All of these characters belong to ELJames. They are written by me for all of you who cannot get enough of the Grey clan.
The boss and Jason have just returned from the cemetery where Christian has placed a holiday wreath on Ella’s grave with a ribbon across it. It simply read, “Thank You”.
The Grey’s and Jason are ready to go. Mr. Mullins and his family have arrived for the security detail and I am just showing Mrs. Mullins where to find all of the food that I cooked. All she has to do is to warm it up. I yell out to everyone, “Okay, I’m ready. What I am taking over to the Grey’s is all packed and we are ready to leave. Sawyer and Ryan have Ray, Mr. Rodriquez and Jose and they are going to meet us at our destination after a quick run to the airport to pick up Ana’s mom and her husband. Mr. & Mrs. Kavanaugh and Ethan are driving and are expected, according to what Kate relays to Ana via their cell phone conversation, in about 10 minutes. This is the fourth year that I have been over to the Atty & Dr. Grey’s mansion for Thanksgiving. We will repeat it all over again for Christmas. I really enjoy these times. For Anastasia, this is a first and she seems elated. The Grey’s love her as though she is their own. Even though the weather is somewhat cloudy, nippy and a little snow, there is no accumulation expected. I hear Jason tell Christian that the return trip might have to be delayed due to 80% chance of rain on Saturday. There is only a 40% chance on Sunday with temperatures warming up to the 40’s. Christian thanks Jason and says that he will inform everyone later.
Sawyer and Ryan arrive at the same time that we pull up. Elliot has picked up Kate earlier and her mom, dad and Ethan pull up right behind us. Unfortunately, my sister can’t come. She is hosting her children and in-laws this year. That’s okay, though. I see her almost every weekend. After the emotional greetings with everybody, the huge door opens and we are all greeted by Atty & Dr. Grey and of course, the bubbly Miss Mia and the personable and handsome blonde hunk, Mr. Elliot Grey with Kate by his side. Standing right behind them are Mr. & Mrs. Trevelyan. We are ushered into the house where I immediately direct Jason, Sawyer and Ryan where to take the food which is our contribution to this feast. That is the only word that can describe what is on the menu.
Atty. Grey is frying 3 turkeys. Miss Mia has roasted 2 large turkeys, one stuffed with cornbread stuffing which I had Jason take over last night, and the other stuffed with oyster stuffing. There are two casseroles of each kind of stuffing to insure that there is plenty for all. The rest of the menu consists of candied yams, mashed potatoes and gravy, green bean casserole, mixed greens, (collards and mustard), corn pudding, macaroni and cheese, wild rice, homemade coleslaw, honey glazed, spiral sliced ham, beef tenderloin wrapped in bacon, roasted red potatoes, wild pheasant, duck under glass, chitterlings, homemade cranberry and orange sauce, and homemade rolls. For dessert, Pumpkin pie, pecan pie, sweet potato pie, fruit cocktail cake, punchbowl cake, and for those who like it, fruitcake soaked in rum as well as several individual French desserts that Miss Mia also made.
Finally, the signal is given that the food is ready and everyone sits at the huge dining room table, Atty. Grey asks God’s blessings and we all start passing the serving plates and bowls around. No servers at this banquet…everyone serves themselves. The food is not only plentiful, but absolutely delicious.
The conversation is relaxing and funny as Christian and Elliot start relating stories of their earlier years. Of course, Ray has to tell the story about Ana’s attempt at cooking their first Thanksgiving meal together. Lots of funny stories and lots of laughter. I am truly enjoying myself but find that one of the regular cooks or housekeepers for the Sr. Grey’s, keeps watching Jason. I start to feel pangs of jealousy as I wonder if Jason would be interested in her because she is younger than I am. I was afraid this would happen. Jason, I think, senses what I am thinking and I feel hand rubbing my thigh and not paying the least bit of attention to Ms eagle eye who has way too much lipstick on. His look implies that I don’t have a thing to worry about. My jealously and insecurity leaves as quickly as it came. Jason has told me enough times that he only has eyes for me and how much he really loves me.
All of a sudden, Jason stops eating, stills and cocks his head to one side as though he has heard something. He feels much better about the security around the mansion because of the cameras that continually rove around the property. No one can set foot on the property without being detected. I wondered if Atty. Grey forgot to turn them on. He was in the back frying the turkeys and maybe he just forgot. Whatever is going on, Jason is like a watchdog. Ready to jump up at a second’s notice. The doorbell rings and Jason is on his feet before the chimes stop announcing the arrival of a guest.
“I will answer the door”, he says in his no nonsense and nobody make a move, voice. Christian and Elliot look at him and then each other with a hint of a smile. Miss Mia says, “Boy, Taylor sure takes his job seriously”. Elliot says, “MeMe, is there any other way to take a job like Taylor’s?”
