Strangers at the Feast by Jennifer Vanderbes

Author:Jennifer Vanderbes
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2010-08-02T16:00:00+00:00

DENISE

As soon as he let the turkey thud into their kitchen sink, her husband had silently trudged off to the living room. Well, let him sulk, she thought. Why should she feel guilty for his gloominess when he had brought it all on himself? Above all else in life she had wanted one thing—not to worry about money—and as though her marriage were a horrible fable, Douglas had wagered everything and lost. His boundless cheer and confidence, the qualities she had once fallen in love with, now terrified her.

“He seems a bit down,” said Ginny.

“You know where these go, right?” Denise handed her a stack of plates.

Ginny smiled away the evasion, hugged the plates, called into the living room, “Priya, wanna help Mommy set the table?”

But Denise could see in the distance that Priya was encamped with Douglas and the twins, burrowing her feet into the sectional. Her eyes were locked on the television.

“Priya? Football?” Ginny widened her eyes at Denise, and then shrugged. “Pick my battles, right?”

“Or else you have war.”

While Ginny set the table, Denise shoved the turkey into the oven, set the gravy on the stovetop, and slid the carrots into the microwave. She cleared away the plastic bags and containers and wiped down the counter. Order, the day needed some order. If she could narrow her vision to a goal she could accomplish, she could forget for a moment that everything around her was on the brink of vanishing.

“I mean, Douglas is usually Mr. Merry.” Ginny had returned; she set her elbows on the counter and leaned toward Denise. “Frankly, I’m worried.”

“You’re worried?” Denise let out a desperate laugh. “Welcome to the party, Ginny.”

“He can be very sensitive to criticism, to certain tones of voice.”

Denise wondered what Ginny really knew of her brother. Ginny had never put her life in Douglas’s hands. She had no idea what it was to lash her fate to a man she loved only to have him plunge off a cliff.

Knowing that to open her mouth would unleash a flood of emotion, Denise continued to wipe down the counter until Eleanor pattered in.

“Shame on me, I left you gals all alone in here! What can I do?”

“Nothing,” Ginny and Denise said simultaneously.

“Why don’t you play with the grandchildren?” Denise suggested.

“They’re watching football.” Eleanor sighed. “I asked the boys to play Ping-Pong.”

Denise’s sons were frightened of their grandmother with a Ping-Pong paddle. She always won, because, she said, letting children win was bad for their mental development. She’d probably never been able to beat anyone at anything and couldn’t stop herself. Though Denise wondered if she was tipsy enough that the twins might finally claim the family title.

“Did you see that Priya is watching football with the boys?” Eleanor whispered dramatically.

“I’m aware,” said Ginny. “They didn’t have TV in the orphanage.”

And then Denise remembered something that had been bugging her. “So how much time did you spend in that orphanage? I mean, before you adopted Priya.” Denise had been amazed at how

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