalked after Vivien and Link. "To be perfectly frank, I'm afraid of what I might do to her…"
"Chill. She's softened up a bit in her old age."
"So instead of screaming at you about all of your insufficiencies, she's taken up to hitting you with her briefcase?"
"Pretty much."
Link didn't know whether or not they were kidding; although Zelda's tone was relatively jocular, she still looked as though she had just swallowed a lemon. Rolling her eyes with a one-sided smirk, Vivien opened the kitchen door just in time to see her mother throwing a pot holder at Terra.
"Sweet moves, sis!" Viv laughed as Terra ducked to avoid getting hit.
"Zelda!!" Terra cried, a wide smile brightening her face as she hurried over to pull Link's boss into a bone-crushing hug. "Gosh, it's so good to see you! My goodness, let me get a look at you—oh, honey, is it true, can you possibly be even more beautiful than the last time I saw you?"
"Oh, come on." For one reason or another, Terra was the only person—in the Cleverly family, especially—that Zelda let compliment her looks. This was probably because Terra was the least shallow person in existence, and when she told someone they were beautiful, it was her version of "nice weather we're having," or "how about those Yankees?" But, at the same time, it always sounded so sincere.
"And of course, lest we forget, the crusading lawyer behind the victories of Townsend Estates, Pickett vs. Chain, and of course, most recently, Topham Motors!" Terra added, clapping Zelda on the shoulder and turning her to face their mother. "Huh? Huh? Is she great or what!"
"She's one of a kind all right," responded Mrs. Clarissa Cleverly with a feline grin, hands clasped before her in a would-be casual way. She was extraordinarily good-looking for a woman of her years; though her face was lined with age (or, as she might say, "experience), the smile made her look ten years younger and revealed a set of sparkling white teeth. Mrs. Cleverly's hair had once been a stunning chestnut color but was now graying in several places—yet somehow she pulled it off and made it look classy, perhaps partly in thanks to the majestic way in which it gently curled down towards her shoulders.
"Hello mother," Zelda said, trying extremely hard to restrain the apathy in her tone. She didn't meet Clarissa's eyes as she said this, then, after an uncomfortable pause, extended her hand.
"Ah! So formal with your own mother?" Clarissa chuckled. "Come here, baby!" She always referred to Zelda as the baby in the family, even though Zelda had three younger (half) siblings. With a slightly strangled laugh, she drew her daughter into an incredibly awkward hug, and it was easily the most uncomfortable that Link had ever seen Zelda look. He only barely managed to suppress an amused chuckle—Zelda Cleverly, the fearless attorney, terrified of a hug—and this did not go unnoticed by Terra or Clarissa, who only seemed to have just realized he was there.
"And who is your charming friend?" Terra asked, her friendly expression a deep contrast to Clarissa's suspicious one.
"Oh, I'm sorry, how rude of me," Zelda murmured, stepping gracefully away from her mother and almost pushing Link forward. "This is Link, I took him on a couple of months ago to help me out… with Megan."
"Of course! We've heard so much about you!" Terra chuckled, giving Link's hand a shake. "From Megan, naturally," she added when Zelda narrowed her eyes at her.
"The nanny," Clarissa surmised, the refined tone of her voice concealing the condescending way in which she was now eying Link. "And a man, at that. I have to say, that's a refreshing change."
"I don't know if I'd call him a nanny, per se," Zelda cut in, wanting to save her employee from her mother's habit of being rude. "He is one of the most useful people I know. In addition to watching out for Megan's well-being, he tutors her, drives her wherever she needs to go, teaches her how to play sports and kid-friendly card games, is the sounding board for all her six-year-old angst, gives her advice, and has never, ever, let her down. He's like her best friend." This had all come tumbling out of Zelda's mouth in automatic defense before she'd had time to really process what she was saying; the three other people in the room eyed her with quiet surprise.
"Thank you," Link whispered, too humbled by Zelda's monologue on his behalf to notice that Clarissa Cleverly's eyes had narrowed and her brow furrowed in even deeper suspicion. Sort of the way they did when she was on the cusp of winning a case.
"Hey, where is Megan, anyway?"
"I think she's out back with the kids," Vivien answered, nodding to the bay window in the kitchen that led to the yard. "They're probably organizing a baseball game right about now… yup, there goes Jack with some of the guys to go help out with the teams." She waved when Jack peered into the kitchen, and he pointed at Link and jabbed his thumb towards the back yard. "Looks like you're being summoned, chum."
"Great," Link said with a cheerful grin. He headed for the door that Jack was waiting outside of, but before he forgot, turned around and said, "It was really nice to meet you Terra, Mrs. Cleverly."
"What a charming young man," Terra remarked once Link had left the kitchen. "Really, Zel, I like him." She winked at her little sister, who only rolled her eyes. A loud buzzer went off just then, and Terra hurried over to the oven, picking up the pot holder her mother had thrown at her a few minutes previously. "Ah, it looks perfect!"