Jason comes back into the dining room, bends over and says something very quietly to the boss. Everyone gets quiet as Christian, excuses himself, stating that he would be right back. Christian looks at Jason but avoids looking at Ana. All we can hear of the conversation is the fact that the boss is talking to a female…loud. All of a sudden, Ana jumps up from the table without saying a word, makes a b-line out to where Christian is and then the entire table jumps up and heads to the door where Christian is and Ana is headed. Oh, lordy be! Of all the nerve. It’s that troll bitch Mrs. Robinson, as Ana calls her. We get there in time to hear Ana start yelling at Mrs. Lincoln. She is trying to tell Ana and Christian how sorry she is about what had happened. She felt that she owed the family and especially her dear friend Grace, an apology and she thought this would be a good time to give it since she knew that everyone would be here. We see Ana turn beet red as she grabs Mrs. Lincoln around the throat and pushes her down the steps where Mrs. Lincoln lands on the pavement. Ana then flies into a real rage, straddles her and pins her to the ground and yells at her “You leave my family alone, you troll bitch. Don’t you ever come around them. or my husband. or me. ever. again. This is fair warning: If you so much as speak to any of us, I will mop up Seattle WA with your ass and if I have to walk through hell with gasoline drawers on to get to you, I will gladly do it. Now get your whorish ass off of this property and don’t you ever set foot on it again and leave us the hell alone. She ends it with a punishing blow to her chin. Everyone is standing around in a state of shock with nobody saying anything….not even Christian. Elena’s driver jumps out of the car and runs over to where the ruckus takes place and just that quick, Christian and Jason jump in his path to ensure that he doesn’t try anything with Ana. Ana gets up and walks back into the house like she is not even aware that we are all watching her. Mrs. Lincoln’s driver helps his charge get up and into the limo and they take off like a bat out of hell.
We all go back and take our seats, quietly. After a few minutes, Elliot says to Ana, “Ana, I take it you don’t like Mrs. Lincoln. Taylor, if I were you, I’d be afraid of being replaced as a body guard or whatever they are called in this day and age. Everyone at the table, roared, even Christian. We continue our meal as though nothing has happened. Christian leans over, gives Ana a big hug and tells her that he is proud of her “but please don’t ever get that mad at me”. That sets of another round of laugher. Poor Mia and Kate are just speechless. Mia says, “Can someone tell me what that was all about?” “Nothing, MeMe”, says Elliot. “Slugger Ana Ali just doesn’t like her meal to be interrupted”. Mia gives him a dirty look. Ray pipes in with, “Well, Annie, I guess I taught you well. Fits of laughter again.
Mia leaves the table to refill one of the serving bowls and as she sets it back on the table, the doorbell rings again. Everyone jumps but Mia is already headed to the door. “I’ll get it this time”, she says with a determination that only Miss Mia can show. All of a sudden, Miss Mia lets out a blood curdling scream like she has seen the devil himself…”DAAADDY”. Atty Grey, Jason, Sawyer, Ryan, Christian, and Elliot almost knock each other down trying to get to Mia. The rest of us jumped up as well.
We see the paparazzi trying to grab one of their cameras that Mia had snatched and one of them had a hold of her to keep her from destroying it. Jason makes his move to rescue Mia and bring the paparazzi down, but the attorney bursts through the security like a linebacker rushing to decapitate a quarterback, pushing past Jason and the others, yelling at them, GET OUT OF MY MOTHER FUCKING WAY. I GOT THIS! You could actually see fire in his eyes. I have never seen anything like that before. And I thought Ana was bad. What on earth is going on today? This is not supposed to be happening.
Single handed , the attorney forces the one man to release Mia by head butting him and jamming his fingers in both of his eyes, them grabs the other two, and rams their heads together and they fall to the ground, out cold. His right foot comes up and connects with the final man’s balls and he falls to the ground, yelling and grabbing his family jewels. Mr. Grey Sr., let out a string of cuss words that I had never heard before, even from Jason or Christian. He tells them that if they ever come back uninvited, or put their hands on anyone in his family ever again, he was going to introduce them to the place where his boat is docked and then he would never have to worry about them.
I look at him. This is PROTECTOR CARRICK GREY, in his finest hour. Just about then, three police cruisers come flying around the circle in front of the mansion. After a brief explanation, the officers load the men into the cruiser and confiscate their cameras. The one officer tells Mr. Grey Sr., that he can come downtown in the morning and file charges. The attorney nods, thanks them and turns to us and says, “Now let us go and finish our meal that has been prepared for the nourishment of our bodies. Amen”
The security, Christian, and Elliot, just stand there in a state of shock. Carrick’s sons, proud as peacocks, had never seen their father like that before. Their mother is standing with her arms around Mia which is where she flew after calling the police. Jason said that all of the time that he spent in the service, he had never seen anything like that before. He says that maybe he should hire Mr. Grey to be his, in Elliot’s words, body guard. Everybody started laughing as they head back to the table.
You would think that after all of this, nobody would be hungry. Not so. It seems as though these episodes have just increased their appetites. The rest of the meal is enjoyed uneventfully, recapping the events of the day.
The boss has told everyone what is on the schedule for tomorrow. He has made arrangements for everyone to stay at Escala and then they will all go out for breakfast in the morning. They agree. Later, they will go to see a play in the afternoon and then to the Christmas lighting ceremony later that evening. He asks if everyone is okay with that. “Everyone wants to see Santa come to town”, he states. “I know that I do, he says with a chuckle”.
Everything settled, we women make up the clean-up brigade, and refuse the offers of help. The men retire to the huge family room to watch the Texans play in Detroit until the women have completed the clean up. When everything is cleaned up and put in containers for everyone to take home, we prepare for our annual game of tag football with the women and the men against each other in the mammoth yard. The attorney passes out the self adhering flags which are navy, green and white representing the Seahawks and orange and brown, representing the Cleveland Browns. These are designed so that all a person has to do is to pull them off which represents a tackle. Every year, the “Seahawks” play a different team. It is quite chilly but my heart is warmed as I watch family and friends prepare for battle as the events of this day fade into oblivion. The “family” that plays together, stays together. That is a “for sure” statement as far as this group is concerned.
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HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE AND SAFE TRAVELS!!! SEE YOU NEXT TIME WITH ANOTHER SURPRISE.
Love Conquest 