"I thought I smelled something in here," Zelda mused, walking over to see what Terra was holding. "And I didn't think it was mother about to get all domestic on us, am I right, mom? What is that, anyway?"
"Your grandmother's chocolate cake, bless her soul," Clarissa answered. "Terra here has been working like a busy little bee to make enough of these for the weekend."
"Zel, could you get the next bowl of batter that's in the fridge?" Terra asked, searching for a new cake pan. "I've got to bake as many of these as I can before the kids all come in asking to eat the batter! I'm fine with them licking the bowl, but it's hard to dissuade them from emptying all of it into cups and just drinking it straight."
"Why don't I get that for you, Terra?" Malon offered, having just walked in from the back yard. She strode over to the refrigerator and emerged with an unbelievably large bowl that was full to the brim with dark, mouth-watering, liquid-y chocolate. "Ooh, this smells fabulous!"
"Thanks, Mal!" Terra laughed, taking the bowl from her and then giving her a one-armed hug. "Gosh, it's good to see you! Were you playing ball with the boys out back? And er… the kids?"
"Well, I was, but when I saw you all congregated in here I figured I wasn't really all that use to my team as the 'deep' left-fielder and that I'd come and say hello!" With a winning smile and enthusiastic voice, Malon turned on her heel to the Cleverly matriarch and said, "Clarissa, it's so good to see you!"
"Likewise, dear," Mrs. Cleverly replied, with a mechanical grin. "It's been quite some time, hasn't it?" She glanced at the clock as if to justify her declaration that "I'd love to catch up with you later, Malon, but I'm afraid I've been closed up in this kitchen far too long. I'd better go and socialize with everybody else."
"Sheesh," Vivien sighed once their mother had left the room. "The way she talks, you'd think this was a business party or something."
"Here, Malon, try a piece of this," Terra said, cutting a thin slice of her freshly baked cake and putting it onto a napkin. "Don't worry, I'm going to chop it up anyway so no one will be able to tell I gave out a sample."
"Nothing wrong with a little nepotism, right?" Vivien asked, sidling up to Terra with a plate after Malon had taken her piece.
Malon gravitated towards Zelda, who was standing idly by the window and appeared to be watching the baseball game with unusual interest. The two friends looked on in silence as Megan hit one way out into left field—way out. "Oops," Malon laughed, watching Vivien's boys go running after the ball. "Just goes to show what I know, maybe they could have used me after all!"
"Home run," Zelda muttered, watching her daughter go tearing around the bases (which had been improvised out of old flour sacks). "Thanks for ditching the game, Mal."
"No problem," Malon said through a mouthful of Terra's cake. "Oh my GOSH, Zel, this is the most amazing thing I have ever eaten in my entire life. Like, seriously, you have to try this." She waited for a response, but Zelda was staring out of the window in a dazed manner, not seeming to have heard her redheaded pal. Malon followed Zelda's gaze and grinned wickedly. "Or maybe you'd rather lick the batter."
Zelda didn't register what Malon meant until she realized Link was at bat. "Oh, geez, Malon, grow up! You're such a pervert!"
"Hey Zel, you've gotta try this," Vivien said, walking up to them with another piece of the cake. "Terra's outdone herself with this one."
"Nah, she's more interested in the batter," Malon teased.
"Really? I would have thought you wouldn't like to get your fingers dirty with the stuff. Bit kid-like of you, isn't it?"
"Don't be a naïf, Viv, she means Link," Zelda sighed, slapping Malon upside the head and pointing out the window.
"Ah, I see. So how long have you two been together, anyway?"
"Excuse me?" Zelda snorted, raising her eyebrows at both the question and the casual manner in which Vivien had asked it. "We're not going together, Viv."
"What? Oh, please!" Vivien crowed. "After that soliloquy praising every fiber of his being? Come on, Zellie. He's gorgeous, he clearly gets along well with Malon, and he's even more obviously infatuated with you."
"We are not having this discussion!" Zelda protested, frustrated.
"No, I think we should," Malon said eagerly from Zelda's other side. "Vivien's right. If you don't mind my saying so, Link is like the father Megan never had. I can't believe nothing's ever evolved between you two. Believe me, he is the nicest guy I have ever met in my entire life, and I know him a heck of a lot better than you do."
"Great. You go out with him, then."
"That would not be a problem with me, and trust me—it's not like I haven't tried. But Vivien is right, he's into you, Zelda."
"Not that line again, that's ridiculous," Zelda scoffed. "It's like you just said, he barely knows me. I haven't had a single meaningful discussion with him since that one time I 'interviewed' him months ago! I know he's nice and I know he's nice looking, and I pity him if he really did like me at all."
"Zelda, you're being too harsh on yourself," Terra scolded her. "And if you'll let me be frank—which I usually am, so you're accustomed to it—you should have heard the way you were talking about him earlier. I know, I know," she said, raising her voice slightly because Zelda opened her mouth to object. "You were just defending him in hopes of keeping mom from being incredibly rude. Well, fine. But really, Zel. You did make him out to sound like Megan's dad."
"Terra, you don't know what you're talking about," Zelda growled. "And if I can be frank for a minute, I have to say I'm kind of insulted."
"Insulted? Why on earth should you feel insulted? Oh wait, I know what this is," Vivien said, narrowing her eyes in that hawk-like way she did. "You're just glad you've finally found someone to watch out for Megan that she happens to like, as if Link is compensating for the lack of parental—"
"Don't even go there, Vivien, don't you dare go there. I don't need a diagnosis from you, Dr. Lee, and I can't believe you'd hit me below the belt like that!"
"Zelda, have you had any serious relationships of any kind since Marth?" Terra asked quietly.
"No." It felt suddenly very discomforting that Zelda had been able to answer so quickly, without even a second thought. The silent stares of her sisters and the pitying glance of her best friend made it sink in further than it ever had: six years since the last time she had seen someone. The time had flown by as she made a name for herself in the world, got her life together, raised a child—or had she really done that last thing? "Oh Goddesses. I'm awful."
"Well, whatever you do don't look out the window," Malon advised.
Naturally, Zelda turned around and did exactly what Malon had just counseled her against: it was to see Link watching her. Seeing that she had noticed him, Link smiled crookedly and waved; Zelda returned only the latter (and half-heartedly at that) before leading her sisters out of view.
"Hmmm, something tells me they were just gossiping about you," mused Jack. The other team had called a time out, allowing Jack Cleverly a few minutes to inspect the guy his extremely picky sister had employed for so long.
"Nah, man, I don't think so," Link chuckled.
"Is it just strictly business with you two?"
"Strictly."
Jack snorted a laugh. "Let me tell you something about Zelda, Link. I know she must come off as hard, unfeeling, maybe even callous. She fancies herself a bit like Garbo, you know? Doesn't particularly like being around other people, and she's very slow to trust but quick to suspect."
"I know she's…a bit… I mean I know she does kind of like her privacy," Link commented, being careful because Jack looked like he could beat the crap out of anyone if they said the wrong thing. "But I would never call her callous. Only, has she always been this way?"
"No, she didn't always act like there was a needle up her butt," Jack answered. "You should have seen her in high school, man. Off the charts, as far as popularity was concerned! But she was a good kid, really. She never went crazy with parties or anything like that—and she never would have, because she was afraid of what dear old mom would've done to her if her grade point average ever dropped below a four-point-oh. See, old Clarissa Cleverly really started early with Zelda—got her on that insane mind track that she has to be number one; the law school inculcation started in the womb. Terra, Viv and I were lost causes, Zelda was going to be the big one, the star. Our mother was like the ultimate stage mom with her, only the Gloria Allred edition."
"I met your mother," Link said before thinking of any polite follow-ups to that sentence. "She… seemed nice."
"She seemed nice, yes," Jack snorted. "Boy, she made me watch Zelda's every move when we were in school together. Got any sisters, Link?"
"Nope. Only child."
"Lucky man. It guess it's hard having sisters anyway, but when they're all as beautiful as mine are, it can get tough. My friends never shut up about them, and they were always telling me I was related to the hottest girls in school and other lascivious things in that vein. I hated it, and they hated it, too. Sure they liked being popular, but I know there were times when they didn't like how they got it."
Link had to wonder why Jack was telling him all this. He wondered what kind of vibe he must be giving off to constantly have people telling them long-winded stories about the low points in their lives. Was this a bad thing? It was hard to tell. And even though Link felt this conversation was somewhat awkward—especially considering that he hadn't even known Jack for an hour—he didn't want it to end.
"You're probably wondering what my point is in all this," Jack laughed, clapping Link on the shoulder. "Well, I don't really know that I have one. I guess maybe I just wanted to give you the heads-up on my sister, the guy version. She's like stained glass, Link. That's how one of my buddies put it a while ago. Stained glass—beautiful, but there's something untouchable there, almost foreboding. And she's…" Jack fought to get out the right words. "She can break very easily if pushed the wrong way."
This was definitely the point where Link didn't want to hear any more, even though he'd never gotten the impression that Zelda was fragile in any way.
"It's not really my place to say anything else," Jack whispered darkly. "But that guy she married, that punk…" He raised the baseball bat he'd been holding and slammed the free end of it into his other palm, gripping it tightly. "What I wouldn't give to just have five minutes with him."
"Link, Uncle Jack, the game's back on!" Megan called from the infield. "Come on, let's beat these suckers!"